RTHK: Life in jail for killers of black American jogger

Three white men convicted of murdering African American jogger Ahmaud Arbery after chasing him in their pickup trucks were sentenced to life in prison Friday in a case that highlighted US tensions over racial justice.

Travis McMichael, 35, and his father Gregory McMichael, 66, were sentenced to life without parole, while their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, who had a less-direct role in the murder and cooperated with investigators, was given life with the possibility of parole.

The three were convicted in November of multiple counts of murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment for chasing down 25-year-old Arbery on February 23, 2020 as he ran through their Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, in the southern US state of Georgia.

Pronouncing the sentence, Georgia Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley called the murder "a tragedy on many, many levels."

Weighing the verdict, Walmsley said he kept thinking of "the terror of the young man running through Satilla Shores."

"He left his home apparently to go for a run and he ended up running for his life," Walmsley said.

"He was killed because individuals here in this courtroom took the law into their own hands."

The Arbery case had added to a burst of nationwide anger and protests in 2020 over police killings and mistreatment of African Americans, sparked initially by the death in May that year of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In June last year Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was filmed pressing his knee on Floyd's neck until he lost consciousness, was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for murder.

Three other now-former police officers who were at the scene will stand trial in March on charges of complicity in the homicide.

- Cellphone video -

Before the sentencing, members of Arbery's family asked the court to give the three the harshest possible penalty.

"They each have no remorse and do not deserve any leniency," said Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones.

"This wasn't a case of mistaken identity... They chose to target my son because they didn't want him in their community."

"The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father. I'll never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again, not at a dinner table, not at a holiday and not at a wedding," said his father Marcus Arbery.

Graphic cellphone video taken by Bryan showed the armed men following Arbery in their trucks for about five minutes, suspecting with no evidence that he might have been a burglar.

Arbery repeatedly tried to avoid them, but was blocked by the trucks and then shot and killed by Travis McMichael.

The men claimed they were trying to make a "citizens' arrest," which was legal in Georgia at the time.

But a mostly white jury rejected that argument.

Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski called their actions "vigilantism."

"Vigilantism always goes wrong," she said Friday.

Speaking outside the courthouse after the sentences were pronounced, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents members of Arbery's family, said the case would not have been prosecuted without sustained pressure from the community.

"Think about all the Black people who have been lynched in the history of America, and Georgia, who never got their day in court," he said.

The investigation into the original incident was stalled by local law enforcement for three months until the video was leaked, sparking national outrage.

A local prosecutor, Jackie Johnson, has been indicted for violating her oath of office and allegedly hindering the investigation into Arbery's death.

The sentencing does not end the case, however. Besides the possibility of appealing the Georgia state case, the three men are also facing federal charges of civil rights violations in their pursuit and murder of Arbery. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-01-08. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese brands shine at CES 2022

Xinhua) 09:58, January 08, 2022

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese consumer electronics brands have won several top prizes at the ongoing 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), shining through the booming era of consumer electronics.

The 2021-2022 Global Top Brands (GTB) Awards Ceremony was held online Thursday during CES 2022, held in Las Vegas from Jan. 5 to 7. Six awards were announced, including top 15 Global Smartphone Brands, top 10 Global TV Brands, and International Innovation Enterprises Brand Award.

Chinese consumer electronics brands shone especially brightly in the fierce competition of GTB this year.

TCL NXTPAPER 10s won the "Annual Eye Care Technology Innovation Award," TCL OD Zero Mini LED 8K TV X925 PRO / TCL X12 8K QD-Mini LED TV won the "Mini LED Display Technology Innovation Award," BOE 15.6" FHD ADS Pro Oxide 480Hz won the "Display Innovation Gold Award," Changhong CHIQ Metaverse Q8R MaX won the "A lot &Display Technology Innovation Gold Award," Changhong RGB triple pure laser projector won the "Tricolor Laser Display Technology Innovation Gold Award," TCL NXTWEAR AIR, the smart glasses, won the "Annual Most Innovative Product Award," according to a release posted on the CES website.

The jury conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the participating brands from four dimensions, including market share, corporate strategy and development, brand awareness, product technology and innovation, according to the release.

"Chinese Consumer Electronics brands have undergone rigorous evaluation, competing with Consumer Electronics brands from all over the world, and stood out on the lists," said the release.

The awards highly recognized the revitalization of the Chinese consumer electronics brands, whose core technologies, product advantages and innovation capabilities are among the top in the world, leading the trend of the global consumer electronics industry, it said.

"The award-winning Chinese companies demonstrated that technologies are contributing to the multi-dimensional development of brands. This has proved that it is the path for development through continuous technological innovation to enrich product functions, expand existing product lines, and drive the diversified growth of brands," said Zhu Dongfang, president of Asia Digital Group.

Consumer electronics brands around the world are under great pressure in the shadow of the pandemic. Comprehensive innovation and brand diversification have become the main trend in the development of global consumer electronics brands.

Chinese consumer electronics companies have taken technology innovation to facilitate the diversified development of brands, leading to an overall increase in market share for the Chinese consumer electronics industry.

The CES 2022 kicked off in Las Vegas on Wednesday amid another surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world's premier tech show drew more than 2,300 exhibitors, including 800 startups, as well as hundreds of thought leaders.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a high school parking lot, gathering my bags to meet with a teacher, when I heard the announcement. Attention, staff and students, we are going into a hard lockdown.

I huddled down in my drivers seat as the sound of police sirens approached; the teacher and I exchanged texts telling each other to stay safe. When we finally received the all clear, I blotted the tear streaks from my cheeks, took a deep breath and proceeded to my next meeting.

Every school lockdown Ive participated in has left a queasy feeling in my stomach. This one, however, gutted me. It had been just over a week since yet another young man shot and killed his classmates, this time in Michigan. Even though teachers in that case had alerted the boys parents and administrators to his disturbing behaviors, he went on to murder four children.

So when I found myself in this most recent lockdown, my nerves, like those of educators around the country, were still raw. In a normal year, any threat of school violence is a heavy load for educators to bear. This year, it is just one more weight added to a mountain of stressors that teachers face.

Last year, while COVID-19 ripped through Arizona communities, our teachers completely reinvented their practice. They learned to teach virtually while providing endless tech support, caring for family members and battling illness. When they finally returned to the classroom, the to-do list awaiting them was staggering.

Teachers were expected to catch students up from a year of learning loss, address childrens social-emotional needs, and implement brand new intervention programs, all while forfeiting their planning time to cover for quarantined co-workers. They were asked to show patience as students struggled to reacclimate to in-person school, yet knew that their performance would be measured by their students academic progress.

Finally, while balancing all of this with COVID-19 mitigation efforts, teachers were reminded that at any moment a TikTok threat or child with a gun could shatter their sense of safety.

Its no wonder that 84% of teachers report that their job is more stressful now than before COVID hit. And yet, many teachers are still hanging in there. Data shows that fewer public-education professionals quit their jobs between April and August the past two years than during that same time immediately before the pandemic. Educators love their students, but in a year riddled with stress and punctuated by violence, they need our support.

Parents and caregivers, you provide a crucial bridge between your child and the school. You can monitor your childrens mental health and seek help when signs of depression or anxiety arise. If a teacher reaches out to discuss your child, engage in that dialogue. Teachers often have to use noncontract hours to contact families, so when they make the effort to call, its time to pay attention. Sadly, the most obvious measure also bears repeating: keep weapons secured from your children.

District administrators can significantly lighten the load for burned-out teachers. Many districts are using pandemic funds to purchase intervention programs, but ask yourselves whether teachers have time to learn, implement and analyze data from yet another program. If not, rethink whether new initiatives can be postponed a year. Keep expectations manageable, and teachers will have more capacity to fully show up for their students.

Lawmakers, your job is simple: Stop micromanaging how educators teach, blocking voter-approved taxes that support schools, and requiring endless high-stakes tests. Instead, work on funding the extra-curricular and academic programs that help students feel less isolated and more like part of a community.

Be brave enough to start discussions about how gun violence affects our children, and constituents will thank you for it.

By taking these steps, together we can help teachers not only survive this school year, but perhaps even thrive.

Heather Mace is a contributor to the Arizona Daily Star and a teacher mentor in Tucson.

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Oklahoma Attorney General John OConnor said America is in an identity crisis right now in which individual rights, a faith foundation, and capitalism and the free enterprise system are under attack.

As a nation, were looking at three big issues where America is trying to find itself, he said at Fridays Rotary Club of Sand Springs luncheon.

One, right now, is, are we moving from the rights belong with the individual to the rights belong with federal government. We need to very vigorously defend the rights and liberties belonging to we the people, not belonging to the federal government.

And the second thing is a godless America, OConnor said. I can tell you right now, theres no such thing as an ideal godless America.

America is not based on really majority vote laws, he said. America has at different times made colossal mistakes which have been voted on by the majority.

OConnor noted that at various times, a majority of the Supreme Court has ruled that Black people were property, that women were not capable of voting and that separate but equal universities were acceptable.

There have been times in America when majority vote has been dead wrong, he said. So our system has to be based on a deeper set of principles, and I submit to you that thats God the creator.

OConnor said a God-based country isnt one in which everybody is forced to believe the same thing. It means we acknowledge that theres a God who has values and endows us or imbues us with those values that are not granted to us by the government, They are granted to us by God.

The third big issue, he said, is whether the country will have a free enterprise system, a capitalism-based system, versus socialism.

Nowhere has communism-slash-socialism proven to be workable, he said. Theres no such thing as an effective, successful, ideal communism or socialism.

OConnor said the country needs to figure out where it stands on these issues but that from my standpoint, we need to stand very vigorously in favor of our individual rights and liberties, in favor of a God-based country,  (and) we need to keep our system free enterprise and not slide toward more government support.

And you all know there is a growing number of people who are on some type of a support chain, he said. And I think thats unfortunate, and they probably do, too.

Turning his attention to the Supreme Court and Fridays oral arguments on the Biden administrations COVID-19 vaccine mandates for private-sector employees and health-care workers, OConnor said it is sinister to force people to get a vaccine, but if they wont do it, then they lose their jobs.

He said 70 to 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and added that if they miss a paycheck or are out of work for a time, then their house payment, car payment or student loan payments are at risk.

He noted that the health-care industry was already understaffed before the pandemic but that now 10% to 40% of health-care workers are refusing to take the vaccine.

OConnor said he has been vaccinated and has no problem with the notion of a vaccine.

I just have a problem with the notion of it being forced upon by the federal government, he said.

OConnor, a Tulsa native who graduated from Bishop Kelley High School, is Oklahomas 19th attorney general, appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt last July.

He has practiced law in Oklahoma for more than 40 years, most recently in private practice with Hall Estill in Tulsa. He primarily has focused on civil litigation, including complex commercial insurance litigation.

OConnor has a bachelors degree in political science and public administration from Oklahoma State University, and he received his law degree from the University of Tulsa.

He and his wife, Lucia, have been married for 43 years. They have four children ages 29 to 39 and 10 grandchildren.

Reflecting on his six months on the job as attorney general, OConnor said: On so many issues, I feel like I was dropped between a cobra and a mongoose and told to just fight my way out.

The job is a mammoth job.

As attorney general, he has about 190 employees, about 95 of whom are lawyers.

OConnor said he was interested in the position because he wants to hand over an America thats in at least as good a shape as I inherited.

It would have been very easy for me to just continue to ride as a 40-year lawyer with established clients and a practice that I loved, but I had to really throw into the fight, he said. I could not just quietly ride into the sunset.

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Former Tulsa Police Officer Shannon Kepler was sentenced Friday to serve 25 years in federal prison, overruling requests that he be freed based on the amount of time he has already served for the 2014 killing of his daughters new boyfriend, Jeremey Lake.

During a hearing in Tulsa federal court, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell brushed aside the time-served request and opted to go with a prison term within federal sentencing guidelines.

Federal sentencing guidelines called for Kepler to serve 292 months (a little over 24 years) to 365 months (about 30 years) in prison after a jury in April found him guilty on a murder-related charge.

Prosecutors tried Kepler five times in connection with Lakes death. Three state trials ended in hung juries before a fourth state court jury found him guilty of manslaughter. That conviction was later overturned on jurisdictional grounds, prompting the federal prosecution.

Frizzell said little after pronouncing judgment on Kepler, other than to agree with a prosecutor who said there were no winners in the case. In addition to the prison time and three years of supervised release, Frizzell ordered Kepler to pay for a headstone for Lakes grave at his fathers request.

A federal jury found Kepler guilty in April on two of three felony charges, acquitting him of first-degree murder but convicting him on one count of using a firearm while committing second-degree murder and one count of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with shots fired at another person during the encounter with Lake.

Frizzell threw out the assault conviction after the trial.

Nineteen-year-old Jeremey Lake died almost immediately after Shannon Kepler gunned him down in the street in 2014, U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in a statement after Fridays sentencing.

Kepler, at the time, was sworn to uphold the law but instead made a series of decisions that led to the young mans murder. Todays 25-year sentence provides a measure of justice to Mr. Lakes family, though I know their healing continues. It also serves as a reminder that the U.S. Attorneys Office and our law enforcement partners will hold individuals accountable for acts of violence in our community.

The 2017 state trial conviction for heat-of-passion manslaughter and 15-year prison term Kepler received in Tulsa County District Court were overturned after he successfully argued that the state didnt have the jurisdiction to prosecute him under the U.S. Supreme Courts July 2020 ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma.

That ruling determined that Congress had never disestablished the Muscogee Nation reservation, leaving much of Tulsa within the jurisdiction of federal or tribal officials when dealing with major crimes that involve Native Americans.

The area where Lake was shot to death just northwest of downtown Tulsa is within what is now recognized as the Muscogee Nation reservation, and Kepler is a member of the Muscogee Nation.

Prosecutors contended Kepler fatally shot an unarmed Lake twice after the two met briefly in a street near where he and Keplers daughter, Lisa Kepler, were staying.

Kepler, now 61, claimed he was looking for his daughter at the time when he encountered her with Lake, 19. He claimed that Lake brandished a gun just before Kepler shot him.

No gun was found on or near Lake following the shooting, and no witness other than Kepler claimed to have seen Lake armed before the encounter.

About a week earlier, Shannon Kepler had dropped Lisa Kepler, then 18, at a downtown homeless shelter with no food, money, cellphone or clothes other than what she was wearing at the time, all as punishment for what she said at the time were poor life decisions.

Shortly afterward, Lisa Kepler met Lake, who offered to let her live at his aunts home with him.

That is where Shannon Kepler encountered the two after looking up Lakes address on police computers.

Kepler fled after shooting Lake but later surrendered to authorities.

Much of Fridays hearing was spent on two factors that determined Keplers recommended sentencing range.

Prosecutors on Friday agreed with a U.S. Probation Office presentencing report that said Keplers use of police resources to determine where Lake lived and his decision to testify that he shot in self-defense were factors that warranted a heightened sentence because he violated a position of trust and he obstructed justice.

A government sentencing memo co-authored by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Lenhardt disputed Keplers claims that his trial testimony was not necessarily false and therefore could not constitute obstruction of justice.

The jury was instructed that they absolutely could not convict Kepler of intentional murder if he was acting in self-defense, the government stated.

Kepler, in court papers filed on his behalf, argued that his testimony was instrumental in gaining an acquittal on the first-degree murder count.

Frizzell sided with the government that using police resources to determine where Lake lived increased his sentencing range, but he disagreed that Keplers decision to testify in his own defense constituted obstruction of justice.

Frizzell also overruled a request that Kepler be sentenced to time already served.

Stan Monroe, Keplers attorney in the federal trial, listed reasons for releasing Kepler based on the time he has already served in relation to the crime.

Monroe noted that the 24-year veteran of the Tulsa police force had an impeccable work record prior to the killing.

Monroe also wrote in the sentencing memo that Kepler has suffered stress and anxiety from undergoing four state trials and one federal trial, while also being held in solitary confinement since being found guilty to protect him from other inmates due to his law enforcement background.

Kepler was free on bond prior to being convicted.

During the hearing, Kepler said he regretted that Lake lost his life.

Kepler said if he could go back in time and change things, he would in a New York minute.

He thanked his family for sticking by him during the trial and said he prayed every day to God for both his family and Lakes family.

Government attorneys, meanwhile, urged Frizzell to sentence Kepler within the guideline range of 24 to 30 years in prison.

In the Governments view, the defendants criminal history, and much more importantly the nature and circumstances of the offense, are properly reflected in the advisory sentencing guideline range, and only a sentence within the advisory sentencing guideline range will accomplish all of the goals of sentencing, government prosecutors wrote.

A handful of victims impact statements, including one from Lakes father, were presented during the hearing.

Carl Morris told the judge that he was deeply depressed after his son was killed.

The last thing he ever said to me was, I love you, Dad, Morris said. I will never get to hear him say that again.

I feel like there is a hole in my life that can never be filled.

Morris asked that Kepler be ordered to pay for a headstone for his sons grave, which is currently bare.

He asked that Frizzell sentence Kepler to either life in prison or death, although the latter was not an option for the judge.

I humbly ask that you make an example out of him, Morris said.

Keplers attorney indicated during the sentencing hearing that his client planned to file an appeal in his case.

Featured April 2021 video: A fifth trial begins for former Tulsa Police Officer Shannon Kepler

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As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether to revisit its landmark McGirt ruling, new Oklahoma data indicates that the decision has caused the release of 235 inmates from prison, about a quarter of whom were released directly to the street with no federal or tribal charges filed, according to state records.

The rest, more than 71%, were charged either in federal or tribal court or held on unrelated charges.

Of the 68 released to the street, a little more than half were serving nonviolent or drug-related charges, while the rest were in prison for violent and/or sexually related offenses.

The state Department of Corrections released the data in response to an Open Records Act request from the Tulsa World.

Meanwhile, a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether to revisit its landmark ruling could come as early as Monday.

The state of Oklahoma and others have filed dozens of challenges to the McGirt ruling with the Supreme Court.

The justices were expected to discuss the review requests Friday at a closed-door conference, with the results released as early as Monday.

The high court could decide on one of three options: take the cases, reject the appeals or postpone a decision.

The state of Oklahoma is seeking to overturn the McGirt decision entirely or obtain a ruling that would permit state prosecutors to have concurrent jurisdiction in crimes involving non-Native defendants when they are suspected of victimizing Native Americans and the crime occurs on a reservation.

Gov. Kevin Stitt has called the fallout from McGirt the most pressing issue for the state of Oklahoma. Attorneys for the state wrote in a petition that no other decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has had a more immediate and destabilizing effect on life in an American State.

However, tribes and others have mostly discounted those claims.

A friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association in another McGirt-related case dismissed claims by the state that McGirt has caused chaos in state jurisprudence.

The reality is tribal courts and federal courts in Oklahoma have already adjusted to the consequences of McGirt, including handling cases vacated on post-conviction appeal, the brief states.

The legal association noted that fewer inmates than expected were released to the street as a result of McGirt.

Indeed, the majority of the inmates who saw their state convictions overturned have been prosecuted in federal or tribal courts, according to DOC records.

Three cases highlighted

Corrections Department records supplied to the Tulsa World indicate that those inmates released to the street include two convicted of murder and one convicted of five counts of manslaughter.

Kimberly Graham, convicted of five counts of manslaughter linked to a 2007 hit-and-run crash in Tulsa, is one of those released to the street due to McGirt, according to DOC records.

However, Muscogee Nation online court records indicate that the tribe picked up Grahams case, charging her April 27 with five counts of homicide and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.

Graham, 51, was serving a combined 107-year sentence on the state convictions before they were voided due to McGirt.

And while DOC records indicate that convicted murderer Charles Cooper was released to the street May 15 under McGirt, court records indicate that he was remanded to federal custody April 19 after a grand jury named him in a five-count indictment that included first-degree murder in Indian Country linked to the 2016 Pontotoc County death and sexual assault of Cindy Allen.

No records indicate whether overturned convictions against a third inmate, Summer Shaw, were picked up by tribal or federal officials.

Shaw was serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted in 2015 of second-degree murder linked to the meth overdose death of a cellmate.

Limited options for dismissed cases

While state and local officials complain that the McGirt ruling has caused chaos in the state justice system, local tribes affected by the ruling have beefed up their justice systems to handle the increased workload.

Officials with four of the Five Tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Muscogee Nations, have combined to file nearly 10,000 court cases since McGirt v. Oklahoma was decided in July 2020, according to a poll by the Tulsa World last week.

However, not all dismissed cases are eligible to be picked up by federal or tribal prosecutors.

Tribal courts dont have jurisdiction in cases where the suspect is nontribal, even if the crime occurred within a tribal reservation. Exceptions to that rule are those involving domestic-related cases.

Federal courts are generally limited to a five-year statute of limitations for most felonies, with exceptions permitted in cases involving juvenile victims.

Oklahoma officials have argued for concurrent jurisdiction so the state can retain cases like that of Shaynna Sims, who was convicted and sentenced to state prison in connection with the desecration of a corpse and whose conviction was overturned due to McGirt.

Sims cannot be charged by tribal officials due to her non-Native status, and the statute of limitations has expired on any federal crime with which she could have been charged.

Getting ahead of this

The post-McGirt changes have Kenny Wright, the district attorney serving Ottawa and Delaware counties, spreading the word to tribal members on how not to be a crime victim.

Wright has told civic groups that tribal members are subject to being crime victims by non-tribal members when the latter know they are unlikely to face any consequences for their actions.

Were starting to see targeting of some of our Native American citizens by non-Native criminal organizations, Wright said, mentioning the Irish Mob gang as an example.

We seem to be running into cases where it appears Natives were intentionally targeted because of their Native status, Wright said.

He described a scenario where a non-Native could target a Native home, knowing the state and tribal government couldnt prosecute the case due to McGirt and federal law, while federal prosecutors dont have the resources to prosecute the case.

What I was explaining to these folks was, if you do have tribal tags on your car, park your car in a way those tags cant be seen from the street, Wright said.

The district attorney acknowledged that he has seen not more than a few cases like he has described, but he said he is just trying to get ahead of this a little bit.

Asked to comment on Wrights comments, a Cherokee Nation spokeswoman simply called the allegations unfounded.

Federal officials, for their part, have filed a handful of misdemeanor cases. Others may have been opened and not charged yet, a spokeswoman said.

While the U.S. Attorneys Office is currently prioritizing felony prosecutions, this office can open cases for misdemeanor crimes, which are under $1,000, for non-Indian suspects victimizing Indian persons when evidence supports those charges, said Lennea Montandon, spokesperson for the Tulsa U.S. Attorneys Office. Our office refers misdemeanor thefts committed by Indian persons to the Tribes.

Featured video: Staff Writer Curtis Killmans most memorable stories of 2020

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Religious conservatives face a soul-testing challenge: how to respond to impending initiatives, policies and laws designed to stop the threat of climate change, the more radical of which would threaten the well-being of those we profess to defend first, last and always  the least of these.

Many faithful believers remain skeptical of planetary heating and the motives of its advocates. I wish I could persuade them of this threat. But the reality is that new measures to save Earth are now inevitable, and, absent our influence, some are likely to leave ordinary folk in a lurch.

Our response as believers must first, last and always be to serve Him and His; whether we all agree about global warming is increasingly irrelevant.

We need to curb carbon dioxide emissions but in a way that protects the most vulnerable. The danger is that some proposed policies would save Earth by any means necessary.

For example, congressional progressives considered implementing a universal tax on all forms of energy. Such a tax would pose little more than an inconvenience to the affluent, but for most people gas over $6 a gallon and over $1,000 for monthly heating/air conditioning bills would be a real hardship. Such a disparate impact would further damage an already profoundly frayed social trust.

It is imperative that traditionalists engage with concerned secularists and religious progressives to advance programs addressing the threat of warming that privileges the interests of the most vulnerable.

First, we need to persuade leaders, especially fellow conservatives, of the importance of energy pricing based on a fee-and-dividend approach, one that reduces carbon emissions while also protecting the vulnerable by rebating most or all of such a fee to families and individuals.

Such a program, first advanced by James Hansen, the godfather of global warming research and advocacy, has already been successfully implemented in Canada. A good way to start is by joining the local chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, a trusted nonideological source for all things climate change.

Next, I urge participation in the following:

Convince other religious conservatives to get involved to protect the least of these regardless of personal beliefs about whether global warming is real;

Influence policy makers to support nuclear power along with new technologies like carbon-capture as well as forms of geo-engineering, which might slow global warming if all other measures fail;

Help people adapt to the new policies and warming climate itself. For example, support subsidies for people who are disadvantaged so they can buy electric cars, use public transportation, retrofit their homes and get training for new post-fossil fuel jobs. Some of this can be undertaken individually or in small groups. Or small local collectives could help replace gas-guzzlers with reliable used high-efficiency cars and small trucks at a discount, or even free; and

Support the resettlement of domestic and foreign climate refugees most vulnerable to the effects of planetary warming, such as from areas with rising sea levels, destructive storms and excessive heat.

What then shall we do? (Luke 3:10) I fear that a culture in which freedom is defined as unfettered autonomous choice has rubbed off on everyone, including religious traditionalists.

Orthodox belief begins with knowing and freely accepting that we do not own ourselves. Yet many of us who presume to condemn pro-choice believers for their invocation of bodily autonomy now use the same idea in defense of the same thing, so-called personal (lifestyle) freedom.

We must resist this impulse. Of course our planet demands our care, as does the entire created order, but some looming new climate-change initiatives will likely cause collateral damage to vulnerable people. We are called to actively support policies to protect the least of these as we adapt to the warmer new world we face.

Jim Norwine is Texas A&M University System regents professor emeritus of geography. His most recent book is A World After Climate Change and Culture-Shift. He and his wife of 57 years, Lottie (Kissel) Norwine, live in Oologah.

Featured video: What are we going to do about climate change?

Jim Norwine is Texas A&M University System regents professor emeritus of geography. His most recent book is A World After Climate Change and Culture-Shift. He and his wife of 57 years, Lottie (Kissel) Norwine, live in Oologah. <&rdpEm>Jim Norwine is Texas A&M University System Regents Professor Emeritus of Geography. His most recent book is A World After Climate Change and Culture-Shift. He and his wife of 56 years, Lottie (Kissel) Norwine, live in Oologah.</&rdpEm>

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The Department of Health of Hai Phong City in northern Vietnam has imposed two administrative fines totaling VND34 million (US$1,500) on an international hospital for declining to serve a pregnant woman with COVID-19.

Upon noticing information shared widely on Facebook, the local health departments inspectors managed to find out that Green Hospital in Le Chan District had rejected the admission of H.T.H. after testing the 29-year-old resident twice, using the rapid test method, with both results returning positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

H.s family had paid a deposit in preparation for her labor before taking her to the hospital for a general examination at around 9:00 am on Wednesday.

After H. tested positive for the coronavirus upon her arrival, the hospital staff requested the family to use their own vehicle to transport the pregnant woman to another infirmary.

We asked the hospital for a vehicle to take my wife to another hospital, but the medical staff refused, saying that they had no car available for us. So, I had to drive her to another facility by myself, said H.s husband.

Meanwhile, Green Hospital explained that as H. neither had signs of labor nor needed any emergency medical treatment, the receptionists recommended her family a number of other medical facilities that are capable of handling COVID-19 infection cases with pregnancy.

The hospital staff also discussed with H.s family over the use of the 115 emergency medical response service to transport the woman to the recommended hospital, but the family decided to go there by their own vehicle, according to Green Hospitals report.

After considering reports from both sides, the Hai Phong Department of Health decided to fine Green International Hospital JSC, which operates Green Hospital, VND14 million ($617) for its failure to notify the competent health authority when detecting a person with COVID-19.

In addition, the firm was slapped with another penalty worth VND20 million ($881) for letting a virus carrier travel by a personal vehicle.

The management board of Green Hospital said that they have seriously learned from the mistakes, especially in responding to COVID-19 infections.

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Police are hunting for an armed man who robbed a reportedly large amount of cash from a bank branch in the northern Vietnamese city of Hai Phong City on Friday.

A masked man in a dark color outfit, with a backpack and a cap, entered the Dinh Vu branch of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) in the citys Hai An District at around 3:20 pm on Friday, local police reported.

The man suddenly pulled out a handgun, pointed it first at the branchs guard and then at other staff.

He quickly approached a female employee at a transaction counter and forced her to give money to him.

After filling up his backpack with cash, the man fired a shot at the ceiling to threaten people before getting out, VTC News reported.

He then robbed a motorbike from a security man of the venue and escaped.

All the developments of the robbery were recorded in the bank branchs security camera.

There were no casualties reported.

Police later found the motorbike left by the robber at a location in Trang Cat Ward in the same district.

Around VND3 billion (US$132,200) had been taken away, Zing News cited a local police source as saying on Saturday.

We are currently extracting images from the camera system and are coordinating to hunt for the robber, said a high-ranking official of the citys Criminal Police Department.

Verification is underway to determine exactly how much money had been robbed, he said.

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Six out of the eleven imported patients of the coronavirus Omicron variant in Vietnams Ho Chi Minh City have been discharged from hospital after several days of treatment, local health authorities reported.

These discharged patients were either asymptomatic or with very mild symptoms, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, office chief of the citys Department of Health, said at a press briefing on Friday.

The remaining five patients continued their treatment at Field Hospital No. 12 in Thu Duc City, part of Ho Chi Minh City.

The southern city recorded the first Omicron cases in five people who entered Vietnam through Tan Son Nhat International Airport on their flights from December 21 to 25.

The five people, including a Turkish woman and four Vietnamese, were confirmed to contract the variant via genome sequencing on December 31, 2021 but they were all retested negative one day later.

The sixth infection case was documented on January 3 in a Taiwanese flight attendant.

Nationwide, a total of 30 imported Omicron cases have been recorded, including 11 in the city, 14 in Quang Nam, two in Thanh Hoa, and one each in Hai Duong, Hai Phong, and Hanoi.

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 has now been reported by over 110 countries and territories, with health experts stating it appears to be more contagious but less virulent than previous strains.

As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to surge across the world, it is crucial that more is done to help all countries receive lifesaving coronavirus jabs as quickly as possible, the WHO said on Tuesday.

Ho Chi Minh City, with some nine million inhabitants, had administered nearly 8.11 million first vaccine shots and some 7.25 million second jabs to its adult population as of Friday, the national COVID-19 vaccination portal reported.

Local health authorities expect to cover the third vaccine doses, including booster shots and additional primary jabs, to all people aged 18 and older by January 30, according to Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) newspaper.

The city has recently seen its daily COVID-19 cases and deaths falling remarkably, to 489 and 20, respectively, on Friday, compared to the 965 and 57 a month earlier, the Ministry of Healths data shows.

However, the southern economic hub remains the locality suffering most from by COVID-19 in Vietnam, with 508,255 infections and 19,693 fatalities documented since the pandemic erupted in the Southeast Asian country in early 2020.

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Following strict COVID-19 guidelines, more than 14 statewide and local Democratic candidates gathered in Tyler on Saturday for a candidate caravan at Liberty Baptist Church.

N-95 masks were required, as well as proof of vaccination, to enter.

Among those in attendance were two of the four Democrat candidates running for Louis Gohmert's congressional District 1 seat, Jrmarr Jefferson and Gavin Dass. Other Democrats on the ballot for Gohmert's seat include Victor Dunn and Stephen Kocen.

Republican candidates for Gohmert's seat will be in Smith County on Thursday for a Congressional District 1 candidate forum hosted by Grassroots America. Aditya Atholi, Joe McDaniel, Nathaniel Moran, John Porro are set to be at the forum. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Conference Center.

Also in attendance on Saturday were numerous Smith County, Texas House and statewide candidates. View a list of all candidates in the upcoming primaries here.

The Smith County Republican Party is hosting a Meet the Candidates night on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Montez Creekside.

Early voting in the primary elections begins Feb. 14 and end Feb. 25. Election Day is March 1. Early voting in the May general election, which includes two countywide constitutional amendments, begins April 25 and ends May 3. Election Day is May 7.

Early voting for the runoff election, which includes precinct chair races, begins May 16 and ends May 20. Election Day is May 24. Early voting for the Gubernatorial election begins Oct. 24 and ends Nov. 4. Election Day is Nov. 8.

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People take part in rally outside New York's Stonewall Inn in 2017. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

Cristina Nichole Iglesias may become the first person to receive gender-affirming surgery while in federal custody.

Iglesias, who has been in custody for 27 years, unsuccessfully petitioned the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to approve her gender-affirming surgery in 2016.

A federal judge ordered the bureau to reevaluate her case and urged them to schedule the surgery.

Cristina Nichole Iglesias, a prisoner at Federal Medical Center Carswell, may be the first inmate to receive gender-affirming surgery in federal prison.

Iglesias, who is serving a 20-year sentence at the North Texas facility for sending death threats to the British government when she was 19, unsuccessfully petitioned the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to approve her gender-affirming surgery in 2016.

The Dallas Morning News reported federal judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel reopened Iglesias' case on December 27, ordering the BOP to revisit the matter again before January 24.

"Iglesias's mental health has severely deteriorated because of the trauma she has experienced from being denied necessary treatment for her gender dysphoria and harassment at male facilities," Rosenstengel wrote in her order.

In her order, Rosenstengel said that the BOP should approve and schedule Iglesias' surgery as soon as possible in order for it to be performed before her release date in December 2022.

The ACLU stated Iglesias was diagnosed with "gender-identity disorder"  now known as gender dysphoria  in 1994. While the BOP is aware of Iglesias' diagnosis, the ACLU stated Iglesias has not been able to receive medical treatment to help manage her dysphoria during the 27 years she's been in federal custody.

According to the BOP, gender-affirming care is offered in federal facilities based on "comprehensive and individualized assessments."

"These accommodations can include gender-affirming surgical referral when deemed appropriate," BOP Public Information Officer Scott Taylor said in a statement.

Story continues

The BOP did not consider "gender confirmation surgery (GCS)" medically necessary for trans inmates until October 2021, according to the order filed December 27, 2021.

According to the ACLU, there are currently 1,200 transgender prisoners in federal custody, none of whom have received gender-affirming surgeries during their sentences. If approved for the procedure, Iglesias will become the first federal prisoner to receive gender-affirming surgery.

"Cristina has fought for years to get the treatment the Constitution requires," John Knight, Iglesias' attorney and representative of the ACLU of Illinois, said in a statement. "The Court's order removes the unnecessary hurdles and delays BOP has repeatedly constructed to prevent her from getting the care that she urgently needs."

Read the original article on Insider
Wacos new theme song may borrow a line from country crooner Roger Miller, whose hit King of the Road opens with the words Trailer for sale or rent.

Two companies will bring their trailer-building acts to Waco, hiring about 170 between them. One, Alcom LLC, will fill the former Manitou building on Imperial Drive that went vacant in 2020, eliminating about 150 jobs.

The other, Wisconsin-based Stoughton Trailers, plans to start making chassis used to haul shipping containers later this year, having acquired land on Jewell Drive. Waco real estate agent Gregg Glime brokered the sale, and said plant construction has started.

The facility will employ about 125 and is expected to start production in just a few months, according to a company press release.

The new Waco facility and Stoughton production line will help fulfill our customer production commitments for 2022 and beyond, President and CEO Bob Wahlin said in the press release. By the end of 2022, the company will have invested $25 million expanding our chassis production capacity. These investments would not have been possible without the remedial relief provided by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on chassis from China.

Stoughton also installed a second chassis production line at its facility in Wisconsin.

Freightwaves.com, a trade magazine covering the transportation industry, reported the U.S. Department of Commerce last year levied $221 million in duties on several Chinese companies found to have marketed trailers in the United States at prices below cost, a tactic known as dumping.

The magazine said the department took action following an investigation by the International Trade Council that U.S. manufacturers had been materially injured. It said China faces triple-digit duties the next five years.

With Waco online and additional capacity in Wisconsin, Stoughton should be making chassis at a rate of 20,000 to 25,000 per year by September.

The Waco location gives Stoughton easy access to seaports, railyards and customers in the southern United States, according to the press release.

Stoughton, which is family owned, designs, manufacturers and markets semi-trailers for over-the-road and agricultural use.

Not far away from the location of Stoughtons new facility, Alcom LLC, which produces lines of aluminum trailers sold throughout the United States and in China, India and Kuwait, has signed a lease on the former Manitou building at 6401 Imperial Drive. There it will employ about 45 people, said Glime, who brokered the deal with colleague Bland Cromwell.

Alcom officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

Alcom LLC dates to 2006 and has grown to include manufacturing facilities in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Bonner, Montana; Winslow, Maine; Deland, Florida; and now Waco. A timeline on its website shows it launched the E-Z Hauler line in 2006, introduced an all-aluminum livestock trailer chassis in 2015, and once bought an ice rink in Maine that became a welding shop.

It entered into an agreement with Polaris Industries to produce trailers under the Polaris and Victory brands, according to that timeline.

Aspen Custom Trailers has opened its 58,000-square-foot plant on Texas Central Parkway. The company based in Alberta, Canada, announced in 2020 it had chosen Waco for its first greenfield operation in the United States.

Aspen said it would employ 80 within a few years.

Though not in the trailer business, Emerald Transformer announced this week it will place a factory on five acres at 5652 North State Highway 6.

Emerald Transformer is very excited to be expanding our presence in Texas energy market, CEO Stuart Prior said in a press release. This will give us an opportunity to better serve our large customer base from a central location within the state. Adding Texas manufacturing capabilities to our national footprint will strengthen our position as the industry leader in the transformer services sector.

Emerald is based in McKinney, with eight locations around the country.

The company initially will need 50 to 75 employees for its Waco operation, which will focus on repairing and servicing transformers in the Texas market.

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Residents of a Waco scarred by a destructive tornado generations ago are providing financial help to Kentuckians recovering from several deadly tornadoes that hit last month, an act Waco Mayor Dillon Meek said speaks to the Waco communitys generosity.

Meek announced this week that $20,772.54 collected by the Waco Foundation will be sent to the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear created the fund to funnel donations aimed at recovery from the storms that hit western Kentucky on Dec. 10, killing 77 people and injuring more than 120. That relief fund has raised $1.3 million since its creation.

Meek said the idea to help the Kentucky communities leveled by the tornadoes came to him in the days after the nighttime storms ripped trails through several Kentucky counties. Wacos past has its own contact with a deadly tornado, the May 11, 1953, tornado that killed 114 people as it smashed buildings across several city blocks.

Meek contacted Waco Foundation Executive Director Ashley Allison and spokesperson Natalie Kelinske about ways the foundation could assist in receiving local donations, then forwarding them to a proper relief organization.

Kelinske said the foundation had created special accounts for disaster relief in the past, notably for the 2013 West Fertilizer Co. explosion and last Februarys paralyzing winter weather, but the one for Kentucky tornado relief was its first to address an out-of-county disaster.

Meek said no city funds went toward the Kentucky tornado relief, only money contributed by private individuals and organizations. Once the account was established, Meek spread word about it through his social media accounts, as did Waco businesswoman Joanna Gaines.

Before it closed Dec. 31, the account had received donations from more than 70 individuals, churches and organizations, a response that pleased both Meek and Kelinske, though not necessarily a surprise.

I think its something meaningful when, despite our own needs here, we give to others in need, Meek said. I wasnt surprised at all. I think its the character of Waco. Its in the DNA of Wacoans to be generous.

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In a contentious hearing Friday, a federal appeals court indicated it is likely to send Texas restrictive abortion law to the state supreme court, a move that could add months or longer before the case is resolved.

Since Sept. 1, abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy have been banned in Texas through a novel law that empowers private citizens to sue anyone who aids or abets in a prohibited procedure. The law explicitly removes enforcement authority from state officials, making it extremely difficult to challenge in court.

In December, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out most challenges to the law and left only state medical licensing officials as possible lawsuit targets because they can revoke a doctor, nurse or pharmacists license if they violated the law.

On Friday, a three-judge panel from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about where the case goes next. Judges Edith H. Jones and Stuart Kyle Duncan indicated they believe there are state law questions that must first be resolved by the Texas Supreme Court, while Judge Stephen A. Higginson strongly disagreed, arguing the case should be remanded to federal district court.

In a move that surprised court watchers, Jones also raised the idea of taking no action on the case for months, until the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on a Mississippi abortion case that could overturn the constitutional protection for the procedure.

Lawyers for the abortion providers believe the federal district court route is the best hope to getting the law, originally passed as Senate Bill 8, struck down. If the case is sent to the Texas Supreme Court, it could take months to return to the federal level, leaving the law in effect.

This is exactly what abortion opponents are hoping for.

While all of these complicated legal questions are untangled, we already every day have our victory, said John Seago, legislative director for Texas Right to Life. Courts have allowed this law to stay in effect.

Fridays hearing

The odds were clear even before the judges gaveled in on Friday morning. When the court agreed to take up the case, Higginson, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011, wrote a scathing dissent arguing that there was no reason for the 5th Circuit to even hear the case and should instead send it directly down to the district court.

Lawyers for the abortion providers agreed and even filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to intervene. The Supreme Court has taken no action on that motion.

At the hearing, Higginson argued that it was an exceptional step for the 5th Circuit to certify, or send, a case to the Texas Supreme Court after the U.S. Supreme Court had already weighed in. He challenged the lawyer for the state of Texas to provide an example of a time when that had happened before, which she could not do.

Houston appellate lawyer Raffi Melkonian routinely practices before the 5th Circuit and listened to Fridays hearing. He agreed that it was atypical to get to this stage before certifying to the state level.

Certifying isnt weird. Doing it later on in a case isnt weird. None of that is weird, he said. Whats weird is the [U.S.] Supreme Court issued a ruling. And now the 5th Circuit is considering certifying to the state court.

But Jones argued that it was a necessary step because state courts ultimately have the authority to decide state law, and the judges would have egg on our faces if the Texas Supreme Court eventually disagrees with their ruling.

Duncan also raised the question of whether this challenge was actually all that important. At this point, the case is only about whether medical licensing officials can discipline medical providers who violate the abortion law. An injunction in this case would do nothing to change the crux of this law, which allows for countless citizen lawsuits of at least $10,000 against abortion providers.

The principal injury that youre seeking to redress here is that the threat of [Senate Bill 8] lawsuits puts a chill on your clients provision of abortion services, said Duncan. So how would an injunction against these licensing officials redress that at all?

Marc Hearron, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, challenged whether that was the question the 5th Circuit was called to address, but ultimately said it would lessen the burden upon medical providers if their licenses were secure. In an interview after the hearing, Hearron acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court had gutted their case.

Regardless of what happens today, the fact of the matter is that any relief that may or may not eventually come in this case would be against these [medical licensing] officials and would not block the vigilante lawsuits, he said.

Next steps

The three-judge panel will now consider whether to send the case to the Texas Supreme Court. State supreme courts do not have to take up cases that are certified to them by federal courts, but Melkonian said its extremely likely that Texas will.

The Texas Supreme Court invariably accepts cases now, he said. That wasnt always the case in the 80s or 90s, and it contrasts with other [states] in the 5th Circuit, but its clearly evident that they accept every case.

There is still a pending motion before the U.S. Supreme Court, filed by lawyers for the abortion providers, asking for the case to be sent to district court.

If they certify this case to the Texas Supreme Court, that petition becomes all the more important, said Hearron in an interview after the hearing. The Supreme Court treated this whole case with expedition, and Chief Justice [John] Roberts said the district court ought to enter appropriate relief without delay...This is creating more delay, which is the overall strategy.

Its hard to say what the Texas Supreme Court could do with the case, but abortion providers worry its a process that could extend the legal limbo they now find themselves in. It also gives state legislators an opportunity to revise the law in a way that explicitly removes medical licensing officials from potential challenge, as Seago said they plan to do.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, the founder and CEO of Whole Womans Health, said this delay is harming pregnant patients in Texas who cannot access abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, a point at which many dont even know they are pregnant.

And it puts providers in a terrible position to deny care patients deserve, that were fully trained to provide, she said. Its us that are looking these folks in the eye and saying no. Lawmakers arent seeing the impact this is having on real people.

While it seems likely that the 5th Circuit will rule to send the case to the Texas Supreme Court, Jones did raise another option that would be no better for abortion providers. She asked whether the court should wait to rule on this case until the U.S. Supreme Court had weighed in on Dobbs v. Jackson, another abortion case on their docket.

The high court heard arguments in Dobbs, which concerns a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi, in December. Those arguments indicated that there may be enough support on the court to significantly weaken or completely overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established a constitutional protection for abortion.

I didnt expect her to say that, said Melkonian. I didnt think it was an impossible result. I was just surprised to hear it raised explicitly as a suggestion.
The headline you never thought youd read said it all: Jimmy Carter: I Fear for Our Democracy.

The 97-year-old former president has set the gold standard for post-presidencies, creating a pro-democracy foundation and traveling to dozens of countries over the years to monitor elections and try to ensure that they were free and fair  like Americas  and unhindered by strongman politicians who seek nothing more than to grow their own power.

Yet there he was in a New York Times op-ed, lamenting the state of his own countrys democracy, on the eve of the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection incited by one of his successors, a wannabe strongman who wouldnt accept defeat.

Carter didnt name Donald Trump, though it seems high time that he and the three other former presidents drop their tradition-bound silence about Trumps conduct and take a united, bipartisan stand explicitly denouncing Trump for the threat he poses to American democracy. Carter, instead, wrote of unscrupulous politicians who are promoters of the lie that the election was stolen.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, likewise, did not name Trump on Wednesday in a televised speech when he laid out the work of Justice Department over the last year in arresting and criminally charging 725 insurrectionists, tacitly responding to complaints that the department is focused too much on prosecuting the small-fry rioters rather than targeting the big-fish coup plotters, including the insurrectionist in chief.

Garland plainly was referencing Trump and his circle when he said that the cases to date are providing the evidentiary foundation for prosecutions of higher-ups. He committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law.

Trump must be held accountable, politically and legally. But its not for Garland, who is intent on restoring the departments nonpartisan independence after four years in which Trump used it as his personal law firm, to name the former president until he has an actual, winnable legal case against him. Americans like their gratification served up instantly but justice, and the rule of law, doesnt work that way.

Nor should Joe Biden, as president of the United States, have to take the lead in holding Trump politically accountable. In normal times, that work would be bipartisan in Congress. Yet after a year in which nearly all Republicans have refused to join Democrats in either impeaching or investigating the former president, Biden stepped up on Thursday with a forcefully delivered speech in the Capitols Statuary Hall marking the anniversary of the insurrection Trump incited.

Biden called Jan. 6 a day of remembrance  which is right for the gravity of the threat we still face.

The president also didnt name Trump, but instead referred to him 16 times as the former president, including in a way sure to get under Trumps skin: Hes not just a former president. Hes a defeated former president.

Not only is Trump a loser, Biden said, he rallied a mob and then the commander in chief did nothing as the citadel of democracy came under attack  sitting in the private dining room off the Oval Office in the White House, watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours.

Biden also justifiably mocked Trump and his enablers for rejecting the 2020 presidential election result yet accepting Republican victories in votes for governors, U.S. senators and especially House members on the same ballot, the same day, cast by the same voters.

This speech was unprecedented  never has an American president had to indict his predecessor for refusing to accept the will of the people. But it had to be delivered; the danger is if we become accustomed to this destruction of political norms.

For Biden, the address certainly was a departure after a year in which hed dismissed the former guy as not worth his attention, reflecting the Trump fatigue of many Americans among the 81.3 million who voted against the former president.

Yet Biden, like most of us, never expected that Trumps lies would become truth for the overwhelming share of Republicans and metastasize into justifications for state and local partisans to pass laws and make appointments that could subvert future elections.

Before, during and after Bidens speech, Trump issued four statements doubling down on his lies, including one hes lately hammered on: The Big Lie was the Election itself. Biden addressed that doozy explicitly  Can you think of a more twisted way to look at this country?  and added, Heres the truth: The election of 2020 was the greatest demonstration of democracy in the history of this country.

Dont believe Biden? Ask the Trump administration officials who declared the 2020 election the most secure in American history.

Unless Trump is held accountable, he and his followers will have license to continue their anti-democratic offensive. Democrats and a Democratic administration cannot do it alone, along with the very few Republicans willing to commit career suicide.

Voters also have a responsibility: Research the candidates on your ballots, whether theyre running for county clerk or Congress. Determine whether theyve ever denied or questioned Trumps defeat. If they have, vote against them.

Vote like our democracy depends on it. Because it does.

Jackie Calmes is a columnist for The Los Angeles Times.
Dont Look Up, Adam McKays dark comedy released on Netflix just before Christmas, has gotten an enormous amount of attention, despite the fact most film critics tend to agree it doesnt hold together too well artistically, even as some welcome it for its propagandistic value.

As youd expect from the creator of Step Brothers and Talladega Nights, nothing about the film is subtle. A giant asteroid is barreling toward Earth, and both the media and Washington are incapable of taking the threat seriously. McKay and the story co-creator, David Sirota, have been very clear about what theyre up to. Clearly, McKay tells GQ, the movie is an analogy or an allegory for the climate crisis.

After the Netflix release, McKay took to Twitter: Loving all the heated debate about our movie. But if you dont have at least a small ember of anxiety about the climate collapsing (or the US teetering) Im not sure Dont Look Up makes any sense. Its like a robot viewing a love story. WHy ArE thEir FacEs so cLoSe ToGether? 

That tweet is probably funnier than any line in the movie. But its also ironic, given that the reason the film fails as political satire is that McKay is more like that robot than he realizes. There are three flaws to this allegory. He gets the media, politics and the effect of climate change wrong.

McKay told NPR that he joined with Sirota to write the movie because, Were both incredibly frustrated with the lack of coverage of the climate crisis. You know, its usually the fourth or fifth story. Its never the right tone, which should be much more urgent.

Really? Where do these guys get their news? Many news outlets have full-time reporters dedicated to climate change. Just last year ABC News and CNN created full-time climate change news teams. The Washington Post and The New York Times were already there. In April, Time magazine ran another of many cover stories on climate change showing a burning map of the world under the headline, Climate Is Everything. In 1989, Time skipped Person of the Year and made Endangered Earth the Planet of the Year.

In McKays movie, what is supposed to be The New York Times drops its coverage of the planet-killing asteroid story when it fails to get good web traffic. Do I really need to be the one to defend The New York Times from this idiotic insinuation?

Like a robot watching the news, McKay watches the near-daily coverage of climate change and says, wHeRE IS tHE cLImATE HySTeria!?!

Then theres politics. Meryl Streeps entertaining take on a female President Trump scores some points, but Trump isnt president. Joe Biden is, and he calls climate change an existential threat all the time. And hes not alone. Sirota wrote speeches for Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2020, and his old boss routinely said that kind of thing, too  as did virtually all the Democratic presidential nominees. And its not just rhetoric; were spending vast sums of money and reorganizing the missions of many government agencies to deal with the existential threat of climate change.

But heres the funny thing: Climate change is not an existential threat like a planet-killing asteroid, which lets just admit would make for great TV. Not even according to the United Nations IPCC, whose worst-case scenarios for climate change, as terrible as some are, manifest themselves over a century and would not end all life here.

McKay & Co. are free to disagree about the aptness of their analogy. In the movie, the only way to stop the asteroid is to push it off course by aiming nuclear weapons at it. Some argue that in real life, the only way to reduce carbon emissions is to use nuclear power. Sanders and many of his Democratic colleagues oppose that  which is odd if you actually believe we have no time to waste to save the planet.

Finally, its worth asking: Is McKay helping? Unlike an incoming asteroid, climate change requires sustained and sustainable intergenerational consensus. Chastising people who agree with him because they fall short of his peak hysteria and demonizing everyone else seem like exactly the kind of self-indulgence thats made for satire.

Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.
Metropolitan areas across Texas have regained most of the jobs lost due to COVID-19. While growth that would have otherwise occurred has been foregone or at least delayed, the long-term outlook remains quite positive.

More than three fourths of all jobs across the state are currently found in the states seven largest metropolitan areas, a proportion which has been rising steadily over time. Through 2045, the Houston and the Dallas areas will likely each account for approximately one fourth of net new jobs, with the greater Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth regions each contributing between 8% and 9% of the total gain.

The fastest-growing metropolitan centers as measured by percentage changes in jobs are expected to be those with significant concentrations of energy activity (though some of these are coming back from steep initial declines and lingering vestiges of COVID-19), including Odessa (up by a compound annual 1.90% per year through 2045), Midland (1.87%), San Angelo (1.85%) and Tyler (1.81%). These smaller MSAs are projected to equal or exceed the most rapidly expanding large metro areas (such as Dallas-Plano-Irving with 1.85% annual growth and Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown with 1.80%).

Employment in the Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine division is likely to increase at a 1.68% annual pace, while El Paso is projected to experience modest job growth through 2045 at a rate of 1.55% yearly.

The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA economy has recently struggled due to sluggish recovery in the energy sector, but these problems are likely to resolve over time. Employment in the area is expected to expand at an annual rate of 1.74% through 2045.

The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission MSA is projected to see 1.76% annual job growth through 2045. The San Antonio-New Braunfels MSA economys expansion pace is likely to be maintained, with employment anticipated to rise at a 1.70% yearly rate over the period.

Texas smaller metropolitan areas are also projected to enjoy notable gains over time. As mentioned, areas with significant energy activity are projected to see particularly strong job growth as the industry recovers from pandemic-related demand decreases and other issues. Sherman-Denison (1.73%) is also expected to outpace the state rate of expansion. Most of the other smaller MSAs are predicted to advance by 1.50% or more through 2045.

While residual effects of the coronavirus and the emerging omicron variant may cause issues in some areas over the next few years, Texas metropolitan areas are likely to see notable long-term expansion. The largest population centers are projected to generate the highest numbers of net new jobs, but several smaller metros will likely keep pace in terms of relative increases. There are challenges to be sure, but the overall prospects are quite encouraging.

Economist Ray Perryman is president and CEO of the Perryman Group, an economic research group and analysis firm based in Waco.
Free 55-pound blocks of butter available at 6708 Zero Road, Casper, Wyoming, said the post. 4 p.m. Take as much as you want.

No further explanation needed.

On The Hook Towing became the unexpected proprietor of hundreds of enormous butter cubes after the company was called to pick up a downed semi-truck in Sinclair on Dec. 29.

The truck had been transporting them when it wiped out.

On The Hooks owner, Bob Maxwell, said the company didnt have details about exactly what happened to the truck, where it was going or who was driving it.

Simply put, we were hired by their insurance company to dispose of the trucks contents and tow the trailer to the salvage auction, Maxwell said in an email.

So the truck was fated for salvage auction. But what of the cargo? It was doomed to waste away in a landfill somewhere, Maxwell said.

He took to Facebook that same day to see if anyone in Casper could take some of it off their hands.

A picture included in the post, which is now deleted, showed six piles of the stuff strapped to the truck trailer.

Before they knew it, hundreds of people had lined up.

The supply went quickly  some made off with five, six blocks of it  but the line kept growing. In Facebook comments, some Casperites said they waited in line over a half hour for their share.

On The Hook Towing ended up taking down the post to try to stem the flow of visitors.

Once we were all out, people were still coming by, said Kristen Moore, who works for the company.

Nanci Benson, who lives in Casper, scored three cubes that day.

After learning about the giveaway on Facebook, she called up a friend to see if they were game to wait in line with her.

I said, Hey, are you doing anything? she said.

There wasnt much left when they got there. Any free giveaway is bound to inspire a bit of a craze, Benson said. She recalled the line still being about half a mile long by the time they left.

Caught up in the moment, Benson said she missed the 55-pound boxes part of Maxwells post. She was shocked to discover she was not taking home sticks, nor tubs, but blocks just under a cubic foot in volume.

In the days after the giveaway, locals shared on Facebook how theyre rationing out their supply.

Butter can last up to a year in the freezer, if stored properly. But did you know, for instance, that canned butter has a shelf life of at least three years?

Others clarified their stock into ghee, which can be kept in the fridge or pantry.

Unsurprisingly, the cubes were frozen solid when Benson took them home. It took some patience  and elbow grease  to cut them down into more manageable portions. Benson had to heat kitchen tools in hot water to make a dent.

Some she flavored some with honey and cinnamon (her take on the well-known Texas Roadhouse spread), and some with garlic, parsley and onion for baked potatoes.

Shes been giving a lot of it away to friends and neighbors  buttering them up, she said with a laugh.
Naomi Judd died Saturday at age 76. Here are some of the entertainers, leaders, athletes and other notable people we've lost so far this year.
WATERLOO  A family of four was displaced Saturday morning by an electrical fire at their home.

Waterloo Fire Rescue was dispatched at 8:28 a.m. to 191 W. 10th St., a single-family owner-occupied home.

They had an electrical issue, said Battalion Chief Bill Beck, that started a fire. It extended into an interior wall.

Firefighters turned off power to the house and cut into an interior wall to extinguish the fire. They were on the scene for about an hour.

The Red Cross was contacted to find temporary housing for the two adults and two minors living in the home.

Our policy is we kill the power on any type of fire, said Beck. It doesnt get turned back on until a certified electrician ensures the problem is fixed. This family will be displaced for a while, but I cant imagine for too long.

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I decided to do some deep in depth studying on smartphones. I have two phones that are modern and in retrospect, not easy to work with, but stable and always working perfect. One is a non-Google Huawei Mate 30 and the other is a ZTE Axon 10 Pro with complete Google

I rooted them both and did everything I cared to, yet I put them back original and will leave them that way. They are just perfect phones, root not needed and they serve me well as stock devices

My last rooted phone was an Umidigi A3 Pro and Svetochka ended up giving it to her cousin from Britain while I was working in the Tiny Russian Village and she came to Russia at the death of her dad and Svetochkas Uncle. Bad times and the phone went to a good use and now has a new life in Britain

So.after loosing my only easy root phone and play toy to do Android dissection with.and I was a sad bear to boot.Sveta allowed me to get another phone to root and keep going with my Android escapades

Therefore, after looking around for a few months. I discovered a Samsung phone, built when Samsung built phones for us humans to play with and not phones that are built to keep you from doing what you want to do with them

I found a brand new in the box Samsung Galaxy Note Edge. Never used before, original battery, original everything.7000 rubles. That is about $100 in US funny money. I also found a white (OMG  me and white color means dirt and more dirt. But beggars cannot be choosy) flip case for 350 rubles and once I got the two items, I went to town and worked on it

I fell in love with this phone

We have lost the era of smartphones that had a sound jack, removable battery, sim card replacement under the back cover, SD card installation the same as the sim and very very easy to work on and replace parts as needed. Those days are gone and I have had great memories brought back by this phone

It is interesting that when I bought the phone, the store worried about that the battery would be worthless and refused to sell until I acknowledged verbally and in a written message format that the original battery would most likely be toast and worthless. I said, Okay Dokey! Then waited until the phone was in hand to worry about the battery. I hugged and sweet talked the battery with a trickle charger and then with a fast charger and she woke up and decided she found a new home.the phone had set boxed on a shelf since 2014 and that means she is 8 years old right now

This device is still fantastic in 2022. Its way better than any budget phone. Display is simply exceedingly gorgeous, battery life is okay par to the era, camera not too shabby and performance is great actually. Too bad Samsung isnt as innovative as it was many years ago.only exception about the phone is software and or the inability to utilize new Android versions, unless rooted.this is the phone that started the curved edges.this phone is so easy to root and to top it all off, you can have a smorgasbord of things to play with software wise

Oh there is that rooted statement and what I said above is why rooting is so important and why companies that sell smartphones hate the term rooted.they want you to buy a new phone every year or so and that is not right

WtR
After the US opened its mouth and stuck foot in, the UK has had some interesting shifting of personnel from the situation and a dumbfounded Western Empire at how fast the CSTO moved.has left nothing but lies and more lies to be spread in the western media.nothing new here

So the CSTO decided that arguing with the West is otiose

Kazakhstan had serious issues.yet again, real concerns by real people within their own country were hijacked and planned escapades by the West got out of hand and people got hurt. Just another color revolution by the West.using real people as cover for underhanded manipulations

The same even happened in the capital of the USA and the USA is still reeling from the turmoil that they caused to themselves internally

You see.Russia leans from its mistakes and Ukraine was one of those mistakes and Russia did not react fast enough. If Russia had stayed silent and watching as in the past? Kazakhstan would be over run with paid mercenaries right now. Just like they did to Ukraine.Just like they tried recently in Belarus

The CSTO was implemented for such times as this

The West always reminds me of that pigeon strutting around on a chess board and knock the pieces all over the place.no matter how you look at it.the USA always looks like that pigeon and pigeons gotta pigeon. You know?

By the way: The western Empire is not even bothering to hide anymore their attempts at color revolutions. They are either drunk with confidence or scared like hell and panic stricken?

I put my money on careless abandonment of all morality and normalcy due to being scared pantless

WtR
Weather Alert

...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING... * 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 Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. * WHERE...Greater Lake Tahoe Area, Greater Reno-Carson City- Minden Area and Western Nevada Basin and Range including Pyramid Lake. * WHEN...From 11 AM this morning to 8 PM PDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Choppy conditions for Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake with waves 2 to 4 feet expected. Travel restrictions for high profile vehicles are possible. Check with CalTrans and NDOT for the latest on road conditions. 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. &&
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A judge on Friday ensured that Damian Herrera will die in prison for the 2017 shooting deaths of his mother, brother and stepfather at the familys home in Rio Arriba County, and a fourth killing in Abiquiu.

District Judge Jason Lidyard sentenced Herrera, 26, to four consecutive life sentences for the four first-degree murder convictions, plus 9 years for seven other felonies.

You have shown this court that you have a penchant for extreme violence and that the only way to protect the community from you is to remove you from it, Lidyard said before handing down the sentence.

The sentence was met with subdued cheers from members of two families who lost loved ones during Herreras two-county shooting rampage on Jan. 15, 2017.

Herrera has yet to be tried for a fifth fatal shooting the same day in rural Taos County.

Carissa Herrera, Damian Herreras sister, asked the judge to sentence her brother to life without possibility of parole. She had just turned 16 when she witnessed the killings of three family members.

She recalled how her mother, Maria Rosita Brenda Gallegos, 49, begged for her life before Damian Herrera shot her once in the head.

Gallegos died the following day. Carissa described the killings for jurors at her brothers trial.

I will never be the same because Damian ruined my life, she said. I have a hard time trusting people because it was my own family, my own blood, who did this. He has split my family apart and did so much damage that I will never recover from.

Damian Herrera, who chose not to speak Friday, showed little emotion throughout the hearing. His attorney, Todd Farkas, said Herrera maintains his innocence and intends to appeal the verdicts.

Herrera testified in his own defense, telling jurors that he had no responsibility for any of the shootings and implicating other family members.

Jurors also found Herrera guilty of fatally shooting his stepfather, Max Trujillo Sr., 55, and his brother, Brendon Herrera, 20. Both died at the scene. The three family members all were fatally shot outside the familys home in the small community of La Madera, about 30 miles north of Espanola.

About five hours later, Herrera shot Manuel Serrano, 59, a stranger to Herrera, multiple times in the back as he filled up at a gas station in Abiquiu, about 25 miles southwest of La Madera. Serrano died at the scene.

Nothing since that gruesome day has been the same, Serranos daughter, Angela Stewart, said during the hearing.

Without him, there is no more comfort or joy or peace in our lives, she said. My mother was everything to him and he showed it daily. He absolutely adored her.

Jurors convicted Herrera of 11 felony charges in all, including aggravated fleeing from law officers, attempt to disarm a law officer, assaulting a law officer, possession of a stolen vehicle and other crimes.

Herrera is charged separately in the shooting death of Michael Alan Kyte, 61, a retired U.S. Forest Service archaeologist who was found shot to death on Forest Road 222 in far western Taos County.

Kytes death occurred the same day as the other four killings, police say.

Herrera faces charges of first-degree murder and unlawful taking of a motor vehicle for allegedly killing Kyte and taking his pickup.

That trial has not been scheduled.
NEW YORK  Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen, and became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. He was 94.

Poitier, winner of the best actor Oscar in 1964 for Lilies of the Field, died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, according to Latrae Rahming, the director of communications for the Prime Minister of Bahamas. His close friend and great contemporary Harry Belafonte issued a statement Friday, remembering their extraordinary times together.

For over 80 years, Sidney and I laughed, cried and made as much mischief as we could, he wrote. He was truly my brother and partner in trying to make this world a little better. He certainly made mine a whole lot better.

Few movie stars, Black or white, had such an influence both on and off the screen. Before Poitier, the son of Bahamian tomato farmers, no Black actor had a sustained career as a lead performer or could get a film produced based on his own star power. Before Poitier, few Black actors were permitted a break from the stereotypes of bug-eyed servants and grinning entertainers. Before Poitier, Hollywood filmmakers rarely even attempted to tell a Black persons story.

Messages honoring and mourning Poitier flooded social media, with Oscar winner Morgan Freeman calling him my inspiration, my guiding light, my friend and Oprah Winfrey praising him as a Friend. Brother. Confidant. Wisdom teacher. Former President Barack Obama cited his achievements and how he revealed the power of movies to bring us closer together.

Poitiers rise mirrored profound changes in the country in the 1950s and 1960s. As racial attitudes evolved during the civil rights era and segregation laws were challenged and fell, Poitier was the performer to whom a cautious industry turned for stories of progress.

He was the escaped Black convict who befriends a racist white prisoner (Tony Curtis) in The Defiant Ones. He was the courtly office worker who falls in love with a blind white girl in A Patch of Blue. He was the handyman in Lilies of the Field who builds a church for a group of nuns. In one of the great roles of the stage and screen, he was the ambitious young father whose dreams clashed with those of other family members in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun.

Debates about diversity in Hollywood inevitably turn to the story of Poitier. With his handsome, flawless face; intense stare and disciplined style, he was for years not just the most popular Black movie star, but the only one.

I made films when the only other Black on the lot was the shoeshine boy, he recalled in a 1988 Newsweek interview. I was kind of the lone guy in town.

Poitier peaked in 1967 with three of the years most notable movies: To Sir, With Love, in which he starred as a school teacher who wins over his unruly students at a London secondary school; In the Heat of the Night, as the determined police detective Virgil Tibbs; and in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, as the prominent doctor who wishes to marry a young white woman he only recently met, her parents played by Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in their final film together.

Theater owners named Poitier the No. 1 star of 1967, the first time a Black actor topped the list. In 2009 President Barack Obama, whose own steady bearing was sometimes compared to Poitiers, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that the actor not only entertained but enlightened revealing the power of the silver screen to bring us closer together.

His appeal brought him burdens not unlike such other historical figures as Jackie Robinson and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He was subjected to bigotry from whites and accusations of compromise from the Black community. Poitier was held, and held himself, to standards well above his white peers. He refused to play cowards and took on characters, especially in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, of almost divine goodness. He developed a steady, but resolved and occasionally humorous persona crystallized in his most famous line  They call me Mr. Tibbs!  from In the Heat of the Night.

All those who see unworthiness when they look at me and are given thereby to denying me value  to you I say, Im not talking about being as good as you. I hereby declare myself better than you,' he wrote in his memoir, The Measure of a Man, published in 2000.

But even in his prime he was criticized for being out of touch. He was called an Uncle Tom and a million-dollar shoeshine boy. In 1967, The New York Times published Black playwright Clifford Masons essay, Why Does White America Love Sidney Poitier So? Mason dismissed Poitiers films as a schizophrenic flight from historical fact and the actor as a pawn for the white mans sense of whats wrong with the world.

Stardom didnt shield Poitier from racism and condescension. He had a hard time finding housing in Los Angeles and was followed by the Ku Klux Klan when he visited Mississippi in 1964, not long after three civil rights workers had been murdered there. In interviews, journalists often ignored his work and asked him instead about race and current events.

I am an artist, man, American, contemporary, he snapped during a 1967 press conference. I am an awful lot of things, so I wish you would pay me the respect due.

Poitier was not as engaged politically as Belafonte, leading to occasional conflicts between them. But he was active in the 1963 March on Washington and other civil rights events, and as an actor defended himself and risked his career. He refused to sign loyalty oaths during the 1950s, when Hollywood was barring suspected Communists, and turned down roles he found offensive.

Almost all the job opportunities were reflective of the stereotypical perception of Blacks that had infected the whole consciousness of the country, he recalled. I came with an inability to do those things. It just wasnt in me. I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.

Poitiers films were usually about personal triumphs rather than broad political themes, but the classic Poitier role, from In the Heat of the Night to Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, was as a Black man of such decency and composure  Poitier became synonymous with the word dignified  that he wins over the whites opposed to him.

Sidney Poitier epitomized dignity and grace, Obama tweeted Friday.

His screen career faded in the late 1960s as political movements, Black and white, became more radical and movies more explicit. He acted less often, gave fewer interviews and began directing, his credits including the Richard Pryor-Gene Wilder farce Stir Crazy, Buck and the Preacher (co-starring Poitier and Belafonte) and the Bill Cosby comedies Uptown Saturday Night and Lets Do It Again.

In the 1980s and 90s, he appeared in the feature films Sneakers and The Jackal and several television movies, receiving an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination as future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in Separate But Equal and an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Mandela and De Klerk. Theatergoers were reminded of the actor through an acclaimed play that featured him in name only: John Guares Six Degrees of Separation, about a con artist claiming to be Poitiers son.

In recent years, a new generation learned of him through Oprah Winfrey, who chose The Measure of a Man for her book club. Meanwhile, he welcomed the rise of such Black stars as Denzel Washington, Will Smith and Danny Glover: Its like the cavalry coming to relieve the troops! You have no idea how pleased I am, he said.

Poitier received numerous honorary prizes, including a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute and a special Academy Award in 2002, on the same night that Black performers won both best acting awards, Washington for Training Day and Halle Berry for Monsters Ball.

Ill always be chasing you, Sidney, Washington, who had earlier presented the honorary award to Poitier, said during his acceptance speech. Ill always be following in your footsteps. Theres nothing I would rather do, sir, nothing I would rather do.

Poitier had four daughters with his first wife, Juanita Hardy, and two with his second wife, actress Joanna Shimkus, who starred with him in his 1969 film The Lost Man. Daughter Sydney Tamaii Poitier appeared on such television series as Veronica Mars and Mr. Knight. Daughter Gina Poitier-Gouraige died in 2018.

He is our guiding light who lit up our lives with infinite love and wonder. His smile was healing, his hugs the warmest refuge, and his laughter was infectious. We could always turn to him for wisdom and solace and his absence feels like a giant hole in our family and our hearts, his family said in a statement. Although he is no longer here with us in this realm, his beautiful soul will continue to guide and inspire us.

His life ended in adulation, but it began in hardship. Poitier was born prematurely, weighing just 3 pounds, in Miami, where his parents had gone to deliver tomatoes from their farm on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas. He spent his early years on the remote island, which had a population of 1,500 and no electricity, and he quit school at 12 1/2 to help support the family. Three years later, he was sent to live with a brother in Miami; his father was concerned that the street life of Nassau was a bad influence. With $3 in his pocket, Sidney traveled steerage on a mail-cargo ship.

The smell in that portion of the boat was so horrendous that I spent a goodly part of the crossing heaving over the side, he told The Associated Press in 1999, adding that Miami soon educated him about racism. I learned quite quickly that there were places I couldnt go, that I would be questioned if I wandered into various neighborhoods.

Poitier moved to Harlem and was so overwhelmed by his first winter there he enlisted in the Army, cheating on his age and swearing he was 18 when he had yet to turn 17. Assigned to a mental hospital on Long Island, Poitier was appalled at how cruelly the doctors and nurses treated the soldier patients. In his 1980 autobiography, This Life, he related how he escaped the Army by feigning insanity.

Back in Harlem, he was looking in the Amsterdam News for a dishwasher job when he noticed an ad seeking actors at the American Negro Theater. He went there and was handed a script and told to go on the stage. Poitier had never seen a play in his life and could barely read. He stumbled through his lines in a thick Caribbean accent and the director marched him to the door.

As I walked to the bus, what humiliated me was the suggestion that all he could see in me was a dishwasher. If I submitted to him, I would be aiding him in making that perception a prophetic one, Poitier later told the AP.

I got so pissed, I said, Im going to become an actor  whatever that is. I dont want to be an actor, but Ive got to become one to go back there and show him that I could be more than a dishwasher. That became my goal.

The process took months as he sounded out words from the newspaper. Poitier returned to the American Negro Theater and was again rejected. Then he made a deal: He would act as janitor for the theater in return for acting lessons. When he was released again, his fellow students urged the teachers to let him be in the class play. Another Caribbean, Belafonte, was cast in the lead. When Belafonte couldnt make a preview performance because it conflicted with his own janitorial duties, his understudy, Poitier, went on.

The audience included a Broadway producer who cast him in an all-Black version of Lysistrata. The play lasted four nights, but rave reviews for Poitier won him an understudy job in Anna Lucasta, and later he played the lead in the road company. In 1950, he broke through on screen in No Way Out, playing a doctor whose patient, a white man, dies and is then harassed by the patients bigoted brother, played by Richard Widmark.

Key early films included Blackboard Jungle, featuring Poitier as a tough high school student (the actor was well into his 20s at the time) in a violent school; and The Defiant Ones, which brought Poitier his first best actor nomination, and the first one for any Black male. The theme of cultural differences turned lighthearted in Lilies of the Field, in which Poitier played a Baptist handyman who builds a chapel for a group of Roman Catholic nuns, refugees from Germany. In one memorable scene, he gives them an English lesson.

The only Black actor before Poitier to win a competitive Oscar was Hattie McDaniel, the 1939 best supporting actress for Gone With the Wind. No one, including Poitier, thought Lilies of the Field his best film, but the times were right (Congress would soon pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, for which Poitier had lobbied) and the actor was favored even against such competitors as Paul Newman for Hud and Albert Finney for Tom Jones. Newman was among those rooting for Poitier.

When presenter Anne Bancroft announced his victory, the audience cheered for so long that Poitier momentarily forgot his speech. It has been a long journey to this moment, he declared.

Poitier never pretended that his Oscar was a magic wand for Black performers, as he observed after his victory, and he shared his critics frustration with some of the roles he took on, confiding that his characters were sometimes so unsexual they became kind of neuter. But he also believed himself fortunate and encouraged those who followed him.

To the young African American filmmakers who have arrived on the playing field, I am filled with pride you are here. I am sure, like me, you have discovered it was never impossible, it was just harder, he said in 1992 as he received a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute. 

Welcome, young Blacks. Those of us who go before you glance back with satisfaction and leave you with a simple trust: Be true to yourselves and be useful to the journey.

___

AP writer Robert Gillies in Toronto and AP Film Writer Jake Coyle and former Associated Press Writer Polly Anderson in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  The number of COVID-19 cases in New Mexico broke the states daily record Friday  exceeding more than 4,200 cases  as the omicron variant ripped through the state.

The 4,246 cases reported Friday beat the old record from Nov. 19, 2020, by nearly 600 infections.

New Mexico has topped 3,000 cases in a day only three times in the 21 months since the pandemic arrived  twice this week.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19, by contrast, remained roughly flat Friday at 539 patients, a sharp increase from late December, but in line with Thursdays total.

Death rates remain high. New Mexico reported 14 more COVID-19 deaths Friday, eight of them in Bernalillo County.

The state ranks No. 7 in the country for COVID-19 deaths per capita over the past week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Acting Health Secretary David Scrase said this week that health officials expect the new omicron variant to dominate New Mexicos cases within a week.

The highly contagious version of the virus has triggered an explosion of cases across the globe.

But Scrase said theres some evidence omicron will result in lower hospitalization and death rates than earlier version of the coronavirus. The omicron wave, he said, could last four to six weeks.

The number of people who end up in the hospital is critical, Scrase said, because New Mexico hospitals already face staffing shortages and a high volume of patients. Many hospitals have engaged crisis standards of care, a step that can allow the rationing of health care when demand exceeds the supply of resources.

Scrase and other physicians for the state have urged New Mexicans to upgrade their masks to KN95 or N95s or to layer two masks on top of each other. They also asked people to activate the COVID-19 exposure alerts on their phones and to get vaccinated or boosted if theyre eligible.

People who arent fully vaccinated made up 66% of new cases, 84% of hospitalizations and 88% of deaths in the most recent four-week period with data available, according to a state epidemiology report.

New Mexico defines a person as fully vaccinated if it has been at least two weeks since they received a shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second of the two doses required for the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.

The state on Friday also extended its public health order requiring the wearing of masks indoors in public places, regardless of a persons vaccination status.

In Fridays update, the Department of Health reported:

 4,246 new cases, including 1,287 in Bernalillo County, the states most populous county.

 A test positivity rate of 23.2% over the past seven days, about 9 percentage points higher than a month ago.

 14 more deaths ranging in age from their 40s to their 90s. The statewide death toll is now 5,983.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

For the second time in less than a month, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller has deployed his veto pen  this time to stop legislation allowing the city to drain its 40-year-old Open Space Trust Fund.

While the mayor expressed support for the bills underlying intent, he took issue with a provision the City Council added late that required officials to spend most of the money on the West Side. In his veto message, Keller thanked the sponsor, Don Harris, for his efforts to correct problems with the current fund.

Currently, the open space trust fund is only marginally effective with respect to its ability to meaningfully protect and enhance our citys open space, Keller wrote.

Harris introduced the bill in November, just two months before the end of his fourth and final term. It passed the council 5-4 during his last meeting. Cynthia Borrego and Lan Sena  who were also on their way out the door  voted with Harris, as did Brook Bassan and Klarissa Pena.

Harris argued that the trust fund had become somewhat futile. By ordinance, officials could tap only the funds interest and investment income  which amounted to about $1.3 million since 2017  but not its principal. Harris legislation opened it up for officials to use the roughly $12 million principal to buy land for preservation. A successful late amendment directed the city to spend 75% of it west of the Rio Grande.

The bill also reserved 2% of all future city general obligation bond programs for open space acquisitions and restoration.

But members of the citys own Open Space Advisory Board  who complained they learned of the bill by reading the newspaper  as well as some councilors, said the proposal was rushed and deserved a more thorough review.

Keller in his veto message noted that more time and consideration would make for a better bill, and proposed convening stakeholders to revise it. A mayoral spokeswoman said that would include the Open Space Advisory Board.

The mayor also called the 75% West Side requirement a blunt criterion (that) could jeopardize our ability to leverage funds from other sources.

The council is expected to address the veto at its Jan. 19 meeting  and can override it with six votes.

The councils membership has changed significantly since the bill passed, and four new councilors will take on the issue for the first time.

While Harris no longer has a vote, he said he is heartened that Keller recognizes the validity of the proposal.

Based on reading the veto message, he said hes certainly open to the policy that I was proposing, Harris said.

Keller has vetoed only six bills since taking office in late 2017, but this is the second in a month. On Dec. 17, he vetoed legislation that would have banned alcohol at Los Altos Park, except for special events, and required the city to provide storage for park security carts near the security office. That veto withstood an override vote.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

A man awaiting trial in a drive-by shooting that injured two people outside Farmington last July has been charged in the death of a 52-year-old woman gunned down days later in her living room near Aztec.

Jaden Ortega, 21, is charged with an open count of murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the July 30 death of Julie Harris. He is currently jailed at the San Juan County Detention Center.

Detectives matched the 9 mm casings from the July 20 shooting involving Ortega to those found outside Harris home after her death, according to court records. Samuel Stevens, the 18-year-old who fired the gun in the drive-by shooting, told authorities Ortega told him he killed Harris, the mother of an acquaintance.

Ortega was already awaiting trial in two separate cases.

In one, authorities say he ordered Stevens to open fire on a car full of people and, in the other, fell asleep with his baby in the bathtub, allowing the 1-year-old to drown in February.

San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari said in a statement on the agencys Facebook page that Ortega is another example of the states failed bail reform system.

Ortega had an extensive criminal history prior to this tragedy. I sincerely hope our legislators take the opportunity this session to protect New Mexicans from violent repeat offenders. This cannot continue, Ferrari said.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Aztec Magistrate Court:

San Juan County deputies responded around 3:45 a.m. to a home off County Road 3086, northwest of Aztec, after Harris 15-year-old daughter reported that she found her mother shot to death.

Deputies found Harris in the living room with a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene. There were several bullet holes in the front door and an equal number of 9 mm shell casings outside.

Deputies said Harris teenage daughter had thrown a late-night party in the backyard in the hours leading up to her mothers death. Neighbors security video showed partygoers cleared out by 2 a.m. and around 3:20 a.m. a lone car drove up to the home and then left abruptly several minutes later.

The detective on the case  who was also investigating the drive-by involving Ortega 10 days earlier  sent the casings recovered in both incidents to the crime lab for comparison. The results showed the casings came from the same gun before detectives identified Stevens as a suspect in the drive-by.

Stevens told detectives he gave the gun used in that shooting, a green 9 mm, back to Ortega afterward. After being released from jail pending trial in that case, Stevens told deputies Ortega was connected to the Harris killing.

Stevens said before their arrest the pair were hanging out at a recording studio in Albuquerque when he mentioned not being able to attend Harris funeral.

Stevens told detectives a heavily intoxicated Ortega pulled him aside and told him he drove his mothers car to the Harris home, knocked on the door and emptied his clip through the door. He said Ortega told him he sped away on rough roads toward Flora Vista, damaging his mothers car.

Deputies found Snapchat videos of Ortega and a friend flashing guns, including a green 9 mm, in his mothers car hours before Harris death. Ortegas mother told deputies her son borrowed her car on July 29 and brought it back heavily damaged the next morning.

She said later that morning Ortega was emotional after receiving a call that Harris was dead. In the days afterward, deputies said Ortega posted a Snapchat photo of the green 9 mm, offering to sell it for $400.

Stevens told detectives he didnt know why Ortega killed Harris but assumed it was due to the beef he had with Harris son. He said Ortega had previously pitched the idea of robbing a gun safe in the home but Stevens refused to go along with it.

A detective requested the documents be sealed in the case due to Ortegas history of violence and intimidation. Deputies said after Ortega learned of Stevens cooperation in the drive-by case, he labeled Stevens a rat.

It is likely he will attempt to further intimidate or harm witnesses and other involved parties, a detective wrote in the affidavit.

Since 2016, Ortega has been arrested repeatedly on charges including kidnapping, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and rape, among others.

At least four of the cases against him have been dismissed, three of those because victims and witnesses did not cooperate.
New Mexico State University President John Floros is stepping down and Chancellor Dan Arvizu will become the leader of the main campus and the NMSU system.

A letter from the president to the university community Friday afternoon stated that Arvizu has decided to reduce what has been the seats of chancellor and president atop the university flowchart to one seat.

During the next few weeks, I will be helping the chancellor with this transition, before moving on to take a yearlong sabbatical, Floros said.

Arvizu clarified in a letter to all NMSU students and employees that Floros will continue to serve NMSU in an advisory capacity, as special assistant to the chancellor, through the next 30 days.

Now, its time for our university to return to a more common leadership structure, Arvizu said. The position Dr. Floros held will not be replaced. Instead, I will assume both roles of chancellor for the NMSU System as well as president of the Las Cruces Campus. The Regents are aware and support this move.

Floros and Arvizu were hired in May 2018 to replace Chancellor Garrey Carruthers, a former New Mexico governor who was being paid $373,450. Arvizu and Floros started with base salaries of $500,000 and $450,000, respectively, plus bonuses and other benefits.

Their salaries, and the salaries of others in upper administration at NMSU, have been called into question as part of resolutions of no confidence passed by the NMSU Faculty Senate and the Associated Students of NMSU Senate in the 2021 fall semester.

Following the no-confidence resolutions and ensuing student protests, NMSU Provost Carol Parker  then the No. 3 position at the university  was placed on paid administrative leave Nov. 9.

The resolutions of no confidence called for the removal of Floros and Parker due to a failure in leadership.

University spokesman Justin Bannister said Floros stepping down was unrelated to the resolutions.

It is unclear whether Floros will return to NMSU after his sabbatical.

Both Floros and Arvizu highlighted some of their joint accomplishments over the past 3 years as co-heads of the university, including the establishment of the NMSU LEADS 2025 strategic goals, stabilizing the universitys enrollment numbers after years of enrollment drops and pushing through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the years, I have come to deeply appreciate how dedicated the faculty and staff of NMSU are in their drive to help students achieve their educational dreams and aspirations, Floros stated in the closing of his letter. It has been an honor to work with and serve you as your president since 2018. I wish you all the best as you begin a new chapter at NMSU.

Arvizu said he would provide further details to the NMSU community in a Zoom call on Monday.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

A report from Albuquerques Office of Inspector General alleges HopeWorks, one of the citys larger contractors providing services to homeless people, defrauded the city $155,586.25 by double billing the city and Medicaid.

HopeWorks also billed Medicaid an additional $15,653.58 in June 2021 for providing certain services, despite there being no program expenses recorded in HopeWorks general ledger for that specific program, the Inspector Generals report said.

HopeWorks, meanwhile, has fired back.

In comments HopeWorks gave the OIG and that were included in the report, the organization contends the city initiated the audit and investigation as retaliation for an opinion column its co-CEOs wrote, and which appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. That piece criticized Mayor Tim Keller and the city for an egregious use of public funds in purchasing the old Lovelace Hospital building on Gibson with the intention of turning it into a center for sheltered and unsheltered homeless people.

The op-ed also stated that this acquisition reeks of a hasty, politically motivated money pit, that will feel more like a prison than a welcoming place for shelter and wraparound services.

The OIG report, dated Dec. 23 and publicly released this week, also took the city and HopeWorks to task for failing to have adequate practices of monitoring in place. That lack of internal controls, the report said, makes the city susceptible to fraud, waste and abuse, as indicated by inaccurate reporting of contract revenues and expenditures, resulting in noncompliance of the contract.

The Assisted Outpatient Treatment, or AOT, contract between the city and HopeWorks was supposed to run from Aug. 15, 2019, through Sept. 30, 2022; however, the contract was terminated by the city effective June 1, 2021, because of concerns about HopeWorks ability to adhere to/meet the contract provisions, the report said.

The op-ed appeared in the newspaper on June 10.

When contacted this week, the OIG declined to comment beyond its report. HopeWorks, which has $9.6 million in city contracts, primarily for homeless services, did not return phone calls.

The city applied for and received federal funding in 2016 to establish Assisted Outpatient Treatment programming in Bernalillo County, which included court-ordered treatment of seriously mentally ill individuals who have a history of medication non-compliance, the report said.

Implementation of the program was delayed because the original contractor was unable to provide clinical services. The city later contracted HopeWorks because of its long history working with people experiencing homelessness, addictions and mental illness.

Among the OIGs recommendations was that HopeWorks immediately repay the $155,586.25 in order to be compliant with the contract and federal requirements.

In its response, HopeWorks said the OIGs findings were based on a misunderstanding of how the various AOT program expenses are billed.

The OIG further recommended in its report that the city, as well as those it contracts with, develop and implement an adequate system of monitoring that would provide information in a manner that could easily identify non-compliance with the contract. HopeWorks also said in its OIG response that the city never used the word fraud or let us know we were under investigation for fraud until after the publication of our editorial criticizing the city and mayors strategy for combating homelessness.

However, Carol Pierce, director of the citys Department of Family and Community Services, which oversees the contract with HopeWorks, said that in March 2021, the city was contacted by HopeWorks, which said it was incurring a growing deficit in its operation of the Assisted Outpatient Treatment program and would have to put a more restrictive cap on the number of cases assigned to each case manager.

At that point, Pierce said, her office asked for fiscal documentation.

We were doing our due diligence, as we do with any of our contractors and public dollars, and we couldnt get the information we needed. We were concerned about the potential for double billing when theres Medicaid involved as well as federal funds. So weve been asking for that information since March, she said.

Failing to get it, the Department of Family and Community Services in August requested an independent audit be conducted, which the OIG began in September, according to the report.

The Office of the Inspector General is funded by the city but is independent of the mayor and the City Council.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Just last month, New Mexico legislators concluded a fierce debate over redrawing their own boundaries and establishing a new congressional map.

Next, they may decide whether that debate should be the last of its kind.

Fair Districts New Mexico, a coalition backed by the League of Women Voters, is pushing legislators to support a constitutional amendment in the upcoming session that would take the map-making out of lawmakers hands.

Instead, an independent body  perhaps something similar to this years Citizen Redistricting Committee, which made nonbinding recommendations  would draw the boundaries.

But lawmakers, even those who support the concept, are divided over whether now is the right time to return to such a contentious subject.

State Rep. Natalie Figueroa, D-Albuquerque, said she plans to introduce a constitutional amendment this session to capitalize on the desire to ensure a fair, transparent process when boundaries are redrawn in 10 years.

I just hope we do it before we lose sight of the lessons weve learned, Figueroa said in an interview this week.

If a proposal is introduced, a mix of Republicans and Democrats is expected to sign on, signaling a debate that cuts across party lines. Democrats hold large majorities in both chambers, but last years legislation creating the Citizen Redistricting Committee won bipartisan support.

Republican Rep. Kelly Fajardo of Los Lunas said she would co-sponsor a constitutional amendment if its introduced.

I dont think politicians should be in charge of the lines, she said. I think we have an interest in protecting ourselves more than we have an interest in the public.

But Sen. Bill ONeill, an Albuquerque Democrat who has long supported independent redistricting, said he doesnt think theres much of an appetite for action on a constitutional change this year.

I think a lot of us are a bit worn out and bruised from this last redistricting session, he said.

No constitutional amendment has been prefiled yet ahead of the 30-day session that starts Jan. 18, so the scope of what might be proposed isnt clear.

Figueroa said she wants to ensure the independent redistricting panel reflects New Mexicos geographic and political diversity.

Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, an Albuquerque Democrat and chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, which vets constitutional amendments, said New Mexico should create an independent commission that handles redistricting not just for state office but also the offices of local governments.

Introduction of a constitutional amendment doesnt require Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams approval, and if passed by the Legislature, it would go directly to voters, not to the governor.

Citizen committee deployed

For the first time, New Mexico in 2021 deployed a Citizen Redistricting Committee to accept public testimony in hearings throughout the state and issue three options to legislators for each redistricting task  Congress, state House, state Senate and the Public Education Commission.

The seven-person panel  appointed by legislative leaders and the State Ethics Commission  was barred from considering political data in its work, and it was directed to place less emphasis on where incumbents live.

The committee recommendations werent binding.

In last months special session, the Democratic majorities in the Legislature revised the recommended maps  sometimes substantially  and adopted them over the opposition of Republicans, whose objections varied, depending on the map at hand.

In the congressional plan, for example, Republicans contend the new layout discards New Mexicos long-standing orientation of three seats  one in Albuquerque, a second in southern New Mexico and a third in the north.

The new map breaks the conservative southeast part of the state into multiple districts and gives Democrats an edge in every district, based on voting trends over the last 10 years. It moves much of Albuquerques West Side into the southern-based congressional district now held by the only Republican in the delegation, Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo.

Democrats, in turn, said the legislation creates more competitive seats by giving each district a mix of urban and rural communities.

Behind closed doors

Fair Districts New Mexico hasnt weighed in on the congressional map.

But for the legislative districts, the organization said the state House map generally matches a proposal by the Citizen Redistricting Committee, with some changes made to reflect the wishes of Native American communities.

The Senate map, by contrast, was crafted largely in private, and it isnt clear to what extent the senators considered the committee recommendations, according to Fair Districts New Mexico.

They chose to design their own map, which was done behind closed doors, said Kathleen Burke, project coordinator for Fair Districts.

She said the coalition believes its time to grant the map-making power to an independent body.

When that power rests in the hands of the legislators, Burke said, there is always the temptation to draw lines that serve the personal or political interests of the individual legislators. Its essentially a conflict of interest.

The deadline to introduce legislation in the 30-day session is the halfway point, Feb. 2.
A man was shot and killed during a dispute Thursday night in Edgewood.

Officer Ray Wilson of the New Mexico State Police said the agency was asked by the Edgewood Police Department to investigate the death of 41-year-old Kalan La Fleur of Edgewood.

Wilson said detectives identified the shooter as a 35-year-old man but no arrests have been made at this time.

This investigation remains active and ongoing, he said.

Wilson said Edgewood police responded to the shooting at 51 Park Road around 8 p.m. Officers found La Fleur shot to death inside a green Ford Explorer SUV.

Wilson said State Police learned La Fleur drove to the address, where he encountered a 35-year-old male. He said there was an altercation between the two and the man shot La Fleur.

Investigation Bureau agents continue to gather any and all relevant evidence, interviews, and information, Wilson said.
Authorities say a person is dead after running in front of a pickup truck and being hit Friday night in Northeast Albuquerque.

Rebecca Atkins, an Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman, said speed and alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash and the truck had a green light at the time.

Atkins said police responded sometime before 9 p.m. to the fatal crash at Spain and Wyoming NE. The pedestrian died at the scene.

A witness, who caught the crash on a dash camera, told police the person ran out in front of the truck.

Atkins said the passenger initially told police she was driving at the time, but the man in the truck later admitted he was driving and had lied originally because his drivers license is revoked.

Atkins said both people passed sobriety tests.
Through darkness, there will be light.

For years, Eric Carter-Landin diligently has worked to bring the light to some of New Mexicos most heinous crimes via his podcast, True Consequences.

A lot of true crime podcasts are weekly or biweekly, he says. I give myself some time to cover the entire story.

After a long day at his day job, Carter-Landin will file inspection of public records requests to help navigate his research.

The podcast is a labor of love  one where the roots are especially close to Carter-Landin.

In April 1987, his mother was working her shift at a local grocery store in Socorro.

She had received a call from his grandmother stating that she needed to leave his baby brother Jacob somewhere so she could go to church.

My mom only had an hour left on her shift and figured my brother could safely be left with her boyfriend at the time, he writes. Shortly after my brother was dropped off, my moms boyfriend runs frantically into her workplace to let her know my brother is on the way to the hospital.

His brother later died.

Carter-Landin has covered his brothers case in the podcast. During the episode, he speaks with his mom and walks through the details of the case.

I am hoping that this episode will get people talking about the issue of child abuse in New Mexico, Carter-Landin writes. I did not initially want to release an episode about my brother because I was worried that it would be too intense. I now realize that by telling my story I am breaking my own stigma related to this issue and if this story can help one child, then it was all worth it.

Carter-Landin says Jacobs killer was never prosecuted for the crimes. The District Attorney has refused to prosecute over and over again. The case is cold and it is considered closed by the state police.

A cold case investigator stated in a report that there was sufficient and clear evidence to secure a conviction, he says. The reasons for why the DA refused to prosecute, not once but twice are unclear to me. It is beyond frustrating knowing that a monster was allowed to brutally murder a baby and get away with it. There are many things that need to change with the justice system. Primarily, prosecutors need to stop trying cases in their mind.

Jacobs case is what pushed Carter-Landin to create the podcast.

Ive watched these child abuse cases and it seemed like every time a new one happened, its the same result, he says. I said I would do something about it. The podcast is a perfect way to honor my brother.

Carter-Landin is getting ready to launch a new season on Feb. 6. He currently has 71 episodes up on trueconsequences.com.

Some of the cases hes featured are the Torreon cabin murders in 1995 and the Hollywood Video murders that took place in 1996.

Theres an episode that takes a look one of the most famous outlaws  Billy the Kid.

Of course, Carter-Landin has delved into the high-profile cases of Robbie Romero, Baby Brianna, the New Mexico Prison riots, Tara Calico, the West Mesa murders and the Las Cruces bowling alley massacre. Each case has made national news over the years.

Crimes like these are a huge problem here in New Mexico, he says. Its something that keeps me up at night. I want to tell these stories. People need to remember these cases and be aware of whats happening today.

There are hours of research done before one episode is ready to record.

Carter-Landin spends about 50 hours to produce one episode at his Albuquerque-based studio.

I really try to go as deep as possible, because there is so much misinformation that gets thrown around, he says. I work with direct sources. Season five is going to be all about Dylan Redwine, who has some New Mexico connections.

Dylan Redwines father, Mark, was found guilty on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death for his 2012 death in October.

Carter-Landin says his day job changed dramatically during the pandemic, which led him to be in the studio more.

With public records requests steadily coming in, he kept busy.

Its a different take on true crime, he says. Im not doing Dateline. Im an empathetic person and its a unique approach. I want to highlight the problems with the system and help define the challenges that we have in the state.
WENN/FayesVision Celebrity

Public figures and Hollywood actors alike pay tribute to the trailblazer actor, who became the first black performer to win an Oscar in the best-actor category through his role in 1963's film 'Lilies of the Field'.

Jan 8, 2022

AceShowbiz - America mourns the death of legendary actor Sidney Poitier. The Bahamian-American actor, who paved the way for black performers in film, died at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday, January 6 at 94 years old.

Tributes have since poured in from fellow actors as well as other notable public figures like President Joe Biden, who said in a statement released by the White House that Poitier "was more than just one of the finest actors in our history.  With unflinching grandeur and poise - his singular warmth, depth, and stature on-screen - Sidney helped open the hearts of millions and changed the way America saw itself." He added, "He blazed a path for our nation to follow, and a legacy that touches every part of our society today."

Barack Obama also paid tribute, calling him "a singular talent" who "epitomized dignity and grace." The former president tweeted, "Through his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomized dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together. He also opened doors for a generation of actors."

Former President Bill Clinton wrote that Poitier "changed Hollywood, America, & the world forever through his many unforgettable performances, & through the strength, grace, & dignity he radiated both on screen and off. I'll always be deeply grateful that I had the chance to spend time with him through the years."

Oprah Winfrey, who was very close to Poitier, wrote on Instagram, "My honor to have loved him as a mentor. Friend. Brother. Confidant. Wisdom Teacher. The utmost, highest regard and praise for his most magnificent, gracious, eloquent life."

Halle Berry posted on social media, "My dear Sidney, an enormous part of my soul weeps at your passing. In your ninety-four years on this planet, you left an indelible mark with your extraordinary talent, paving the way for Black people to be seen and heard in the fullness of who we are. You were an iconic trailblazer; yours was a life well lived."

Poitier's longtime friend Harry Belafonte said, "For over 80 years, Sidney and I laughed, cried and made as much mischief as we could. He was truly my brother and partner in trying to make this world a little better. He certainly made mine a whole lot better."

Meanwhile, Denzel Washington said in a statement to Deadline, "It was a privilege to call Sidney Poitier my friend. He was a gentle man and opened doors for all of us that had been closed for years. God bless him and his family."

Tyler Perry said his "heart broke in another place" over Poitier's death. He added, "The grace and class that this man has shown throughout his entire life, the example he set for me, not only as a black man but as a human being will never be forgotten."

Whoopi Goldberg quoted lyrics from "To Sir, With Love", the title song from Poitier's 1967 film. "If you wanted the sky i would write across the sky in letters that would soar a thousand feet high..To Sirwith Love," it read, "He showed us how to reach for the stars."

Poitier was the first black performer to win an Academy Award in the best-actor category through his role in 1963's film "Lilies of the Field". His death was confirmed by Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Bahamas, where Poitier grew up. No cause of death was given.
Instagram Celebrity

The former star of 'Beverly Hills, 90210' expresses her frustration as she wants to care for her kids but she cannot as she feels 'so sick' and 'can barely function' herself.

Jan 8, 2022

AceShowbiz - Tori Spelling has revealed that her entire family tested positive for COVID-19. When revealing the health scares, the former star of "BH90210" expressed that she's upset at herself as she felt "useless" as a parent.

On Friday, January 7, the 48-year-old star, who shares 14-year-old Liam, 13-year-old Stella, 10-year-old Hattie, 9-year-old Finn and 4-year-old Beau with her husband Dean McDermott, revealed that people were "getting frustrated not getting responses" from her, so she decided to explain why. "Our entire family has COVID. Yes, every single member got it," she stated.

"Nothing is worse than wanting to care for your little ones but feeling so sick you can barely function yourself," Tori expressed her frustration. The "Scary Movie" star continued, "I feel useless as a parent. Devastated. A mom is supposed to take care of their kiddos when sick. That's how it works."

Tori added, "But, we are all getting thru this together. I know we aren't alone. So many are going thru this as well. Have gone they thru this. And, will go thru this." The "True Tori" star went on saying, "If I'm not responding please understand. Give me some time. We are right in the thick of it."

Elsewhere in her caption, Tori added more details of the symptoms. "We all have varying degrees of symptoms," she shared. "I was last to be symptomatic. We all were praying it was just a bad winter cold. But it wasn't." She then concluded her post as saying, "For reference : This post took 45 min of starting and stopping to write," adding hashtag that read, "#covidsucks."

Tori's announcement arrived after her husband Dean shared that he had pneumonia over the holidays while the actress posted a photo with their kids from Lake Arrowhead Resort and Spa in Southern California. "Hi everybody, happy happy New Year! I am sick as a dog," the "Dead Again in Tombstone" 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." The 55-year-old Canadian actor 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."
WENN/Apega Celebrity

Following the 'Anchorman' star's arrest for DUI and hit-and-run crash on New Year's Eve, Leigh Morgan Koechner reportedly wants court to suspend his visitation with kids.

Jan 8, 2022

AceShowbiz - David Koechner's estranged wife seemingly thinks that their children's safety is not guaranteed if they're around the actor. Following David's arrest for DUI and hit-and-run crash, Leigh Morgan Koechner reportedly wanted court to suspend his visitation with kids.

According to TMZ, Leigh filed docs on Friday, January 7 in L.A. asking for David's visitation with their children to be suspended. The exes, who tied the knot in 1998, share five children together, Charlie, Margot, Sargent, Audrey and Eve. She also asked for "safeguards be put in place to ensure (David's) sobriety."

The request entails to Leigh asking "The Office" alum to submit to drug testing. Additionally, she wanted the actor to use a Soberlink device to monitor alcohol consumption.

The filing arrived after it was reported that David was arrested on December 31, 2021 for a suspected DUI and hit-and-run in Simi Valley, California. David, who is best known for his role as Todd Packer on the hit NBC comedy, was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence at 3 P.M. He was allegedly booked at Ventura County Jail at 5:15 P.M. local time.

According to law enforcement sources, the authorities received a call for an erratic driver. Upon their arrival, David was quickly given a field sobriety test, which he failed. It was also said that his vehicle was towed shortly after. The "Anchorman" star remained there until the next morning as he was released at 5:49 A.M.

David is set to appear at court on March 30 in Ventura, Calif.

David and Leigh split last year after nearly 22 years of marriage. According to court documents obtained by Page Six in last January, the 57-year-old actor filed a petition for dissolution of marriage with minor children in California. The documents, however, didn't mention the reason for the split.
WENN/Mega Celebrity

In the short video shared by Kevin Hunter Jr. on his social media account, 'The Wendy Williams Show' host is seen sipping a glass of fresh-pressed juice while having a plate full of healthy salad.

Jan 8, 2022

AceShowbiz - Wendy Williams appears to be in a good state. In a video shared by her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., "The Wendy Williams Show" host could be seen looking better and healthy amid her physical and mental health issues.

On Friday, January 7, the 57-year-old TV hostess' son took to his Instagram Story to share a boomerang clip that saw her sitting in a bed while sipping what appeared to be a glass of fresh-pressed juice. On her lap, the daytime diva had a plate full of healthy salad.

In the video, Wendy wore a white hoodie and a pair of Daisy Dukes. Over the footage, Kevin included the location tag, Miami Downtown Brickell. The 21-year-old also added a music for the video, Drake's "Do Not Disturb".

Kevin's social media post came after Wendy's brother Tommy Williams shared an update on the talk show host's health. Late last month, Tommy said that Wendy was already "doing well" and no longer in Florida. He also denied reports saying that his sibling was "lonely" during the Christmas holiday.

Tommy went on saying that like Wendy's fans, he missed "Wendy on TV." He also noted that he's fully confident "she's not finished." He continued, "I'm on the outside looking in just like you all. She's not gone folks, she is just recalibration go. If Wendy weren't doing well, I wouldn't be sitting here smiling."

"And I know that you're weighing in on the hosts that are on right now," Tommy quipped. After being asked about his opinion on "The Wendy Williams Show" guest hosts, Tommy, who is three years younger than Wendy, gave them a thumbs down.

Wendy has been absent from her daytime show for the entire season so far as she continues to struggle with health and mental issues. Last month, however, the daytime talk show queen was reportedly ready to make a "big comeback" to her show.

"If anybody thinks Wendy is done with television and show business in general, they're sadly mistaken," a source spilled to HollywoodLife.com. "Wendy has been in this industry almost her entire life and she's definitely preparing to make a big comeback."

The insider explained, "She's feeling better every day and has every intention on coming back to her show, and even wants to work on some other projects in the upcoming year." The informant added, "Wendy never planned on not returning so that's not something that's even on her radar."
Looks like trouble is brewing for Google. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has launched an investigation into Google for suspected misuse of its dominant position in the digital advertising industry (DNPA), on the basis of a complaint made by the Digital News Publishers Association. Dainik Bhaskar, India Today, NDTV, Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Times of India, Amar Ujala, Jagran New Media, Eenadu, and Malayalam Manorama are among the members of the DNPA.

The commission has asked the Director General (DG) to conduct an inquiry into the matter under Section 26(1) of the Act in an order dated January 7. The commission has also given the DG 60 days from the date of receipt of this order to finish the inquiry and submit the investigation report.

The CCI said in the order: "The commission is of prima facie view that Google has violated the provisions of Section 4(2)(a) of the Act, which merits investigation. Further, the Informant has also alleged that above-mentioned conduct of Google results in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(b)(ii) as well as Section 4(2)(c) of the Act. The DG can appropriately examine these allegations as well during investigation."
British FMCG giant Reckitt Benckiser has sought to allay concerns from its army of sales agents in India about unfair pricing, according to media reports. They say that the steps taken were to ensure a level-playing field for distributors.

The reports revealed that the sales agents of companies including Reckitt, Unilever, and Colgate were angry that the kiranas (grocery shops) in India increasingly ordered from Indian retailer Reliances mobile app because they could get lower prices.

In a letter dated December 20, Reckitt said it had taken steps to ensure equitable play for all its business partners as it seeks to resolve their concerns. There are hundreds of thousands of consumer goods distributors who go store-to-store in India to take orders from kirana outlets and they are key to the success of companies like Reckitt in trying to reach the population of 1.3 billion, said the letter.

The reports further mentioned the companies risked supply disruptions if they did not ensure pricing parity for all distributors.

We have been extremely careful and discourage any unsustainable businesses with alternate distribution channel partners, Reckitt said in the letter to the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF).

Any violation is immediately flagged off and stopped, it added, without naming Reliance or any other big distributor.

AICPDF president Dhairyashil Patil said it is "going by the company's words" for now and hopes Reckitt will be able to ensure a level-playing field.
Scott Irwin is a professor and researcher in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he unravels agricultural economics questions.

He is a founding member of the universitys award-winning farmdoc digital product, which distributes ag marketing and management information to farmers and folks in the industry. As an ag economics Twitter celebrity, he has more than 25,000 followers with posts which can ignite debate.

Irwin hails from an Iowa farm, earned his bachelors degree at Iowa State University and his masters and doctorate at Purdue University. His latest endeavor is writing a book that will take readers Back to the Futures, expected to be published this year.

IFT: What started your interest in agriculture and economics?

IRWIN: I grew up on a grain and livestock farm in west central Iowa, northwest of Des Moines, in the 1960s and 70s. I was the only son, and it was assumed I would return to the farm after college. But from a young age I was fascinated by the markets. I would go with my dad to the fields and livestock and we would stop in at the local grain elevator to check the markets. I picked up his interest and it became a template for my professional life.

IFT: What has been a highlight in your career so far?

IRWIN: There are so many highlights, but one is being the director of farmdocs and being here since it started in 1999. When it started, it was a website with links to other websites. I cant believe it was a new idea then. Its objective was simple  to talk about traditional topics including farm management, finances and crop insurance and put it all in one place. We did that for about 10 years as things changed and people got mobile phones, Google and a 24-hour news cycle. In 2011, we started farmdoc daily. The highest value of our work for society turns out to be what we write, and technology allows us to do that every day. Farmdoc is a team of people with experts who write on relevant subject matters and do the analyses. Thats the magic.

Another highlight has been the research weve done with more than 10,700 citings of our work in other papers and earning about $6 million in research grants.

IFT: What has been the biggest surprise about farmdoc?

IRWIN: How quickly feedback appears in our inbox. We hit the button and publish it. If they disagree with you, you hear about it right away. Sometimes they are really angry and disagree with an angle weve taken or they uncover an embarrassing typo or error. We have grammar police who are not shy to inform us if we are wrong. More often, we hear from groups that have a policy and our analyses might be damaging to their position. Ive run into that with biofuel issues. Ive learned to navigate that. Sometimes ag economics make both sides furious.

IFT: What is a professional accolade you are proud of?

IRWIN: It would be awards from the Agriculture and Applied Economics Association, of which I have had professional affiliation since the 1980s. Their annual awards are national and global and highly competitive. Farmdoc has won the award four times in the last 20 years. We have won 20% of the time. I truly believe that is a record that could never be broken. I could be wrong. I am not aware of any program that has won for more different aspects.

IFT: Describe a good work day for you.

IRWIN: My favorite days are when I can sit down alone at my computer, do research and write for eight to 10 hours. I am a people person and love engaging with the public, but at the heart, Im a writer.

IFT: What would students be surprised to know about you?

IRWIN: I have a personal policy of bending over backwards to help a graduating senior in a bind to pass my course. A professor did me an extraordinary favor in 1980 when I was near death academically. You can find out the rest of the story in my book. So, whatever I can do, within the rules, to help a graduating student, I do. Usually I am a tough professor; this is the one exception.

IFT: Tell us a little more about this book you are writing.

IRWIN: I personalize the structure by illustrating a point with a story from my life and using technical materials to try and teach people how commodity and future markets work. I have a huge amount of fun in the telling. It was crazy growing up. Im grateful I made it to adulthood to have the fantastic career Ive had. And Im grateful for what Ive been able to study to explain how the mysteries of the markets work and how important it is.

IFT: What has changed your career the most in recent years?

IRWIN: Twitter has somewhat upended everything. You can put something out there and you get a reaction in a few seconds. In the past, publications took years to get to people. As soon as I put something up, there is engagement. People have their own opinions on economic issues and are not shy to express it. This has a rising demand of my time. It is a blessing and a curse. I am humorous, but my objective is to be responsible.

IFT: Can you give an example of a comment that ignited the Twitter community?

IRWIN: On the Nov. 30 Market Outlook for 2022 webinar, I said my estimate for planted corn acreage in 2022 is 96 million acres. In the following days, Twitter reacted. Ag journalists, financial press and a huge number of people see it. I got a lot of feedback because my analysis is different than the consensus that called for corn acreage to go down. Even at church yesterday, a farmer mentioned it. Even for me, its an extreme position compared to the market consensus. It comes from my analyses. If its an epic fail, it will just be an epic fail.

IFT: What is the best advice you have received from a mentor?

IRWIN: If you are any good, the main problem you will have is managing 300% of the demands on 100% of your time.

Another long-retired Purdue University professor told me that if you can find a job where three days a week dont suck, thats a good job you should keep. I never forgot that. Its a really realistic perspective on job satisfaction. Three-fifths of the time job satisfaction is good. My good days honestly far outnumber that criteria. Im blessed to enjoy my job more now than in my first year. Im 63 years old and Im more excited about my job than I have ever been.

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Krazy Kamala Harris would be funnier than most stand-up comedians until one remembers that she is a heartbeat away from the Presidency of the United States and the control of thousands of nuclear weapons. This should give significant pause to anybody who wishes for Joe Biden to resign or be impeached.

Krazy Kamala's latest stand-up comedy act was to equate the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, and Al Qaida's terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. "Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory: December 7th, 1941, September 11th, 2001, and January 6th, 2021." In the strange alternate reality world of Kamalaland, then, a horn-wearing QAnon shaman standing in the Capitol is equivalent to burning and sinking warships on Battleship Row, and two burning skyscrapers with thousands of people inside plus more casualties in the Pentagon and on Flight 93. The QAnon shaman and his cohorts are, in KamalaWorld, the moral equivalent of Imperial Japanese warlord Hideki Tojo and terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

Remember, it was Mostly Peaceful

The political Left has pointed out repeatedly that 93 percent of Black Lives Matter protests are peaceful. Well, 99 percent, or even 99.9 percent, of the people who protested in Washington on January 6, 2021, were peaceful and did not break any laws. Fewer than a thousand idiots invaded the Capitol and, among these, perhaps one in ten threatened members of Congress with violence or assaulted police officers. I, therefore, do not quite understand why the very same people who were silent when mobs were systematically looting cities, setting fires, rioting and, in some cases, committing murder (e.g. of retired police officer David Dorn) now want extensive investigations of the events on January 6. The idiots in question have, unlike the vast majority of looters and rioters who have devastated entire neighborhoods and livelihoods in George Floyd's name, been charged with misdemeanors or felonies according to their behavior, and many have already been convicted. The QAnon shaman got 41 months.

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

This is by no means to suggest that the fact that people acting under color of Black Lives Matter, and sometimes with its encouragement, rampaged through numerous cities to leave trails of devastation that would have made somebody like Genghis Khan proud, justifies the unlawful conduct on January 6, 2021, or vice versa. Both sets of events involved identifiable crimes such as looting, burglary, arson, simple and aggravated assault, unlawful entry into the Capitol, unlawful physical threats to members of Congress, and assaults on police officers. They differ only in the prosecution of those who allegedly committed crimes on 1/6/21 and the relatively widespread pass given to the looters, rioters, and so on.

Did the Democrat Left Incite Civil Unrest?

The Democrat Left keeps arguing for an investigation to determine whether Donald Trump incited the unlawful events on January 6. My understanding is that he asked people to demonstrate peacefully against the outcome of the election, which they had a right to do regardless of whether I or anybody else agrees with them. It is a matter of record that Black Lives Matter, while under the 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsorship of Thousand Currents and then the Tides Foundation, campaigned against Trump before it formed a political action committee in October 2020. We need to make this a central issue in 2022 to turn the House and Senate solid Red. The same goes for Krazy Kamala's electioneering in tax-exempt churches during the 2021 gubernatorial election in Virginia.

Krazy Kamala also raised funds to bail out "protesters," as she calls them. "Make a donation to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. Your support will help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota." Harris is an attorney so she knows better than I that protesters don't need bail. It is, in fact, a Federal crime to arrest somebody for the lawful exercise of his or her First Amendment rights. There is however no constitutional right to loot, riot, vandalize property, set police cars or buildings on fire, or menace people with physical harm, and Harris knows or ought to know this.

Krazy Kamala is not, however, the only member of the Democrat Left who is arguably sending dog whistles to rioters and looters as opposed to protesters. Squad member Ayanna Pressley said Make the phone calls, send the emails, show up. You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as theres unrest in our lives. There is no problem with the first sentence regardless of whether I or anybody else agrees with the content of the phone calls or E-mails, and I agree with any content that condemns unlawful conduct such as arresting people for driving or walking while Black. The second sentence appears however to support conduct other than the constitutional right to protest that is clearly spelled out in the first. If we add "civil" to the word "unrest" then we are definitely talking about criminal behavior. The latter linked reference makes it clear that peaceful protest is emphatically not civil unrest.

The Hill reports meanwhile, "Democrats seek balance in backing protests, condemning violence." If the Democrat Left thinks there is a "balance" between unequivocal support of a constitutional right and unequivocal condemnation of criminal behavior, it may as well pass out the Molotov cocktails and burglary and carjacking tools itself.

While riots and looting do not in any way excuse corresponding criminal behavior on January 6, 2021, the Democrat Left has no standing whatsoever to condemn or investigate the latter (beyond the active investigations and prosecutions that are rightfully in progress or even complete) in light of its silence and even tacit encouragement of the former. We need to consistently condemn all unlawful conduct of this nature rather than engage in self-serving partisan virtue signaling. Over-the-top comparison of what Krazy Kamala's party calls "unrest" to history's two greatest crimes against our nation does nothing to advance rational national discourse, either.

Caricature by Donkey Hotey CC BY 2.0 license

Civis Americanus is the pen name of a contributor who remembers the lessons of history, and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way. He or she is remaining anonymous due to the likely prospect of being subjected to "cancel culture" for exposing the Big Lie behind Black Lives Matter.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the U.S. Republican Senate candidate of Oprah and "miracle" weight-loss supplement fame, is closely connected to Recep Erdogan and the oppressive AKP party. Benjamin Baird of the Middle East Forum published an eye-opening article on him in National Review.

The "good doctor" has refused to give up his Turkish citizenship and attends a Diyanet (Turkey's directorate of Islamic affairs) mosque in New Jersey.

Oz, who met with Erdogan in 2014, is in contact with other AKP leaders and has encouraged Americans to fly the state-owned Turkish Airlines. The AKP is accused of operating a secret lobby in the U.S. and spying on American citizens. Oz's links to Turkey's authoritarian Justice and Development Party (AKP) extend to foreign agents and proxies accused of operating a secret lobby in the U.S. and spying on American citizens. These associations raise urgent questions about the Senate candidate's loyalty to an illiberal, often antagonistic foreign government that finds itself increasingly at odds with American interests.



Mehmet Oz at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in 2012.

Photo credit: World Economic Forum, CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

Read the whole thing.

The Senate hopeful has hinted at a possible allegiance to President Trump leading to a future endorsement.

Let's hope not!
Make no mistake about it: leftists lie. This is especially true of leftists in politics and the media. In fact, on most any matter dear to the left's perverse agenda, one is safer assuming that the leftist you're hearing or reading is lying. Thus, almost no one should've been surprised at the wild (and numerous) lies hurled by Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor during oral arguments over the Biden administration's private-sector Wuhan Virus vaccine mandate.

Early in the hearing, Justice Kagan called the Wuhan Virus "the greatest public health danger that this country has faced in the last century." She added, "More and more people are dying every day. More and more people are getting sick every day. I don't mean to be dramatic here. I'm just sort of stating facts." I suppose "sort of stating facts" is like "sort of telling the truth," but it is really just a leftist's way of saying, "I'm feeding you a crock of crap!"

Of course, Kagan's statements here are premised on the notion that we can even trust the U.S. Wuhan Virus numbers  we can't. But even if we could, the number of Wuhan Virus deaths in the U.S. is lower than it was in late August of last year and far lower than when (early December of 2020) then-president-elect Biden said that "no  I don't think it [Wuhan Virus vaccine] should be mandatory. I wouldn't demand it to be mandatory."

Later in her exchange with Scott Keller, seemingly defending Biden's mandate, Kagan stated:

We all know what the best policy is. I mean, by this point, two years later, we know that the best way to prevent spread is for people to get vaccinated and to prevent dangerous illness and death is for people to get vaccinated. That is by far the best. The second best is to wear masks.

These statements are worse than her others. Two years into this virus, there's little in the data that show that the "best way to prevent spread" of the Wuhan Virus is to get people vaccinated. On the contrary, vaccines haven't stopped the spread of the Wuhan Virus. Some of the most infected places in the U.S. are those with some of the highest rates of vaccination and mask use.

Tellingly, these (Democrat-dominated and led) parts of the U.S. have also enacted lengthy and widespread mask mandates. None of this has been effective in preventing the spread of the Wuhan Virus. How many more times must we tell leftists that masks (especially cloth masks) are nearly useless in stopping or even slowing the spread of the Wuhan Virus?!

Justice Breyer told Mr. Keller:

The hospitals are today, yesterday, full, almost to the point of the maximum they've ever been in this disease, okay? And you heard references, studies, I mean, they  they vary, but some of them say that the hospitalization is 90 percent or maybe 60 percent or maybe 80 percent, but a big percent, filled up yesterday or the day before with people who are not vaccinated, okay? So that's  we're talking about now.

These statements are patently false. U.S. hospitals are not full of Wuhan Virus patients. They are not "full" of patients in general. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), only about 17 percent of all U.S. hospital beds are occupied by Wuhan Virus patients. Breyer seems to have no idea what the number is. There's a vast difference in 60 percent capacity vs. 90 percent capacity, yet Breyer tosses both numbers out.

The most egregious lies on the Wuhan Virus during the mandate arguments were uttered by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She declares that "omicron is as deadly and causes as much serious disease in the unvaccinated as delta did." This is false. She then stated, "We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity." Maybe some are, but most are not.

The biggest lie of the day was when Sotomayor said, "We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in  in serious condition and many on ventilators." Whatever metric one wants to use, at no point during this tragic episode have children been in "serious" danger from the Wuhan Virus. In two years of this, there hasn't been a total of 100,000 children hospitalized in the U.S. due to the Wuhan Virus. Again according to DHHS data, currently, there are just over 3,300 U.S. children in the hospital with the Wuhan Virus.

Note that that is with the Wuhan Virus, not from the Wuhan Virus. Even Fauci himself recently admitted, "If you look at the children [who] are hospitalized, many of them are hospitalized with COVID as opposed to because of COVID." U.S. children have suffered far more from the foolish lockdowns, mask mandates, and Wuhan Virus vaccines than they have from the virus itself.

If you're going to lie to further a narrative, you should at least be good at it  especially if you're sitting on the highest court in the land. This was indeed an embarrassing effort by the lying left!

Trevor Grant Thomas; At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.

www.trevorgrantthomas.com

Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America.

tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Thomas Lifson adds:

Chief Justice Roberts has fretted about the Court maintaining its prestige and non-political status. After the lies and outright buffoonery yesterday, I will never look at the Court the same way. The damage to its standing is gigantic and irreversible for the foreseeable future. They may sit in a Greek temple...

...but they are now a clown show.

Photo credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
Imagine: It is September 4, 2035, in Miami and a large Cat. 5 hurricane is offshore headed straight for the city.

Roughly 7 million persons are in the general area where the hurricane will come ashore in 24 hours. The governor orders an evacuation of the MiamiFort Lauderdale area of Florida. All of the cars start heading north on I-95. All lanes are cleared to head northbound. With Congress and President Cortez having mandated that all cars built after 2030 must be electric (no hybrids), everyone heads north, but now all the people are caught up in a terrible traffic jam.



Hurricane Katrina on U.S. Weather Service radar.

Electric cars are starting to stall out on I-95 as well as the A1A and the Turnpike as they run out of power. There are simply not enough charging stations to charge the cars, and police monitoring the available chargers are limiting drivers to 15 minutes. Chargers are shutting down as water shorts out the charging heads on the cars. The electric cars are turning off their air-conditioners to preserve their remaining charge.

You are stuck in a traffic jam all night with the storm headed right at you. No battery, no A/C, no windshield-wipers, no GPS. All that you can do is call 911 and hope for help, but they can't because all of the roads are blocked with stalled electric vehicles. The new electric police and EMT vehicles mandated by President Cortez soon are out of juice. The wind is increasing. Then Florida Power and Light turns off the grid as power lines come down.

How do you charge thousands of electric cars stalled in a traffic jam? Each car must be towed to a charger or given a quick charge just to get it off the road. With no A/C, many elderly and infirm will die in their cars. In Florida or the Gulf coast, thousands will surely drown.

Where is the electricity to charge these cars going to come from? Today's grid is maxed out almost every day during the summer. No nuclear power. California has two nuclear plants, and one is being totally decommissioned and the other is scheduled for decommissioning.

Lithium-ion batteries are toxic waste. Where is the infrastructure to recycle these "green" car batteries?

Oil was "discovered" for commercial development in Pennsylvania in 1859. With 150 years to develop the infrastructure and distribution system for oil and gas, we are blessed with a robust and reliable source of power. Modern gasoline-powered cars yield almost no air pollution. Is it such a smart idea to trash this well-developed system to go "green"?
After reading about Friday's Supreme Court hearing the power of federal agencies to impose far-reaching vaccine mandates, a friend asked me how Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor could be so completely ignorant about COVID. The snarky answer was that the "Wise Latina" was drawing on her inner wisdom, obviating the need for facts. However, given that Justices Breyer and Kagan were just as ill-informed, and all three were pushing to define public policy rather than analyze the Constitution, the accurate answer is that leftist Supreme Court justices care nothing about the law. They view themselves as an unelected legislature and are guided by their personal fears.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two mandate cases. The first, National Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA, challenged the latter's "emergency" mandate requiring all businesses with 100 employees or more to force the employees to vaccinate or take regular cost-prohibitive tests, something affecting over 80 million Americans. The plaintiffs argued (correctly) that OSHA lacks the authority to mandate medicines for employees. Forcing people either to get a jab or test or to lose their job is a far cry from requiring hard hats and machine shut-offs.

The second case, Biden v. Missouri, was one of several lawsuits that Republican attorneys general filed challenging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' mandate holding that all health care facility workers have to be vaccinated. Failing to do so would forfeit Medicare and Medicaid benefits that are the life's blood for most doctors' offices and medical facilities (which also explains why physicians routinely refuse requests for ivermectin or other alternative COVID treatments). The states contend that a federal agency lacks the authority to condition participation in those programs on complying with mandates.

Ultimately, the arguments in both cases boil down to one pivotal point: does the Constitution give agencies the authority to write laws  such as laws disguised as regulations that force American workers to get experimental, controversial, minimally effective, life-altering treatments? The easy answer is "no," but the Supreme Court's leftists were uninterested in a constitutional analysis of bureaucratic overreach. Instead, they asked questions premised on their ill-informed beliefs about COVID and their obvious personal fears.



Image: Supreme Court justices (edited in befunky). Fox News screen grab.

Kagan began by insisting that "it's an extraordinary use of power taking place in an extraordinary situation," and that "we all know what the best policy is, we know the best way to stop spread is for people to get vaccinated and to stop serious illness is for people to get vaccinated," and that "the second best is to wear masks." (All Supreme Court quotations are from Fox News's live coverage.)

No, Justice Kagan, we don't all know that. That's Congress's job. Additionally, the CDC has admitted that vaccinations do nothing to stop COVID's spread. Indeed, with omicron, they seem to make people more vulnerable:

A study found that 96% of all omicron cases in Germany were among the vaccinated. Similarly, cases of omicron among the vaccinated in Ontario, Canada, are outpacing cases among the unvaccinated by 28%. The same trend is occurring in Denmark, where 8.5% of all cases are among the unvaccinated, and in the United Kingdom, only 25% of omicron hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated.

Also, Democrats are admitting that the cloth masks people have worn for almost two years are useless. Now it's all about N-95 masks (which also don't work because [a] nobody wears them correctly and [b] everybody wears them repeatedly, which just recycles viruses and other nasties around people's noses and mouths). Lloyd Austin, who had three jabs and walks around like Darth Vader...caught COVID.

Most importantly, "policy" is not Kagan's business. Her only responsibility is to determine whether federal agencies can make laws. (And again, no, they can't.)

Breyer was just as ignorant, claiming that "you have hospitalization figures growing by factors by [sic] 10, you have hospitalizations near the record, at the record." Again, untrue. In fact, the current variant is seeing lower hospitalization rates than other variants, which is to be expected as viruses learn to live symbiotically with their human hosts. Indeed, in New York, almost half of all ostensible COVID hospitalizations are not for COVID.

However, in the stupidity sweepstakes, Sotomayor always wins: "We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators."

Not true. As Fauci reluctantly conceded, there's a huge difference between children hospitalized because of COVID versus testing positive for it upon admission for a different health issue. There's a rise in hospitalizations only because omicron is unstoppable and it's peaking now. Even the New York Times concedes that children are not at greater risk. Also, because more people die in the winter for myriad reasons, including the annual flu season, hospitals always fill up around this time. (It doesn't help that hospitals are short-staffed thanks to mandates.)

Breyer is 83, Sotomayor is 67 and has diabetes, and Kagan is a youngish 61. The first two, and probably Kagan as well, consider themselves at high risk from COVID, and, of course, they wallow in ignorance. They've made it plain that, to protect themselves, they're willing to ignore the Constitution; make policy from the bench; and, along the way, destroy America.

Bonus content: The Missouri attorney general, making complete sense:
One of the biggest things I've wondered in this new era of social media censorship is how the companies' policies of banning people and repressing the news actually help their bottom line. They are publicly traded companies, after all. They're supposed to try to make a profit for their shareholders. How does shutting down their free "content producers," whether it's President Trump, or Dr. Robert Malone, with all their millions of followers on Twitter and Facebook, actually make money for these tech barons?

Well, now things are starting to come together. According to the Washington Free Beacon:

Shareholders in Google and YouTube are pressing the tech giants to disclose any requests they have received from the Biden administration to scrub politically "problematic" information from the platforms, according to a copy of a shareholder proposal obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics watchdog group that holds a voting stake in Google and YouTube's parent corporation Alphabet, submitted the shareholder proposal to the company this week, following a string of controversies over Google and YouTube's removal of videos that question the Biden administration's COVID-19 policies. The proposed disclosure requirement could shed light on whether the administration has directed tech companies to remove information that it deems misleading, a scenario that raises concerns about government censorship. In July, the White House said it was "in regular touch" with social media platforms to discuss ways to combat "misinformation" online.

The shareholders presumably would have an interest in knowing how this beyond-icky subservience to White House whims on COVID -- an amazing tapestry of every changing messaging colors and policy shapeshifting -- is affecting their shares' bottom lines. We all know that Twitter's stock has largely been in the toilet ever since they started pulling this stuff. Their banning binge on COVID "disinformation" has gotten pretty bad in recent months as we have noted here.

The shareholders, who may be an activist group, but nevertheless, are shareholders, do have a right to ask how that White House kowtowing is affecting these social media baronies' bottom line, because the real issue here is censorship, government censorship, same as the Soviets used to do, same as Castro oligarchs and the crazies running North Korea do, same as the Chicoms, same as the mullahs.

We already know that Google is laced with a revolving door of Democrat operatives in its top leadership positions, as are many Big Tech companies. The assumption up until now is that these companies have hired these worthless losers as a means of protecting themselves from too much Democrat scrutiny, but now a different picture is appearing: They may well be serving as conduits for the crazy patchwork of shifting policy positions on COVID that are emanating from the White House. That would explain the strange bannings of leading researchers such as Dr. Robert Malone, and the censorship of various medical truth-tellers, as well as those who bring out information on the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin in treating COVID.

Is the White House behind this? Let's just say that if it smells like a duck...

The shareholders are onto something. If the government is out censoring the press and the right to free speech, it's violating the First Amendment. Would Joe and all his "democracy at stake" minions dream of doing that? Well, he stole an election and opened our borders. What else wouldn't he do, now that his COVID mismanagement is out there, the public is onto him, his polling is tanking and his presidency is falling apart? This sounds like a First Amendment showdown, and maybe an impeachable offense, should Google have to produce the receipts the shareholders are legitimately demanding. Government censorship is tinpot dictator stuff. This one bears more attention.

Image: Screen shot from shareable Google Finance page.
Starting in 2016, the Obama-Biden Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Democrats in the Legislative Branch set out to defeat Donald Trump before the election, and when that didn't work, they made endless attempts to get rid of the duly elected president after the election.

It all centered on the Big Lie that Trump colluded with Russia. The public was told continually that Trump was a Russian agent or spy or whatever name they decided to use at the time.

The politicized Justice Department used the obviously fictitious Russian dossier when they lied repeatedly to the FISA court to get multiple warrants to spy on people in the Trump team. The FBI officials who perpetrated a fraud on the FISA court still roam free because they are special. They are above the law.

The Justice Department clearly knew that Hillary and the DNC paid over ten million dollars to produce the fictional document and didn't care. The Justice Department also knew that the Hillary campaign and DNC committed fraud when they signed a document to the Federal Election [C]ommission that the money paid to produce the fictional work was for legal fees. To hide the fictional opposition research, they laundered the payments through the Perkins, Cole law firm. No one at the Justice Department cared about the election fraud of Hillary and the DNC.

While the Justice Department was illegally targeting and spying on Trump, they were also protecting the corrupt criminal Hillary and her aides from prosecution while they supported her for president. No matter how many crimes they committed, they were above the law.

Statement by FBI Director James B. Comey on the Investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton's Use of a Personal E-Mail System

Massive amounts of government personnel and taxpayer money were spent in their effort to destroy and defeat Trump and to elect Hillary.

The criminal activity by the Obama-Biden administration dwarfed Watergate but the mostly compliant, sycophant media not only didn't care but also participated in the attempted coup. They knew how corrupt Hillary was and yet supported her while they willingly spread the known lies about Russian collusion for years in their effort to defeat Trump and intentionally mislead the public. The founding fathers gave the media great power to protect the people from corrupt and powerful politicians. They are turning over in their graves to see how willing the media are to support the corrupt people and cover up the corruption.

After the election, the efforts to destroy Trump continued with endless investigations in the Democrat Congress based on the Russian collusion lies. The investigations were led by congenital liar Adam Schiff. Schiff would repeatedly go on CNN and elsewhere and say he absolutely had evidence of Russian collusion and corruption by Trump. Although there was no evidence, the media willingly peddled these lies to the public as if they were true to destroy Trump's presidency and policies.

There were other lies that were told repeatedly to indoctrinate the public with misinformation.

Biden and others have continually repeated the lie that Trump complimented white supremacists in Charlottesville. This is a known lie, yet social media and other media outlets have never blocked Biden or anyone from repeating this lie. The purpose of the lie is to gin up racial division and hate and to portray Trump as a racist. The media and others peddle these lies to sow division while pretending they are trying to unite the country.

Hillary called Trump an illegitimate president for years yet pretends anyone who challenges election results doesn't believe in democracy. Somehow, anyone challenging Biden's win is treated as a criminal.

Biden and Harris called Trump an illegitimate president in 2019, and Sheila Jackson Lee challenged the election results on January 6, 2017, and no one cared.

On Jan. 6, 2017, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said at least ten Democrats would be challenging the validity of the electoral votes in multiple states. She said there would also be challenges trying to disqualify electors as ineligible to serve. "This is an American question of justice and fairness and the appropriate running of presidential elections."

The media have known for years that the Biden family pockets have been lined with money, yet when the New York Post printed the truthful story about the laptop in October 2020, they did everything they could to quash the true story so the public wouldn't see it. They trotted out fifty former intelligence officials, who, without evidence, were willing to say it looked like Russian disinformation. The swamp is deep.

Instead of investigating the story, they buried the story because they were spending their time seeking to defeat Trump and elect the corrupt, incompetent Biden.

They are campaign workers for Democrats, not reporters seeking to inform the public.

Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say

More than 50 former intelligence officials signed a letter casting doubt on the provenance of a New York Post story on the former vice president's son.

Several state election officials changed election rules, without legislative approval, in the 2020 election, yet the media and other Democrats say there was no evidence of wrongdoing in the election. Here is a hint: if state election officials intentionally go around the law to change election rules that is evidence of wrongdoing.

The FBI says the January 6 protest at the Capitol was not an insurrection, and they found no arms. Yet the media and other Democrats continue to call it an armed insurrection and have endless investigations to intentionally mislead the public.

Nancy Pelosi and others are intentionally lying to the public about who died at the Capitol and how. The lies are intentionally used to mislead and influence the public. Most of the media allow these lies to go unchallenged because theirs is a mutual goal: to destroy Trump.

Most of the media, Pelosi and other Democrats don't care about Ashli Babbitt, the only unarmed person killed January 6, any more than they care about all the people killed and maimed by radical leftist groups, people killed by illegals, people dying at the border, people plowed over by a racist career criminal in Wisconsin, or Seth Rich.

They seem to only care about deaths when they advance their radical agenda.

The Latest False Claim About January 6th May Be the Most Brazen, Indefensible One Yet A lot of you reading this may be asking who Bill Evans is. That's understandable given that his death was only in the news for about eight hours after it occurred. Why? Because the circumstances of it did not fit the narrative the press and Democrats at large desired. You see, Evans was not killed on January 6th or by a rabid Trump supporter some months later. Rather, he was killed by a black nationalist and Nation of Islam supporter who rammed a barricade attempting to enter the Capitol grounds.

Democrats don't want a federal takeover of elections because they care about minorities, voter rights, or voter suppression. They only care about power and winning. They will do anything to destroy people who get in their way.

For a long time, the media have gone from informing the public to indoctrinating the public. They are willing to pretend lies are the truth and bury truthful stories in their efforts to infect the public with radical leftist policies. They are willing to do whatever it takes to remake and destroy America. That makes them enemies of the American people, doesn't it?

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.
The National Parks Service (NPS) is a shambles. It is run by progressives playing COVID kabuki theatre to limit access to the parks, and it partners with partisan tech giants to control information. Like so many of today's federal agencies, they need to be dismantled, the ground where their offices stood needs to be salted, and the organization rebuilt from the ground up. In particular, NPS's plans for the 221st anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens are an obscenity.

January 17 marks the 221st anniversary of one of the most important engagements during the American Revolution  the Battle of Cowpens. That pitted the colonial Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, the avatar of a hard-fighting, hard-drinking, unwashed backwoodsmen, against the most successful, arrogant, aggressive, and despised of British commanders, Bloody Banastre Tarleton, a man infamous in the South for slaughtering American troops trying to surrender at the massacre at Waxhaws.

On January 17, 1781, Morgan and Tarleton met in the backcountry of South Carolina. Morgan was leading a force of 1,065 men among between long-riflemen (proto-snipers), militia, Continentals (regular army), and cavalry. Tarleton commanded a force of 1,150 men, almost all of whom were light infantry units and cavalry of the British forces under the Southern Campaign commander, Charles Cornwallis.

Morgan's force threatened the British forts that controlled the South Carolina backcountry. Cornwallis dispatched Tarleton to chase Morgan down and eliminate his force. Morgan led Tarleton on a race across the northwest border of South Carolina before opting to turn and face Tarleton at Hannah's Cowpens, a mile-long, gently rolling open field of grass bounded by water and heavy woods that suited Morgan perfectly.

Morgan set a trap for Tarleton. He expected the young cavalry commander to act precipitously and with the utmost aggression. Tarleton did not disappoint. On the frosty morning of January 17, 1781, Morgan arrayed his forces in four layers  the long riflemen, followed by the militia, then the Continentals. Behind them was a cavalry unit.

As soon as Tarleton saw Morgan's force, he charged with his entire force. Morgan, as planned, had the long-riflemen and then the militia fire a few rounds before falling back behind the Continentals. The British were in an all-out charge when they met the Continentals, while the militia, long-riflemen, and cavalry came back around the British flanks, encircling them. The Continental line held; the envelopment was successful; and, after an hour of fighting, virtually the entire British force but for Tarleton himself and a few of his dragoons were killed or captured.



Image: Cowpens re-enactors, January 2006. Public domain.

It was the greatest single tactical victory of the Revolution, and its importance cannot be understated. It ultimately led Cornwallis to chase the victorious Americans into North Carolina, then Virginia, finally stopping to await relief with his greatly depleted force at Yorktown, Virginia. That set the stage for George Washington's October 1781 Siege of Yorktown that functionally ended the Revolution.

Unfortunately, the National Park Service runs the Cowpens National Battlefield Park. Here we are, a mere ten days out from the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens, and the NPS website for the Cowpens contains no information about planned events at the site. I found that stunning. One of the pivotal events in American history, and it is being ignored.

I called the NPS office at Cowpens and learned they are still in full COVID hysteria and limiting access to the open-air park. The NPS office itself is being manned only two days a week. Everyone, regardless of vaccine status, must wear masks outside in the park. There will be a very small number of re-enactors allowed into the park for the weekend before the 17th, and any activities that the park has  and the NPS officer could not tell me if any specific activities were planned  will be shown on Facebook.

This is ridiculous. All of South Carolina's state and municipal parks are fully open for business, and at every one of those parks, choosing to wear a mask is optional. Even in some historic buildings that private organizations run, while masks are mandatory, they are otherwise operating as normal.

For example, in July 2021, I attended a reenactment of the revolutionary skirmish Huck's Defeat in Brattonsville, South Carolina. Several hundred people were there, and there was nary a mask in sight.

Bottom line: There is no justification for what NPS is doing with our history. These people are no longer the custodians of our shared history; they are, obscenely, the gatekeepers. Whether by choice or by COVID hysteria, they are denying us access to that history.

And lastly, the vague promise to put out some material from Cowpens's 221st anniversary on Facebook is not an acceptable alternative. Facebook, which routinely censors conservative speech, is a hard-left cesspool to which no conservative should belong. I do not belong to Facebook and flatly refuse to join. And yet, to gain access to the NPS's Cowpens content, I must turn my personal information over to Facebook.

Wolf Howling is a pseudonym.
China's service robots make themselves at home at CES 2022

Xinhua) 10:01, January 08, 2022

LAS VEGAS, the United States, Jan. 7 (Xinhua ) -- CES 2020 being held in the U.S. city of Las Vegas this week is a veritable sci-fi movie set of wunderkind robots that have spectators line up to see what the present and the future holds in store in proto-humans.

Many of the leading robotic firms are from China, and this year's state-of-the-art robots from China on display at the CES put an end to the outdated litany that Chinese companies lack innovation. In commercialized service robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), they are leading the pack.

Keenon Robotics, based in the Chinese city of Shanghai, was founded in 2010 and started with a handful of employees, and now the company boasts 2,000 employees with more than 23,000 robots in operation around the globe.

The company managed to struggle, step by step, to surmount a host of design, AI and engineering challenges to reach the top of the heap in commercial robotic sales with worldwide market penetration, North American Marketing Director Wang Mingmin told Xinhua, noting that it is all worth it in the end.

Wang credits the excellent robotic supply chain in China and the global labor shortage caused by COVID-19 for much of the market's recent growth, 70 percent of which is in the restaurant industry.

"The pandemic has effected every industry and restaurants and hotels can't find enough qualified people to work. We have a solution for their labor problems with our reliable, cost-effective robots," he told Xinhua on Thursday.

Their fleet of innovatively-designed products includes hospitality, hotel, and catering/delivery robots that carry food, goods, and other deliveries to customers.

Their disinfection robots are perfect for killing viruses and bacteria in hospitals, hotel rooms, commercial kitchens, and other fields across multiple industries, and their delivery robots were used in more than 100 hospitals to make safe and sanitary deliveries during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their ever-so-cute hospitality robot guide, Peanut, complete with a cheery, plump body and bright digital banner, adds a touch of whimsy and charm to help personalize the experience.

Their robots work by their proprietary blend of fully autonomous positioning and navigation technology, which integrates multiple sensors such as Lidar, machine vision, depth vision, and sonar, to enable the robot to work efficiently and reliably in complex environments.

Keenon CEO Tony Li said in a statement, "We believe that the autonomous revolution lead by intelligent robotics will keep you inside of tedious, labor-intensive and dangerous tasks allowing us to focus on more meaningful things in life."

Another leading Chinese robotics company, Pudu, run by an innovative team of 20-somethings, offered a line-up of attractive, customer-facing robots at the CES this year, with colorful display screens and cute cat-like features, KettyBot and BellaBot, that enable businesses to begin customer engagement before they even enter the store or restaurant.

"KettyBot allows your special offers to reach more customers, delivering a higher conversion rate with a very novel approach," said Pudu in a statement.

Their clever bots attract customers by cracking jokes, dancing, and interacting one-on-one with customers, plus details of a business's products. Dishes or discounts can be shown to potential customers on-screen using voice interaction, further enhancing human-to-robot experience.

"Our technology is more mature and stable and our obstacle avoidance technology makes them very safe and reliable," Senior Overseas Sales Manager Tracy Yan told Xinhua.

In business since 2016, the Shenzhen-based Pudu aims its ambition "to become the world's strongest commercial service robot company" and it is committed to "using robots to improve the efficiency of production and human life."

Besides the leading Chinese companies in the service robots field, their Japanese contenders have also added spice to the CES with their adorable service robots. Cinnamon, from Donut Robotics, is as cute as a button and can be used as a multi-lingual receptionist, keep a watchful eye on customers' child, pet or senior, or even conduct simple health checks.

Linking to Cinnamon is C-FACE, another very COVID-specific innovation from Donut Robotics. It is the world's first smart mask that transcribes what you say through the mask and sends it to other persons' cell phone in eight languages. It can also take minutes of meetings and send remote commands to Cinnamon.

According to a research report published by MarketsandMarkets last August, the world's service robotics market is projected to grow from 36.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 to 103.3 billion dollars by 2026.

The growing adoption of robots for new applications providing high returns on investment coupled with rising use of internet of things in robots for cost-effective predictive maintenance is the key factors driving the service robotics market, the report said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
The Cult of COVID practices de facto human sacrifice. The victims include the people who have been unfortunate enough to have poor outcomes from the disease, but whom doctors have refused to treat lest they be excommunicated from their guild for violating the doctrine that there is no treatment but vaccine.

And then there is the disease itself, the Cult's devil. Since shortly after it appeared, those who had been paying attention could see it was a particularly bad flu at worst. Blown out of all proportion with unique attribution methods (deaths from any cause if within 60 days of infection), questionable tests to determine who is "possessed" of the virus that were never intended to be used in that way, and the notion that those who contracted it had failed to do the virtuous thing in some way. Yes, the often explicit suggestion is that someone getting sick got that way through some moral failing, like failure to strictly follow the observances and practices of the Cult. Perhaps he attended a group gathering other than an officially sanctioned BLM demonstration.

I have not feared getting COVID for quite some time. There is no reason for me to. It is simply not dangerous to someone of my health profile, and effective therapeutics exist.

All the coercive measures we see today, including requiring "boosters" at this late date, when it is known that the drugs simply do not work reliably to prevent infection or prevent transmission, are clearly geared toward getting people to "accept" the drugs for their own sake. Even Fauci has admitted that his call that vaccination should be required for domestic air travel is not because of any public health benefit related to air travel, but simply because doing so would coerce more people to get vaccinated. All must submit.

I could continue to chronicle the ways in which our public health establishment, our government officials, and their acolytes throughout society have converted to this new religion. But the bottom line is that these "vaccines" clearly represent false gods. I could no more betray my God, my religion, by taking another COVID vaccine shot than I could by accepting Jesus, perhaps through the analogous act of Communion, or by saying the Shahada, or engaging in non-Jewish religious rites of any kind, regardless of whether or not the religion is monotheistic. To force me to take these drugs under threat of any penalty, no matter how slight, even if only an "inconvenience," is to put oneself in the shoes of a modern-day Torquemada. To threaten my job and livelihood and to mark my personal choice of religious confession as requiring me to be treated differently, not to be able to meet with clients, to have the status of a dhimmi under Islam, is hardly a neutral question.

Further, as a matter of principle, it is against my religion for me to do something harmful to my body. I was created in God's image. I cannot desecrate it. This is why Jews are prohibited from getting a tattoo, or otherwise participating in ritual scarring. Expressed in modern terms, I cannot take an experimental drug that may be more dangerous to me than the disease it is supposed to prevent or treat (it does neither). Simple cost/benefit analysis (something also proscribed by the high priests of the COVID cult) compels me not to.

That fetal cells were used in the creation of these drugs is also a religious problem for me. If it were the only problem, it would be enough.

Then, quite apart from the fact that my religious beliefs, core to who I am as a person, prohibit me from taking these drugs, I have strong ethical problems with compulsory vaccination with an experimental drug. Even were I to be an atheist, it would require me to assert my strong objections as a question of personal conscience.

Judah Rose is a pen name.

Graphic credit: Public domain image.
Democrats have put on a political extravaganza for the voters around the events of Jan. 6.

They held testimonies from Congress members who were there on the scene. They trotted out panels of august and famous historians. They flew in Broadway fixtures, such as Lin Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame, effectively creating an Academy Awardsstyle show for the TV-watchers, as AT deputy editor Andrea Widburg noted here. (The irony of Hamilton being an authentic revolutionary insurrectionist was lost on them.) Ironies, in fact, abounded. They wheeled out Dick Cheney, a man they viewed until that moment as Satan himself. They held candlelight ceremonies. There was a "prayer" ceremony. They kneeled. They bowed. They held a moment of silence.

White House spokesweasel Jen Psaki waxed poetic about all the "historical significance" of the theatrics. House speaker Nancy Pelosi intoned about the "essential" need to "preserve the narrative," kid you not. Other speeches, such as that by the sitting vice president of the United States, equated the event to Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Doddering Joe Biden himself made his most offensive speech, loudly denouncing his predecessor, President Trump, and by implication all who voted for him, as well as states that have enacted electoral integrity measures as a result of his fraudulent election. The states, he insisted, were the threats to "democracy." Pay no attention to the Zuckerbucks or that big-bucks ballot-harvesting investigation going on now in Georgia. Pay no attention to that self-described "well funded cabal" that Time magazine crowed about.

Nope, Democrats simply basked in the self-affirming, self-praising foofaraw, bloviating and puffing, making themselves the greatest sort of heroes in the Democrat pantheon: victims.

Just one problem with it, though: The public isn't buying it.

Jonathan Turley writes that according to a recent CBS News poll:

The majority of the public does not believe that this was an "insurrection" despite the mantra-like repetition of members of Congress and the media. The public saw that terrible day unfold a year ago and saw it for what it was: a protest that became a riot. ... Not surprisingly, the poll received little comparative coverage on a day when reporters and commentators spoke of "the insurrection" as an undeniable fact. Yet, when CBS asked Americans, they received an answer that likely did not please many. Indeed, CBS did not highlight the answer to the question of whether the day was really a "protest that went too far." The answer was overwhelming and nonpartisan. Some 76% believe that this was a protest that went too far.

So quite a few people out there see this fracas as I see it, as a protest that got out of control, based on police ineptitude and congressional leaders' failure to prepare. The clowns brought the problem on themselves, and now want to memorialize it as their heroism for eternity.

What we see here is that Democrats are pushing a narrative that only 30% of Americans buy, in order to push through changes in election law that people don't want.

Voters in fact don't care about memorializing congressmembers hiding under their desks while weirdos and grandstanders took over the premises for a couple of hours. What they do care about is election integrity, and it's not just on the Republican side. Bernie Sanderssupporters, for instance, know that Joe Biden stole the Democrat nomination from their candidate, just as surely as Biden stole the election from Trump. Some distrust the entire system, too.

That's why we see polls like this, from Jan. 6:

America's faith in the integrity of the election system remains shaken by the events of Jan. 6, with only 20% of the public saying it's very confident about the system, a new ABC/Ipsos poll finds. This is a significant drop from 37% in an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in the days after the insurrection last year.

And this, and this:

But ahead of that vote, nearly 60% of all Americans said they lacked confidence in the honesty of U.S. elections, according to a Gallup poll from earlier that year. One year later, two-thirds of all Americans believe U.S. democracy is threatened, according to a CBS News poll. That crisis of trust is bigger than just one party  both Republican and Democratic voters have expressed doubt in the system.

Any surprise about that? The Jan. 6 extravaganza events mainly serve to remind the public that Joe cheated in his election and sits there senile in his presidential chair on a floor of stolen votes.

There's also this Monmouth poll from June:

Most Americans support both easier access to early voting and requiring photo identification to vote, according to the Monmouth ("Mon-muth") University Poll. The public is more divided on expanding vote-by-mail, although a majority would like to see some national voting guidelines established for federal elections. The poll also finds that only one-third of the public believes "audits" of the 2020 election results are legitimate efforts to uncover irregularities. Moreover, one-third of Americans continue to believe Joe Biden won the presidency only due to voter fraud  a steady trend since November that underlines the crystallization of our nation's deep partisan divide. A large majority (71%) of the public feels in-person early voting should generally be made easier. Just 16% say it should be made harder. Opinion is more divided on voting by mail  50% say this should be made easier and 39% say it should be made harder. At the same time, fully 4 in 5 Americans (80%) support requiring voters to show photo identification in order to cast a ballot. Just 18% oppose this.

And this, from ABC News last October, citing Ballotpedia's Scott Rasmussen:

"Only 26% of voters, one out of four, believe that both of the last two presidential elections were awarded to the proper winner," said Rasmussen to The National Desk's Jan Jeffcoat Wednesday morning. "77% of voters say, yes we need some reform before 2022 in the midterm elections." Voting reform has become a bipartisan issue, according to Rasmussen. "Both parties favor election reform; it's just how you define reform," said Rasmussen. "Voters want to make sure that they can count on the results, if they believe the results they want to make sure that everybody has a chance to vote." Rasmussen says there's broad support from voters for things like making Election Day a national holiday and allowing early voting. "There are three very, very unpopular provisions in H.R.1," said Rasmussen. 70% of voters reject legislation that would ban states from requiring photo ID before voting. 59% of voters are opposed to prohibiting states from removing people who have died or moved from voter rolls in the months leading up to an election. And 74% of voters say that all ballots should be in by Election Day. "Among people who actually voted by mail, 73% of them agree with the idea that their ballots should be in by Election Day," said Rasmussen.

And this trend, as reported by the Washington Post last October:

Loudoun County General Registrar Judy Brown doesn't recall seeing many poll watchers during early voting last year  they usually turn up only on Election Day, primarily during presidential elections. But that's changed. "This year," she said, "we have had poll watchers here every day, all day long, watching the process of what's going on."

Democrats, in putting on their tears-and-flapdoodle about the Jan. 6 show, are essentially marginalizing themselves with this idiocy. They are so full of self-righteousness that they can't see that they are out of tune with voters, can't correct course, and respond to public distrust of them by just pushing harder.

In a way, it's stupidity, given that they are so out of step with the wishes of voters. But obtaining power by cheating now seems to be how they get things done, so it doesn't bother them. It may work for a while, but these polls show that voters are on to them. They can't cheat if the margins are big, and polls show that they are big.

Poor stupid fools with their laughable celebrity cavalcade of Jan. 9 gobbledygook.

Image: Screen shot from video posted by Forbes Breaking News via YouTube.
There are approximately 5.5 million family-owned businesses in the United States. These businesses have long been the engine for growth and job creation. While some family-owned businesses are billion-dollar behemoths like Walmart, Berkshire Hathaway, and Ford Motor Company, the vast majority are much smaller, all the way down to your local mom-and-pop store.

Both international and national big banks and corporations are seriously threatening small family businesses. (Note: By small family business, I'm not referring to those families or individuals who own franchises. Most franchises are primarily national or international in scope and don't qualify as a typical mom-and-pop independent business or store.)

Nor has the internet helped these small businesses much. Online businesses such as Amazon and eBay have a monopoly say in which small businesses they promote and which ones are posted low on the list when it comes to search results. For a fee, Google and Facebook will place a business prominently in product searches but for most small businesses, those fees are unaffordable.

Even if a small business has a great product or service, big businesses will compete by offering the same product or service, or something comparable, at a lower price the small business, which has minimal reserves, cannot meet. If a big business fails to bankrupt the mom-and-pop business, it may just decide to buy out the smaller business. Few small businesses can resist an offer of big money overnight.

So what changes in laws will guarantee that small businesses will once again thrive in the nation and the world?



Image: A small business in Arizona, 1942. Library of Congress.

The one major incentive for small family businesses to grow is for the government to stop taxing them until they've had the ability to grow to a value of, say, 25 million dollars or so. Once they reach a size bigger than that dollar value, taxes would be imposed on a sliding scale on gross profit, starting at 1% for every additional 5 million up to a maximum of about 50 million. Any sale to a corporation or other non-individual owner would automatically end the no-tax or minimum-tax status.

There are other creative approaches to supporting small businesses. Because food is the most important item in life and promotes good health, another possibility is not to tax family-owned organic farms, organic food wholesalers, organic restaurants, and organic supermarkets. Big food corporations have bought up most of the old organic food businesses, and their ethical practices are under a big question mark. It is also highly probable that they are lobbying the government to reduce national USDA organic food standards so they can sell inferior organic food at even greater profits.

There are also ways to combat the incredibly cheap prices of international goods, which are devastating manufacturing in the United States. Congress could change tax laws so that the government will not tax products made exclusively in the United States, using only parts manufactured in the United States.

Admittedly, from a practical point of view, policing such family-owned businesses could require a significant bureaucratic police force. Alternatively, the fines for breaking this rule or law could be so large that they would literally destroy a business that decided to cheat under these rules.

The fact is that tax laws can stimulate family businesses or make it extremely hard to start them. Zero taxes would be the stimulus for many family businesses to prosper and reinvigorate market competitiveness, something that barely survives in an era blighted by COVID lockdowns and monopolistic international big banks and big business.
(Image source from: Etvbharat.com)

Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju Announces Resignation As Narasapuram MP:- Narasapuram MP Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju has been unhappy with the governance of YS Jaganmohan Reddy and his leaders. He made sensational comments against the AP government several times over these months. There are strong speculations that Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju will resign for his position and the leader revealed that he would announce the decision on January 7th. Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju interacted with the media and revealed that he would soon submit his resignation for MP. YSRCP party has been quite angry on Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju and they submitted a letter to the Speaker of the Parliament long ago.

With YSRCP trying hard to suspend Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju from the party, the MP himself gave one week time for the party to take a call. If he is not suspended from the party, Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju himself will submit his resignation told the MP. He also said that he would soon contest in the by-election from Narasapuram and win with a record majority. Amaravati capital is my agenda told the MP. I will prove about the hatred YSRCP has been carrying in the state and I will prove this through my victory again told Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju. He also told that he would soon announce the date of his resignation.

(Video Source: ABN Telugu)
(Image source from: Greatandhra.com)

TRS MLA's Son Suspended From The Party And Arrested:- The ruling Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) suspended Vanama Raghavendra Rao (Raghava) from the party on immediate effect and he is the son of Kothagudem MLA Vanama Venkateshwar Rao. Vanama Raghava is the main accused in the connection with the suicide of a businessman's family in Kothagudem's Paloncha. TRS President and Telangana Chief Minister KCR issued the orders and suspended Vanama Raghava from the party. Raghava is A2 in the death of Ramakrishna and his family. Ramakirishna penned a suicide note and also released a selfie-video before killing himself. Vanama Raghava demanded sexual favours from his wife for resolving a property dispute in the family of Ramakrishna.

Ramakrishna, his wife Srilakshmi along with their daughters Sahitya and Sahiti committed suicide after leaking the gas cylinder. The issue created a sensation across the state and Vanama Raghava was criticized. KCR, KTR took a swift decision to suspend Vanama Raghava from the party and he was arrested last evening. The opposition parties have been demanding strong action against MLA Vanama Venkateshwar Rao. Telangana cops conducted a massive manhunt and Vanama Raghava was arrested in Chintalapudi from Andhra Pradesh. He was brought to Kothagudem last night.

(Video Source: NTV Telugu)
(Image source from: Twitter.com/ANI)

Bihar Man Claims That He Got 12 Covaxin Shots:- A man from Bihar claimed that he has taken 12 doses of Covaxin from the past one year. He said that his general condition started improving well and his joints pain vanished over the time. The 84-year-old man was identified as Brahmdeo Mandal and he comes from Aurahi village in Madhepura from Bihar. He said that he took his first jab in January last year and he was unable to walk. His health condition improved well with the second dose and he then decided to take one more shot. Brahmdeo Mandal said that he produced his Aadhaar card four times and then Voter ID card twice to get the vaccination shots.

He said that the offline registration process helped him and they failed to detect his vaccination history. Brahmdeo Mandal took his 12th shot on January 4th and it was then the overlap was detected. "I suffered no side-effects and this makes it clear that people are not dying because of the vaccination shots. I am now walking normally and my pulse rate is 72" told Brahmdeo Mandal. The Health Department of Bihar asked the Madhepura district administration to send an explanation about the incident. Brahmdeo Mandal produced 12 certificates about the vaccination doses.
(Image source from: Economictimes.indiatimes.com)

Sri Lanka Inks A Deal To Oil Tanks To Indian Oil:- On Thursday, Sri Lanka signed a deal with the Indian Oil Corporation to lease 75 oil tanks after Sri Lanka is close to secure 500 million USD fuel credit from India. The deal was signed ahead of Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister's visit to Sri Lanka which is scheduled to take place this weekend. Sri Lanka is badly hit and was in a deep financial crisis for decades. Sri Lanka agreed to lease 99 tanks to India in the year 2003. Lanka IOC will have 14 tanks for a 50-year lease and the joint ventures will lease the remaining 24 tanks. The joint venture includes Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), the Trinco Petroleum Terminal (TPT).

This will nullify the lease agreements that are done by India and Sri Lanka in 2003. The government of Sri Lanka has been trying hard to increase the fuel storage capacity. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Srilankan visit in 2019 said that the project will help Sri Lanka to emerge as a petroleum hub in the region. The governments of both the countries have been attempting the deal since 1987 to divide the development and ownership. Sri Lanka is on the shipping route between the Asian Consumers and the Gulf Oil exporters.
Omicron Fever Grips Telugu Cinema:- Tollywood is heading for a closure once again because of the widespread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. The upcoming releases are postponed because of the closure of the theatres in all the markets of the country. As of now, there are no restrictions imposed in the Telugu states and movies like Bangarraju, Rowdy Boys, Hero, DJ Tillu are hitting the screens during the Sankranthi season. The shoots are kept on hold because of the huge spread of the Omicron variant. The cases saw a huge rise in Telangana. Superstar Mahesh Babu announced that he is tested positive for coronavirus and has mild symptoms.

Manchu Lakhsmi, Thaman, Lagadapati Sridhar and some others are tested positive for coronavirus. Several other celebrities are tested positive but did not make it official. The theatres are expected to be shut in February and March as the coronavirus wave will reach the peaks. The shoots of all the biggies will be kept on hold after Sankranthi. Tollywood is now heading for a closure for the third time because of the coronavirus pandemic. The producers are staring at huge losses because of the heaping up interests. Analysts say that it would be a tough time for Indian cinema and it would take months for all the crafts to bounce back.
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US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have hailed Sidney Poitier for changing the world on and off the screen following his death at the age of 94.

The leaders paid tribute to Poitiers talent as an actor as well as his work to advance dialogue on race and civil rights.

The Bahamian-American actor was known for films including In The Heat Of The Night, Blackboard Jungle and Guess Whos Coming To Dinner  and was the first black man to win the Oscar for best actor.

Sidney Poitier transformed our world both on and off the screen. As an Oscar-winning actor and Ambassador, he advanced our dialogue on race and civil rights at a time when we needed it most. My thoughts are with his wife Joanna and his daughters.  Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 8, 2022

In a statement shared by the White House, President Biden lamented the loss of the once-in-a-generation actor, who helped open the hearts of millions.

Sidney was more than just one of the finest actors in our history. His iconic performances held a mirror up to Americas racial attitudes in the 1950s and 1960s, he said.

With unflinching grandeur and poise  his singular warmth, depth, and stature on-screen  Sidney helped open the hearts of millions and changed the way America.

He blazed a path for our Nation to follow, and a legacy that touches every part of our society today.

Vice President Harris added: Sidney Poitier transformed our world both on and off the screen.

#SidneyPoitier was a pioneer for artists of color everywhere. At 9 I read he imitated broadcasters since he was ridiculed for his accent. For the next 10 yrs I did the same to overcome my own speech impediment. I owe my voice to him. Never EVER doubt that representation matters. pic.twitter.com/2Z3OL6HMAX  Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) January 7, 2022

As an Oscar-winning actor and Ambassador, he advanced our dialogue on race and civil rights at a time when we needed it most.

Poet Amanda Gorman, who shot to fame following a reading at Biden and Harriss inauguration ceremonies in January 2021, said she owed her voice to Poitier.

#SidneyPoitier was a pioneer for artists of color everywhere, the 23 year-old wrote.

At 9 I read he imitated broadcasters since he was ridiculed for his accent. For the next 10 yrs I did the same to overcome my own speech impediment.

I owe my voice to him. Never EVER doubt that representation matters.

Former US president Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president, shared a photo of himself and his wife Michelle standing alongside Poitier after he had awarded the esteemed actor the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Through his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomized dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together. He also opened doors for a generation of actors. Michelle and I send our love to his family and legion of fans. pic.twitter.com/zkYKFSxfKA  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 7, 2022

Obama wrote: Through his groundbreaking roles and singular talent, Sidney Poitier epitomised dignity and grace, revealing the power of movies to bring us closer together.

He also opened doors for a generation of actors.

Michelle and I send our love to his family and legion of fans.

US talk show host Oprah Winfrey posted a photo of the pair in a joyful embrace and added an emotional message, saying: For me, the greatest of the Great Trees has fallen: Sidney Poitier.

My honour to have loved him as a mentor. Friend. Brother. Confidant. Wisdom teacher.

The utmost, highest regard and praise for his most magnificent, gracious, eloquent life.

I treasured him. I adored him. He had an enormous soul I will forever cherish. Blessings to Joanna and his world of beautiful daughters.

British singer Lulu, who sang the title song for the film To Sir, With Love in which Poitier starred, said the actor had led by example and empowered and educated many.

The singer, who also appeared in the film alongside Poitier, said in a statement: Sidney you were my friend my teacher, my inspiration

Sir rises above the fray and leads by example, this was how you led your life, you empowered and educated us so we could choose to follow your lead.

Singing legends Diana Ross and Nancy Sinatra also paid tribute to Poitier.

My condolences to Sidney Poitier's familyA wonderful ,great man ,Will always be remembered. pic.twitter.com/3f0kMVxnV6  Ms. Ross (@DianaRoss) January 7, 2022

Sharing a black and white photo of her and the actor, Ross said: A wonderful, great man, Will always be remembered.

Sinatra wrote: Godspeed, dear Sidney, and thank you for your courage, along with a quote from Leo Rosten, adding that Poitier had definitely made a difference.

Following news of Poitiers death the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, held a press conference during which he reflected on the actors legacy.

"The purpose of life is not to be happybut to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all." ~ Leo Rosten Godspeed, dear Sidney, and thank you for your courage. https://t.co/lY5MILUznH  Nancy Sinatra (@NancySinatra) January 7, 2022

He said: Our whole Bahamas grieves. But even as we mourn, we celebrate the life of a great Bahamian.

A cultural icon, an actor and film director, civil and human rights activist and a diplomat.

We admire the man not just because of his colossal achievements, but also because of who he was.

His strength of character, his willingness to stand up and be counted and the way he plotted and navigated his lifes journey.

The boy who moved from the tomato farm to become a waiter in the United States, a young man who not only taught himself to read and write, but who made the expression of words and thoughts and feelings central to his career.

Best known for his work during the 50s and 60s, Poitier helped pave the way for generations of African-American actors.

Sidney Poitier has died aged 94 (PA)

Poitier grew up in the Bahamas, which was then a British colony, and returned to America aged 15 and worked in a string of low-paid jobs until he later joined the American Negro Theatre, which had been set up as a community project in Harlem in 1940.

His first major role came in Aristophanes comedy Lysistrata in 1946 but by 1949 he had moved away from theatre and into film.

In 1963, he was awarded an Oscar for Lilies Of The Field, in which he played a Baptist handyman who builds a chapel for a group of Roman Catholic nuns, and became the first black winner of the best actor trophy.

The Academy said on Twitter following his death: Poitier was barrier-breaking and an enduring inspiration who advanced US racial dialogue through his art. Few movie stars have had or will have the influence Poitier had both on and off screen.

The actor was granted an honorary knighthood in 1974 through his Bahamian heritage and in 1995 he received the Kennedy Centre Honour.
Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned Boris Johnson that axing universal free lateral flow tests would be an utterly wrongheaded approach to dealing with coronavirus.

Labour joined her in urging the Prime Minister against the move after it was reported they could be limited to high-risk settings  such as care homes, hospitals and schools  and to people with symptoms.

The Sunday Times also said the announcement, which could come within weeks, may include a scaling back of the NHS Test and Trace system.

If UK government is really considering this (@scotgov certainly not signed up to it) it is utterly wrongheaded. Hard to imagine much that would be less helpful to trying to live with Covid. https://t.co/CR72sm5bUI  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 8, 2022

Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government had not signed up to the move, but if Mr Johnson was really considering this it would be utterly wrongheaded.

Hard to imagine much that would be less helpful to trying to live with Covid, she tweeted.

She questioned what would happen to funding for UK nations for testing under the Barnett formula if the Westminster Government went ahead with the move, adding: Testing so vital, wed have to consider continued funding but it would then come from existing budgets.

The Scottish Government accesses lateral flow tests that are procured by the UK Government on behalf of all four nations, and it pays for them via funding arrangements as part of the UK-wide national testing programme.

Government sources disputed the report and said it was too early to say what the future holds for free lateral flows.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: This would be the wrong decision at the wrong time.

Testing is absolutely crucial for keeping infections under control and avoiding the need for further restrictions that impact on our lives, livelihoods, and liberties.

This additional cost will also hit families at a time when they face a cost of living crisis. It means people simply wont take them, putting others at risk.

Its penny-wise and pound-foolish.

The rapid tests were made available to everyone in England, crucially including those without symptoms, in April.

Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Jane Barlow/PA)

They have been seen as a key way of suppressing the virus and have given confidence to people to safely mixed with their loved ones, particularly around Christmas as cases of the Omicron soared.

But the Sunday Times report suggested there is concerns in Whitehall over their costs.

A Government spokeswoman did not address whether access to free tests will be scaled back in the future, and instead said: Everyone can continue to get free tests and we are continuing to encourage people to use rapid tests when they need them.

Testing continues to play an important role in helping people live their day-to-day lives, keep businesses running and keep young people in school.

Despite case rates hitting record highs after the emergence of Omicron, hospitalisation and deaths have not followed the same trajectory, with this being attributed to vaccination and the new strain being believed to be less deadly.

Professor Mike Tildesley, a member of the Governments Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M), said on Saturday that the variant is possibly the first ray of light in Covid-19 becoming endemic and easier to live with.

The thing that might happen in the future is you may see the emergence of a new variant that is less severe and, ultimately, in the long term, what happens is Covid becomes endemic and you have a less severe version, he told Times Radio.

Its very similar to the common cold that weve lived with for many years.
The North East and North West of England are seeing concerning rates of the Omicron variant, an expert has said, amid worries over healthcare staffing and a spike in hospital admissions.

Figures showed that three of the five UK areas with the biggest week-on-week rises in Covid case rates are Middlesbrough (748.8 to 2,651.4), Copeland (1,731.3 to 3,525.8) and Redcar & Cleveland (846.8 to 2,564.3).

Dr Mike Tildesley, from the University of Warwick and a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling group (Spi-M) highlighted these regions, along with the Midlands, as areas of concern.

He said cases in London are slowing down, but scientists need two weeks to see if this continues.

Hospital admissions are concerning in the North East and North West (Victoria Jones/PA)

Dr Tildesley told Times Radio on Saturday: Most other parts of the country are about two to three weeks behind where London is in their epidemic profile.

Particularly concerning is the North East and the North West  if you look at hospital admissions in those two regions they are going up, also the Midlands, where I live, thats also a little bit concerning, so it is a worry.

On the slightly more positive side, so it doesnt sound all doom and gloom, what we are seeing from hospital admissions is that stays in hospital do appear to be on average shorter, which is good news, symptoms appear to be a little bit milder, so this is what we are seeing consistently with the Omicron variant.

In the Midlands, Northamptonshire leaders declared a system-wide major incident on Friday due to Covid-19.

Northamptonshire Local Resilience Forum, which is made up of NHS organisations, local authorities, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service and Northamptonshire Police, issued the alert due to rising demand on services and staffing levels.

However, Dr Tildesley added that Omicron is possibly the first ray of light in ensuring Covid-19 becomes endemic and easier to live with, similar to the common cold.

He said: The thing that might happen in the future is you may see the emergence of a new variant that is less severe, and ultimately, in the long term, what happens is Covid becomes endemic and you have a less severe version. Its very similar to the common cold that weve lived with for many years.

Were not quite there yet, but possibly Omicron is the first ray of light there that suggests that may happen in the longer term. It is, of course, much more transmissible than Delta was, which is concerning, but much less severe.

Hopefully, as we move more towards the spring and we see the back of Omicron, we can get more inter-relationship of living with Covid as an endemic disease and protecting the vulnerable.

Any variant that does emerge which is less severe, ultimately, in the longer term, is where we want to be.

It comes as as the armed forces have stepped in to fill a staffing crisis in the NHS caused by the rapid spread of the variant.

NHS England data shows 39,142 NHS staff at hospital trusts in England were absent for Covid-19 reasons on January 2, up 59% on the previous week (24,632) and more than three times the number at the start of December (12,508).

(PA Graphics)

According to the Health Service Journal (HSJ), staff absences across the entire NHS, including mental health trusts and other areas, for any reason including Covid-19, may be as high as 120,000.

In total, there are around 9,300 armed forces available on standby.

As well as a staffing crisis, hospitals are also facing the highest number of admissions from coronavirus since last February.

A total of 18,454 people were in hospital in the UK with Covid-19 as of January 6, Government figures show.

This is up 40% week on week and is the highest number since February 18 2021.

During the second wave of coronavirus, the number peaked at 39,254 on January 18 2021.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised the Government against giving a second booster dose, or fourth jab, to care home residents and those aged over 80, after figures showed it is 90% effective against admission to hospital. Experts are looking to prioritise the rollout of the first booster dose, as well as encouraging unvaccinated people to come forward for their jabs.

The booster jab is 90% effective against admission to hospital (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Asked on Times Radio if jabs would be needed every year, Professor Adam Finn, a professor of paediatrics at University of Bristol and a member of the JCVI said: I think thats quite a likely possibility.

And I think you know, what weve got at the moment, vaccines are great in terms of their ability to prevent serious disease with the current variants.

But as weve seen that protection doesnt last all that long, and it doesnt cross-protect against new variants as they arrive. So we need to go on improving the vaccines available.

And we need to go on adjusting what were doing all the time in the face of what comes up next, if you like, so its very much an open question as to what we will do.

But I think use of vaccines against coronavirus is just going to be with us in the future. Yes, for sure.
It will take the James Webb telescope just 30 days to reach the suns orbit, but for one little boy it will be the journey of a lifetime.

Barry and Sarah Webb met while studying physics at Nottingham Trent University.

So it was only natural for the pair to turn to their scientific backgrounds when trying to think of a name for their first child.

The James Webb telescope will follow in the footsteps of the Hubble telescope launched 31 years ago (European Space Agency/PA)

The pair began discussing potential names around the same time the James Webb Space Telescope narrowly escaped being cancelled in 2011.

We were aware of the space telescope from way back when it was originally due to launch in 2007, Mr Webb said.

We had James in 2012. The space telescope nearly got canned in 2011. But they managed to keep it afloat and keep it moving forwards.

In late 2011 we were pondering names, and we were talking about the James Webb telescope.

He said they chose a name after joking about the similarities between giving birth and space launches.

(PA Graphics)

Obviously with the last name being Webb, we decided to call him after that.

We joked about (having James) being a significant scientific and engineering feat.

The telescope had been due to launch not long after they named their son, but the project suffered repeated delays.

The Webbs had planned to take a family trip to French Guiana to watch the launch in person, but decided it was too risky after the launch date kept being put back.

Instead James and his extended family watched the launch at home on Christmas Day.

Mr Webb said his son even put down his new toys to watch the telescope ascend into space.

It was Christmas Day so he was somewhat excited already, he said.

He showed his interest as a nine-year-old to be able to stop, put all his stuff down and watch it without bouncing off the walls for 10 minutes.

He has definitely got a mathematical and scientific brain on his shoulders.
There were 18 people, including six children, living in the property. (Bristol City Council)

A landlord has been banned from renting out homes after 18 people, including six children, were found living in one of his run down properties.

Adam Habane was found guilty in March 2021 of the poor management of seven flats at 24 Lower Ashley Road, St Agnes, in Bristol.

Bristol City Councils Private Housing Team brought the case after visiting the property and finding it had been poorly converted into a house in multiple occupation (HMO).

It was found to be in poor condition, with particular concerns for the safety of the 18 occupants due to the absence of working fire alarm systems.

The council applied for a Banning Order due to the seriousness of the offences. (Bristol City Council)

The council later made Prohibition Orders on the flats in the property's main building to make it illegal for anyone to live there due to the unsafe living conditions.

Bristol City Council said it applied for a Banning Order due to the seriousness of the offences and the potential harm to tenants, adding it hoped it would deter other rogue landlords.

Councillor Tom Renhard, cabinet member for housing delivery and homes, said: Rogue landlords and agents have no place in Bristol and the council will use all its powers available to stop these criminals from operating in Bristol and the rest of the country.

This was a particularly shocking case, where the landlord showed a blatant disregard for the safety of his tenants.

That is why we took the decision to apply for a Banning Order following the successful conviction earlier this year.

I would like to thank all the officers in Private Housing and Legal Services for their hard work to bring this absentee landlord to account.

Habane, of Bristol, has now been banned from letting houses or carrying out letting agency or property management work in England, and banned from acting as an officer of any company that works in this area for five years.

His name was also added to the governments Rogue Landlord database.

Bristol City Council said Habane has refused to confirm if he is involved in the letting or management of any other rented properties.
Mark Wahlberg has joked about changing his workout motivation from protecting his daughters to bonding with their boyfriends.

The actor, 50, said both he and his daughter were lucky and praised the unnamed young man in a video posted from a gym.

Wearing matching orange T-shirts, Wahlberg said: I used to work out to keep guys away from my girls.

Now Im working out with the boyfriend. Imagine that.

Wahlberg is known for his fondness for physical fitness and starred alongside fellow gym-enthusiast Dwayne Johnson in the 2013 film Pain and Gain.

Captioning the video he wrote: Ella is a lucky girl and Im a lucky dad! He is a great young man.

Wahlberg is due to appear as a swashbuckling treasure hunter with Spiderman star Tom Holland in the much-delayed film adaptation of Uncharted.
Headteachers are calling on the Government to address pay disparities among ethnic groups, as campaigners observe Ethnicity Pay Gap Day.

Headteachers union NAHT said teachers of black, Asian or minority ethnic background risked facing a double hit as a combination of already eroding pay and ethnicity wage inequality.

The latest Government figures show that in 2019, the median hourly pay in all industries for those in the white ethnic group was 12.40 per hour, compared with those in ethnic minority groups at 12.11 per hour  a pay gap of 2.3%.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, said: Weve seen school leadership pay eroded for everyone over the last decade, but for those with protected characteristics, including leaders from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, they risk facing a double hit as a result of inequalities in the pay system.

Despite a broad national pay framework, education does not escape the barriers which contribute to pay gaps.

Our report Closing the Gender Pay Gap in Education: A leadership imperative, published at the end of last year, highlights the challenges for women, including women of colour, and stresses the need for greater information on the pay penalties that people from different ethnic backgrounds working in education may face.

He said the union was calling on the Government to implement calls from the School Teachers Review Body, which makes recommendations on the pay, professional duties and working time of school teachers in England, and the wider sector for a full review of the pay framework.

Among the unions requests is a comprehensive analysis by the Department for Education (DfE) on the equality implications of the teachers and leaders pay system and consideration of the role that performance-related pay has on any differences.

The call comes on January 8, declared Ethnicity Pay Gap Day by #EthnicityPayGap Campaign, an organisation founded to raise awareness of the gap and encourage the Government to make ethnicity pay disparity reporting mandatory.

Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found in September that just 13 FTSE 100 companies report any ethnicity pay gap.

CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese, previously said mandatory reporting of ethnicity pay gap data would create fairer workplaces and societies and kickstart real change.

In September the Government said it was considering an independent report on the ethnicity pay gap by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities and would respond in due course.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), across 2012 to 2019, those of Chinese, white Irish, white and Asian, and Indian ethnicities typically made more than white British people, but many other ethnic groups including Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Arab consistently earned less than those of white British ethnicity over the same time period.

The ethnicity pay gap was largest in London, at 23.8% in 2019, and smallest in Wales at 1.4%.

However, in the east of England those of an ethnic minority background made 8.6% more than white British people.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
The number of positive COVID cases in the U.S. has reached new heights thanks to the spread of the Omicron variant, which has caused a staggering increase in cases over the past two weeks.

And while the number of hospitalizations have also ticked up as a result, one hospital CEO explained how there is still some good news on the horizon.

Were staying very, very calm, Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). And there is some very, very good news that I think is worth noticing. One is that, while our numbers have increased  [on Jan. 5], I have 1,570 cases, a big increase over about two weeks ago  it seems to be flattening a little bit over the last couple of days. The good news is that people arent as sick as they were before.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Omicron variant appears to cause milder symptoms than the Delta, but its significantly more transmissible. Because of that, the number of people infected with the virus has increased dramatically.

According to the latest data from the New York Times, the U.S. is averaging more than 300,000 new cases a day, and hospitalizations have increased by 58% over the past 14 days. Children saw a 64% increase in positive cases for the week ending Dec. 30, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

But notably, overall hospitalizations are growing at a slower rate than cases.

Dowling, whose hospital system is the largest health care provider in New York, expressed that the percentage of people in the ICU is basically staying very low and flat. And the numbers of people being intubated are very, very low. This is completely an improved circumstance from what it was a year and a half ago.

'A pretty dangerous situation'

Still, Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Childrens Hospital and dean of the School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, cautioned against thinking Omicron is insignificant.

The fact that Omicrons so highly transmissible, its knocking out part of the health care workforce, Hotez told Yahoo Finance. So even though the virus itself has less severity and fewer hospitalizations, there are still a lot of hospitalizations and fewer health care providers to take care of them. So those three factors do create a pretty dangerous situation.

In the Northwell Health System, about 2,500 staff members are out at the moment, according to Dowling, which is roughly 2% of the overall staff.

We have a big health system, so I can move staff around, he said. The bottom line is it is quite manageable. Its not crazy  Its a little bit stressful. Ive been walking the floors of each of the hospitals. And when you do that, you find that the staff are a little bit tired, but theyre committed and there is no crisis here.

A medical worker puts on a maskbefore entering a negative pressure room with a Covid-19 patient in the ICU ward at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on January 4, 2022. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP)

'We've got to deal with those two big problems'

While Hotez is hopeful that the Omicron wave will eventually subside, he voiced his concerns about what will follow, especially since theres still such a large population globally that remains unvaccinated. This is how new variants emerge, as Delta did in India and Omicron did in South Africa.

If you're infected with Omicron and recovered, you're likely going to be susceptible to reinfection with new variants, and new variants are arising, Hotez said. So we'll have a break for maybe a few months, and then the next variant will come along unless we make that commitment to vaccinate the world and unless we make a commitment to do something about this very aggressive anti-vaccine lobby that seeks to discredit the effectiveness or safety of vaccines. We've got to deal with those two big problems if we're really going to finally get out of this.

In the U.S., 62.3% of the population is fully vaccinated while 73.9% have received at least one dose, and 34.9% have been boosted. Worldwide, about 60.3% of the population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but these numbers vary widely, especially in Africa where vaccination rates are significantly lower than the rest of the world.

The big picture is that even though the virus itself may cause less severe illness, when you factor in those other issues overall, the epidemic is just as dangerous in many respects, Hotez said.

Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com.

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Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton and Spencer Tracy in a scene from the 1967 film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." (George Rinhart / Corbis/Getty Images)

Learning that Sidney Poitier had died, I thought first of his performance in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, not because it was his best film, or even my favorite, but because it told the story of so many families, including mine.

Poitier was an actor-activist in the best sense of the word. Not only was he committed, in word, deed and dollar, to the civil rights movement, but his performances were their own form of activism; Poitier made breaking barriers and rearranging cultural consciousness an art form. Some of this had to do simply with his being one of the few Black actors playing leads in mainstream films for so long, but more important than the roles he took was how he played them.

Hes so calm and sure of everything, Katharine Houghtons Joey tells her mother, Christina Drayton (Katharine Hepburn), in Guess Whos Coming to Dinner." He doesnt have any tensions in him, he knows what he believes and what he thinks is right and why and where hes going.

She could have been describing Poitier, who brought to every character a clear sense of not only himself, exhibited in whatever way best fit the part, but also in the character's social and emotional context. Poitier seemed to understand exactly who and where he was, and he granted every man he played that same grace.

Joey, however, is describing Dr. John Prentice, whom Poitier plays in "Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, a man of such impeccable bona fides  he is assistant director of the World Health Organization, for heavens sake  that the real question is not whether he should be "allowed" to marry Joey but what exactly she brings to the table.

In 1967, however, the fact that John was Black and Joey was white was enough to act as both obstacle and plot engine, as the couple's two families attempt to come to terms with their decision to marry. That Joeys father, Matt Drayton (Spencer Tracy), is a life-long liberal facing at last his own racism, is a side note; the movie is about love and its ability to conquer all, etc.

Viewed in 2022, the film feels dated in precisely the ways you would imagine, from the terminology (Negro, colored man) to the climax, in which the white patriarch delivers his blessing, and everyone tears up in gratitude. But it remains a movie that resonates with me because something similar happened in my family, with a very different ending.

Right around the time Guess Whos Coming to Dinner came out, my aunt Barbara met Kassim Ismail, the man she would marry two years later. He was a handsome, successful veterinarian and animal sciences expert with an unforgettable laugh. He was also Malaysian. When my aunt brought him home to meet her folks, they loved Kassim  until she told them she was going to marry him. Then my grandfather exploded, in a way that did not end with a change-of-heart benediction.

I was 6 when Barb and Kassim married, too young to understand exactly what was going on but old enough to register my grandfather's absence from the wedding. And the fact that he subsequently refused to say Barbs name, or allow my grandmother to talk about her  or, according to my father, to her. At the time I thought what made my grandmother cry and my father spend hours trying to persuade him to accept Barbs new life was the fact that my aunt and uncle had settled in Malaysia. Then I thought it was because Kassim was Muslim. (We were Irish Catholic.) No, honey, my aunt told me later. It was because he wasnt white.

My grandfather was not exactly Spencer Tracy's liberal judge, but he had raised three children who worked, in different ways, for the civil rights movement, and it shocked me to realize he was acting exactly the way I had been taught was wrong. It was my first encounter with the kind of bigotry I had only seen portrayed on screen.

My grandfather eventually came around, when Barb and Kassim had children, but I thought about the damage he had done to our family every time I watched or came across a reference to Guess Whos Coming to Dinner. Kassim died when I was still young, and as I entered adolescence and adulthood, their relationship became, to me, a pinnacle of romance, with Poitier and Houghton as dreamy stand-ins.

My aunt, as it turns out, does not appreciate the comparison. I called her to see if it was OK to write about her marriage and the film. While she was very sad over Poitiers passing, she said she didnt think much of Guess Whos Coming to Dinner. She actually hadnt seen it until fairly recently  maybe I unconsciously avoided watching it, she said  and she was not impressed. Poitier was wonderful, she said, but she hated the character of Joey, who doesn't seem to have a thought in her head.

I didnt agonize over the fact that my father rejected my marriage, she said. My dad loved Kassim until I told him we were getting married, and then he turned very ugly. I just thought, Thats your loss and walked out. I know it was hard on Mom, but I wanted to be with Kassim.

This, obviously, makes it all even more romantic. In the film, Poitiers John says he will not marry Joey without her parents approval, because the disruption would hurt her too much. Its a necessary point  why else would we care what the Draytons think?  but a potentially character-damaging one. Only Poitier could make such an offer seem neither manipulative nor submissive; even viewed in 2022, John's leaving the decision up to Joey's parents feels very much in keeping with his character  a man who knows what he wants, what he is willing to do battle with and what he is not.

Watching it the day Poitiers death was announced, I realized his performance, along with that of Beah Richards as Johns mother, is what has kept the film vital after all these years. Oh, Hepburn and Tracy are wonderful to watch, because theyre always wonderful to watch (and the fact that this is Tracy's last film makes it even more poignant). But they are acting in a Tracy/Hepburn bubble. I see my aunt's point about Joey being absurdly wide-eyed and empty-headed, and Roy Glenn, as Johns father, is allowed only to glower and yell.

Its Poitier who radiates as the mesmerizing center of the story, watchful but certain of himself as everyone else flutters around in various states of shock and fear and prejudice. Poitier gives John an exquisite balance of worldliness and hope: He is not so much allowing the Draytons to make the final decision as forcing them to confront who they really are. He's the reason Guess Whos Coming to Dinner remains a cinematic touchstone, a shorthand for those who have experienced similar situations and an immediately recognizable influence on contemporary films like Get Out.

Yes, the issues the film addressed still, tragically, resonate. The creation of a mixed race/culture couple may no longer be enough to center a film that is not West Side Story, but we do not yet live in a time in which Poitiers watchfulness has become unnecessary.

Few actors are able to not only embody a character but to make him so known, for who he is and what he represents. Few other actors are able to do so much with a stare or a smile, an emotion-choked rant or an active steady silence.

In "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," as in so many other films, Poitier captured all the action and reaction roiling beneath the surface of human interaction. In his hands, action sparked reaction, heat turned into light, and, as with an actual star, all we saw was the shine.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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ROSWELL, Ga.  A Roswell businesswoman will pay $7 million in restitution and serve three years and five months in prison for defrauding the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen sentenced Hunter VanPelt who pleaded guilty to the charge last August

The U.S. Attorneys office announced Jan. 4 VanPelt will have to forfeit an additional $2 million and serve five years of supervised release. The PPP was established to help companies struggling to stay afloat during widespread shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal agents said the 49-year-old woman used her current and former name, Ellen Corkrum, to falsely represent the average monthly payroll and number of employees who worked for several companies she either owned or controlled. She changed her name in July 2016.

Using bogus IRS records, bank statements and payroll reports, VanPelt submitted applications between April and June 2020 requesting roughly $7.9 million in PPP loans, of which she was able to secure more than $6 million.

The six companies she used were Georgia Nephrology Physician Associated, United Healthcare Group & Co., Nephrology Network Group LLC, First Corporate International, Corkrum Consolidated Inc. and Kiwi International Inc.

Federal agents then seized $2.1 million of VanPelts fraudulent proceeds following an investigation by the FBI and Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General.

According to McClatchy News, when investigators began looking into the alleged fraud, the government discovered VanPelt was a former government official in West Africa. In 2013, when she was serving as the managing director of the Liberia Airport Authority, she was indicted on charges she made hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized transfers from the airports bank accounts.

VanPelt reportedly fled to the U.S., and the charges were dropped in 2019, but she maintained ties with Liberia. McClatchy News reported $2,497 from VanPelts PPP loans was spent at Costco, $4,863 at Sams Club and $22,146 at Publix. Many of the transactions involved sending money to individuals in Liberia.

VanPelt also used the money to make a $97,800 payment on an American Express credit card, according to the publication. U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine said he hopes VanPelts significant federal sentence will deter others from following the same path.

The Paycheck Protection Program is meant to help legitimate businesses and their workers through the depths of the pandemic, Erskine said. Unfortunately, VanPelt decided to use the program as her personal bank.

The Justice Department stated it has prosecuted more than 150 defendants so far and seized more than $75 million in cash derived from fraudulent loans through the program, along with properties and luxury items.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Huber, Deputy Chief of the Complex Frauds Section, and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Chris A. Wenger prosecuted the VanPelt case.
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YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. During a telephone conversation today with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to hold a virtual meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council chaired by Armenia as it is now holding the presidency at the organization. Putin welcomed the proposal, the Kremlin press service reports.

Tokayev also presented details about the current situation in Kazakhstan, stating that it is gradually stabilizing. In this context he thanked the CSTO partners and especially the Russian partners for the support being provided.

The two presidents exchanged views also about the measures aimed at restoring order in Kazakhstan.

Tokayev stressed the need for a joint talk of the CSTO leaders at this moment.

The Russian and Kazakh presidents agreed to be in constant touch.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. Two cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 have been detected in Armenia, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement, adding that both are imported cases.

As COVID-19 patients they underwent an epidemiological examination. Upon their arrival in Armenia, samples of their nasal mucosa were examined also by sequestration method, as a result of which the Omicron variant was detected.

Both patients are in satisfactory condition, they have not been hospitalized, receive treatment at home, the statement says.

The Ministry of Health of Armenia again urges citizens to follow all the rules, to get vaccinated in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.
Yadav said the legal cell of his party will lodge an FIR against the BJP IT cell in-charge for indulging in 'false propaganda'

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said if his party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, laptops will be distributed among the youth and students in the state.

This comes days after Yadav promised 300 units of free electricity to households if his party won the assembly elections.

The SP chief also took strong objection to the BJP media cell posting his picture on social media with the claim that the Kanpur perfume trader who was recently raided by the income tax department was present alongside Yadav during a tour of France.

Yadav said the legal cell of his party will lodge an FIR against the BJP IT cell in-charge for indulging in "false propaganda".

"The party has already promised 300 units and free electricity for irrigation purposes. The party resolves to provide best quality laptops to the youth and students on coming to power," Yadav told news persons here.

"We had distributed lakhs of laptops last time, and the recipients are still benefiting from them in moving ahead and making arrangements for their employment," he said.

The Yogi Adityanath government of the state is also distributing smartphones and tablets to the youth.

With state elections right around the corner, political parties are coming out with a slew of promises to attract voters.

"They have shared my picture of France saying that the ittar (perfume) trader arrested in Kanpur is standing along with me. The legal cell of the SP will definitely lodge an FIR against him," Yadav said, also showing the picture in the press conference.

"The in-charge of the BJP IT cell is spreading lies for money by taking support from the government of India and the Uttar Pradesh government. I will ask my digital team to also use his picture and tell the people that he is the biggest liar," Yadav alleged.

In a joint raid by Income Tax and the GST Intelligence wing, Rs 177 crore cash and a large quantity of gold and silver were recovered from the home of perfume trader Piyush Jain in Kanpur and also from his house and factory in Kannauj. The trader was subsequently arrested.

The saffron party had alleged that Jain has links with the SP. Akhilesh Yadav, however, has vehemently denied it.

On whether on coming to power, his party would do anything for students from poor families who want to study abroad, Yadav said the SP would create a fund for the purpose.

He also appealed to the Election Commission that if it decides to hold virtual rallies for Uttar Pradesh polls, some amount of funds should be given to political parties which do not have the resources to match the BJP.

Yadav added that he is not in favour of online voting.

The SP president said that he would also urge the Election Commission to keep an eye on speeches by BJP leaders spreading hatred.
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Mr. Phillip Nathaniel Ware aged 62, passed away on Wednesday April 6, 2022 in Dallas, Texas . He was born to Mr. Frederick Brink Ware and Ms. Irene Duffner on Sunday, November 15, 1959 in Kansas City, Kansas. Phillip N. Ware will leave his loved ones with unforgettable memories and loving st
heist

Widely referred to as the Goldfinger DB5, it is also considered the most famous car in the world, a title it shares with the equally-iconic Bugatti Type 57 SC Atlantic La Voiture Noire . Another thing these two vehicles have in common is that they both went missing at some point and were never found. It took an art detective 24 years of non-stop work to finally track down the DB5, which, apparently, resides in a private collection in the Middle East.This is the fascinating story of the most fascinating DB5 , and it seems to have a happy ending. If the vehicle is indeed recovered, its value is estimated at $25+ million, which would also make it the most expensive DB5 ever.For the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger with Sir Sean Connery as the lead, EON Productions spoke to Aston Martin about getting a new car. That car was the DB5 , with the marque delivering four units in total for the film: two of them were used during actual production, and two served as promotional vehicles. Of the former two, one was the effects car, meaning it was rigged with all the gadgetry and weaponry one has come to expect from a James Bond vehicle , while the other was the road car, which was used for beauty shots.The use of two vehicles was necessary because chassis DP/216/1, the effects car, was so heavy from all the stuff special effects genius John Stears and his team put on it that it became hardly drivable. In case you havent seen Goldfinger, the stuff included tire slashers, ejector seat, pop-up machine guns, smoke bombs, and water and oil sprayers. Basically, the same gadgets todays collectors were able to get with the DB5 Continuation cars After filming, EON returned both vehicles to Aston Martin, and the one were interested in was stripped down of all the extra stuff and sold as a regular DB5 . Certainly aware of how that would impact its worth, the first owner didnt hesitate to restore it to its movie glory, using exact replicas of the gadgets. Until 1986, the DB5 was traded several times, with each transaction increasing its market value.In 1986, Anthony V. Pugliese III bought it at auction for $250,000, not including fees. A true Renaissance man, Pugliese is a Florida real estate developer and businessman with deep connections to the art world and showbiz industry. He is also a well-known pop culture memorabilia collector, and perhaps one of the biggest in the country. At one point, his collection included Christopher Reeves Superman costumes, Oddjobs steel hat from Goldfinger, Charlie Chaplins canes, the hat of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz, and the Colt Cobra .38 that Jack Ruby used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald. The Goldfinger DB5 fit right in.Immediately after purchase, Pugliese insured the vehicle for 16 times its worth, which many assumed was the tell-tale sign that he had certain plans for it, and that they rhymed with insurance fraud. Still, Pugliese held on to the car until 1997 and, more importantly, there was never any evidence linking him to what happened next.Right out of aJames Bond movie, on the night of June 18, 1997, thieves broke into a hangar at Boca Raton Airport in Florida and made off with the car. They sliced through the airport fence and opened the hangar door without forcing it, and then simply dragged the car onto a platform. Security was lax in the area pre-2001, and they had been tipped off as to the exact location of the car, since nearby hangars also held valuable vehicles and artwork, but nothing else was touched. The only clues left behind were the tire marks from when the DB5 was dragged outside.Insurance paid Pugliese $4.2 million, and offered a $100,000 reward for any tips on the vehicles whereabouts, but the reality was that it had simply vanished. Poof. Theories claimed that it had been airlifted with a cargo plane and shipped overseas, or maybe dropped into the ocean to claim insurance. Others believed the car never left the U.S., and that maybe Pugliese hid it at one of his safe storage facilities.In August last year, Christopher Marinello, chief executive of Art Recovery International, hired by the insurer to track down the DB5 , reported that, after 24 years, he had promising clues about its possible location . It wasnt at the bottom of the ocean, but in the Middle East. At the time, Marinello was promoting an upcoming podcast about the recovery efforts, called The Great James Bond Car Robbery, so he had reason to keep it vague. He would later narrow down the search to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, saying the vehicle was part of a private collection.Apparently, the serial numbers have checked out, and this is the missing James Bond holy grail. Marinello wont say where exactly it is found, but he is convinced the current owner has no idea hes in possession of stolen goods. I think they should make every effort to have a discreet and confidential discussion about how we clear the title to this iconic vehicle, he told The Telegraph in an older interview.As of the time of press, the missing 1963 Aston Martin DB5 has not been recovered. When  and if  it is, should it emerge on the specialized market once more, it could sell for a price well over $25 million. And, hopefully, tell a story to match
Come 2022, and the early Monte Carlos aren't as valuable as other Chevrolets from the era. First-year models, for instance, are usually valued at around $35,000 in Concours condition, which isn't a lot for a classic from the muscle car era.But the Monte Carlos that followed fared even worse. As the Malaise era hit the auto industry in the early 1970s, the second-generation Monte Carlo lost the high-power V8s that were available in 1971. As a result, these cars are far from desirable, and many of them are spending their retirement years in junkyards and barns.This 1976 Monte Carlo was actually driven more than most of its siblings, but it still ended up in a barn sometime in the early 2010s. Locked up for about 10 years, the coupe, now devoid of functional fuel and cooling systems, was taken out of its dust-covered grave.The Chevy runs surprisingly smooth, given the state of its drivetrain. But more importantly, it looks like it could get away with a mild restoration. Sure, it's dirty and all, but both the chrome and the paint appear to be in solid condition under that thick layer of dust.This car is definitely worth saving, but this is coming from a guy who actually likes the 1976 and 1977 Monte Carlo with its stacked, rectangular headlamps. I just love its heavily sculpted fenders, the wide front grille, and the slanted rear fascia. Yeah, I know; I'm that weird fellow who likes Malaise-era designs, including the Mustang II.But what this thing really needs beyond cleaning and detailing is a more modern mill under the hood. With the 454-cubic-inch (7.4-liter) V8 discontinued for 1976, the Monte Carlo came with a choice of three engines. The standard 305-cubic-inch (5.0-liter) and the optional 350- and 400-cubic-inch (5.7- and 6.6-liter) V8s.But none of them were impressive powerful, with ratings at 140, 145, and 175 horsepower, respectively. Since this Monte Carlo has room for a 454, Chevrolet Performance's LSX454 would be a good option. Yup, I'm talking about the 627-horsepower beast.But I don't know what's the plan for this Monte Carlo, so all we can do now is watch it leave the barn for its first drive in more than a decade.
Thats what were going to do today with the Chevrolet C10 we have here, coming under our spotlight from all the way back in 1976, from the C/K familys third generation, in Scottsdale trim and with enough upgrades to make it a serious contender in any dedicated competition.Wrapped in metallic red paint and with an oak and stainless steel bed sticking out at the rear, the C10 seems kind of close to the ground in these pics, but thats only a trick on the eye. Behind the 18-inch American Racing Torque Thrust wheels (wearing Nitto NT 555 tires) hides a wealth of high-tech hardware meant to transform it into one capable machine.We get a RideTech StrongArms setup with a 4-link kit and coilovers made by the same company, but also large brake rotors (14 inches front and 12 inches rear, with 6- and 4-piston calipers, respectively) for added stopping power.And it needs that, as the truck is powered by a monstrous 454ci (7.4-liter) backed by a Weiand blower and a Turbo 400 transmission. Were not told how much power it spits out, but we do see the side exit exhaust were promised gives it a nice rumble.Inside, the truck was treated to all-new soft parts, most of them in black and enhanced in their mission of looking cool and modern by Autometer gauges and a Pioneer head unit.This modified 1976 Chevrolet C10 Scottsdale sits on the lot of cars sold by Classic Car Studio , and its going for $49,900. You know, in case you want to treat yourself to an old school bad boy so early in the new year.
The difference between large and small companies in this aspect is the former can afford to fix it, and it becomes a footnote in their history, while the latter may be affected financially by the error. At this point, you may be wondering what I am referring to. Wonder no more, as I am talking about the names manufacturers give to their products.A few months ago, I reported about Toyota eliminating the space between GR and 86 in the GR86 name. While it may seem like nothing, it is a big deal when search engine optimization is concerned. If people are looking for a GR86 online, but Toyota's website is not the first to pop up, or not even among the first five or so, that is an expensive and complicated issue.In Europe and other markets, Kia used to sell the Ceed under the Cee'd name . While the company explained the reasoning behind the apostrophe at the time of the unveiling, it was ditched after almost a decade.In some cases, vehicle manufacturers change the names of some of their vehicles. It usually happens with a new generation or with a significant facelift. When it does, though, it is a decision that has been weighed, and the pros and cons of it are considered beforehand.The biggest advantage has a uniform naming scheme throughout the range, which makes for a more coherent portfolio. The obvious disadvantage is having to explain it to existing or potential customers, as well as the costs of trademarking the name and redoing all the literature for it. It can add up to high costs.This problem came into mind when I was writing about VinFast's latest models and the fact that they have renamed some of them since first revealing them. I am referring to the VF e35 being renamed VF8 , while the VF e36 is now called VF9. As you can observe, the first names did not make that much sense to the outside world.While it may be safe to assume that they might refer to a project's internal designation, nobody outside the company cares about that aspect. Customers will care about design, price, features, specifications, and brand image. Offering a product with a name that is not easy to understand or remember will not help in any way.If things go wrong, the outcome will end up reminding us of the Homer car. When a product does not look good enough, is marketed in an uninspired way, or is just too expensive for its time, it will eventually fail.In some cases, those failures bring the end of the company that brought them to life, while others are just a painful and expensive milestone that everyone wants to leave behind as soon as possible.Considering the above, you would have expected VinFast to have taken the name of its models a bit more into consideration. They are not catchy, and they do not do much to explain which is which.That is something they should consider improving because it will be difficult for their brand to become known in sufficient markets quickly enough to be a competitor to existing companies.Manufacturers from China have struggled with this for years, and they still have not become household names. It took the Japanese companies many years to become known and respected in the American market, as well as in Europe, and they built their reputation on reliability.Once that happened, it became easier for other Asian manufacturers to offer vehicles to customers in markets where Japanese brands were already recognized and appreciated.In the case of VinFast, they have a chance of being successful if they can offer stellar reliability and impeccable customer service. Their models already have an interesting design and promising specifications, so the odds are in their favor as long as people understand what they are selling.
There are a number of ingredients that have to be present on a planet to give birth to life as we know it, based on carbon. Chemically, theres got to be carbon (duh!), nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, among others. You also have to have a sun just at the right distance away from the planet, enough asteroid stability in the region to safeguard the existence of life, and enough time for all of those chemical elements to come together in just the right way.There are however two elements that not only have to be present separately, but must also combine to form water. In fact, this liquid that comes to be thanks to the relationship between hydrogen and oxygen, is perhaps the most important one for the existence of life, again, as we know it.Until not long ago, although we knew of the existence of hydrogen and oxygen out there, people have been reluctant in saying for sure water is a given in our solar system, let alone the Universe. Yet now, NASA not only acknowledges the existence of water, it said from as far back as 2015 the Solar System and beyond is awash in it.According to the agency, its missions deep into the solar system have provided a wave of amazing findings related to water in recent years, giving the people doing this for a living hope we may very well finally answer whether we are alone in the solar system and beyond."Although direct observation of water has not been achieved so far, NASA says signs of it are everywhere, from the giant molecular clouds between the stars to the disks of material of newborn planetary systems, and in the atmospheres of giant planets.Generally speaking, water is only present in the form of either ice or vapor, but there are a few places out there we know of with a degree of certainty to possess liquid water under the surface, like Ceres, a dwarf planet located in the Asteroid Belt, and some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, namely Ganymede , Europa, Callisto, Enceladus and Titan.Closer to home, in places that are utterly hostile to life, like the first planet from the Sun, Mercury, signs of water were discovered in permanently shadowed craters. The same kind of locations on the Moon are thought to contain it as well.Mars, the planet that is without a doubt the one well be visiting first, as a race, once were capable, had abundant water sometime in the past  studies show it had enough water for an ocean one mile deep (1.6 km), and large enough to occupy half of the northern hemisphere.Although it lost all of the thing in liquid form, some of it remains as ice at the poles, and possibly even underground.So, what does the knowledge of that much water being available all over the place does for us?First, NASA says finding water distributed like this helps us better understand how everything around us, even Earth, formed 4.5 billion years ago.Then, given how its believed the solar system was extremely hot in its early days, preventing water from condensing into a liquid, its probable water was brought here by asteroids and other pieces of floating rocks. This can only mean it existed elsewhere before Sol came to be.Knowing where water is will also help us plan future missions, because ultimately our goal for space, at this moment in time, is not colonization, but exploration. These missions, like most of them currently on Mars, will be specifically tasked with finding life, in whatever form.You can check the attached gallery for a closer look at the worlds here in our Solar Systems NASA believes harbor plenty of water.
The antique samurai pictured below may not be entirely unscathed, but its pretty damn close.

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Nobody wants his car stolen but sometimes the unthinkable happens no matter how careful you are. Statistics show 246 cars were stolen for every 100,000 inhabitants across the U.S. in 2020. This doesn't seem like much, but the numbers have increased in the past five years and are now above the 2010 level of 239 cars per 100,000.Cars nowadays have clever theft protection built-in, like the immobilizer that prevents the engine from firing up without the original key being nearby. You should keep in mind that thieves are resourceful, hard-working people, though, so they always come with ideas on how to circumvent theft protection features in the car. Sometimes they are helped by the carmakers themselves, especially when the car features a keyless entry system that is easy to defeat.What you need to do is to make the thieves work as difficult as possible and to make this obvious, so they will give up and hunt for another victim thats easier to hack. Our car insurance expert tipped us with the most important measures you could take to keep your car secure.Of course, the simplest of them all is to. This means being far away from the front door to prevent relay theft. This also makes it more difficult for the thief to break into your house and snatch them in a hurry. If you want to be sure, put the keys in a tin box that also blocks the radio signals Keep yourwhen youre away, even on a hot summer day. This will reduce the likelihood of thieves prying the window open to enter your car. An open window is also a tempting opportunity for a thief.Of course, theres no point in securing the windows if your cars doors remain unlocked.at all times, even when (and especially when) youre in the car. Unlocked doors are like an open invitation for the thieves, just like you doing half of their job.You should develop the habit of(or Park) and with the wheels directed toward the curb. This measure has added benefits besides the car being harder to tow away, like preventing the car from rolling when it's hit or when it's parked on a slope.Of course,helps a lot, and nothing deters thieves better than a well-lit and guarded parking spot. Garages and gated parking are even better, but these are harder to come by. Its not such a bad idea toto immobilize your car. Make it as visible as possible and the thieves will look away. This is because getting rid of one of those is incredibly difficult and time-consuming, so its just not worth the effort.This might sound like a no-brainer, but you should. Even if its something without value, dont count on the thief to do the math. Better store everything in the trunk, even if its just a jacket.Last but not least,to locate your car in the unlucky event of theft. This will not prevent the thieves from stealing it, of course, but it will give you more chances to recover the car. Without a tracking device, it might prove difficult for the authorities to locate your missing vehicle.Of course, these bits of advice are only good in case you drive a normal car, with moderate value. Thieves will spare no effort if the value of the car is high enough to justify the efforts and they have singled you out. In this case, only good insurance helps.
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Investment firm GSV is working on a bid to buy Forbes Media at a $620 million valuation as an alternative to Forbes' announced SPAC merger, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: BuzzFeed's public listing last week added to growing skepticism about the SPAC market for media companies. Its shares are down roughly 40% from its opening price, and 94% of investors redeemed their stock following the merger news.

Forbes previously announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger that was set to close in Q4 of this year or Q1 2022.

"We are moving full steam ahead with SPAC transaction," Forbes Media chief communications officer Bill Hankes told Axios. "We remain on schedule to close the transaction in the first quarter."

The blank check company that Forbes is expected to merge with, Magnum Opus Acquisition, is sponsored by Hong Kong-based investment firm L2 Capital.

Details: The bid is led by GSV Asset Management CEO Michael Moe, with participation from "top family offices and institutional investors," according to a pitch a participating investor is circulating to others and seen by Axios.

The deal would value Forbes at $620 million, slightly less than the $630 million valuation Forbes would get via its merger with Magnum Opus.

According to the pitch, the first tranche is set to close on Dec. 31, and the second in March 2022.

Between the lines: Forbes had been pursuing a private sale prior to its decision to merge with a SPAC. It's unclear whether Forbes will pivot to the private sale.

Forbes Media communications chief Bill Hankes declined to comment when asked whether the company is in communication with GSV about a potential deal.

Sources told Axios earlier this year that some of the Forbes top brass preferred some of the private offers it received prior to the SPAC announcement, most notably an effort by GSV.

Other companies, like blockchain software firm Block.one, had also expressed interest, as Axios previously reported. (Forbes experimented with blockchain briefly in 2018.)

Moe declined to comment to Axios.

Be smart: The SPAC merger is structured so that Forbes majority owner Yam Tak Cheung  also known as TC Yam  could take out a roughly $400 million secondary round from funds secured via the acquisition.

But its merger presentation notes that any redemptions from investors will impact the amount of secondary proceeds he or other shareholders will receive. There's been an uptick in redemptions (and even merger cancellations) since the summer.

The SPAC Forbes is set to merge with had already secured additional $400 million in institutional investments via a PIPE to supplement the available cash.

Catch up quick: Forbes, which launched in 1917, was family owned until 2014, when the Forbes family sold a 95% stake to Chinese investment group called Integrated Whale Media. The deal reportedly valued Forbes at $475 million.

The Forbes family later sued Integrated Whale Media for missing an interest payment from money it borrowed from the Forbes family to finance part of the deal and eventually defaulting on the loan. The two parties reportedly settled the dispute in 2017.

Reports over the past few years have suggested that Yam was looking to offload the property for some time.

The Forbes brand has a lot of cachet with investors and corporate executives.

The bottom line: Sources have told Axios that the dynamic between Yam and Steve Forbes, the media company's chairman and former CEO, has been on shaky ground for years and that there's been friction between the two when it comes to deals.
Big ratings agencies such as Moody's and S&P Global, along with other financial firms, are vacuuming up companies specializing in modeling physical climate risks.

Driving the news: The latest consolidation in the "climate intelligence" space arrived this week with S&P's purchase of The Climate Service, a climate risk consulting firm. The Climate Service analyzes physical climate risks, including extreme temperatures, coastal flooding and water stress, along with so-called transition risks, including changing regulatory and market conditions.

Thought bubble: The consolidation in the climate intelligence space threatens to lead to an asymmetry of access to information. If you're a wealthy investor or large real estate firm, you can pay to find out which companies or regions will be safest from climate hazards, and make sound investment decisions.

However, ordinary homeowners, such as those in the Denver suburbs who faced down a horrific, climate-fueled December wildfire on Dec. 30, may be left with fewer no or low-cost options to find out detailed information about their mounting risk exposure.

That is unless the consolidation also drives an expansion of affordable, consumer-facing climate risk prediction services, which has not yet materialized, experts told Axios.

These companies' services and strategies differ somewhat, but overall they all do climate risk analytics, which is critically important as climate disasters mount, affecting more Americans, many of whom did not realize they were in dangerous areas.

The big picture: Two companies in particular have been vacuuming up firms that specialize in climate risk modeling, Moody's and S&P Global Inc.

They are doing so to feed into their environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing lines of business.

By incorporating climate risk analysis into their ratings of companies, sovereign funds and more, Moody's and S&P are meeting growing market demand for ESG funds.

They are also seeking to flag any systemic risks to the financial system related to climate change.

State of Play: In August of last year, Moody's paid $2 billion to purchase one of the leading risk modeling firms, London-based RMS.

Moody's has rolled out a variety of climate products for institutional investors, banks, private equity firms and individuals looking to invest in companies that are prepared for a more carbon-constrained world.

It purchased a majority stake in the climate intelligence firm 427 in July 2019, and a majority stake in an ESG insights company, V.E., in April 2019.

S&P also has a large ESG practice and has invested in companies that have bolstered its offerings, including Measurabl and TealBook, and taken a significant stake in Novata.

"These investments and acquisitions are part of our ESG strategy in action  to be on the cutting edge of the climate and ESG space to serve our customers' evolving needs," said Christopher Bennett, global head of S&P's ESG strategy, said in a statement.

Context: It is not just the ratings agencies that are recognizing the need to add climate risk expertise to get ahead of coming regulation and increasingly severe extreme weather and climate events.

Last month, International Exchange, Inc., a data provider for investment decision-making, purchased risQ and Level 11 Analytics, which map climate data onto municipal bonds, mortgage-backed securities and real estate markets, according to a statement.

Threat level: The concentration of climate modeling expertise among a small tier of companies can have significant downsides, according to Matthew Eby, the founder and executive director of First Street Foundation.

First Street is a nonprofit that provides property-specific climate change-related flood risk information directly to consumers, and is also pursuing climate-adjusted wildfire risk modeling.

"This data needs to be out there. We don't want more asymmetry of knowledge to exist, but that's exactly what we're seeing," Eby told Axios.

"Everyone that has all the money is now acquiring all the advanced data analytics, so that they can make the smartest decisions ahead of everybody else," Eby said.

The intrigue: Buying your way into climate risk modeling is complicated, since each system has its own scenarios and assumptions. Splicing models together risks a "Frankenstein" approach, Eby says, which could make predictions less reliable.

The other side: Rich Sorkin, CEO of Jupiter Intelligence, one of the remaining independent climate intelligence firms, questions whether many ordinary people have the knowledge and time required to access and adequately interpret climate risk information.

Jupiter currently serves the banking, power, insurance and national security sectors.

His firm is trying to address some of the disparities around climate data availability by providing underserved communities domestically and abroad with access to Jupiter's services at little to no cost.

"If we help an underserved community in Louisiana it's not going to make a dent in the rest of the business," he said, adding that it is a motivating factor for Jupiter employees to know they are benefiting those on the front lines of the climate crisis.

What we're watching: As the private sector consolidates, there's an opening for the government to step in and provide more precise climate risk tools for Americans. However, that is a tall order, given that there are 13 agencies involved in climate research and communication.
MINGO, a suspenseful and well-researched historical novel set amid the West Virginia Mine Wars, is now available wherever books are sold. It was written by Tazewell native Jeff Barnes.
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High Wind Warnings for Oregon Coast, South Washington Coast On Top of Flooding

Published 01/06/22 at 5:32 AM PST

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Newport, Oregon)  More crazy, wacky weather is on its way to the Oregon coast and south Washington coast, with a high wind warning in effect from the south Oregon coast up through the southern third of the Washington coast from Thursday evening through Friday morning. This is on top of various flood watches or warnings for the region (see Flooding A Possibility to Likelihood Along Parts of Oregon Coast ). (Above: Arch Cape)

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued the high wind watch for this vast area of the Pacific Northwest coastline, saying gusts up to 60 mph are possible in beach towns, but beaches and headlands could see higher speeds.

Southwest winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 60 mph possible in communities set back from the ocean, the NWS said. Southwest winds of 35 to 45 mph with gusts up to 70 mph will be possible along the beaches and headlands.

This includes the towns of Brookings, Gold Beach, Bandon, Coos Bay, Florence, Newport, Lincoln City, Manzanita, Seaside, Long Beach, Westport and Grays Harbor area.

The NWS said the strongest winds will be on the north and central Oregon coast. The south Oregon coast, from Reedsport southward, may not be seeing gusts up to 70 mph.

Farther up the Washington coast, into Forks and the Olympic Peninsula, winds are not quite reaching such warning levels, but offshore seas will be especially hazardous.



Westport, Washington, courtesy Shian Klassen

People should avoid being outside in forested areas and around trees and branches, the NWS said. If possible, remain in the lower levels of your home during the windstorm, and avoid windows. Use caution if you must drive. Monitor the latest forecasts and warnings for updates on this situation. Fasten loose objects or shelter objects in a safe location prior to the onset of winds.

See Oregon Coast Weather - Washington Coast Weather

See Oregon Coast Road, Traffic Conditions, Updates

These were changed from wind watches to wind warnings overnight on Thursday morning.

Coastal flood advisories have been issued up and down the northern half of the coast and southern part of Washington's coast, while the Coquille area near Bandon is under a flood warning. See the full story Flooding A Possibility to Likelihood Along Parts of Oregon Coast .

The southern Oregon coast will be seeing some steep offshore seas on Thursday and Friday, but the northern half of the coastline will see even bigger waves. Wave height in the teens is expected for much of Thursday while Friday morning may see waves up around 22 feet for a bit before dropping back down. While these predictions by the NWS are more relevant to mariners, it is expected to coincide with high tides and thus bring flooding to the shoreline and possibly Highway 101 in spots.

Significant erosion could take place on beaches as well.

By Sunday, things will be calmer along much of the Washington and Oregon coast, with some amount of sun predicted. The late weekend and early week will be a good time to head to the beaches of Washington and southward to look for whatever treasures the ocean may have coughed up.

Wave height should be relatively calm by Saturday in the Lincoln City area, so this weekend's special drop of 100 glass float is not likely to be affected. 100 Glass Floats Dropped This Weekend on Central Oregon Coast Beaches / Lincoln City

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Faith: Other

Other Career: Actor

Actor Birthday: February 20, 1927

February 20, 1927 Accomplishments: Oscar winner, Academy Award Winner

Oscar winner, Academy Award Winner Fun Faith Fact!: In a 2000 interview with Oprah, he was asked about his religion to which he responded I am not a hugely religious person, but I believe that there is a oneness with everything.

Sidney Poitier was born in Miami, Florida, on Feb. 20, 1927. His mother delivered him two and a half months prematurely while his parents were in Miami on vacation. As soon as it was safe to leave the hospital, Poitier and his family departed from the United States and returned to their home in the Bahamas. Poitier spent most of his childhood in Cat Island on his fathers farm. Following the farms turmoil, his family relocated to Nassau when he was ten.

Growing up in Nassau, Poitier made a habit of getting into trouble frequently. His parents sent him to live in the United States to resolve his behavior issues to live with his brother in Miami. When he was 16, Poitier moved from Miami to New York City, where he worked various minimum wage jobs to get by and served in the U.S. Army until he discovered his career passion. To start his acting pursuit, he joined the American Negro Theater and searched for acting roles in Hollywood. In 1963, Poitier starred in Lilies of the Field. In 1964, he made history when he won an Academy Award for Best Actor since no African American had ever won that award prior.

Poitier achieved many awards and milestones in his career. He directed many films, such as Buck and the Preacher and Stir Crazy. In 1974, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the British Empire, which officially gave him the title Sir. In 2009, the award-winning actor was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

The famous actor also had many accomplishments in the literary world. In 2000, he published his spiritual autobiography titled The Measure of a Man. The audiobook for his autobiography won a Grammy Award for best-spoken word album. In 2008, he released a book of wisdom called Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter.

In a 2000 interview with Oprah, he was asked about his religion to which he responded I am not a hugely religious person, but I believe that there is a oneness with everything.

Poitier passed away on Jan. 6, 2022. He was 94.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), arrived in Myanmar Friday for a two-day visit and met with junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing despite protests over what is seen as his support for the military regime and its repressive policies.

According to a source within the junta, Hun Sen held an afternoon meeting with Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw accompanied by five Cambodian cabinet ministers, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, two deputy ministers and a team of delegates.

While details of the meeting were not immediately clear, the two sides issued a joint statement saying that the leaders had discussed a number of bilateral and regional issues of common interest and concerns, and that Min Aung Hlaing had agreed to allow ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar Prasat Khun to join ceasefire talks between the military and armed ethnic groups in the countrys border regions.

The statement emphasized that allowing the special envoy to join talks on deescalating tension is an important step  in the ASEAN five-point consensus, agreed to by Min Aung Hlaing during an emergency ASEAN meeting on Myanmars political crisis held in April.

It said that Min Aung Hlaing had pledged full support  in fulfilling his mandate to implement the five-point consensus in accordance with the ASEAN Charter, but pointed out that its implementation should be complementary in realization of the five-point roadmap of the State Administration Council, or junta.

Min Aung Hlaing initially signaled to ASEAN that he would end the violence in his country and allow the bloc to send an envoy to monitor the situation following the April meeting, but after months of failing to implement any steps to do so, relations between the two sides have spiraled down, with ASEAN choosing not to invite junta delegations to several high-profile meetings, including its annual summit.

Meanwhile, nearly 8,440 civilians have been arrested and 1,445 killed by junta authorities since the military carried out a Feb. 1 coup, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, mostly during non-violent protests of its rule.

Attempts by Radio Free Asia (RFA) to reach junta spokesman Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun by telephone for more details on the meeting, which the joint statement said also included agreements on providing humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, went unanswered Friday.

Widespread protests

The visit  the first by a foreign leader since the coup  came amid widespread protests by activists who said it would do nothing for the people of Myanmar and feared it would confer legitimacy on the junta, despite its failure to implement any of the five-point consensus measures.

On Wednesday, Hun Sen had dismissed the suggestion that he would be soft on Myanmar and that talks would center around Myanmars obligations under the five-point consensus. However, the same day, Chan Aye, permanent secretary of the Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended an ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting to prepare for a meeting later this month of ASEAN foreign ministers, suggesting that Cambodia is willing to include the junta in high-level deliberations of the bloc.

On Friday, as talks took place in Naypyidaw, protests were reported in Myanmar over the past two days. Security was tight in the capital, after at least three explosions went off in the vicinity of the Cambodian Embassy in Yangon in recent weeks.

Hun Sens visit was also met with criticism from Myanmars Committee Representing the Pyihtaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which called the ASEAN chair to respect the will and prodemocracy efforts of Myanmar people in a statement on Friday.

Undermining ASEAN

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), called Hun Sens decision to meet with Min Aung Hlaing an affront to the people of Myanmar and a slap in the face of the eight other ASEAN member states who had decided to halt junta political participation in the bloc to pressure Myanmar to live up to its commitments under the April agreement.

The other eight ASEAN countries should publicly demand an explanation from Hun Sen and make it clear that the majority of ASEAN states favor an approach that requires negotiations with all parties to the Myanmar conflict, not just the generals who launched the coup and led Myanmar into this unmitigated disaster of continuous conflict, violence, and rights abuses, he said in a statement.

Other observers similarly pointed out that Hun Sens visit would only embolden the juntas repression of its own people.

Both Hun Sen and Min Aung Hlaing are known for committing human rights violations in their respective countries. It is ridiculous that two men who are responsible for rights violations are engaging in talks, reportedly for peace, stability, and inclusivity, said Bo Hla Tint, the shadow National Unity Governments (NUG) ambassador to ASEAN.

This is like meeting of two drug cartel lords who promised to work on drug eradication. We cannot expect anything from their meeting. Its superficial and their talks will only serve their personal interests.

Bo Hla Tint called on Hun Sen to demand the unconditional release of political prisoners in Myanmar if he wants to bring real change to the country.

Hunter Marston, a doctoral candidate at Australian National University who researches Myanmar, said the visit suggests Hun Sen is trying to reset the ASEAN response to Myanmars crisis through his own political vision.

I think Hun Sen is trying to engage directly with Min Aung Hlaing  to earn trust and try to facilitate talks his way. It is very clear that he sees himself as the problem solver here, he said.

I don't think he really cares much for Myanmar's democracy. To him I think he will try to win quick political points by bringing about the easiest solution that presents itself which, in all likelihood, will be to cede some ground to military terms.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us

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President Joe Biden meets with the White House COVID-19 Response Team on the latest developments related to the Omicron variant in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Campus in Washington, Tuesday. On Friday, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming Biden fired over 200 marines for refusing to take the COVID vaccine.
CLAIM: Betty White told a news outlet she received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, three days before her death, saying: Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today.

THE FACTS: The quote is fabricated. White did not receive a booster that day, her agent confirmed to The Associated Press. The news article cited by social media users does not contain the bogus quote or anything about vaccines. Days after Betty Whites death at the age of 99 was confirmed on Dec. 31, social media users falsely claimed The Golden Girls star had received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, using a bogus quote to suggest her death may have been related.

Posters on Twitter and Facebook shared an image containing a quote reading, Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today. - Betty White, Dec. 28th, 2021, alongside a link to an article in Minnesota news outlet Crow River Media, titled, Betty White: Im lucky to still be in good health. One post on Twitter shared the fabricated quote with a caption that reads, Died 3 days later! Coincidence.

But the article does not include that quote, and archived versions of the story stored by the Internet Archives Wayback Machine also do not mention COVID-19 vaccine boosters. Crow River Media ran an editorial addressing the falsehood in the Hutchinson Leader and Litchfield Independent Review, which they publish. The story itself is about a Dec. 28 article in People that included quotes from White given a few weeks before she passed away.

The People article also does not mention boosters. Whites agent, Jeff Witjas, confirmed to the AP that the quote attributed to White is entirely false. Betty never said this, Witjas said in an email. Witjas also confirmed that White did not receive a booster on Dec. 28, though he did not comment on whether she received one at all. Witjas said she died peacefully in her sleep of natural causes."

 Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Sacramento, California, contributed this report.
LENOX  Picture this: a 10-foot, 10,000-plus pound elephant hanging around a circus-themed party in the backyard of an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood.

If You Go What: The Elephant in the Room Where: Apple Tree Inn Restaurant, 10 Richmond Mountain Road, Lenox When: 8 p.m., Fridays, Jan. 14, 21, and 28 (Doors/restaurant opens at 7 p.m.) Dinner and drinks available during the show. Cost: $25, 21 and over only COVID-19 safety protocols: Proof of vaccination or negative covid test within 48 hours required. Tickets and more information: 413-637-1477, https://bit.ly/3eQ2bD8

For Melanie Greenberg, who grew up on the Upper East Side of New York, the image not only serves as a symbol she likens to how out of place she felt growing up and her existential teen angst, but it is also an actual detail from the story of her life.

Although she wont be carting an actual elephant with her, Greenberg, a new resident of Great Barrington, is bringing her story to life on the stage at the Apple Tree Inn on Friday evenings. Narrated through the context of a psychedelic ayahuasca trip, the one-woman musical The Elephant in the Room takes the audience through poignant moments of Greenbergs life, all while paying tribute to the show tunes that helped her survive her upbringing.

I have a wild backstory: I ran away from home at 15 years old. I ended up in a family of born-agains. I got sent away to various institutions, said Greenberg. I took the events of my life and what I really did was rewrote them in the way I wanted to tell them. I took every chapter of my show and I found some Broadway musical that I love, to tip my hat to, and sort of reimagined that chapter of my life as a musical in that way.

From the psych ward to a cult-like therapeutic boarding school for troubled youth to the Ivy League to rehab, Greenberg spent her adolescence and early adulthood moving through the full spectrum of American institutions, all while trying to make sense of a fraught relationship with her mother.

Among the moments of her life she reimagined, Greenberg said she considered the perspective of the doctor from the psych ward and reimagined her as Miss Hannigan from the musical Annie.

In my mind, Im always singing a song."

By marrying trauma with music and comedy, "The Elephant In The Room" acts as the narrators invitation to the audience to reshape and reclaim their own stories. The process of creating this work has only served to deepen Melanies belief that sharing stories is the key to understanding ourselves and others.

In my mind, Im always singing a song, so why not tell my story in the way that feels like the fantasy of how I want to be living, which is in a fabulous dress singing a song by a piano, she said. Thats not everyones version, but for me, thats the fantasy.

Greenberg, who has been writing and performing her entire life, holds a masters degree in fine arts from The New School in New York City.

She was the creator and host of the YouTube channel, Kill Switch. She also wrote, produced and starred in a comedy TV pilot about a middle-aged mom who attempts to become a YouTuber in order to gain the respect of her children.

"The Elephant in the Room," however, serves as her first-time performance piece shes written as well as her first autobiographical piece.

The process of writing the show provided an opportunity for Greenberg to examine her own narrative from her own perspective as well as that of others.

It won the award for Best Comedy at the 2021 United Solo Festival.

The show is directed by Joanie Schultz with Bill Zeffiro as musical director. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Greenberg was able to reconnect with Schultz, who was a childhood best friend.

I ran away from home when I was 15 years old to be with my childhood best friend, who was at the time my soulmate, the way your 15-year-old best friend is. The series of events happened and I got sent away and never saw her again, said Greenberg. I reconnected with her during the pandemic and discovered that she was a theater director and I remember getting chills and wondered to myself: is she going to end up directing my show? And she did.

Storytelling has had such a powerful and healing impact on Greenbergs life that she is also currently in the process of establishing a Berkshires-based nonprofit called. The Story Sanctuary. With the nonprofit, she hopes that individuals and communities in conflict can come together to build empathy and self-awareness through storytelling.

A believer in the healing power of storytelling, Greenberg works with a New York City-based nonprofit Open Doors, a project of the Center for Transformative Action on Roosevelt Island. Inspired by the stories she has heard, she decided to tell her own harrowing and unconventional story.

When we share stories, we start to see this thread of humanity that connects us all. When I listen to the stories of these guys [from Open Doors,] theres something in the humanity of the story or the feelings that they experienced that I can connect to. Theres something universal, she said. For me, thats what I love about storytelling. It connects us with each other.
Investigations editor

Larry Parnass joined The Eagle in 2016 from the Daily Hampshire Gazette, where he was editor in chief. His freelance work has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, CommonWealth Magazine and with the Reuters news service.
Visitors are so important to the well-being and safety of nursing home residents that federal regulators in November lifted all visitation restrictions imposed at the start of the pandemic. Even as the crisis marched forward.

Quote Families are just so essential. They're not just people coming in to play bingo. Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney, Center for Medicare Advocacy

Regulators, however, adjusted that rule last month, giving nursing homes that ability restrict visitors with very limited and rare exceptions.

The rule change worries industry watchdogs, who point to data showing that the pandemic worsened already dire staffing levels in nursing homes and caused a "tandem wave of fatalities ... quietly claiming tens of thousands more who are succumbing not to the virus but to neglect by overwhelmed staffs and slow declines from isolation," the Associated Press reported in Nov. 2020.

A researcher estimated these "shadow" deaths at the time to be more than 40,000 in addition to the 90,000 long-term care residents who died of virus-related causes.

So far, nursing homes in Berkshire County do not appear to be changing the open, 24-hour visitation policy required by law. Instead, they are taking COVID-19 precautions that help ensure safe visits. Policies can be seen on nursing home websites and most visitation rules hinge on vaccination status. Berkshire Healthcare, which owns six of the countys 13 skilled nursing homes, is taking this approach.

Lisa Gaudet, the nonprofit's vice president of business development and marketing, said by email that in some locations, the vaccination status of a resident's roommate may lead to visitation being moved to a common area.

Other than that we screen all visitors upon arrival and offer Binax tests to those who would like one prior to their visit, but they are not obligated to take a test if they are not inclined, she said.

At Berkshire Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center in Sandisfield, which is under a state-authorized admissions freeze due to COVID-19 cases, unvaccinated residents must quarantine for up to 14 days after a visit, according to a post on Athena Care's website. "These residents may only have window visits and compassionate care visits during this time. We continue to encourage everyone to get vaccinated immediately."

The company says that any facility with an outbreak, defined as one or more positive COVID-19 cases among staff or residents, must pause visitation "while mandatory testing takes place." An Athena spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Amid a surge caseloads in the county, relatives of those in facilities with poor staffing levels have contacted The Eagle, worried that there might not be enough employees to screen visitors. Yet, in poorly staffed buildings  a longstanding problem in the county, an Eagle investigation found  visitors are critical as advocates and caretakers.

Quote One state health official wrote in a recent memo that a nursing home resident has the right to have any visitor at any time they want, as long as it doesnt impose on the rights of other residents.

State and federal regulators embrace this view and are allowing visits, even when there is an outbreak investigation, according to the DPH. The DPH also says that visits cant be conditioned on whether someone takes a test or not. One state health official wrote in a recent memo that a resident has the right to have any visitor at any time they want, as long as it doesnt impose on the rights of other residents.

Industry watchdogs still worry. They say the new CMS guidance allowing visitation exceptions will pose a threat to residents. It is often a resident's relatives who advocate for their proper care and who file complaints of alleged neglect or abuse. Such complaints, which lead to most violations and fines, diminished by about half during 2020, according to a report by the Inspector General.

Watchdog groups say that banning visitors in 2020 didn't stop the virus from raging through buildings. Staffers brought it in. It came in anyway  what made the difference was vaccinations of residents,  said Toby Edelman, senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington.

The group is pushing for legislation to ensure visitation rights regardless of public health emergencies. The nonprofit last month took the position against the CMS shift to bar visitors even in rare circumstances, and said it was likely due to industry pushback of its full lifting of restrictions.

Several industry officials wrote CMS to warn that in light of an expected surge in omicron variant infections, [nursing home] staffing shortages may lead to the inability to ensure that safe visiting policies are being followed.

Edelman says poor staffing is why visitors should not be barred under any circumstances. If you dont have enough staff, then who is feeding the residents? Whos taking care of them? she asked. Families are just so essential. They're not just people coming in to play bingo.
PITTSFIELD  They lined up outside in the cold hoping another shot will slay a pandemic dragon that continues to rebound, breathing fire on the world and incinerating social and academic life for the young.

Were all really worried, said Belen Galvez, 15, whose father brought her Saturday morning to Berkshire Community Colleges Patterson Field House for a pop-up vaccine clinic after Pfizer coronavirus boosters were approved Jan. 3 for 12- to 15-year-olds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging the boosters for everyone over age 12.

Between 1,400 and 1,600 people came to the clinic hosted by the Berkshire Vaccination Collaborative, said Leslie Drager, lead public health nurse for the Berkshire Public Health Alliance.

I didnt even get my lunch today it was so busy, she said. The group is working to hold another clinic at the end of the month.

The clinic comes amid daily positive test results in the county that have surged more than 200 percent since two weeks ago.

The increase is attributed mainly to the omicron variant, which is more contagious and penetrates basic face masks more easily, according to health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vaccines are, in many cases, preventing serious illness, but are not necessarily reducing transmission, and the fully vaccinated are dying according to a recent Massachusetts Department of Health Study. It reported that, as of Dec. 25, 134,565 fully vaccinated people in the state contracted COVID-19, according to an Eagle review of the data.

Hence, a booster push. Health officials say these can help prevent serious illness if infected.

Galvez, a sophomore at Mt. Greylock Regional High School, said she and her friends are not just worried about themselves, but about everyone, especially the most vulnerable people.

I hope everything kind of goes back to normal, she said. I hope everybody does their part.

It wasnt just teenagers who came for shots and boosters.

Meghan Dorso brought her son, Ryder Jackson, 6, to get his very first inoculation. Dorso said this is out of concern for immune-compromised family members. When asked how he felt about the shot, he got quiet and leaned against his mother. He would soon find some solace with Winston, the Pittsfield Police Departments comfort dog.

Maya Berthelly-Jimenez, 10, came for a second shot. The Hoosac Valley Elementary School student said the pandemic has been hard socially, and shes hopeful the vaccines will end the crisis.

I just want to be free from masks, she said.

Therein lies another problem. Cloth and surgical masks are better than nothing, but arent doing the trick against Omicron, said Dr. Charles Wohl, a retired physician who volunteered at Saturdays clinic wearing a KN95 mask  which can better filter particles.

Its really almost as contagious as measles, he said, as he directed a steady stream of people into the clinic. You need fewer viral particles to get infected. He suggested doubling up with a cloth mask over a surgical mask to prevent gaps if one cant find KN95 or N95 masks.

Wohl is constantly studying up; a medical school classmate is sending him COVID-19 literature every day.

How often does an old doctor get to read about a whole new disease, he said. Intellectually, its been a feast, though tragic.

What does he make of all the breakthrough cases, and studies showing the vaccinated and unvaccinated have similar viral loads? He explained that the unvaccinated carry the viral load longer, so theyre infectious for a longer period of time, and theyre also more likely to get sick, unfortunately.

He said boosters are very protective against severe illness from all variants, and that this is the most important benefit of any type of vaccine.

Where COVID-19 boosters and even the vaccines arent very helpful is in reducing the spread from one person to another of the Omicron variant, he added, citing recent studies.

Wohl said social distancing, avoiding crowds indoors and good masks will be the key to evading Omicron.

People should not be complacent, he said.
GREAT BARRINGTON  School officials looking to get more elementary school children to take COVID-19 shots tried again Thursday for a vaccine mandate for all students by way of a Board of Health edict.

Quote I think the other vaccinations had longer time for research, and I think that you had proven benefits immediately so that it was accepted. We do know the horrors of polio. We know the horrors of pneumococcal meningitis and hearing loss and cerebral palsy associated with them. Dr. Ruby Chang, member, Great Barrington Board of Health

Yet again, the board met them with the same stance: no mandates, in part, due to the newness of the shots and ongoing questions of the risk/benefit ratio of giving them to children for whom the virus presents a relatively low risk.

Board members appear to have differences about the vaccines. They agree, however, that these should not be added to the list of childhood vaccinations required to attend the Berkshire Hills Regional School Districts three schools, like those for polio or measles  proven vaccines studied for decades.

The board plans to meet next week to issue some sort of guidance that helps families weigh the benefits and risks, and to recommend they consult with their doctors.

I think its really important that we strongly avoid information that has not been proven to be true, and to also provide support for our population to understand what is happening, and also look at all aspects, said Dr. Ruby Chang, a pediatrician. My recommendation is very strong language to recommend getting vaccinated.

But Chang followed this by saying she is against mandates in the case of this particular vaccine, with which weve had really one year of experience.

I think the other vaccinations had longer time for research, and I think that you had proven benefits immediately so that it was accepted, she said. We do know the horrors of polio. We know the horrors of pneumococcal meningitis and hearing loss and cerebral palsy associated with them.

Board Chair Michael Lanoue continued to ask what would be gained by possibly toying with the long-term health of children with shots that do not entirely stop the spread of the virus. We would be encouraging [children] to take risks that they might not otherwise have, he said.

Some studies show the vaccines may help to slow the spread of the delta variant, but the CDC in July said that vaccinated and unvaccinated had similarly high SARS-CoV-2 viral loads, and that vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus.

The Center for Disease Control and Preventions website also says it expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or dont have symptoms. News that basic masks dont filter out omicron is also sowing confusion and worry.

Keeping kids in school

Amid continued disruptions countywide and skyrocketing daily positive test results that have increased around 200 percent from two weeks ago, town health officials buckled up for a white-knuckle ride through another impassioned meeting. The towns caseloads also hit a peak last week, and Berkshire Health Systems will ramp up testing again at its Main Street site, said Health Agent Rebecca Jurczyk.

The board has found itself in a hot seat at nearly every meeting for months, as people join remotely, armed with information to either fight for or lobby against mandates.

This latest round comes a month after the board rejected a request by Superintendent Peter Dillon that it mandate the shots.

The districts School Committee had, a day earlier, just voted against excluding unvaccinated students from extracurricular activities. It soon appeared the tactic was unnecessary, as more than 85 percent of students in grades 7 to 12 were vaccinated. Nearly 100 percent of district staff are vaccinated.

It is the 50 percent inoculation rate of students at Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School  kindergarten through Grade 6  that prompted Dillons second attempt. He wants to get that rate higher, mostly citing the dire harm the pandemic has caused students, from an academic, emotional and social perspective. He said his interest is keeping children in school. For the districts significant number of children on free meal plans, its critical, he said.

Its this whole web of complex relationships that probably matter even more now, Dillon told The Eagle on Friday.

The district continues its routine weekly pool testing. Dillon said three students at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School had tested positive this week, though the elementary results are not yet in. Caseloads over the last two weeks at all district schools were significant, but most were asymptomatic or with symptoms so minor people might not even know they have it.

The boosters also are likely coming, regardless. Dillon said that is the logical progression, but were not there yet.

Boosters will, no doubt, be another flashpoint, gauging from remarks made by those who joined the boards meeting.

Some people spoke of their concerns about reports of injuries caused by the vaccine. Others insisted the vaccines do slow the spread of the virus, including Dr. Chang, who also said the vaccines might not be perfect.

It is the best weve got, and we have to put some faith in that, she said.

The CDC says the vaccines are safe and effective, noting that 469 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been given in the United States through late December, and serious side effects are rare.

Parent Rebecca Gold said she was outraged that Lanoue referred to the vaccines as experimental. And she said the shots are a way back to normalcy for families, and for children who might view their unvaccinated peers as a threat.

Vaccine mandates work and I think a vaccine mandate would help keep kids stay in school and it would also help improve mental health, she said.

Dr. Joseph Cooney, who practices medicine in Stockbridge, said there is one reason why coronavirus vaccines are different from all the others required for school, and thus should not be mandated.

This is not a disease of children; this is a disease of comorbidity, he said, pointing to underlying health conditions that are typically at the root of serious illness with the virus. This is a cold for children, and theres risk to it just like there is with driving.
Business writer

Tony Dobrowolski's main focus is on business reporting. He came to The Eagle in 1992 after previously working for newspapers in Connecticut and Montreal. He can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
ADAMS  Even before a new permanent leader arrives in two local Catholic parishes, change is in the air.

Days after the Rev. Barrent Pease was removed by his bishop for imprudent actions, parishes in Adams and Cheshire appear to be dropping unpopular policies Pease instituted, including what parishioners say were restrictions on eulogies and the use of music during funeral services.

At the same time, parishioners say they are feeling a sense of relief, as they reflect on Peases 10 months at the helm of two yoked parishes. Theyre finding a new footing as a search continues for an administrator for the St. John Paul II Parish in Adams and the St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Cheshire.

Quote I am currently in a time of prayerful reflection. My superiors believe that this spiritual exercise needs to be completed first before I respond to anything." The Rev. Barrent Pease, former administrator of Catholic parishes in Adams and Cheshire

Those who attend the St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams, meanwhile, are contending with an ongoing mold problem that continues to restrict full use of the historic structure.

In interviews and emails in December and January, several parishioners reported to The Eagle that even before Pease listed the conversion of Jews as a Mass Intention, they differed with him about aspects of his leadership, which they characterized as impulsive and doctrinally traditionalist. Other say he lacked warmth, read from prepared homilies and declined to visit and shake hands with parishioners after services, saying, according to one, Im not a politician.

Some also cited what they say was his opposition to allowing the late Capitol police officer, William Billy Evans, to be waked at St. Stans, before his April 15 funeral at St. Stans, reportedly saying that such an honor is reserved for priests.

They also said he discouraged the use of masks and vaccines to guard against COVID-19. Pease did not respond to questions about the Evans funeral or his position on masking and vaccines.

Parishioner Laurie Haas says she was upset by Peases attitude regarding COVID-19 measures, which he articulated Oct. 4, during a special Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. She said Pease proclaimed that he would not himself be vaccinated and questioned the credibility of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the president.

Our pastor spent his entire homily of over 10 minutes lecturing his flock on the evils of getting the COVID-19 vaccination, Haas said. He stated that the pope recommended that all Catholics should get vaccinated. He said, However, the vaccine is not proven and it is not safe (and) people should not get it. 

I have known people who have been very ill with COVID and who have died due to this virus, Haas said. And this pastor is promoting death from the pulpit.

Period of transition

In a recent email to fellow leaders of the parishes, a financial official thanked the Rev. William Cyr for leading us through this period of transition.

His experience, kindness, and familiarity with the people in our communities will surely be a comfort to many, wrote Michelle Francesconi, the Cheshire churchs business manager and a financial assistant with St. John Paul II Parish.

James Loughman, president of the St. John Paul II Parish council, said he got along well with Pease.

I could work with him and wish him well with his new endeavors, Loughman said. Im grateful to Father Cyr for stepping in. Lets leave it at that.

Francesconi announced that along with adjustments in the scheduling of services at three churches in two towns, Cyr is reviewing sacramental policies with plans to adjust if necessary.

Already, changes extend to the funeral eulogies and music.

Eulogies will be permitted at funerals and the specific guidelines will be added to the forms which are provided to the funeral homes, Francesconi wrote in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The Eagle.

She said Timothy Rougeau, the St. John Paul II Parish music director, is working with Ann Cain, his counterpart at St. Mary, to update music options for funerals.

Eugene Michalenko, a parishioner, said he asked Rougeau about the policies that Pease put in place and confirmed that they included restrictions on eulogies and music.

Father Pease did not allow eulogies during the funeral Mass, Michalenko said. Eulogies were to be (delivered) 10 minutes prior to the Mass. They are now allowed during the funeral Mass.

In terms of music, he said Pease had a short list of hymns that he considered appropriate. Now, that list is being expanded by the two music directors to offer more choice.

There was an uproar about him not allowing eulogies during the Mass, Michalenko said. He was more restrictive in funerals and people complained  and even wrote to the bishop about it.

When asked by email whether he did not allow eulogies or music during funerals, Pease replied that the question was leading and false.

Respectfully, this is why people get on board with the fake news narrative because that is what it has become, he wrote Thursday, in response to outreach from The Eagle seeking to verify what had changed.

I was the one who brought the music back at all masses and I gave people 3 options within the funeral liturgy to deliver an eulogy, and one outside of the liturgy, he wrote. So they are not bringing eulogies back either, they are just doing away with the four options I offered and reverting to one particular option.

Pease declined to be interviewed in person or by phone on Thursday, but agreed to consider written questions. The Eagle provided a list of questions about Peases time with the parishes in Adams and Cheshire, including about his decision to dedicate a Midnight Mass on Christmas to the goal of converting Jewish people to Catholicism.

Later Thursday, Pease said he was not comfortable answering the questions, which addressed not only the issues linked to his removal as administrator, but his wider Catholic beliefs and personal pastoral goals.

I am currently in a time of prayerful reflection, he wrote. My superiors believe that this spiritual exercise needs to be completed first before I respond to anything.  I appreciate you informing me of what is being said. Please keep me in your prayers as I go through this transition.

The Most. Rev. William Byrne announced Dec. 23 that he was removing Pease from his post as administrator, saying he had advised him to reflect on and learn from this experience.

In a recent email reply to a parishioner, Byrne said that he had been working to find a priest who can help heal and build the community. This is not easy given we have such a shortage of priests so I humbly ask that you please pray for me in this regard.

A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield said Friday that Byrne and a clergy commission are actively exploring options regarding a new leader for the Adams and Cheshire parishes.

It is a priority, Mark Dupont said. Given the shortage of priests, filling pastoral vacancies can be a challenge as reassigning priests can in turn impact clergy assignments at other parishes.

In the bishops message to the parishioner, a copy of which was shared with The Eagle, the bishop explains why he counseled Pease to reflect on a trying week and would seek to keep him in the priesthood and of service to the Springfield diocese.

In addition to the Mass intention regarding Jews, which Byrne countermanded, Pease had recently told parishioners at two Masses in Adams that he viewed the eventual closing of St. Stans as inevitable because of the high cost of delayed repairs and the current problem with mold.

Fr. Peases recent words and actions in Adams were understandably disturbing to many, Byrne wrote to the parishioner. While his actions were imprudent, they were not a violation of either canon or civil law. You may not like him, but he is not a criminal. I cannot cancel him. There was no reason to remove his faculties as a priest. He was instructed about his actions and my hope is that he will learn and be a better priest. It is important to remember that through Gods forgiveness we all have the ability to be reconciled.

Loughman, the parish council chairman, said a newly received report provides further information, and photographic evidence, on the mold problem at St. Stans.

He said the parish recently put out a call to members who work in the building trades to join with others to address the churchs physical needs, with mold in Kolbe Hall, the church basement, the most pressing problem. Loughman said one or two people have stepped forward to help. While the basement hall cannot be used, the worship space can  and will host its next Mass at 8 a.m. Sunday.

This story has been updated to clarify who received Michelle Francesconi's email about changes in parish procedures related to music and eulogies at funerals.
Members of a famous music school were airlifted out of Afghanistan. The coordination effort took place in Otis
Russian military planes parked Friday at an airfield in Russia. Over 70 cargo planes are being deployed in Russia's peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan according to the Defense Ministry chief spokesman's briefing on Friday, after the worst street protests since the country gained independence three decades ago.
Recent Eagle investigations have laid bare the steep challenges facing the countys nursing homes and the resultant struggles for those who depend on them. The gravity of this crisis is borne out not only in alarming statistics but in heart-rending stories of suffering endured by nursing home residents and their families.

The Eagle found that, from January through October 2021, half of Berkshire nursing homess average staffing levels did not meet state requirements put in place last year, while more than two-thirds dont meet minimum staffing levels recommended by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Behind these numbers are people trapped in a hellish world and those left to helplessly look on while trying to do their best by their elderly loved ones who need care.

One person spoke to The Eagle about visiting her father at a Pittsfield nursing home, where she said he is regularly left lying in his own waste for hours: One time I went into his room, and from his wrist down into his fingernails he was covered with [feces]. A Lee woman, after reading The Eagles initial report, wrote a letter to the editor explaining that she had to place a loved one in a facility after caring for him at home became untenable due to her own health issues. She wrote that he is neglected daily, and while she previously was able to visit and assist in his care, COVID has made that impossible. She concluded her letter: I spend part of every day in tears.

Sadly, these stories are not unique. We should find them unacceptable. Nursing home staffing issues have been pressurized by the pandemic, but the issue isnt new. A graying population  particularly in older, underserved and less-populated areas like Berkshire County  means it wont be letting up anytime soon, COVID or not.

Fixing Massachusetts' nursing homes is a complex problem; here are some of the ways lawmakers are trying to do it EAGLE INVESTIGATION: As state lawmakers pursue nursing home reform, better wages for workers, improved reimbursements for nursing facilities and increased support for alternatives to nursing care are all on the table.

Advocates and officials alike have offered potential solutions, though the systemic nature of the problem suggests no simple solution. A legislative proposal (S.414, H.727) from state Sen. Patricia Jehlen, D-Somerville, and state Rep. Ruth Balser, D-Newton, could offer a good start. It would require Massachusetts nursing homes to meet the minimum staffing recommendations set by CMS  4.1 hours of care and 0.75 registered nurse hours per resident per day  as well as start a career ladder program, a wise approach to curbing employee -retention issues facing many of these facilities.

The bill would also require facilities to adopt outbreak response and social isolation prevention policies, a serious shortcoming across the industry exposed by the novel coronavirus.

Nursing home owners blame Medicaid shortfalls for staffing struggles. Critics say they're being cheap for profit EAGLE INVESTIGATIONS: The people who run Berkshire County's nursing homes agree with their critics that workers need better wages  and the buildings need more staff  to provide a higher quality of care. They disagree on how to achieve this.

Still, even this legislations sponsors stress that this or any approach must be accompanied by a clear-eyed realization of the broader obstacles to progress. About three-quarters of long-term care residents are on MassHealth, the states Medicaid program. The gap between that programs reimbursement and care costs is between $25 and $30 per patient per day. Add that up for an entire facility over a year, and the dire math is a stark indication of just how much Medicaid, upon which countless seniors rely, is falling short of covering the true cost of care. On the workers side, industry leaders and advocates agree that compensation for critical roles like nursing assistants is simply not where it needs to be in most places to compete for and retain the necessary workforce.

Meanwhile, oversight mechanisms appear ill-equipped in the face of these challenges. A professor who has analyzed the nursing home industry for four decades told The Eagle that CMS doesnt do a thorough enough job of enforcing its own requirements and recommendations, noting that the federal offices only audit about 1,800 nursing homes out of 16,000. Its not much better at the state level. In recent years, audits of the Department of Public Health and the Executive Office of Elder Affairs cited significant issues with those agencies complaint and abuse investigation practices.

To be sure, there are some creative and innovative solutions that can make progress on the margins of this issue, which could be pursued by a blue-ribbon committee of industry leaders, advocates, officials and other stakeholders who might put their heads together on this matter. What it largely comes down to, however, is what it always does for big social problems: Are we as a society willing to allocate enough money to provide adequate care for our seniors?

This is by no means a cheap problem to tackle, but the moral cost of abdication is far higher. That was realized decades ago when one of the nations most enduring and politically popular programs was born: Social Security. Ensuring dignity and quality of life for seniors was and is an affirmation that societies are measured by how they treat their most vulnerable citizens  especially the elderly. If this nursing home investigation is any indication, we are failing that test, but it neednt be so.

Beacon Hill leaders should prioritize measures that not only require nursing homes in underserved areas to meet appropriate staffing levels but boost funding to that end. At the federal level, our representatives in Congress should improve regulatory oversight while taking a hard look at our nations budget and ask if we as a country invest enough in elder care given the outsize need and the harrowing scenes playing out in far too many facilities.

We must have the political and economic courage to stare down this crisis gripping so many of our seniors and their families  and pursue the necessary investments to do something about it.
Clarence Fanto can be reached at cfanto@yahoo.com, on Twitter @BE_cfanto or at 413-637-2551.
Chinese, Comorian FMs hold talks over bilateral relations

Xinhua) 10:08, January 08, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Comorian Foreign Minister Dhoihir Dhoulkamal in Moroni, Comoros, Jan. 6, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

MORONI, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday met with Comorian Foreign Minister Dhoihir Dhoulkamal in Moroni, capital of the Comoros.

Wang said that China was the first country to recognize the independence of the Comoros and establish diplomatic relations with the country. Over the past 47 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and the Comoros have always been sincere and friendly, and the relationship between the two countries has become a model of equality and win-win cooperation between large and small countries.

The fact that the Chinese foreign minister has made the Comoros an important stop on his first visit of the year reflects the great importance China attaches to the relations between China and the Comoros, Wang underlined, hoping that the visit will deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in various fields and give new impetus to the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

Dhoulkamal said that the Chinese foreign minister's visit to the Comoros at the beginning of the New Year is a vivid manifestation of the brotherhood and good cooperation between the two countries.

The friendship between the two countries is long-lasting and strong. The two countries have maintained a high degree of mutual trust in politics, mutual benefit and win-win situation in the economy, mutual support in the international arena, and carried out exemplary cooperation, said Dhoulkamal.

Underlining that Comoros has always adhered to the one-China policy, Dhoulkamal thanked China for its help and support for the development of the country and showed its willingness to work with China to promote cooperation between the two countries in various fields to a new level.

China's effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic has fully demonstrated good governance and good management, while China's strong support for the global fight against the pandemic has demonstrated its responsibility as a great power, he said.

African countries were also heartened by China-proposed cooperation initiatives with Africa announced at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, said Dhoulkamal, adding that the forum has provided a good platform for both sides to deepen their partnership and strategic cooperation, and has helped to advance the "Emerging Comoros Plan for 2030".

The Comoros is willing to work with China to strengthen Africa-China solidarity, to jointly address global challenges such as pandemic and climate change, and to achieve common development, he reiterated.

Thanking the Comoros for maintaining its correct position on issues related to China's core interests, Wang said that China also firmly supports the Comoros in safeguarding its sovereign independence, territorial integrity and national dignity and exploring a development path that is in line with its own national conditions.

Wang said that in face of challenges brought by the pandemic, both sides stand together and support each other. China has provided the Comoros with vaccines and anti-COVID supplies and sent medical teams to the country, and will continue to provide new vaccines and testing kits according to the Comoros' needs, so as to help the Comoros achieve the goal of universal immunization, Wang said.

China is willing to promote the implementation of the "Nine Projects" of China-Africa cooperation in the country, align with the "Emerging Comoros Plan for 2030" strategy, and help the country achieve greater development, said Wang.

The two sides should make better use of the economic and social benefits of the completed projects, actively explore the implementation of new livelihood projects with strong feasibility and quick results, and carry out cooperation in areas where the Coromos has advantages, such as spice processing and fishery, said Wang.

The Comoros is welcome to make good use of the "green channel" for African agricultural products to be exported to China and the zero-tariff policy for products from the least developed countries to promote more quality products from the Comoros to enter the Chinese market, said Wang.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
Spearfish, SD (57783)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 36F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 36F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph.
What do we know about Asher in the Bible? Was he tall or short, plump or skinny? Was he gifted with creativity or hospitality? Scripture shares a small bit of information about Asher. Yet, Asher was an important part of Gods plan. God can use anyone to further His kingdom. Whether someone has a huge impact on the world or a small part of leading others to Christ, each person is uniquely gifted by God. Being alert to Gods calling allows us to use those gifts to lead others to Him.

Who Is Asher?

Asher was the son of Jacob and Zilpah. He was the founder of the Tribe of Asher. Scripture tells that Leah felt that she could no longer conceive and give Jacob any more children. Leah made the decision to give her maid, Zilpah, to Jacob, so he would be able to have more children. What a choice! Was Leah heartbroken as she made that choice? Would she become jealous of any children Jacob and Zilpah conceived? How did Leah interact with the children Jacob had with another woman?

Scripture shares that later Leah became pregnant again. She thought her childbearing time was over, but God had other plans. Jacob had numerous children by Leah and Zilpah. Jacob was the father of sons, and also, a daughter named Dinah. Jacob and Zilpah had a son whom they named Gad. Asher was their second son. They named him Asher because Leah said the women would call her happy. (Genesis 30:13 NIV)

The name Asher means happy or blessed. Scripture doesnt tell us if Asher was a pleasant child or a troublesome child. With his name meaning happy, he may have been an easy going child. Our names dont always fit with our personalities. However, we do learn in the Bible that Asher was known for his wisdom. Before Jacob died, he gave blessings to each of his twelve sons, with varying meanings.

What Is Asher Known for in the Bible?

Among the many children of Jacob, there was one son named Joseph. He was Josephs favorite son. (Genesis 33:2 NIV). Joseph often helped shepherd the flocks with his brothers. There were twelve sons. Their names were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. Dinah was the daughter.

The Bible tells that Moses said Asher would be the most blessed of the sons and favored by his brothers. (Deuteronomy 33:24-25 NIV). Yet, there was conflict between the brothers and Joseph. Joseph had made negative comments about his brothers. (Genesis 37:1-11 NIV) The statements caused friction and turmoil between the brothers. Have you had an argument with a sibling? Were you able to work things out in a positive way?

Jacob loved Joseph more than the other brothers. He made a long robe with sleeves and gave it to Joseph. When Asher and the other brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more, they were angry and jealous. The anger turned into a plot to have Joseph killed and throw him in a pit. Reuben told the brothers not to kill him, just throw Joseph in a pit. After Joseph was in the pit for a time, the brothers, including Asher and Judah, agreed to sell him to some Midianite tribles for twenty pieces of silver. The brothers did not tell their father of the plan or that Joseph was still alive.

Upon hearing news that Joseph had died, Jacob became distraught. Later in Scripture we learn that Joseph was not dead. Asher and the other brothers who had schemed to sell Joseph into slavery were shocked to learn that their brother was alive. They had met a handsome and successful man and didnt realize the man was Joseph. The brothers had been sent to Egypt to buy grain. Think of the shock and embarrassment they may have felt upon learning the true identity of that man. Their own brother, whom they had tried to destroy, was now in a leadership role.

Joseph had his own plan to see his father once again. Through directions given by Joseph in Genesis 45:28, Jacob brought his whole family to Egypt. Imagine how Jacob must have felt learning that Joseph was alive. Surprise, shock, worry, and maybe some unbelief when he first was told that his son was alive. The family had already experienced mourning of the loss of the son.

What kind of feelings did Asher have during the plotting and carrying out of the plan the brothers have created? The plan to get rid of their brother Joseph was a cruel one. Before Jacob died, he blessed his sons. Jacob said Ashers food would be rich and fit for a king. Later, Moses blessed Ashers descendants. (Deuteronomy 33:24-25 NIV)

Things to Know about the Tribe of Asher

-The tribe of Asher was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Asher was divided into five clans According to the Bible, Asher was one of six tribes who stood on Mount Ebal and gave curses. (Deuteronomy 27:13 NIV) These words were supposed to be a promise to God that the people would not behave in bad ways.

-Scripture says that the tribe of Asher responded to the call to repel the Midianites and others. There were times when Asher obeyed God and other times, he did not obey.

-The tribe of Asher inherited rich soil and produced grain, wine, oil, and minerals.

-The tribe of Asher was known as the happiest tribe.

God has the ability to use any person to help learn about Him and develop a relationship with Him. The Bible shares many examples of people who were unknown, poor, humble, meek, and journeying through rough times in life. God used those people to give us examples of how anyone can grow in faith. Through everyday life situations, we can learn many lessons on how to have a deeper relationship with the Lord. From the woman with a bleeding condition for many years, to a tax collector who left his work and followed the Lord, to many other examples, the Bible shares about the love and forgiveness of God.

We are called to follow His commandments and in following those directions, we can show others how to live for Him. Asher was one of many children and his life was important. God had a plan for Asher, just as He has a plan for each of His creations.

There may be times of wondering what the plan is for our life. There may be times of doubt and uncertainty, stress, and sorrow. In all times, whether good or bad, we have the choice to follow God or to follow our own selfish ways. Asher may have questioned what to do in certain situations. Yet, his life was filled with purpose.

If you are not sure of the plan God has for your life, go to God in prayer. Ask God for answers and guidance in following His plan. God had a plan for Asher and God has a plan for you.

Photo credit: Getty Images/Javier Art Photography

Award-winning author Melissa Henderson writes inspirational messages sometimes laced with a bit of humor. With stories in books, magazines, devotionals, and more, Melissa hopes to encourage readers.

Melissa is the author of Licky the Lizard and Grumpy the Gator. Her passions are helping in the community and church. Melissa is an Elder, Deacon, and Stephen Minister.
***FINAL UPDATE (1/9/22)***

According to the Idaho Transportation Department, US-12 east of Kooskia was reopened Sunday night after crews took care of the aftermath of a storm that brought down trees, triggered an avalanche and deposited more than 2 feet of snow between Thursday and Friday night.

*** UPDATE (1/8/22)**

According to an update from the Idaho Transportation Department provided Saturday afternoon, US-12 east of Kooskia will remain closed for several more days as crews clean up at least one avalanche and downed trees.

On Saturday, the ITD received a report of an avalanche that occurred in the area of milepost 136 within the zone actively monitored by ITD specialists.

Our operators are working from the east side, cutting through trees trying to access the rest of the highway, so its possible more avalanches may be reported, ITD Operations Engineer Jared Hopkins said. We are also still assessing the risk for more avalanches.

More details will be added to this story as they become available.

**STORY UPDATE (1/7/22)**

According to an update provided by the Idaho Transportation Department, avalanche danger continues to close US-12 east of Kooskia while specialists monitor conditions and the forecast. The highway will remain closed through the night with another assessment expected to be conducted Saturday morning.

Numerous trees are also blocking the highway, and additional precipitation is expected overnight.

Original Story

LEWISTON - On Thursday morning, officials with the Idaho Transportation Department said several miles of U.S. Highway 12 east of Kooskia would be closed due to considerable avalanche risk. Given that the forecast calls for heavy precipitation over the next day, the closure is anticipated to last at least through the night.

The gates at Fish Creek (milepost 126) and Saddle Camp Road (milepost 139) will close, and ITD crews are working with the U.S. Forest Service to notify any recreationists or drivers within the corridor of the impending closure.

Avalanche specialists with ITD will be on site to help local maintenance crews reassess conditions and reopen the highway when it is safe to do so. Another release will be sent once a determination to open the road is made.

The same storm is also affecting several other highways in the region. U.S. Highway 95 south of Moscow is experiencing blowing and drifting snow and could close if conditions worsen, says an ITD statement. State Highway 64 from Nezperce (milepost 0) to Four Corners (milepost 8) remains closed due to drifting snow. Tomorrow forecasted wind speeds could also create dangerous conditions for drivers on US-95 between Grangeville and Cottonwood, which may result in a closure, say ITD officials.
For the past two nights protests over a police shooting in Charlotte have spiraled into chaos.

Looting and violence have broken out, resulting in scores of arrests, at least five police officers injured and nine civilians hurt, as well one in critical condition.

The controversy began on Tuesday after police killed 43-year old Keith Scott, shooting him to death after he allegedly brandished a hand gun.

The police chief of Charlotte Kerr Putney has been adamant that Mr. Scott, who had previous run-ins with the law, was armed.

But today the chief backed off that a little bit.

CHARLOTTE POLICE CHIEF KERR PUTNEY: "I was very clear when I talked about this before, is the video does not give me absolute definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing the gun. I did not see that in the videos I reviewed."

But Chief Putney still insists Mr. Scott had a gun.

Reaction from the black community came quickly.

MINISTER CORINE MACK, NAACP CHARLOTTE BRANCH PRESIDENT: "But in my mind, and in most of the community's mind, it really doesn't matter if he had a gun. At the end of the day, we have the right under the 2nd Amendment to carry here in North Carolina. And their responsibility was to engage him in a more de-escalated way."

Minister Mack is correct on one point and wrong on another.

It certainly does matter if the dead man was carrying a gun, but she is right when she says that police do have an obligation to de-escalate confrontations if they can.

But what every responsible American should agree with is that you cannot break the law by looting, setting things on fire and harming people under any circumstances.

Fair-minded people know you let the investigation play out, you gather facts.

In the Ferguson case, for example, once the facts were known the myth that Michael Brown had his hands up and was not causing trouble was dispelled.

Now I am fully aware that some African-Americans do not trust the police or the investigative process in general.

And some have good reasons not to trust.

But that does not give you license to go on a rampage.

Just today in Tulsa the police officer who shot an unarmed black man last week was charged with manslaughter. She will now stand trial -- that is our system.

If you rejected the system and begin to commit crimes in the name of protest, you should be punished, not to mention that it hurts your own cause because mob violence will override any kind of singular injustice.

Both presidential candidates reacted to not only the Charlotte situation but another police killing in Oklahoma.

HILLARY CLINTON: "There is still much we don't know about what happened in both incidents, but we do know we have two more names to add to a list of African-Americans killed by police officers in these encounters. It's unbearable and it needs to become intolerable."

((EDIT))

DONALD TRUMP: "The people who will suffer the most as a result of these riots are law abiding African-American residents who live in these communities where the crime is so rampant. ((EDIT)) There is no compassion in tolerating lawless conduct."

Obviously a major contrast between Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump.

Summing up, the violence in Charlotte is deplorable, sincere protest is admirable.

Looting and hurting other people unacceptable.

And that's the memo.
Watch the latest video at FoxNews.com By Bill O'Reilly As we reported last night "The Factor" believes that the Sandra Fluke contraception controversy was manufactured to divert attention away from the Obama administration's disastrous decision to force Catholic non-profit organizations to provide insurance coverage for birth control and the morning after pill. That might very well be unconstitutional. Anyway, we're having trouble tracking down just who is sending Sandra around to the media. It's very strange. So far, the 30-year-old activist has appeared on eight national news programs where she was not challenged at all. Last week, we called Sandra on her cell phone and invited her on "The Factor." She didn't call back, very unusual. There was no other public contact for the woman, just her cell phone. A man named Mike has booked her on a few programs, but we can't even get his last name. And Mike doesn't provide call-back numbers to those with whom he speaks. So Mike, who are you? And why the subterfuge? Now, late today we found out that Ms. Fluke is now being repped by the progressive PR agency SKDKnickerbocker where Anita Dunn, the former Obama communications director is the managing editor... a-ha! So, this whole deal comes back to the White House, at least indirectly. So, let's run down what we know. Sandra Fluke is a former head of the group "Georgetown University Law Students for Reproductive Justice." On February 9th, a group called "The Feminist Majority Foundation" arranged for Sandra to appear at press conference criticizing the Catholic bishops for objecting to President Obama's contraception mandate. After that, Congressman Elijah Cummings, the former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, invited Sandra to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee. But she was turned down by the chair, Congressman Darrell Issa, because she had no expertise in the church/state subject matter. Nevertheless, Ms. Fluke went to the hearing and afterward complained to ABC News that she had been denied. A week later, Nancy Pelosi staged a mock hearing starring Sandra. After which Rush Limbaugh made derogatory comments elevating her to left-wing martyrdom. So it seems there is a powerful presence behind Sandra Fluke. And as the polls show, the controversy has benefited the President of the United States, who is on the ropes with the church deal. This is all the more amazing because the controversy Sandra is embracing is completely bogus as I explained on "The View" today. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) O'REILLY: Do you guys know what Title 10 is? Do you know what Title 10 is? JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Explain it. O'REILLY: Do you what it... ok. So it's in motion now that if you need birth control and you go to a federal clinic you get it. ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Yes. O'REILLY: That's under Title 10 of the Public Health Act. BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Right. O'REILLY: All right, so there really isn't any... any problem. You can get it and then if you don't want to drive down to the clinic you can go to Wal-Mart or you can go to Target and get it for $9 dollars a month. So to insert this into a giant ObamaCare bill seems to be unnecessary to me. (END VIDEO CLIP) O'REILLY: And by the way the ladies were respectful and we had a very good and necessary discussion. Now "Talking Points" believes that very quietly President Obama will pull back on his demand that the Catholic Church cover contraception. He has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and would be foolish to continue flogging an unconstitutional mandate. Mr. Obama knows the polls say many American women now believe he is protecting them. For that he can thank Sandra Fluke and whoever is running her. And that's "The Memo." Pinheads & Patriots The Reverend Pat Robertson, generally a conservative guy, but on the issue of legalizing pot, he wants to do it. He's not calling on a higher power. Pardon the pun. It's just his opinion, telling the "New York Times," quote, "I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat the beverage alcohol. I have never used marijuana and don't intend to. But it's just one of those things that I think this war on drugs hasn't succeeded," unquote. Even though I oppose legalizing pot, I would decriminalize it. I'm not going to call Pat Robertson a "Pinhead" because he's done a lot of patriotic things for this country. So in this case, you can make the call about the Reverend's opinion on marijuana.  You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com. Transcript Show Name: O'Reilly Factor
Hillary Clinton gave a stem-winder of a speech today in Washington trying to put Donald Trump on the defensive.

Mrs. Clinton must be stunned by the turnaround in the polls, especially in states like Florida and Ohio, which she needs to win.

Therefore the Clinton campaign had to make a statement and chose the personal route.

The main theme of her talk was that Trump is personally unfit to be president:

HILLARY CLINTON: Donald Trump looks at President Obama after eight years as our president, he still doesn't see him as an American. Think of how dangerous that is. Imagine a person in the Oval Office who traffics in conspiracy theories and refuses to let them go, no matter what the facts are. Imagine someone who distorts the truth to fit a very narrow view of the world. Imagine a president who sees someone who doesn't look like him and doesn't agree with him and thinks that person must not be a real American. ((EDIT)) In addition to the president, Donald Trump looks at a distinguished federal judge born in Indiana and he sees a Mexican, not an American. He looks at a Gold Star family and sees them as Muslims, not patriotic Americans. He looks at women and decides how our looks rate on a scale of one to ten.

Now it is clear that Secretary Clinton is playing the invective card. There was little policy in her speech today.

It was all about re-demonizing Trump as an unstable man who is hostile to a variety of Americans.

Will that tactic work?

Probably not because those who believe as Mrs. Clinton does are already in her camp.

By this time the 10% of Americans who are still persuadable have heard all the anti-Trump stuff before.

Now the big reason Hillary Clinton went after trump in a personal way is to refocus negative media attention on him, thereby taking it off her.

Today in the L.A. Times daily tracking poll, which bounces around a lot, Trump is now up by six after two weeks of press scrutiny on Hillary.

And the more extensive national polling from Fox News and others has Trump either beating or very close to Hillary Clinton among likely voters.

That has shocked the Democratic Party because Mr. Trump is an unusual candidate, to say the least, and has major baggage, as any big-time businessman would.

But Secretary Clinton's resume problems are far more extensive than Donald Trump's because of the FBI investigation and others.

That is holding Mrs. Clinton back.

For his part, Trump seems to be listening to his new team, which has imposed discipline on the campaign.

Today in Washington some generals endorsed Trump, concentrating on national security and the military.

In that exposition Trump spoke for less than 30 seconds dealing with the birther issue.

TRUMP: President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again. Thank you.

Ironically, just before Trump said that, President Obama actually helped him out, unwittingly:

OBAMA: Weve got other business to attend to. I was pretty confident where I was born. I think people were as well. My hope would be that the presidential election reflects more serious issues than that.

So Trump caught a break today with Mr. Obama assisting in getting the birther issue off the table.

Going forward there are 10 days until the first debate.

Both candidates will be doing serious prep work for their presentations on Monday September 26th at Hofstra University on Long Island.

The whole world will be watching this debate and there is no coming back if you screw up.

Big-time pressure.

So it would behoove -- word of the day, behoove -- both of the candidates to avoid controversy before the debate.

Personal attacks at this point will most likely hurt the attacker.

It was almost pathetic today to watch the ravings on cable news by anti-Trump zealots. Did you just find out about the birther issue? If Trump is conceding, why the vitriol?

Again, hatred never plays well with the folks.

What fair-minded Americans really want are solutions to vexing problems.

They want specifics, they want clarity, they want consistency.

Whoever delivers that best from here on will win the White House.

And that's the memo.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders actually have a lot in common. They are both running renegade campaigns calling for a complete overhaul of the political establishment. Yet the two candidates are being treated very differently by the press. Let's take Mr. Trump first. I think it's safe to say most of the establishment media despises him. Mr. Trump's populist approach, straight talk about stopping illegal immigration, and punishing those he believes are harming America is unsettling to many liberal people. Thus, when Trump is interviewed there is usually a question designed to put him on the defensive: JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: "Is Tuesday must-win after the loss in Iowa?" DONALD TRUMP: "There wasn't a loss. I came in second. I only came in second because of the fact that Cruz took a lot of votes away from Carson that should not have been taken away. He's apologized, but I don't know what comes of that." We'll get to the Cruz situation in a moment but you can see that Mr. Tapper defined the Iowa vote as a loss for Trump when overall that may not be the case. Again, the Trump insurgency -- and that's what it is -- is a threat to liberal America and the media doesn't like it. On the Bernie Sanders front, things are friendlier. Sanders is rarely attacked by the press even though some of his proposals are so far out they would be impossible to achieve. Sanders saying things like college students are entitled to free education is swell but impossible due to the cost. The back and forth between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton does get some coverage, but because Sanders often gets the upper hand it is played down. Yesterday the senator was asked about the verbal assassin David Brock, who -- despite being a smear-merchant -- is very close to Hillary Clinton. BERNIE SANDERS: "Let's remember who David Brock is. He is a political attack dog. And I happen to like Hillary Clinton. But I am astounded by some of the people that she has hired, including David Brock. ((EDIT)) This is the guy that Hillary Clinton is making the head of her super PAC? I just don't understand." Sanders raises an excellent point that you will not hear much about because the liberal media often covers for Hillary Clinton. In fact it was almost stunning that a moderator who works for NBC News actually hugged Sanders and Clinton after the Democratic debate last week. She hugged them. Can you imagine if Megyn Kelly had hugged the Republican contenders? The media would have run wild with that. And by the way, Megyn's questions to the Republicans were a thousand times tougher than what we saw at the recent NBC-run Democrat debate. Finally, we established beyond a reasonable doubt that CNN's reportage of Ben Carson's Iowa situation last week hurt Doctor Carson in the voting. There is no doubt about it. We also told you that the Cruz campaign took advantage of the CNN misinformation and that might have skewed the results in Iowa. But the liberal media did not come down on CNN, yet ripped Senator Cruz. Does that sound fair to you? Summing up, all Republicans should understand they will not be getting a fair shake in the presidential election of 2016. And that's the memo.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com This is a pretty nasty story that has damaged the Carson campaign and perhaps the image of Ted Cruz. As we reported yesterday, while the caucus voting was underway in Iowa, a CNN reporter, Chris Moody, tweeted misleading information about the Carson campaign. Almost immediately the Cruz campaign used that information to tell Iowa voters that Carson may be withdrawing from the race. Dr. Carson believes that hurt his vote tally. Ted Cruz has apologized. CNN says it did nothing wrong. Here are the facts: At 6:43 p.m. Central Time, Mr. Moody tweeted quote: Carson won't go to NH/SC, but instead will head home to Florida for some R&R. He'll be in DC Thursday for the National Prayer Breakfast. Moody tweeted some other stuff after that trying to clarify but apparently that did not get to CNN political reporter Dana Bash: DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We should say that our Chris Moody is breaking this news that Ben Carson is going to go back to Florida to his home, regardless of how he does tonight here in Iowa. He's going to go there for several says, and then afterwards he's not going to go to South Carolina; he's not going to go to New Hampshire. That is false. Ben Carson had events planned in New Hampshire before he even left Iowa. Again, that CNN report? Flat out untrue. Enter the Cruz campaign, which at about 7 p.m. Central Time, 17 minutes after the initial misleading tweet, said this: "CNN is reporting that Ben Carson will stop campaigning after Iowa. Make sure to tell all of your peers at the caucus supporting Carson that they should coalesce around the true conservative who will be in the race for the long haul: TED CRUZ! So you can see that the Cruz campaign used a false report by CNN to damage the Carson campaign. Last night on The Factor, Dr. Carson told me he accepts Ted Cruz's explanation that he personally did not know what was going on. However, Carson also said this: DR. BEN CARSON: A culture exists within the Cruz camp that would allow people to take advantage of a situation like this in a very dishonest way. Isn't this the same thing we see with the Obama administration, the IRS scandal? No responsibility. ((EDIT)) They were awfully anxious to get it out there, weren't they? Now there is no question that CNN is responsible for the false report. But the Cruz campaign is also wrong and Senator Cruz should take disciplinary action against some of his staff. However, that may not happen: RICK TYLER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR TED CUZ: We simply as a campaign repeated what Ben Carson had said in his own words. He said after Iowa he was going to go back to Florida for a couple of days and then he was going to go to D.C. to the prayer breakfast. And what that told us was he was not going to New Hampshire. But again, Carson had events booked in New Hampshire, so come on. As far as CNN is concerned, it is standing behind its initial report, which is ludicrous. That news agency screwed up big time and apparently doesn't care. Talking Points has said it many times. The state of American journalism is on the verge of collapse. Ideology has permeated hard news coverage and honest reporting is becoming almost scarce, especially in political circles. CNN should apologize. Ted Cruz should take some action. And this should never again happen. The Carson campaign was damaged by erroneous information, period. And that's the memo.
Watch the latest video at FoxNews.com Today at the G-20 in St. Petersburg, President Obama acknowledged the steep hill he has to climb back home for military action in Syria. And his planned address to the nation Tuesday may not do him any good. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: It's conceivable that at the end of the day, I don't persuade a majority of the American people that it's the right thing to do. And then each member of Congress is going to have to decide if I think it's the right thing to do for the America's national security and the world's national security, then how do I vote? Ultimately, you listen to your constituents, but you've also got to make some decisions about what you believe is right for America. (END VIDEO CLIP) INGRAHAM: Now, when the President tried to explain why he went to Congress he instead made a stark confession. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: I did not put this before Congress just as a political ploy or a symbolism. I put it before Congress because I could not, honestly claim that the threat posed by Assad's use of chemical weapons on innocent civilians and women and children posed an imminent direct threat to the United States. (END VIDEO CLIP) INGRAHAM: Bingo. That is one of the main reasons why the American people left, right, and center are so vehemently against blowing one dime in Syria or jeopardizing the lives of our military personnel there. There is no imminent threat but there are major questions that this administration cannot to this day adequately answer: questions about the identity and motivation of the rebels; questions about how we'd pay for all of this; questions about what our real objectives are and whether they are achievable without major mission creep. After a week of trying to sell this the administration and its supporters in the GOP establishment have raised more questions than they have answered. This is why with the exception of a coterie of Washington elites left, right and center are united against military action in Syria in this country. So, will our representatives be guided by the bipartisan demands of the people including most veterans and active duty military who are overwhelmingly opposed? Or, will they continue to follow a path of endless spending on wars to enforce international norms even though the rest of the world strongly opposes such wars? The time has come for the American people to draw their own red line. The establishment has failed us on many fronts -- a jobless recovery, skyrocketing debt, porous borders; wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan where we paid dearly. Had great men and women fighting but in the end we accomplished very little. They should stop trying to sell us more wars against nonexistent threats and start doing their jobs in the home front. And I'm telling you if they continue to push unpopular policies, the people will eventually take their power away and send them packing. Our enemies love to see us become weaker by squandering our resources and overextending our military. This ends up leading to more chaos and more suffering in the end by innocence. A stronger, more prosperous America -- not more establishment wars of choice will lead to a more stable, peaceful world. And that's "The memo." - You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com. Transcript Show Name: O'Reilly Factor
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Over the weekend President Obama attended the G7 summit in Germany. Topics of conversation ranged from economics to terrorism. By the way, it used to be the G8 but Russia got booted out because of Putin the invader. Anyway, earlier today Mr. Obama said something that is not only frightening, but incredibly disturbing. He was asked about ISIS and why the USA does not have a strategy to stop the brutal jihadists. Obama in Krun, Germany at the G7 summit OBAMA: When a finalized plan is presented to me by the Pentagon, then I will share it with the American people. Its not  we dont yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of Iraqis, as well ((EDIT)) The details of that are not yet worked out. So after nearly two years, the USA still does not have a plan to confront ISIS. Here's what the president said last August: August 28, 2014, White House press conference OBAMA: We dont have a strategy yet. I think what Ive seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where were at than we currently are. Now there are only two possible scenarios here. One, that the U.S. military is grossly incompetent and cannot come up with a plan to defeat a terror group comprised of about 30,000 individuals. Or two, that the president of the United States lacks the will to defeat an enemy that threatens every American. Talking Points is throwing in with option number two. Mr. Obama simply does not see the urgency and does not have the fire to take on terrorists who are slaughtering thousands of innocent people. That's the truth, and sadly millions of Americans are willing to accept that fact and still support the president. If every American demanded that the USA become proactive once again in defeating the jihad, then it would have to happen. But many of us are apathetic. As long as the mass murder is overseas, we don't much care. Of course it will not be long until the murder comes here because that is the stated goal of ISIS. On another front, the Chinese government has been accused of hacking into the websites of the U.S. federal government. Apparently more than four million Americans have had their personal data stolen by the Chinese. Today, Mr. Obama was asked about that: Obama in Krun, Germany at the G7 summit OBAMA: We haven't publicly unveiled who we think may have engaged in these cyber attacks, but I can tell you that we have known for a long time that there are significant vulnerabilities and that these vulnerabilities are gonna accelerate as time goes by. So what are you going to do about that Mr. President? I guess in a couple of years he might come up with a strategy. I think everybody is getting the picture here. We have a leader who does not want to lead. Barack Obama is interested in the theoretical dilemma of climate change, he is interested in social justice in redistributing American wealth. Not much interested in blatant attacks on America's security and mass murder around the world. It appears to me that Mr. Obama is not going to change. So this country is now in a race to see if we can avoid catastrophe in the next 18 months. This is a very dangerous game. And that's the memo.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

As we have predicted, President Obama will have enough votes in the Senate to override a congressional veto of the nuke deal he wants to make with Iran.

Although some Democratic senators oppose it, at least 34 will follow the president and that's all he needs.

Today Secretary of State John Kerry said this:

JOHN KERRY: Critics tell us over and over again, You can't trust Iran. Well, guess what? There is not a single sentence, not a single paragraph in this whole agreement that depends on promises or trust. Not one. The arrangement that we worked out with Tehran is based exclusively on verification and proof.

Mr. Kerry is misleading us a bit.

Yes, the International Atomic Energy Agency has the right to visit suspicious sites in Iran.

However, the Iranians have 24 days to allow such a visit.

More than enough time to get rid of incriminating evidence or pollute the site.

There are also a whole bunch of other things in the deal that will make it difficult to catch Iran if it decides to cheat.

But the real bottom line is the deal helps Iran and does not help the USA or our allies.

Everybody knows Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism and is destabilizing the Middle East.

It will now have more money, weapons and power to continue doing that.

So what does America get?

What does Great Britain get?

What does France get?

The answer is no war, at least in the short term.

And that is the reason this nuke deal will go through.

The Western powers do not want another war in the wake of Iraq and Afghanistan.

No sane person thinks this Iranian nuke deal benefits the West.

It simply does not.

A recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac asked registered voters:

Do you support or oppose the nuclear deal with Iran?

55% oppose

25% support

A Fox News poll asked:

Do you trust Iran to honor the nuke agreement?

75% no

18% yes

So you can see the folks get it.

Talking Points understands the gravity of that statement and wishes President Obama would tell us the truth.

The deal is to avoid war, period. Nothing else.

And that's the memo.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

A brand new poll from Monmouth University asks, Have race relations in the USA.become better or worse since Barack Obama became president?

Ten percent say better, 53% say worse, 33% say theres been no change.

Next question, Do you think that racial and ethnic discrimination in the USA is a problem?

Sixty-eight percent say its a big problem, 12% say its a small problem, 10% say its not a problem.

Then, Has Black Lives Matter made racial issues in America better or worse?

Ten percent say better, 48% say worse, 36% say things havent changed much.

According to all the polls, Donald Trump is dominating among white male voters but not doing that well in the black and Hispanic precincts.

Here's a breakdown of voting patterns last time around:

In 2012, 72% of the ballots cast were white voters. 13% were black. 10% were Hispanic and just 3% were Asian.

Voter turnout among white voters was 64%.

Sixty-seven percent of black voters turned out, no doubt because Barack Obama was on the ballot. Among Hispanic voters, 48% showed up. Forty-seven percent for Asians.

Right now, there are about 11 million more eligible voters than there were in 2012. Almost 75% of those new voters are minorities  thats a sign of how the USA is changing demographically.

For Donald Trump to win he has to turn out the white vote in great numbers. If he does that, he can live with 20% or less of the minority vote.

And it is obvious at this convention and by the Trump strategy itself that his campaign believes white voters will put him in the White House.

All of this sounds kind of ominous, that you have an election pitting whites against minorities, and Talking Points wishes that were not the case but it is.

This time around many white voters feel aggrieved. They feel that the Obama administration is not looking out for them, thus the rise of Donald Trump.

In the end, voter turnout will make the difference.

Hillary Clinton will have to stimulate much support in the minority communities because the rise of Trump has already demonstrated that white working men in particular are on his side in great numbers.

And that's the memo.
Mainly Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province & Ringing Trips to Bahrain
Andy Bond, the chief executive of Steinhoff subsidiary Pepco Group, a fast-growing pan-European variety discount retailer, will step down from his role at the end of March 2022. The veteran retail executive's departure is due to health reasons, a Steinhoff Sens announcement stated.

Pepco Group owns the Pepco and Dealz brands in mainland Europe and Poundland in the United Kingdom.Bond, who is also a former chief of supermarket chain Asda, will remain an adviser to the board until the end of the financial year. He will be temporarily replaced by chief operating officer Trevor Masters, a former supermarket executive at Tesco, who will become interim CEO.The Pepco Group board has started a search process with external support and will evaluate internal and external candidates for the role of CEO. Reuters report stated that during Bond's 10 years at Pepco, seven as CEO, he grew the business from 200 stores in a single country to over 3,500 in 19 countries.According to, Bond also helped oversee Poundlands expansion in the UK, which included the introduction of Pepcos clothing range into stores and bringing an end to the stores single price point policy.Every great journey must come to an end and it is with much reluctance that I have decided now is the right time to focus my energies on my health. It has been wonderful to help the business and our many talented colleagues grow and provide customers with great value products that they need throughout Europe and the UK, Bond said.Louis du Preez, chief executive officer of Steinhoff, commented: On behalf of Steinhoff we thank Andy for his outstanding leadership of the Pepco Group and its underlying businesses.Steinhoff has a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited.
On behalf of a client, my firm requested that the FDA produce all the data submitted by Pfizer to license its Covid-19 vaccine. The FDA asked the Court for permission to only be required to produce at a rate of 500 pages per month, which would have taken over 75 years to produce all the documents.

I am pleased to report that a federal judge soundly rejected the FDAs request and ordered the FDA to produce all the data at a clip of 55,000 pages per month!

This is a great win for transparency and removes one of the strangleholds federal health authorities have had on the data needed for independent scientists to offer solutions and address serious issues with the current vaccine program  issues which include waning immunity, variants evading vaccine immunity, and, as the CDC has confirmed, that the vaccines do not prevent transmission.

No person should ever be coerced to engage in an unwanted medical procedure. And while it is bad enough the government violated this basic liberty right by mandating the Covid-19 vaccine, the government also wanted to hide the data by waiting to fully produce what it relied upon to license this product until almost every American alive today is dead. That form of governance is destructive to liberty and antithetical to the openness required in a democratic society.

In ordering the release of the documents in a timely manner, the Judge recognized that the release of this data is of paramount public importance and should be one of the FDAs highest priorities. He then aptly quoted James Madison as saying a popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy and John F. Kennedy as explaining that a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

The following is the full text of the Judges order, a copy of which is also available here.
ISRAELS PRIMARY EXTERNAL INTELLIGENCE agency, the Mossad, was likely behind a series of mysterious bombings in 1981, which targeted German and Swiss engineering firms believed to be aiding the Pakistani nuclear program, according to new expose by a leading Swiss newspaper. Several bomb attacks targeted a number of engineering firms in Switzerland and what was then West Germany in 1981. Alongside these attacks, there were threatening telephone calls that targeted West German and Swiss engineers.

A previously unknown militant group calling itself the Organization for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia took responsibility for these actions. Its members mailed a number of political manifestos to the German and Swiss press, and repeatedly issue proclamations via telephone in broken German or English, according to contemporary accounts. Interestingly, the Organization for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia has never been heard of since.

Now, however, one of Switzerlands leading newspapers, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ), claims in a new report that the violent actions against German and Swiss scientists and engineering firms were likely undertaken by the Israeli Mossad. In a leading article published on Saturday, the Swiss daily cited new, previously unseen documents from archives in Switzerland and the United States, which allegedly shed light on these mysterious attacks.
The Supreme Court seemed skeptical this morning of the Biden administrations bold claim that it has the authority to impose vaccination mandates applying to more than 84 million private sector employees.

In a rare Friday sitting the high court seemed broadly receptive to the argument that states have authority to impose vaccination mandates but questioned the ability of federal agencies to do the same.

The court decided Dec. 22, 2021, to fast-track emergency applications pertaining to challenges to the two mandates lawfulness as those challenges work their way through the lower courts. Various business groups, along with Ohio, Missouri, Louisiana and two dozen other states, want the federal mandates blocked.

The private sector worker mandate, which imposes penalties on employers of up to $14,000 per violation, is not currently stayed by any court; the health care worker mandate has been frozen by lower courts.

The court was in the process of hearing two separate oral arguments Jan. 7 on the mandates. At time of writing, the first argument, which was on the private sector mandate, had been completed, running more than twice as long as the allotted 60 minutes.

The first case, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Department of Labor, court file 21A244, concerns the Biden administrations attempt through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to force employers with at least 100 employees or most of the nations private workforce to submit to vaccinations aimed at preventing COVID-19 or to regular testing to detect it.

Unless paused, the mandate will begin taking effect this Monday, Jan. 10, at which point Americas businesses will immediately begin incurring billions in nonrecoverable compliance costs, and they will lose employees amid a preexisting labor shortage, NFIB argues in a brief.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced on Friday that he has given permission for law enforcement agents to use lethal force to quell the unrest that has engulfed the country since the new year.

I have given an order to the law enforcement and military to shoot to kill without warning, Tokayev announced on Friday.

The president has rejected the idea of resolving the ongoing crisis through negotiations. Its nonsense. What kind of talks can one have with criminals and murderers? he insisted.

Kazakhstan is facing armed and well-trained militants, both local and foreign, Tokayev said. Describing them as bandits and terrorists, he asserted that they should be eliminated.

The situation has mostly stabilized in Almaty, Aktobe, and elsewhere across the country, he said, but the security forces are continuing their anti-terrorist operation, as not all of the perpetrators have laid down their weapons.

The state of emergency will now be gradually lifted, according to the president. The internet, which had been switched off a few days ago, will be restored in some parts of the country, he promised, adding that its reinstatement would nonetheless not allow anyone to freely post fabrications, slander, insults, and inflammatory appeals.

Those who attacked the country acted in accordance with a well-designed plan, Tokayev said, targeting key military, administrative, and social facilities in almost all of the regions.

Only in Almaty, there were 20,000 bandits, he alleged. They were backed by propaganda experts who spread fake news online and manipulated the mood of the people, the president insisted.

He also thanked fellow member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)  Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan  for answering his call and deploying peacekeepers to help restore order in Kazakhstan. The CSTO mission would remain in the country for a limited period of time to support the local security forces, the president clarified.

Earlier on Friday, the Kazakh Interior Ministry said 26 armed assailants had been killed and 18 others injured during the recent outbreak of violence. More than 3,700 people have been detained. There were at least 18 fatalities among the military and police as of Thursday, reports outlined.

People took to the streets in Zhanaozen and Aktau on the first days of 2022 in response to a two-fold hike in the liquefied petroleum gas price, which had previously been subsidized by the government. Despite the authorities promising to keep the price under control, the protest swiftly spread to other cities, and turned increasingly violent.

Almaty, the largest city, has become the focus of the unrest, with demonstrators  some of whom were equipped with firearms  storming the mayors office, the old presidential palace, and the airport. Numerous businesses have been ransacked and looted, with police stations also being attacked.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney visited the House of Representatives yesterday. He and his daughter Liz were the only two Republicans present at a moment of silence commemorating the events of last January 6th. It was a touching scene, which perfectly described why the surviving anti-Trump Uniparty of the political mainstream is at least as much of a threat to democracy as the insurrectionists they never stop wailing about.

In a story entitled Dick Cheney returns to the House and receives a warm welcome . . . from Democrats, the Washington Post wrote that Democrats put aside their fierce and lasting policy divides with the Cheneys to thank them for condemning the attack and Trumps continued effort to undermine the 2020 presidential election results with his false claims of fraud.

(News writing has become a pre-fab profession, like assembling IKEA furniture. All you need is an Allen wrench and a list of the latest cliches. Trumps efforts to undermine the 2020 election has replaced Trumps efforts to coordinate with the Russian government in its election interference activities, and Trumps false claims of fraud has replaced Trumps false claims of fake news. Part of the significance of January 6th is that it updated popular propaganda stock, which had grown stale.)

I dont mean to understate the seriousness of January 6th, even though its been absurdly misreported for over a year now. No one from a country where these things actually happen could mistake 1/6 for a coup . In the real version, the mob doesnt take selfies and blaze doobies after seizing the palace, and the would-be dictator doesnt spend 187 minutes snacking and watching Fox before tweeting go home. Instead, he works the phones nonstop to rally precinct chiefs, generals, and airport officials to the cause, because a coup is a real attempt to seize power. Britannica says the chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements. We saw none of that on January 6th, but its become journalistic requirement to use either coup or insurrection in describing it:

The endless hyperventilating efforts to describe January 6th as a disaster on the order of Pearl Harbor or even 9/11 has been awesome to behold. Huffington Post nitwit S.V. Date even called it 1,000 percent worse than 9/11, moving the decimal point over on the famous Team America joke*:

The panic inspired convulsions across politics and the media. Ted Cruz made a plea for mainstream recognition by denouncing 1/6 as a violent terrorist attack before cowering in retreat on Tucker Carlson Tonight, in the process pantsing himself with audiences in all directions. Meanwhile, podcaster Eric Lendrum, on the pro-Trump site American Greatness, devised the impressively crazy syllogism that because the mainstream caricature of Trump supporters is so incorrect, conservatives should therefore embrace it: If their aim is to make January 6 their Reichstag Fire, then we should go forward celebrating the events of that day as our Storming of the Bastille.

It was no heroic storming of the Bastille. January 6th was a massive LARP that got out of hand. Trump has been around long enough for us to know his pattern as a serial line-crosser. Like a comedian, hes always trying out new material, and if he gets the right reaction, he comes back with a bigger delivery next time. January 6th was Trump dipping a toe in the lake of strongman politics. The reason it wasnt worse is because Trump has also been constantly mislabeled as a Hitler, Stalin, or Pinochet. The man has no attention span, no interest in planning or strategy, and most importantly, no ability to maintain relationships with the type of people who do have those qualities (like Steve Bannon). Even if he wanted to overturn democracy itself  I dont believe he does, but lets say  Trump has proven over and over he lacks the qualities a politician would need to make that happen.

Which brings us back to Cheney. All those things Trump is rumored to be, Dick Cheney actually is. Thats why its so significant that he appeared on the floor of the House yesterday to be slobbered over by the Adam Schiffs and Nancy Pelosis of the world. Dick Cheney did more to destroy democracy in ten minutes of his Vice Presidency than Donald Trump did in four years.
A Brief Recap of the Pfizer Fraud Backstory

We previously chronicled the under-reported Pfizer vaccine trial fraud, which the multinational corporation used to rush its experimental mRNA gene therapy (deceptively marketed as a vaccine) through the regulatory hoops.

In the expose, a whistleblower (a regional director of Pfizers partner contracting firm, Ventavia Research Group, named Brook Jackson) detailed the abuses. She explained how Ventavia and Pfizer systematically skirted regulatory protocols and doctored data to cover up the mRNA shots side effects.

You can read the BMJs original piece here.

Pfizer, of course, ultimately got approval rammed through despite its criminal malfeasance. As a consequence, pharmacies across the US and the world (which largely follows the American lead) have injected billions of doses of its dangerous genetic material with no long-term safety data. Meanwhile, the corporation generated $131 billion in revenue for itself.

The Facebook Fact Check Hitpiece

Instead of going after the Pfizer fraudsters in light of the above revelations, Facebook and the corporate media instead sicced their fact check attack dogs on the medical journal that outed the fraud.

(This is the highly ineffective hammer the whistleblower, bury the crime model of building public trust in institutions. It harkens back to the Bush-era targeting of Bradley Manning and Julian Assange for blowing the whistle on US government war crimes while prosecuting none of the actors who perpetrated the crimes they exposed.)

Here are a few lowlights from Lead Stories flimsy hitpiece:

Medical experts say the claims arent serious enough to discredit data from the clinical trials. (more of the experts say hustle)

The FDA said that the allegations dont change the agencys assessment of the vaccines safety.

A spokesperson for Texas-based Ventavia Research Group wrote in a November 10, 2021, email to Lead Stories that BMJ did not seek comment in advance of the report. If it had, it would have been told the employees report was investigated but found wanting.

Lead Stories doesnt dispute the factuality of the whistleblowers core claims. Instead, they rely on dubious experts who were not present for the trial to claim that the improprieties  which fly in the face of established protocol  didnt really impact the veracity of the vaxx safety trial.

Which begs the question: why even go through the formalities if theyre irrelevant, according to Lead Stories, anyway?

Lead Stories also reports that Pfizer contractor Ventavia investigated itself and cleared itself of wrongdoing, which is presented as credible evidence of the companys innocence.

BMJ Obliterates Facebook Fact Check Scam With Facts

The BMJ, in reply to the hitpiece, reiterated the vital importance of their original reporting:

In September, a former employee of Ventavia began providing The BMJ with dozens of internal company documents, photos, audio recordings, and emails [that] revealed a host of poor clinical trial research practices occurring at Ventavia that could impact data integrity and patient safety. We also discovered that the FDA did not inspect Ventavias trial sites .

The authors go on to detail censorship that should be scandalous but is now so normalized as to be considered mundane: Facebook was actively censoring the Science just because it didnt align with Pfizers interests:

But from November 10, readers began reporting a variety of problems when trying to share our article. Some reported being unable to share it. Many others reported having their posts flagged with a warning about Missing context  Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people. Those trying to post the article were informed by Facebook that people who repeatedly share false information might have their posts moved lower in Facebooks News Feed  Readers were directed to a fact check performed by a Facebook contractor named Lead Stories .

Who Funds Lead Stories Fact Checks?

**Via Lead Stories Our Funding page:

 We do not accept funds from corporations with the exception of Facebook , which provides funding as part of Facebooks initiative to debunk viral deceptions, and Google , which provided a one-time grant to support our COVID-19 coverage in 2020. Neither corporation seeks nor is given any control over our editorial decisions .

So  no corporate funding except for two of the largest multi-billion-dollar, intelligence service-connected corporations in the world, Facebook and Google.

And, they insist, those corporations dont influence Lead Stories editorial decisions  because Lead Stories says so on their website. The claim might lead one to believe Facebook and Google are really philanthropy societies that just want to educate and inform the public with totally unbiased information to create a better world.

Because, after all, this is a pandemic  were all in this together. Social media censorship is altruism.

Right?

In its rebuttal, the BMJ cites multiple specific examples of why the Lead Stories hitpiece was inaccurate, incompetent, and irresponsible:

It fails to provide any assertions of fact that The BMJ article got wrong

It has a nonsensical title: Fact Check: The British Medical Journal Did NOT Reveal Disqualifying And Ignored Reports Of Flaws In Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trials'

The first paragraph inaccurately labels The BMJ a news blog'

It contains a screenshot of our article with a stamp over it stating Flaws Reviewed, despite the Lead Stories article not identifying anything false or untrue in The BMJ article

It published the story on its website under a URL that contains the phrase hoax-alert'

Thats just a small sample of the highly detailed malfeasance that the BMJ chronicles on the part of Facebook partner Lead Stories.

They really went balls to the wall, and reading the whole report is worthwhile.

-

Of course, the BMJ isnt the first, or the bravest, or the most unequivocal, entity to expose the COVID fact check racket, which is cynically weaponized to push Big Pharma interests and silence dissidents.

But, given the BMJs status as one of the most well-established medical publications in the world, maybe some liberals who respect the science might pay attention this time.

But, as the corporate media has largely 9/11d their mental faculties, dont hold your breath.

Ben Bartee is a Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs. Follow his stuff via his blog, Armageddon Prose, Substack, Patreon, Gab, and Twitter.
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The Case of Samantha: A Childs Understanding of the Israeli-Arab/Palestinian Conflict

Discussion Handout

Samantha cannot remember a time before she learned about the Israeli-Palestinian/Arab conflict. Through her 6-year-old eyes, the conflictwhich she calls the war in Israelis something that she has known about since before her birth. I learned about it in my mommys tummy, she explains.

In Kindergarten, Samantha understands four basic ideas about the conflict: that it is violent, that it is ongoing, that it touches the lives of people who live in Israel, and that there is much more to life in Israel than the conflict. She situates the conflict within a larger arc of Jewish history. In her telling, the Jewish people fought against the Greeks, and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is all that remains from the Temple that got bombed many times. In first grade, she worries about the safety of the Jewish soldiers trying to protect Israel because theyve been working so hard for so long.

By the start of second grade, Samantha begins to view the conflict not as a war throughout time between Israel and its enemies, but as a very specific conflict between Israel and its closest neighbor that is trying to steal Israel. She is confused about what that neighbor should be called, wondering if it was either the Gaza people or the Palestine people, and shes incredibly frustrated that she doesnt have a solid grasp of the language that would allow her to explain whats happening. When she talks about this conflict, she is confident of only one thing: that Israels trying to make peace. They dont want war.

Through the end of third grade, Samantha is adamant that Israel rightly belongs to Israeli Jews and that Palestinians are trying to steal Israel from us, and they have no right to. In her stories about the conflict, Israeli soldiers are heroes and Palestinians are villains. She believes that God promised [the land of Israel] to the Israelites, and the Israelites were very kind, and they let Palestinians live in Israel, but its not their country.

In 4th grade, Samantha starts to distinguish between Palestinians as a collective and the specific Palestinians who terrorist attack us. She explains that we cant judge every [Palestinian] just on how [some Palestinians] behave, insisting that it is only some Palestinians [who] are not nice to the Jews. For the first time, she begins to see the conflict as two-sided. In her revised position, it is not Palestinians but the conflict itself that is a problem. She frames it as a situation in which

Palestinians are fighting the Jews and the Jews are fighting the Palestinians and it's not good. Samantha no longer thinks the story of the conflict is a story with heroes and villains. I think everyone's kind of at fault here.

By 5th grade, Samantha is still frustrated, but no longer at her own limited understanding of the conflict. Instead, her frustration is directed at the intractability of the conflict, and she repeatedly talks about how worried she is about long-standing tensions. Yet Samantha still believes in the possibility of peace. Even as she worries about a situation that she characterizes as moments of war and terrorism punctuated by moments of resting peace, she has no doubt that lasting peace is possible. This conflict might happen now, she explains, but we know the Jews will eventually make peace because thats what theyve done in the past.

In middle school, Samantha begins to follow the IDF on Instagram. She does this because I think its important to know whats going on, because since Im Jewish I feel a connection to Israel. It means that she instantly hears about any attacks on social media, but it also means that shes hyper aware of all the times that her rabbis and Jewish educators dont talk to her about the conflict. Look, she explains, we have peace with Jordan and Egypt. Lebanon, Syria, we still dont have peace with. So were trying to make peace. And then theres the Palestinians. But its not like theyll teach us about whats going on now. Teachers will teach us about the Torah and stuff like that, but theyd never really talk about this stuff.
Troy Weppler says he turned away from a post office employee in Saskatoon as he shoved a box of COVID-19 rapid tests into an envelope to send to family in British Columbia.

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Troy Weppler says he turned away from a post office employee in Saskatoon as he shoved a box of COVID-19 rapid tests into an envelope to send to family in British Columbia.

"Why do I feel so guilty about doing this? Am I breaking any laws or is it just an ethical thing?" Weppler said as he recalled the moment during the holiday season when he felt like an outlaw.

"Everywhere I go Im getting tests thrown at me, so why cant I throw a couple in an envelope and mail them out to family?"

Weppler is not the only person in Saskatchewan fielding family requests from across the country for the much sought-after tests. Walk into libraries, fire halls and some grocery stores and a smiling worker is likely to offer a kit with five tests.

Weppler was given his first box weeks ago when he went to cash in a lottery ticket. The employee told him hed won $20 and a free play, then handed him the kit.

Its puzzling for most people elsewhere in Canada where the demand for tests vastly outweighs supply. Federal Conservative Leader Erin OToole compared the situation to the "Hunger Games" movies earlier this week.

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has said that 140 million tests are to be distributed to provinces and territories on a per-capita basis this month. He said that would allow every Canadian to have one test per week in January.

But many are wondering if the uptick in supply will make a difference in being able to find rapid tests since each province, so far, has distributed them differently.

Ontarios pop-up model for rapid tests has been widely criticized. British Columbias provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, had to assure residents earlier this week that tests were not being hoarded after growing public frustration.

The demand has only grown with the fast-spreading omicron variant and with many provinces limiting the standard molecular lab tests to certain groups.

"Why can they get them in ... grocery stores in Saskatchewan and why cant you get them here?" Scott Forbes asked.

The University of Winnipeg biology professor has a son who lives in Moose Jaw, Sask. He came home for the holiday season and was having some light cold symptoms, Forbes said.

Forbes said his son went to get a lab test in Winnipeg and waited in line for more than four hours. The family had heard that the results could be delayed by up to a week. Rapid tests were nowhere to be found.

"He knew he wouldnt get the test results for a while ... so he called his girlfriend to ship out some rapid tests from Moose Jaw," Forbes said.

"She just picked them up from the grocery store and we had them the next day."

Forbes said his son tested negative and his symptoms quickly subsided. He still hasnt received the results from the lab test.

The Saskatchewan government said this week that it has distributed over 12 million tests to about 600 sites. About 3.7 million of those were sent to communities through public distribution networks, including libraries and fire halls, starting in November.

Manitoba received 4.9 million tests from the federal government in 2021, significantly less than its neighbours.

Federal numbers from Dec. 17 indicate almost 3.4 million had gone to British Columbia.

Saskatchewan officials have said they received more tests from Ottawa because they asked for more.

Forbes said he wonders why other provincial governments didnt do the same.

Ontario anticipated receiving 15.5 million rapid tests from the federal government in December, but only 3.4 million arrived, Ivana Yelich, a spokeswoman for Premier Doug Ford, said in an email.

"The federal government has confirmed they will not be providing the remaining ... 12 million tests," Yelich said.

Ontario has received about 34.2 million tests from the federal government so far, she added. The province also obtained almost 20.8 million tests on its own. It has deployed about 55 million tests since the start of the pandemic.

Marlo Pritchard, president of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, said hes optimistic Saskatchewan will continue to have a bounty of rapid tests despite the federal government signalling population will play a larger role in distribution.

The province expects four million tests in January and again in February, he added.

In Saskatoon, Weppler said if thats the case, he will consider making another clandestine journey to the post office to help family elsewhere.

"Its nice to be able to do this test."

 The Canadian Press, with files from Mickey Djuric
A Brandon University sociology major has had her writing featured in a special United Nations initiative designed to promote gender equality and equity in the Caribbean.

A Brandon University sociology major has had her writing featured in a special United Nations initiative designed to promote gender equality and equity in the Caribbean.

Amanda Hutchinsons work will appear in the Caribbean Sheroes Initiative, a toolkit produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

SUBMITTED Brandon University student Amanda Hutchinson.

"The person who led the project is my aunt, who does a lot of civic work and is a published author in Jamaica," Hutchinson said. "Id previously done some newspaper work locally at the Jamaica Observer, have been published in online magazines and had done a bit of work with The Brandon Sun, and she really liked my writing. I knew relatively little about the size of the project, but I was honoured to have been able to work with so many women who were advocates for gender equality within Caribbean society."

The Carribean Sheroes Initiative states gender equality is one of UNESCOs global priorities, and the organization is committed to removing barriers hindering womens personal and professional development while ensuring everyone has fair, inclusive and equal access to opportunities, resources and tools that enable them to reach their full potential.

In the Caribbean, UNESCOs social and human sciences sector supports knowledge creation. The organization undertakes advocacy activities to promote womens rights, raise public awareness and advocate for the elimination of gender-based discrimination and all forms of violence against women.

The Caribbean Sheroes Initiative, a collaboration between UNESCO, the University of the West Indies and the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO, highlights and documents the contributions of women, womens groups, their work regionally, and enhancing capacity among younger generations of women.

Her aunts request to participate in the project inspired her to write about her experience of growing into herself and putting her feelings to paper in "The Positive Power of a Force Ripe Girl."

Force Ripe is a "very Jamaican term," she said, referring to mangos on a tree. When a mango is not quite ripe, sometimes the fruits facing the sun will turn an orange colour from sunburn, making them look ripe even though they are not.

"Theyre forced ripe  theyre not ready, but they look ready," Hutchinson said. "The term is so inherently Jamaican that I worried that it wouldnt translate to people."

Hutchinson wrote the article "The Positive Power of a Force Ripe Girl" based on her childhood in Jamaica. She described how the idiom "force ripe" was used as a derisive term to define girls whose boldness of expression stepped out of expected societal norms. In Hutchinsons case, it was her fondness for bright-red lipstick in her youth that caused her to be shamed by others.

"I wear my culture on my sleeve, so to speak," Hutchinson said. "Being able to discuss the way that cultural narratives impact how young women can express themselves is so important to me. This project was purely independent of BU, but I took knowledge from gender and womens studies, specifically what Id learned from professor Corinne Mason, for this piece. It is stressful to grow up, walking on the tight rope of what is acceptable behaviour for a young lady. Dr. Mason gave me the space to question why that was the case in my assignments for her classes."

In her essay she explored how leaving her home in Jamaica to study in Canada helped her realize that being forced ripe should be viewed as a badge of honour, allowing her the confidence to grow and embrace challenges in her life.

"Moving away from Jamaica was honestly a blessing and a curse," Hutchinson said. "As much as I was homesick and experienced loss and tragedy being away from home, I was able to grow, explore mental health through Brandon University and ask questions Id never been able to ask back home. This piece was met with a mixture of praise and expected criticism. Still, [by] leaving I got to realize that these cultural norms that place restrictions on womens behaviour arent real. They dont exist."

She hopes those who read her piece will understand that young girls, especially those working to find their identity, do not need to be policed for every action they make. This is especially true when it comes to sexualizing and adultifying them in every single space they occupy in society.

"Even the benign stuff  red lipstick isnt a sexual siren call," Hutchinson said with a chuckle. "Let young girls be young girls. Let them be comfortable in growing into themselves."

It is fascinating to zoom in on societies and cultures to understand how social experiences and practices weave together. She added it can be surprising the number of links that can be made from one sociological theory that would be based in a specific community to others around the world.

"Ive always been interested in peoples cultures. My mom travelled a lot, so we lived in different places  we went to Israel for a bit, we lived in Trinidad for a little while, and all of that was before the age of 15," Hutchinson said.

She ended up at BU after looking at Canadian universities with intentions to find a city where she would know the least amount of people.

"Its been an adventure," Hutchinson said, laughing. "Its been a good mix of the good ... [and] the bad. The bad has been a learning experience  I learned that you cannot run across a snowy parking lot, there is ice there. You might not see it, but there is ice there."

Hutchinson has always had a love for writing. She initially enrolled with BU to pursue an English or journalism degree, but was instead drawn to sociology.

Hutchinson, who is also minoring in psychology, is entering her fifth and final year at the post-secondary and will graduate in May. Upon the completion of her final year, she plans on attending grad school to obtain her masters and PhD so she can become a professor.

"Once you understand sociology and how theory can apply widely to life, you start seeing it everywhere."

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
Australia is unequivocally living with COVID-19 but as NSW rides a third wave of infections, community unease continues to rise, mirroring the somewhat confronting daily case counts. Much apprehension has again focused on children and the scheduled return to school in three weeks.

Although Australia leads the world with our high rates of adult vaccination, and the adolescent program is well advanced, primary school-aged children remain unvaccinated and many will not have had a first dose by the first day of the school year. Some are again calling for schools to be closed or attendance restricted until this wave subsides or all school-aged children are vaccinated. As paediatricians and infectious diseases specialists, we reject such calls. Here are our reasons.

The argument to close schools to prevent community transmission and protect adults is not sustainable. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Firstly, schools are an essential service. This is clearer now than ever before. Many children have suffered immeasurably from the wider effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A major contributor to this has been disruption to face-to-face learning and the loss of the critical social scaffold that school provides. The burdens have not been felt equally; face-to-face support is most important to the least advantaged.

Secondly, whether vaccinated or not, school-aged children are at low risk of becoming unwell if infected by SARS-CoV-2. We have released data from the Sydney Childrens Hospitals Network that provides a detailed look at COVID-19 in children during the 2021 Delta outbreak. Our findings reinforce those from other countries (such as the United States and Britain). At least one in five children experience no symptoms following infection. Of those with symptoms, a runny nose is most common.
NSW has recorded its deadliest day since the COVID-19 pandemic began as new restrictions come into force in an attempt to curb the virus surge.

The state recorded 30,062 new cases and 16 deaths during the reporting period, surpassing the previous record of 15 on September 29 and October 1 last year.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet talking with frontline health workers in Nepean Hospital on Sunday morning. Credit:Dean Sewell

Critical workers in the food logistics and manufacturing sectors identified as close contacts will be permitted to leave self-isolation to attend work if they have no symptoms of COVID-19.

Workers will only be eligible to leave self-isolation if their employer determines that their absence from the workplace poses a high risk of disruption to the delivery of critical services or activities, and they are unable to work from home.
Theres a lot of novice users and theres a clear lack of knowledge, says Water Police Squad acting senior sergeant Marcus Nyholm. They tend to be young males whove got $25,000 in their pocket to splurge on a jet-ski and theyre probably not the greatest at doing the risk assessment. Police are fielding complaints about speeding, reckless riding that endangers swimmers, fishers, boats and other jet-ski users. For the first time, police are now doing drug and alcohol testing for boat and jet-ski operators. Personal watercraft at Carrum beach. Credit:Wayne Taylor Common jet-ski incidents include collisions between people in the same group or party while doing doughnuts and other stunts, often leading to bad injuries  pelvis injuries are common.

Every summer, about a dozen people a month end up in hospital with dislocations, fractures, sprains and open wounds, according to the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit. About 70 per cent of those injured are men. Such incidents are no surprise to Mechelle Cheers, who has campaigned for years against jet-skis at Rye beach on Port Phillip Bay. She says the risks are not only to jet-skiers themselves. It is a safety issue  we have many divers and snorkellers coming to Rye pier. There are many stories of kayaks, fishers and paddle boarders being terrorised by jet-skiers, says Ms Cheers, chair of the Rye Community Group Alliance. Jet-skiers themselves acknowledge problems but say their sport is unfairly vilified. Alexander Youings has been around jet-skis since he was a toddler. His father John was a keen rider and former president of the Victorian Jet Sport Boating Association, now known as Jettin Victoria.

Were misrepresented badly in the media and in the general community because of a minority who do the wrong thing, he says. Were all tarred with the same brush. People think were like a bikie gang or something. Almost 10 years ago, the death of a 51-year-old swimmer at Port Melbourne led to a shake-up of rules and, in particular, some effort to separate jet-skis and swimmers. Now, most beaches and waterways are subject to a vessel speed limit of 5 knots through shared zones within 200 metres of the shore. Jet-skis and boats are also supposed to stay at least 50 metres from swimmers and other vessels.

Critics of current rules say they are unclear and routinely violated with impunity. At Nagambie, locals have a petition calling for a complete ban on jet-skis on the towns lake, and the Goulburn River. A few years ago, Ms Cheers also organised petitions calling for a jet-ski ban at Rye, collecting more than 6000 signatures. But she says her group is almost at its wits end in its dealings with the state government. Weve hit a political wall. It seems it doesnt suit the state government for political reasons to act on this issue, says Ms Cheers. The fishing and boating lobby is powerful and has the Premiers ear. Its true that Victoria is notably more hands off in its regulation of jet-skis than states like NSW where, for example, there has been a total ban on jet-skis in Sydney Harbour since 2001.

An analysis by motoring journalist and jet-ski enthusiast Joshua Dowling, on his website, Watercraft Zone, shows that Victoria has among the lowest licence fees for jet-skis in the country. Dowling, who is also a motoring reporter with the Nine Network, publisher of The Age, says Victoria has a fairer approach to jet-skiers and enthusiasts than other states, especially NSW and South Australia. But he acknowledges a big increase in the number of people using personal watercraft, a rise in novice riders and a minority of experienced riders who continue riding dangerously. If the bad behaviour on the water continues, we can expect authorities [in Victoria] to act. Personal watercraft at Carrum beach. Credit:Wayne Taylor Notably, jet-skiers like Mr Youings are calling for a tightening of rules, especially around obtaining licences.

The licence for a jet-ski  some of which weigh upwards of 300 kilograms, and do speeds exceeding 100km/h  is based on a written test of 45 multiple-choice questions. Mr Youings also calls for more training in water etiquette and for the creation of special jet-ski-only zones to reduce the threat of serious injury and death. People are saying there are lots of near misses. If we can prevent deaths and injuries, then we should try to help prevent it now. And both the jet-ski critics and the jet-ski lobby agree that more policing is essential for any rules to work. The water police do their best, but theres not enough of them, says Ms Cheers. For its part, the state government tends to stress its support for all water users, including jet-skiers, surfers, wind surfers, swimmers and fishing people as though they are equal in their rights and impacts on the water and surrounding areas.

We want to ensure all Victorian watercraft owners make it home safely after a day on the water, so its important to make sure your vessel is safe and has been serviced before heading out, a government spokesperson said. We know most Victorians do the right thing and follow the rules  but officers will be out across the state to monitor on-water behaviour and enforce safety compliance, particularly over the busy summer period. Back at Nagambie, local elder, treasurer of the rowing club and former Victorian deputy premier, Pat McNamara, insists that jet-skiers are the problem users in local waterways. Were a tourist town and we welcome visitors to our beautiful area, and we want you to have a great time but respect the rules and the rights of others. But he predicts that if something isnt done soon were going to see a fatality. If you come up here on a holiday weekend, youd see what were talking about. Its the new wild west, Mr McNamara says.
For artist Fletcher Andersen, making toys has been a great way to escape the COVID-19 pandemic blues.

Figures emerge from resin poured into silicon moulds, from fantastic cats to Indonesian street chickens, robots and industrial bugs  pretty much any creature he can dream up.

Fletcher Andersen, aka Facter, with some of his handcrafted toys. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Whatever the chaos of the outside world, he can retreat into the studio next to his house in Melbournes northern suburbs.

Sometimes he stays up until 3am perfecting works. I really love this, Andersen says. Its a beautiful passion.
The number of Australians dying each year is expected to double by 2050 as the population ages but the palliative care sector says access to services is a postcode lottery that must change.

Demand for palliative care services, particularly to help people die at home, has increased significantly during the pandemic  by more than 60 per cent in some areas.

There has been a huge increase in demand for palliative care services and the sector says it needs a significant funding boost. Credit:Janie Barrett

This is partly due to a reluctance to go to hospital where family might not be allowed to visit, and partly because delays to routine health checks during restrictions or lockdowns have meant people are being diagnosed in more advanced stages of disease.

People who traditionally would have stayed in an in-patient palliative care unit or stayed in a ward because their visitations are restricted and they cant have their family members around them, they choose to go home, says Kelly Rogerson, chief executive of Victorian service Palliative Care South East.
Bryan, OH (43506)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies and light rain after midnight. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies and light rain after midnight. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
The (MEA) has again chosen (TCS) to implement the second phase of the Passport Seva Program, the countrys largest mission critical e-governance programme till date. TCS will be managing the project for another nine-and-a-half years, which can be extended for two more years.

While the company did not disclose the financial details of the contract, analysts tracking the company said the deal could be in the range of Rs 6,000-8,000 crore.

The issuance of e-passports for enhanced customer satisfaction, increased security and next level of citizen experience will also be unveiled, the MEA said in a statement.

In the next phase of the programme, TCS will refresh existing facilities and systems, and develop new solutions to enable the issuance of e-passports using technologies such as biometrics, artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, chatbots, auto-response, natural language processing, and the cloud.

The first aspect of the contract is refresh. We started working with the MEA on this deal in 2008 and hence a tech refresh is needed. So all the infrastructure that we have created  data centers, servers etc  will get refreshed, which will be for a period of 18 months and the rest of the time will be running the project, explained Tej Bhatla, business unit head, public sector, TCS. While Bhatla declined to comment on the size of the deal, he said this will be one of the largest deals for the company in the India geography.

It plans to set up a third data centre to store critical data after putting up a primary and secondary data centre as part of the first phase.





The idea this time around is to reach as many citizens as possible. There is a provision to look at whether mobile vans can be introduced to take the service to citizens doorstep. One of those things will come in version 2.0, added Bhatla.

The proposed e-passports will have chips embedded in them. The MEA has stated its intent to move to e-passports. The plan is to introduce a chip in the passport booklet which can make data more secure, and itll make it easier to read as well. Thats part of the process going forward, said Bhatla.

Launched in 2008, the Passport Seva Program saw TCS transforming the delivery of passport-related services, by digitising the processes, and setting global benchmarks in timeliness, transparency, and reliability.

Since then, TCS and MEA have set up 93 (PSKs), 428 post office PSKs, and 36 passport offices. Some months back foreign missions and embassies were also integrated into the TCS system.

We have about 86 million active passports in the country, but this is still a small percentage when compared with the population of the country. Hence, the government will continue to enhance the reach of the passport to citizens. For us, this is a big achievement, we celebrate 20-25 years of engagement with clients globally. Here is an opportunity for us to do the same in India with MEA as with this version 2.0 of the passport contract we will celebrate 20 years of the relationship, added Bhatla.
As many as 173 of the 290 passengers of an international flight from Italy's Rome tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival at airport on Friday.

"A flight from Rome arrived at airport on Friday. There were 290 passengers on this flight. Leaving the children, the COVID test was done on 285 passengers. Out of 285 people, 173 people tested positive for COVID. Re-test will be done on 75 people," said VK Seth, Director, Airport.

This comes a day after when 125 out of 179 passengers on an international chartered flight from Italy's Milan tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival at Amritsar airport on Thursday.

Amritsar airport authorities are in touch with the local administration to shift the positive passengers to the quarantine centres in different districts of Punjab.

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As many as 68 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) employees working out of its Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) office here have contracted infection, an official of the central agency said on Saturday.

The CBI had asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to test 235 persons working at the BKC office, he said.

"From this lot of 235 personnel, which includes officials, 68 have tested positive. The infected ones have been asked to home quarantine," he added.

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Gerson da Cunha is no more. He belonged to an era when almost all ad agency leaders came with a strong theatre background. It helped. Clients were mesmerised with the way ad agencies presented their ideas. And they literally hung on to each word they had to say. But to his credit Gerson was one of the early pioneers to realise that a new breed of brand [and marketing] managers were emerging. Hindustan Lever was hiring MBAs and they were filling key positions in marketing. Lintas, the agency Gerson ran was literally an extension of HLL and Lintas became one of the early agencies to hire MBAs from the top IIMs.

Gerson handed the agency over to Alyque Padamsee and went to Brazil to try his hand at social communication (again something very few ad professionals attempted those days).

He returned some years later but did not sit idle. He got involved with the setting up of an NGO that valiantly tried to bring about greater awareness among citizens of Mumbai of their rights and the need to participate in the election process.

I did not have the opportunity to work with Gerson or Lintas. I probably met him for the first time, in his wonderful old-world book filled apartment overlooking the famous Mumbai University Raja Bhai Tower in 2009. Bal Mundkur (founder of Ulka and Gersons contemporary in the ad world) dragged me along to brainstorm with Gerson on his pet project, a book on the history of Indian .

I saw the instant bonding between the two veterans. Bal decided that he will focus on the fund raising for the book while Gerson offered to line up the writers who will put down their views on the growth of Indian . The book Ad Katha was launched at Ad Asia 2011.

When writing my book Nawabs Nudes Noodles  India Through 50 Years of Advertising the first person I reached out to was Gerson da Cunha. I should say that I saw him as the Bhisma Pithama of Indian . He was delighted to hear about my book idea and generously shared numerous anecdotes and pioneering ad campaigns that he was part of. I did quote him liberally in my book; especially stories around Lever Bros., the brand Dalda and how it got built.

Gerson da Cunha was also a style icon. He pioneered the Kurta  Beard look in Indian advertising. Numerous people followed in his footsteps including my first boss at Rediffusion Advertising VishP S Viswanathan, also an ex-Lintas man.

Over the last decade no advertising event in Mumbai was complete without the gentle presence of Gerson Da Cunha. He made it a point to attend these events and always had a few words to share with old friends and fans. I recall him saying that he is quite amazed at the way Indian advertising industry has flourished. I think the evolution of the industry owes a lot to visionary leaders like Gerson da Cunha. A social activist. A theatre veteran. A marketing guru. A speaker par excellence. A writer. A thorough ad professional. A style icon. And a gentleman to the core.

Rest in Peace Gerson.
Fire Minister Sujit Bose has again tested positive for COVID-19, following which he has been placed under home isolation, a health official said on Saturday.

Bose, who had contracted the disease in May last year, tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time on Friday night, he said.

"The minister had exhibited COVID symptoms, following which he undertook the RT-PCR test, the result of which returned positive. His symptoms are mild, and he is in home isolation," the official said.

His family members will be tested for COVID-19 on Saturday, he added.

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While investigating the Bulli Bai case, the Delhi police have found out that app creator Neeraj Bishnoi had created five different handles with the initial name 'giyu', named after a gaming character to carry out his satanic deeds.

The following handles have been identified, which are @giyu2002, @giyu007, @giyuu84, @giyu94 and @giyu44. Out of these, the account @giyu2002 has been found associated with one FIR registered in the Kishangarh police station of South West Delhi. Bishnoi, from the @giyu2002 handle, had made lewd comments and tweeted about auctions of women, DCP IFSO special cell, KPS Malhotra claimed on Thursday.

Bishnoi, who was arrested from his home in Assam on Thursday, created another account @giyu44 on January 3, 2022, to challenge Mumbai police's investigation to arrest him, said DCP IFSO special cell, KPS Malhotra. "He had tried to show his location in Nepal", said Malhotra.

The account @giyu007 came to light when the 'Sulli deal' case was under investigation. Through this handle, he had tried to plant some information regarding the possible propagator/originator of the 'Sulli deals' app.

"During this time, he also created a fake profile of a girl and tried to communicate with the investigating agency as a news reporter. Later, he came in contact with various other news reporters and tried to plant his misinformation with his nefarious goals", added DCP Malhotra.

Accused Niraj Bishnoi has inclination towards a gaming character of Japan animation namely GIYU. He had created various Twitter handles using the word GIYU. He had created the account with word GIYU, through which he had challenged the law enforcement agencies to nab him: IFSO  ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2022

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Ad man Gerson da Cunha, a multi-faceted personality very passionate about civic activism in later years, died here on Friday. He was 92.

Da Cunha, who started his career as a journalist working for the Press Trust of India after graduating in science and then jumped into advertising, was associated with a slew of platforms engaged in civic activism, including AGNI (Action for Good Governance and Networking in India).

First, a public-private partnership which had him as a governing board member, said it is deeply saddened by the passing away of Da Cunha. Senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai recalled that Da Cunha had helped distressed Mumbaikars affected by the 1992-93 communal riots.

In a 25-year stint in the advertising industry, Da Cunha had gone on to head Lintas, one of the most formidable names in the advertising business then, and switched to the social sector, which saw him work with the Unicef at global locations.

The work at Unicef had led to him being honoured by the Brazilian government with a medal of 'Order of Rio Branco' for his services to the Latin American country in 2018.

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Bank officers' union AIBOC has urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to consider bankers as the frontline workers for administering booster shots amid rising COVID-19 cases across the country.

In a letter addressed to the Finance Minister, All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) also suggested the implementation of a 5-day week to break the chain of the spread of the virus.

At all branches or offices, only 50 per cent staff should be physically present, and remaining staff should be allowed to work from home, it said, adding special status to bankers for availing public transport, including suburban railways under essential service category.

The government has said the precaution dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to be given to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities from January 10.

There should be mandatory rapid antigen tests for bankers to 'Detect, isolate and treat' at regular intervals, AIBOC general secretary Soumya Datta said in the letter.

Pointing out that about 2,000 bankers lost their lives in the first two waves, the letter said, "We consider ourselves to be a part of the 'Financial Army', who have braved the constraints and have served the nation in the time of crisis".

Unfortunately, it said, the recognition of bank employees as Frontline Covid Warrior (FLW) was delayed, denying the opportunity of getting vaccinated along with other FLWs in the first instance, which could possibly have averted the loss of precious lives.

As per the Union Health Ministry latest data, the country witnessed a single-day rise of 1,41,986 new cases, including 3,071 cases of the Omicron variant reported across 27 states and Union territories so far.

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reported 8449 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths in the last 24 hours, the state health department informed on Friday.

With the addition of new cases, the cumulative case tally in the state mounted to 30,31,052, of which 30,113 are active cases. The positivity rate stands at 4.15 per cent.

As per the health bulletin, four deaths were reported in the state taking the total death toll to 38,362.

A total of 505 people have been recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 29,62,548.

Meanwhile, India reported 1,17,100 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the daily positivity rate in the country to 7.74 per cent, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.

With this, the country's COVID-19 case tally has gone up to 3,52,26,386.

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A 36-year-old man was arrested by the Dharavi Police for selling fake COVID-19 certificates.

According to police, the accused has been identified as Francis Nadar.

Certificates were sold at high prices to people who were not vaccinated against COVID-19.

"A 36-year-old man, Francis Nadar, selling fake COVID-19 certificates for Rs 1000 has been arrested by the Dharavi Police Station on January 5," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Pranaya Ashok said.

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Despite the rising number of COVID-19 cases and its new variant Omicron in the state, Health Minister Veena George on Saturday said as of now, there were no plans on part of the government to impose a full lockdown.

The Minister said a complete lockdown will affect normal life in the state and urged the people to remain cautious.

"The economic activities in our state and that of our people cannot be hampered now. We should work together to avoid a complete shutdown in the state. As of now we are not planning any lockdown," she told the media.

The Minister said the quarantine protocol for those coming from abroad was decided based on the directions issued by the Union government.

After almost a month, the number of COVID-19 cases in crossed 5,000 yesterday. There were 5,296 new cases of in the state on Friday and today the number increased to 5,944.

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Chief Minister Friday disbursed financial assistance of Rs 3,000 each to the beneficiaries of the Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana (BPGY) towards repair of their houses.

Total assistance of Rs 1,444 crore was directly credited to the bank accounts of 31 lakh families, Patnaik said.

The state government will soon provide Rs 5,000 each to the 12.25 lakh households who have been denied a pucca house under the Pradham Mantri Aawas Yojana (Gramin), the chief minister said.

Bank account details are being collected and they will be given Rs 5,000 each to repair their houses, he said.

The state government is committed to its pledge taken in 2014 to convert all kutcha houses to pucca houses, Patnaik said.

Though houses in 14 districts were damaged in cyclone Fani in 2019, the affected people are yet to get any assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) till date, he said.

Besides, the tribal and poor people of the western and southern regions of the state are also waiting to get pucca houses under PMAY, he added.

The opposition BJP and Congress criticised the BJD government, accusing it of bribing people ahead of the panchayat and civic body polls.

"The BJD is doing its election campaign through this scheme," alleged BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra.

Congress leader Dabasis Pattnaik said it was a bribe to the voters ahead of the elections.

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will extend a travel ban on six countries in the Middle East and Africa as well as some parts of the for six months due to prolonged security risks, the Foreign Ministry here said.

The ban was slated to expire on January 31, reports Yonhap News Agency reported.

It will be extended for Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan and the southern region of the Philippine archipelago -- the Zamboanga Peninsula, Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi -- the Ministry said.

The designated regions are exposed to constant risks of terrorist attacks and political instability that will likely persist for a considerable period of time, it added.

Travel to Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan has been banned since 2007.

Seoul imposed the ban on Yemen in 2011, Libya in 2014 and the islands in the in 2015.

--IANS

ksk/

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Domestic and global firms are lining up in India with patent applications in emerging technologies. In the past 5 years, 80,000 applications have been filed in areas such as AI, IoT, and cyber security, among others. Read more on that in today's top headlines.



spread: Seven-day quarantine must for flyers from abroad

No new registration would be required for those eligible for the precautionary or the third dose of Covid vaccine, the Union health ministry said on Friday. Those who have taken two doses of the Covid vaccine can directly take an appointment or walk-in to any Covid-19 vaccination centre to get their jab, the government said.

The fresh guidelines came as as the daily Covid-19 cases in India soared past the 100,000 mark on Friday, the highest in seven months. India also asked all international passengers to undergo a seven-day home-quarantine, and test on the eighth day. Read more

India climbing up the ladder of emerging tech patents, shows data

The IP regime is exploding with patent applications. Domestic and global companies in emerging technologies have filed over 80,000 applications in India between 2016 and 2020 in areas ranging from Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data to cloud, Edge, cyber security, and real time processing. They account for 70 per cent of all technology .

According to data from global IP research and consultancy firm Sagacious, 5,000 were filed in AI in India in the decade 2011-2020. But of these, 86 per cent were filed in the last five years. Read more

Govt may rein in at 6.8% of GDP: First advance estimates

Even if the government spends Rs 71,000 crore more than the Budget Estimates (BE) and all revenues remain constant at the BE level, the Centre would be able to rein in its at 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Read more

Morris Coin scam: At least 1.1 million investors may have been cheated

Earlier this week, the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at 11 locations across the country regarding a fake called Morris Coin that floated an initial coin offering similar to an initial public offering.

Though the investigating agencies peg the scam's size at Rs 1,265-crore, victims, pin stockists who were part of the Morris Coin team, lawyers who have been battling the case in courts for over two years, and police officials indicate that at least 1.1 million investors spread across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka might have lost over Rs 3,000 crore in the scheme. Read more

CCI orders probe against for alleged abuse of dominant position

Fair trade regulator CCI on Friday ordered a probe against for its alleged abuse of dominant position.

"In a well-functioning democracy, the critical role played by news media cannot be undermined, and it needs to be ensured that digital gatekeeper firms do not abuse their dominant position to harm the competitive process of determining a fair distribution of revenue amongst all stakeholders," CCI said. Read more
Students and faculty members of two of India's premier B-schools, Indian Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, wrote to Prime Minister on Friday raising the issue of against in India. The letter said PM's silence on such issues 'emboldens' divisive forces in the country, a report in the Indian Express newspaper said.

The letter was signed by 183 students and 16 faculty members from both the institutes. It was mailed to the Prime Minister's Office, according to the newspaper.

Your silence on the rising intolerance in our country, Honourable Prime Minister, is disheartening to all of us who value the multicultural fabric of our country. Your silence, Honourable Prime Minister, emboldens the hate-filled voices and threatens the unity and integrity of our country, says the letter according to the Indian Express report.

Our Constitution gives us the right to practice our religion with dignity  without fear, without shame. There is a sense of fear in our country now  places of worship, including churches in recent days, are being vandalised, and there have been calls to take arms against our Muslim brothers and sisters. All of this is carried out with impunity and without any fear of due process, the letter said.

For far too long, the mainstream discourse has dismissed the voices of hate as the fringe. Thats how we are here, Prateek Raj, assistant professor of Strategy at IIM-Bangalore was quoted as saying in the report. He also said that it was the initiative of a group of students and faculty members who believed that 'silence was not an option anymore'.

The letter requested the PM to stand firm and lead the country away from those seeking to divide the nation.
Chief Minister on Friday said the state will provide with facilities that are comparable to the best available in the country.

While addressing the business leaders from Telangana at an Investment Road Show, the Chief Minister said, "The state is looking for strategic partnerships and we can assure that the state's facilities are comparable to the best in the country."

The state is gifted with strengths that are better than what is found in other regions in the country, the chief minister said that "we are blessed with an abundance of water, a clean and hygienic environment. We can offer the most literate workforce in the country which is even comparable with several regions in developed nations."

He welcomed business leaders to share in the development aspirations of the state and become a partner for our genuine and sincere quest to achieve inclusive socio-economic development.

" aims to become the best investment-friendly state in the country by attracting more for industries that do not harm environmental sustainability. The government would achieve this goal with determination and care," Chief Minister said.

John Brittas, MP said that many people are spreading disinformation about but the fact is that there is a good investment-friendly environment in the state.

Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy, MP praised the development works in Kerala and its great achievements under the leadership of the Chief Minister.

Investment opportunities in Kerala were presented at the meeting. The state's investment opportunities in the fields of Bio-Technology, Information Technology, Pharma and other emerging sectors were presented to the entrepreneurs.

Legislative reforms are undertaken by the state, digital transformation, simplification of procedures and industrial infrastructure were also explained. The industrialists welcomed the investor-friendly atmosphere of Kerala.

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Exports of mango and from India to the US will start from January-February to boost the country's outbound shipments of agri-products, the commerce ministry said on Saturday.

Exports of aril to the US and imports of Alfalfa hay and cherries from America would also begin from April this year, it added.

In pursuant to the 12th India - USA trade policy forum meeting held on November 23, 2021, the Department of Agriculture and farmer's welfare and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have signed a framework agreement for implementing the "2 Vs 2 agri-market access issues", it said.

This access concept includes inspection and oversight transfer for Indian mangoes, and pomegranate arils, and market access for US cherries and Alfalfa hay in India.

"Mango and pomegranate exports will start from January February 2022 and pomegranate aril from Apr 2022," the ministry said.

Further, it said that the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying has conveyed its readiness to provide market access for US pork.

These issues were discussed during the Trade Policy Forum meeting.

India has not exported mangoes to the US for the last two years.

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As we head into what is being loosely referred to as the third Covid-19 wave, Indias aviation industry is heading into a third wave of its own. This wave will be defined by three or four trends that will redefine and alter the landscape for Indian aviation after the pandemic, a game changer for the sector globally.

Indias short aviation history or the first wave began in the 1950s with the birth of Air India and Indian Airlines, the two publicly-owned and -run carriers. Air fares were exorbitant and flying was a luxury only a few could afford. Back in the day, it was not ...
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday welcomed the ruling for 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Class (OBC) category for admission to all-India medical courses.

He said that DMK's relentless struggle for the past several years has been fructified due to the verdict.

The on Friday said there is urgent need to commence the process of counselling for postgraduate medical courses as it upheld the validity of the OBC and EWS quotas in NEET-PG 2021 and NEET-UG 2021.

A bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna said: "Counselling on the basis of NEET-PG 2021 and NEET-UG 2021 shall be conducted by giving effect to the reservation as provided by the notice dated 29 July 2021, including the 27 per cent reservation for the OBC category and 10 per cent reservation for EWS category in AIQ seats."

"The ruling for 27 per cent reservation for OBC category is a very important victory for the DMK and the people of who are committed to social justice," Stalin said in a statement.

The Chief Minister added, "As many as 4,000 students from the backward communities across India will benefit from this every year. For the benefit of millions of backward people across the country, the DMK had appealed in the Supreme Court. I am happy and proud of that."

The struggle waged by the DMK and the social justice movement in has given rights to the oppressed people across India, the Chief Minister said.

This victory is in line with the contribution made by Tamil Nadu to the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations, Stalin said.

Stalin said that the DMK's position is that each state should follow its reservation policy for admission to medical courses and fill 100 per cent of the seats.

--IANS

aal/arm

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chief on Saturday welcomed the announcement of dates for the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and four other states but urged the to check the "tendency" in the ruling BJP of "violating" the model code of conduct.

The Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases, the schedule for which was announced by the on Saturday.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the president welcomed the announcement and expressed faith that the poll panel will ensure smooth, free and fair elections.

However, she called for steps to check the "tendency" in the ruling party to "violate" the model code of conduct.

"The tendency of the ruling party to violate the model code of conduct by adopting new tactics in every election is becoming fatally common, which needs to be given due attention and prompt action is taken in this election. It is the special appeal to the Election Commission," she said.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also urged to protect rights of the poor on the day of polling.

She asked her partymen to strictly follow the model code of conduct. All office-bearers, workers and candidates should comply with the party's discipline and the model code of conduct, she said in a tweet.

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party's Central Election Committee (CEC) held a meeting on Friday to discuss the names of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Chaired by interim president Sonia Gandhi, the meeting was held virtually. Earlier, it was planned as a physical meet but in view of the COVID situation, it was finally held virtually. The meeting held for more than an hour, sources said.

According to sources, In the CEC meeting, names for seven candidates have been finalized. The second list is most likely to be released by Saturday or by end of this week.

The next CEC meeting is to be held soon, sources added.

The first list of candidates for the Assembly elections was released on December 16 in which the party had announced eight candidates.

fielded Sudhir Kandolkar from Mapusa Assembly constituency, Tony Rodrigues from Taleigao, Rajesh Verenkar from Ponda, Sankalp Amonkar from Mormugao, Yuri Alemao from Cuncolim and Altone D'Costa from Quepem constituency.

Assembly polls in are scheduled to be held this year.

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in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases with the counting of votes on March 10, the Election Commission announced on Saturday and banned physical rallies and roadshows till January 15 due to Covid concerns.

The elections have huge political significance with BJP ruling four of these five states, while it is making a big push to capture Congress-ruled Punjab, where the Aam Aadmi Party is also emerging as an important player.

Announcing the election schedule with a strong focus on digital and virtual modes of campaigning in view of the Omicron scare, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said the ban on rallies, roadshows, nukkad sabhas, padayatras and vehicle rallies will be reviewed on January 15.

"Physical rallies during the campaign, if allowed, after reviewing the situation need to follow the Covid-19 protocol," Chandra said.

The poll panel has also banned victory celebrations and only two persons will be allowed to accompany a candidate to collect the winning certificate.

Asked about experts predicting the third wave of the Covid pandemic to peak in February, when voting for five of the seven phases of the polls will take place, he said the situation is very dynamic and nobody can predict Covid numbers of future dates.

He also assured voters that all necessary steps are being taken to ensure "Covid safe" elections and said they should come out in large numbers to exercise their franchise as polling booths will be sanitised and polling officers vaccinated.

In all, elections will be held for 690 assembly seats, and 18.3 crore people, including 8.5 crore women, will be eligible to cast their votes in the five states.

Uttar Pradesh to go to poll in 7 phases from 10th Feb to 7th March; Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa to vote on 14th February & Manipur to vote on 27th Feb & 3 March; Counting of votes on 10th March: ECI pic.twitter.com/hxKms5e8hi  ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2022

Welcoming the announcement of polls, BJP president J P Nadda urged the party workers to participate in this grand festival of democracy with their full strength while adhering to Covid-related and other guidelines laid down by the election body.

BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh said the party will contest these polls in five states with all its "might and energy" and form governments with a big majority.

Asserting that the Congress will contest strongly in these elections, party general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said this is an opportunity for people to defeat the BJP and put an end to unemployment, price rise and atrocities against women and Dalits.

Responding to a question on EC holding polls amid a surge in Covid cases, the CEC said "caution, not panic" is needed and people and parties have to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

He also said people are going to markets and malls and, therefore, should come out to vote exercising caution.

Asked about farmers' agitation and breach in the prime minister's security in Punjab, Chandra said the poll panel has assessed the security and law and order situation and a sufficient number of paramilitary personnel will be deployed in all states.

Responding to a specific question on Punjab regarding farmers' agitation, he said, "No election is same, every election is different, every state is different. EC has assessed wherever there is a threat perception, wherever there are farmers' protests and we have spoken with security agencies of both the state and the Centre and those deployed at international borders before deciding the schedule."

Voting in Western UP and Punjab, the two regions among those covered in the upcoming polls, would take place in the first two phases on February 10 and February 14.

In the politically important Uttar Pradesh, voting will be held in 403 assembly seats, starting from the western region and will move towards the east over seven phases from February 10 to March 7.

The assembly polls are being held at a time when the BJP is facing criticism despite withdrawing the three controversial farm laws.

Welcoming the announcement of the poll schedule, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the BJP will return to power with an "overwhelming majority". BSP president and former chief minister Mayawati on the other hand sought a check on the tendency in the ruling party to violate the model code of conduct and proper protection of voting rights of all the citizens.

The Model Code of Conduct has come into effect in the five states with the announcement of the elections.

For Manipur's 60 assembly constituencies, elections will be held in two phases on February 27 and March 3, while polling in Goa (40 seats), Punjab (117 seats) and Uttarakhand (70 seats) will be held on February 14.

"The commission will not hesitate to bar parties from further rallies if Covid protocol is not followed," Chandra said.

The Election Commission has also set stringent Covid guidelines for the polls.

It has restricted the number of people for door-to-door campaigns to five and has asked political parties to provide masks, hand sanitisers to people attending rallies if they are allowed, Chandra said.

The EC said that it has asked chief secretaries of the poll-bound states to expedite the vaccination drive.

Some of these states, including Goa, are witnessing a surge in Covid cases.

"More than 15 crores have got the first dose, more than nine crores have got both doses in the five states," Chandra said.

The EC has also doubled the air time on Doordarshan for political parties, he said.

Chandra, who was flanked by election commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, said parties and candidates have been advised to conduct their campaigns on virtual and digital modes as much as possible.

He also said there would be zero-tolerance for money power and misuse of the government machinery by any party or candidate, while there would a strict vigil against hate speech and fake news including on social media.

Asked whether the presentation of Union Budget on February 1 and the presidential address to the two houses of Parliament before that would disturb the level-playing field, Chandra said the poll panel would not like to interfere in the budget presentation as it is a scheduled exercise meant for the whole country and not just the five poll-bound states.

(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 the announcement of the schedule for the upcoming assembly elections in five states, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief on Saturday exuded confidence in winning the elections and said that people in are set to bid farewell to the government.

He further said that the poll rules will be followed by his party but the Election Commission will have to ensure that the ruling party also follows these guidelines too.

"People in are set to bid farewell to the government. These dates will mark a huge change in the state. Rules will be followed by Samajwadi Party, but the Election Commission should make sure the ruling party follows these guidelines," said SP chief.

He further said that the public has got a chance to take a decision by March 10.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, he promised to provide free laptops to the youths of the state if elected to power.

"It will be the second promise after the first promise of free 300 units power to all domestic consumers and free power to farmers for irrigation. As the SP government did in its previous tenure, if the party forms the government in 2022, then it will again provide laptops to youth and students for higher studies. Earlier we had given lakhs of laptops which led many of the beneficiaries to get self-employed".

Yadav also said his party's legal cell will file an FIR against a IT cell member who sits in Delhi who posted his photograph and claimed that the perfumer recently raided by tax authorities in Kanpur was standing with him.

He further said that strict action will be taken against the people of the BJP IT cell who are spreading false propaganda against us if the Samajwadi party is elected to power in the state.

"BJP is doing false propaganda against the SP. We will file FIR now, and act against the person when we will form the government. Because if anyone says anything against me, no action is taken but if anyone says anything against BJP leader, then immediate action is taken"

Taking to Twitter he said that the Inquilab (revolution) will happen on March 10 and the state will change.

"Inquilab (revolution) will happen on March 10. will change," Yadav said.

The ECI on Saturday announced the schedule for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand.

403 Assembly seats are slated to go to polls in Uttar Pradesh, 70 seats are up for grabs in Uttarakhand, 117 seats in Punjab, 40 seats in Goa and 60 seats in Manipur.

Uttar Pradesh will go to the assembly polls in 7 phases from February 10 to March 7, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will vote on February 14 and Manipur will vote on February 27 and March 3.

The poll panel said the counting of votes will take place on March 10.

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.

(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.)
Ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood on Friday has "voluntarily" stepped down as the "State Icon" of Punjab.

Known for his philanthropic efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Sood shared that the decision was taken "mutually" by him and the Election Commission. This move comes ahead of the state elections.

He took to his Twitter handle and wrote, "Like all good things, this journey has come to an end too. I've voluntarily stepped down as the State Icon of Punjab. This decision was mutually taken by me and EC in light of my family member contesting in Punjab Assembly Elections. I wish them luck for future endeavours."

Earlier today, the Election Commission had announced on Twitter that it has withdrawn the 48-year-old actor's appointment as Punjab's state icon.

He had said in November that his sister, Malvika Sood, will contest the upcoming Punjab polls.

The decision came after his relentless work throughout the lockdown in helping migrant workers across the country get home safely. Apart from that, he had also donated food, shelter and PPE kits to those who needed them.

In November, the actor had said that his sister, Malvika Sood, would contest the Punjab polls from Moga but he was tight-lipped about the party.

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.

(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.)
Voting for Punjab, Uttarakhand and assembly elections will be held in a single phase on February 14, the Election Commission said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference here today, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra said, "Voting for Punjab, Uttarakhand and assembly elections will be held in a single phase on February 14."

The Election results for all poll bound states namely Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will be declared on March 10.

"Uttar Pradesh to go to poll in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. Punjab, Uttarakhand and to vote on February 14 and Manipur to vote on February 27 and March 3. Counting of votes on March 10," said Chandra.

A total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in the upcoming Assembly elections in Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission of India (ECI) informed on Saturday.

Chandra further said, "A total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in this election out of which 8.55 crore are women electors."

"24.9 lakh first-time electors are registered in the five poll-bound states," Chandra said."ECI has mandated that at least one polling station managed exclusively by women shall be set up in every Assembly constituency. Our officers have identified much more than that. There are 690 Assembly seats but we are setting up 1620 such polling booths," said the CEC.

Amid the spike in COVID-19 cases, the Election Commission of India (ECI) informed that senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities and COVID-19 patients can vote by postal ballots.

Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh are slated to go for Assembly elections this year. 403 Assembly seats are slated to go to polls in Uttar Pradesh, 70 seats are up for grabs in Uttarakhand, 117 seats in Punjab, 40 seats in Goa and 60 seats in Manipur.

Out of these 5 poll-bound states, the BJP is in power in 4 states including Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Leaders from all the political parties are campaigning aggressively for months to register their win in the upcoming polls.

(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 clashes between the and National Resistance Front (NRF) broke out in Afghanistan's Panjshir province, Sputnik reported citing local media.

According to Afghan Aamaj News sources, the attacked the NRF in Anaba district of Panjshir, Sputnik News Agency reported.

In November 2021, the Afghan National Resistance Front said that more and more people were joining the organization to fight the rule, with members of the NRF gathering in Panjshir, Kapisa, Parwan, Badakhshan, Balkh, and Baghlan provinces, as per the media outlet.

The Taliban took over after entering Kabul in August 2021, leading to the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani led government and mass evacuations.

(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.)
French President met here on Friday with President Ursula von der Leyen as took over the rotating six-month Presidency of the Council of the (EU).

At a press conference, Macron outlined the French Presidency's agenda and said that Paris will focus on promoting the EU in the community, pushing the digital transformation and protecting the EU's external borders, Xinhua news agency reported.

Von der Leyen recalled the solidarity between European countries during the pandemic. She said that over 70 per cent of the EU's adult population have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and that the EU aims to donate and deliver 1.7 billion vaccine doses around the world by the middle of this year.

" takes over the EU Council Presidency in the particular context of the pandemic," said von der Leyen.

"I believe it is high time for the 'Europe of defense' to move up a gear," she said, stressing the need for a genuine Defense Union.

Macron and von der Leyen agreed that the ongoing negotiations to resolve the tensions between Russia and Ukraine must involve the EU, with Macron adding that "It's a good thing that there are discussions between the US and Russia."

--IANS

int/shs

(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.)
Russian President held several phone calls on Thursday and Friday with leaders of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), discussing the situation in Kazakhstan, the Kremlin has said.

"The Russian President had telephone conversations with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan," Xinhua news agency quoted Kremlin as saying.

Putin also spoke by phone several times with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, it said.

"The discussion focused on the developments in and joint actions under the CSTO mandate to combat terrorism, restore order and protect the country's citizens," it added.

Meanwhile, since the launch of the CSTO peacekeeping operation, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has been regularly reporting to Putin on the progress of transfer of peacekeeping forces to and the completion of assigned tasks, the statement said.

Violent protests in have caused multiple deaths over the past days, according to various reports.

Tokayev accepted the government's resignation on Wednesday, and has sought help from the CSTO.

A joint CSTO peacekeeping force has arrived in Kazakhstan to take part in maintaining order, the Kazakh presidential press service said Friday, adding that they came only for a limited time to ensure the protection of strategic facilities.

The peacekeeping forces include troops from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the CSTO said in a statement on its website.

--IANS

int/shs

(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.)
New Delhi [India], January 8 (ANI/Oswaal Books): There is an announcement made by CBSE considering the exam pattern - "No" changes in the exam pattern for class 10th and 12th.

The Central Board of Secondary Education comes out in front and makes the students aware that they are not planning to change the exam pattern anytime soon.

The pattern they announced on July 5, 2021, will be followed for 10th and 12th. Until further notice, students need to prepare their minds that there is no other exam pattern announced by the CBSE that contradicts the pattern they have announced previously.

The CBSE Term 2 Exam Pattern:

When they have come up with "no changes" in the exam pattern, you must be aware of the actual examination pattern you need to follow. The examination paper that CBSE prepares for classes 10th and 12th will be a combination of different formats, including case-based, open-ended, short answer, long answer type, and some situation-based questions. The duration of the examination will be two hours, and the student needs to answer all questions within this time frame only.

Also, the Central Board of Secondary Education mentioned that the syllabus would be rationalized for CBSE Term 2 only, and the rest will depend on the COVID-19 situation across India. The pattern will be decided by keeping it and everything else under consideration. But to date, students need to stick to the same pattern.

What are students supposed to do after the CBSE's "no exam pattern change" announcement?

As CBSE has rectified students' doubts considering the exam pattern, students now need to prepare accordingly. You are not supposed to follow only objective-based, subjective-based, or vice-a-versa-based guidelines. Be sure to prepare for the pattern announced by them in 2021.

Meanwhile, if the students are facing mental health issues then they can refer to this article to stay healthy!

FAQ:

Is there any delay in examinations in 2022 for classes 10 and 12?

So far, there has been no specific announcement from CBSE regarding the examination date. If we learn about the same, we will definitely update you.

How can I prepare for my board examination?

When preparing for your board examination, be sure to understand all the important topics and pay attention to the scoring chapters. The scoring chapters will help you get the most out of your result.

What are the basic preparation tips I need to follow to prepare for my class 12th or 10th examinations?

When you wish to prepare for the class 12th and 10th examinations, understand the syllabus and be consistent with it. Unfortunately, if you are not consistently studying the syllabus, getting good grades will not be your thing. Students can also plan their exams with Oswaal CBSE Class 10 & 12 Term 2 Question Bank for Board Exams 2022, and you will get: Strictly as per the Term-II syllabus for Board 2022 Exams (March-April)

* Includes Questions of the both -Objective & Subjective Types Questions

* Objective Questions based on new typologies introduced by the board-

I. Stand- Alone MCQs,

II. MCQs based on Assertion-Reason

III. Case-based MCQs.

* Subjective Questions Includes-Very Short, Short & Long Answer Types Questions

Here is the recommended link for CBSE Question Bank Class 10 for Term 2 board exams 2022, click here (https://bit.ly/3q5HDgj)

Here is the recommended link for CBSE Question Bank Class 12 for Term 2 board exams 2022, click here(https://bit.ly/3zzR4b7)

When will the practicals start for classes 10th and 12th?

To date, the CBSE has made no announcements that are considered practical. But the assessment that you have completed in term 1 will probably be considered as the practical record if situations remain out of control.

We wish all the 10th and 12th-grade students all the best and hope you will all be able to score the highest possible in your board examination. For more such updates, stay tuned with us!

This story is provided by Oswaal Books. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Oswaal Books)

DISCLAIMER

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
CLAT 2022: How to prepare from scratch in last 4 months

New Delhi [India], January 8 (ANI/Oswaal Books): Common-Law Admission Test (CLAT) exam is a one-time opportunity for all the aspirants who seek admission to UG and PG law courses.

For batch 2021-22, the CLAT 2022 exam is scheduled for May 8, 2022. This exam will be conducted in an offline fashion and the application process for CLAT 2022 will start from 1 January 2022.

The last date to apply for CLAT 2022 is 31 March 2022.

Many students were dead sure about taking admission to law colleges. So, they were focused on CLAT 2022 Exam preparation from the beginning of the session itself.

But, all the students are not the same. Some have now realized that they want to further go for law studies.

There is nothing like too late for the students who want to start with the CLAT 2022preparation in the upcoming 4 months.

Even if the students prepare dedicatedly for these 4 months, then also they can be ready for the CLAT 2022 exam. Below is a great strategic plan that students can follow for their preparation in 4 months.

1. Don't wait for tomorrow

When students are sure that they want to go for the CLAT 2022, then there should be no tomorrow.

Students should start preparing from the day they decide to sit for the CLAT exam. They should get acquainted with the syllabus and the exam pattern to excel in the exam.

2. Design a meticulous timetable

Students only have 4 months in their hands and above all if they are starting preparation from the scratch. Then making a well-defined and achievable study plan is a must.

A study plan with the goals to be accomplished should be made. This will help the students get an idea about their next move in the preparation journey.

Wish to know everything about CLAT 2022? Read the article to know!

3. CLAT mock tests and sample papers are a must

Students preparing for the CLAT exam 2022 in the upcoming 4 months should not neglect the power of mock tests and sample papers.

They will help the students get familiar with the exam pattern and the marking scheme. Moreover, they will give the taste of the examination pressure to the students.

This is how the students will come across their weak areas and can work upon them in the time left. Students can also start their preparation with Oswaal CLAT 2022 Exams Mock Test Sample Papers and will get so many benefits like-

* 15 CLAT 2021 Sample Papers with New Pattern

* CLAT 2020 Question Paper with solutions

* All Typologies of Questions included for exam-oriented preparation

* On Tips Notes for crisp revision, NLUs 2020, 2019 & 2018 Cut-offs.

Here is the recommended link for CLAT 2022 Exams Mock Test Sample Papers, click here (https://bit.ly/32M2Fbe)

4. Stay motivated

Preparing in the last month give goosebumps to many students. So, the students need to believe in themselves.

Whenever students start feeling demotivated, they should think about why they started in the first place. This will help them stay motivated.

Moreover, students should also take short breaks between the study sessions. This will help them gain more focus and concentration towards preparation.

Final Thoughts

Preparing for CLAT 2022 in the last 4 months is not that difficult task.

Students should be sure of what they want to achieve and if they have clarity about it then they can easily prepare in the 4 months for CLAT 2022.

A great and meticulous study plan will assist the students in achieving their goals.

For more updates, stay tuned!!

This story is provided by Oswaal Books. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Oswaal Books)

DISCLAIMER

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China willing to help Kazakhstan tide over difficulties: spokesperson

Xinhua) 10:16, January 08, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- China is willing to do its best to provide necessary support to Kazakhstan and help it tide over difficulties, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Friday.

Wang made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked to comment on the situation in Kazakhstan.

China has noticed that the Kazakh authorities are taking a series of powerful measures to combat violence and terrorism and maintain social stability, the spokesperson said.

Wang said China supports all efforts that are conducive to the Kazakh authorities calming the situation as soon as possible, and firmly opposes the deliberate creation of social unrest and incitement of violence in Kazakhstan by external forces.

"As a fraternal neighbor and a permanent comprehensive strategic partner, China is willing to provide necessary support to Kazakhstan to help it tide over difficulties," Wang said.

Wang added that it is the consistent purpose and task of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to maintain the security and stability of the member states and the region.

China and other SCO member states pay close attention to the domestic situation in Kazakhstan, and believe that the Kazakh authorities can properly resolve the problem, support Kazakhstan in stabilizing the situation as soon as possible, and are willing to promote the SCO playing an active role in this regard, Wang said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
Loomis, Sayles & Company, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, today announced the launch of the Loomis Sayles Private Credit Group along with the hiring of Chris Gudmastad, CFA, who will lead this effort as head of private credit. Myles Reinecke, CFA, also joins as senior private credit analyst.

Private credit, a growing asset class increasingly in demand across the global institutional marketplace, will be a key component of Loomis Sayles client-based solutions suite going forward. Under Chriss leadership, the Loomis Sayles Private Credit Groups objective is to deliver portfolios that seek to maximize current income and total return through diversified exposure to private fixed income investments while using deep fundamental analysis and transaction structuring to manage downside risk.

Chris will build out all aspects of the Private Credit Group. His focus will include lead sourcing, underwriting and portfolio management. Chris brings to the effort extensive experience underwriting and structuring highly complex transactions that generate structure premiums in addition to illiquidity premiums. He reports to David Waldman, the firms chief investment officer.

As senior private credit analyst reporting to Chris, Myles will lead credit analysis for originating, underwriting and structuring private credit opportunities across a range of sectors. He will be responsible for risk management and investment relative value recommendations and will assist Chris with portfolio management operations.

Our value-oriented, deep credit research heritage provides a strong foundation for building out a private credit capability that will complement our public fixed income lineup, said Kevin Charleston, chief executive officer of Loomis Sayles. We are excited to offer clients highly differentiated and competitive private credit solutions by leveraging our research capabilities, operational and technology infrastructure, and comprehensive risk management structure.

Chris brings more than 20 years of financial services experience to his new position, most of which focused on private credit. He comes to Loomis Sayles from Securian Asset Management, where he was vice president and head of private credit. In that role, Chris was responsible for all aspects of the management of Securians $6.8 billion investment grade private credit portfolio, including the development and execution of the private credit investment strategy and management of the firms $3.3 billion external offerings across more than 20 institutional clients.

Myles also joins from Securian Asset Management, where he was most recently an asset management senior consultant focused on investment grade private placement opportunities. He has 10 years of industry experience.

Both Chris and Myles are based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

ABOUT LOOMIS SAYLES

Since 1926, Loomis, Sayles & Company has helped fulfill the investment needs of institutional and mutual fund clients worldwide. The firms performance-driven investors integrate deep proprietary research and integrated risk analysis to make informed, judicious decisions. Teams of portfolio managers, strategists, research analysts and traders collaborate to assess market sectors and identify investment opportunities wherever they may lie, within traditional asset classes or among a range of alternative investments. Loomis Sayles has the resources, foresight and the flexibility to look far and wide for value in broad and narrow markets in its commitment to deliver attractive sustainable returns for clients. This rich tradition has earned Loomis Sayles the trust and respect of clients worldwide, for whom it manages $353.7 billion* in assets (as of 30 September 2021).

*Includes the assets of Loomis, Sayles & Co., LP, and Loomis Sayles Trust Company, LLC. Loomis Sayles Trust Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Loomis, Sayles & Company, LP.

ABOUT NATIXIS INVESTMENT MANAGERS

Natixis Investment Managers multi-affiliate approach connects clients to the independent thinking and focused expertise of more than 20 active managers. Ranked among the worlds largest asset managers1 with nearly $1.4 trillion assets under management2 (1,199.4 billion), Natixis Investment Managers delivers a diverse range of solutions across asset classes, styles, and vehicles, including innovative environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies and products dedicated to advancing sustainable finance. The firm partners with clients in order to understand their unique needs and provide insights and investment solutions tailored to their long-term goals.

Headquartered in Paris and Boston, Natixis Investment Managers is wholly owned by Natixis. Natixis is a subsidiary of BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. Natixis Investment Managers affiliated investment management firms include AEW; Alliance Entreprendre; AlphaSimplex Group; DNCA Investments;3 Dorval Asset Management; Flexstone Partners; Gateway Investment Advisers; Harris Associates; Investors Mutual Limited; Loomis, Sayles & Company; Mirova; MV Credit; Naxicap Partners; Ossiam; Ostrum Asset Management; Seeyond; Seventure Partners; Thematics Asset Management; Vauban Infrastructure Partners; Vaughan Nelson Investment Management; and WCM Investment Management. Additionally, investment solutions are offered through Natixis Investment Managers Solutions and Natixis Advisors, LLC. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit Natixis Investment Managers website at im.natixis.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/natixis-investment-managers.

Natixis Investment Managers distribution and service groups include Natixis Distribution, LLC, a limited purpose broker-dealer and the distributor of various U.S. registered investment companies for which advisory services are provided by affiliated firms of Natixis Investment Managers, Natixis Investment Managers S.A. (Luxembourg), Natixis Investment Managers International (France), and their affiliated distribution and service entities in Europe and Asia.

1 Cerulli Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2021 ranked Natixis Investment Managers as the 15th largest asset manager in the world based on assets under management as of December 31, 2020.

2 Assets under management (AUM) as of September 30, 2021 are $1,390 billion. AUM, as reported, may include notional assets, assets serviced, gross assets, assets of minority-owned affiliated entities and other types of non-regulatory AUM managed or serviced by firms affiliated with Natixis Investment Managers. Excluding H2O Asset Management.

3 A brand of DNCA Finance.

For additional information on this and other Loomis Sayles Strategies, please visit our website at www.loomissayles.com.

Natixis Distribution LLC (fund distributor FINRA|SIPC) and Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P. are affiliated.

MALR028342

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220107005064/en/
Mary Kay Inc., a global entrepreneurship development company and advocate for corporate social responsibility and sustainability, today released its year-end highlights. In 2021, Mary Kay Inc. continued its decades-long commitment to enriching the lives of women around the globe and building healthier, more sustainable communities.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220107005500/en/

Mary Kay was named a Silver Globee Winner in 3 categories at the 13th Annual 2021 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards. (Photo: Mary Kay Inc.)

Learn more about Mary Kays 2021 accomplishments in this report.

2021 YEAR-END HIGHLIGHTS

Business Excellence

Mary Kay received 58 awards and recognition honors in 2021, including: COVID Response (22 awards), recognition from partners in social impact/annual reports (4), Mary Kay management recognized for leadership (7), business excellence (10) and an award-winning documentary (4 awards; 5 screening selections). Additionally, Mary Kay and/or its iconic founder, Mary Kay Ash, were featured in two Harvard Business Case Studies, three textbooks, and one research paper.

Announced the appointment of Wendy Wang as President of its Asia Pacific Region. 54% of Mary Kays global executive team is female.

Mary Kay markets celebrated anniversaries: Mary Kay Lithuania (10 years) and Mary Kay Germany (35 years).

Named one of America's Best Mid-Sized Employers 2021 by Forbes.

Mary Kay Global Design Studio & Digital Innovation to Enhance the Customer Experience

Mary Kay Global Design Studio and Glamhive announced the first-ever global TikTok reality show based on style, Step & Repeat. The contest showcased talent in wardrobe, makeup & hair from TikTok users worldwide. Participants showcased their talents from more than 30 countries, and the ground-breaking campaign was featured in the UK Daily Mail , The Daily Front Row , and Vogue Business highlighting its innovative approach to using the relatively new social media platform.

, , and highlighting its innovative approach to using the relatively new social media platform. Launched Suite 13, a beauty experience that uses virtual reality to digitize the company's first virtual pop-up showroom; Mary Kay MirrorMe for augmented-reality makeovers and Mary Kay Skin Analyzer App to scan your face for a customized skin care routine.

Celebrated 25 years partnering with Global Beauty Ambassador, Luis Casco.

Science Behind the Beauty

Clinical Solutions skincare launched, which consists of Mary Kay Clinical Solutions Retinol 0.5 and Mary Kay Clinical Solutions Calm + Restore Facial Milk and received the Dermatologists Council Seal.

Dr. Michelle Hines, Ph.D., Mary Kay Director of Product Formulation, was announced as president-elect for the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC).

In collaboration with Society for Investigative Dermatology (SID), announced Skin Health/Skin Disease Grants. Grants will be awarded to researchers conducting groundbreaking, innovative studies in skin health and skin diseases to uncover new perspectives and intervention strategies.

Announced recipients of multiple science educational grants including: the Society of Cosmetic Chemists and Mary Kay Inc. - Madam C.J. Walker Scholarships, in support of under-represented minority students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in chemical, physical, medical, pharmaceutical, biological, or related sciences and technology; and provided five Girls in STEAM grants to young women currently engaged in innovative research. The 2021 recipients included: Mylana Brodovska, Ukraine; Selin Alara Ornek, Turkey; Jordan Reeves, U.S.; Ivanna Hernandez, Colombia; and Allie Weber, U.S.

Unveiled research at multiple virtual science conferences. The research included: sharing research on a gradual retinization process that significantly improves tolerance to higher concentrated pure retinol, while still delivering retinols key skin benefits; presented the findings for topical application of pure retinol improving hyperpigmentation in an Asian population; and Modulating mechanisms associated with skin barrier function effectively alleviates 2 common concerns associated with sensitive skin.

Social Impact/CSR

In 2021, Mary Kays global Pink Changing Lives SM cause empowerment program supported over 15 NGOs around the world. Since 2008, the program has impacted more than six million women and their families by partnering with over 3,000 organizations, donating over $16 million.

cause empowerment program supported over 15 NGOs around the world. Since 2008, the program has impacted more than six million women and their families by partnering with over 3,000 organizations, donating over $16 million. Mary Kay China: China's Henan province was affected by severe flooding. Due to the floods, at least 33 people were killed, 8 others went missing, 200,000 people were evacuated, 3 million people were affected, and the direct economic loss was about $1.22 billion yuan. Mary Kay China donated 1-million-yuan worth of products to Henan Charity Federation.

Mary Kay Germany: European floods impacted Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands and ranked as the most destructive natural hazard in Northern Europe. Mary Kay Germany pledged up to $100,000 euros to support those affected.

Mary Kay Spain: In 2020-21, partnered with the Fundacion Vicente Ferrer to provide health care access to children and their families in India. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (in 2018), Mary Kay Spain financed the construction of a school for children in Pagadalavaripalli village, located in the Kadiri (Anantapur) region of India.

Womens Empowerment

Announced commitment to advancing gender parity by releasing a position paper welcoming the European Commissions Gender Equality Strategy for 2020  2025 and by joining the Generation Equality Forum in Paris and five Global Action Coalitions to accelerate gender equality by 2026.

In collaboration with UN Women, ILO & WE Empower, re-released,  Strengthening Support for Women Entrepreneurs in COVID-19 Response and Recovery  at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65).

 at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65). Mary Kay and the Mary Kay Ash FoundationSM were recognized in the Report of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women on the activities of the United Nations trust fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women to the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) and Human Rights Council.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Announced 100% of U.S.-based Directors and above completed mandatory Unconscious Bias training.

Released Gender Diversity in the Workplace Data: 54% of Mary Kays global executive team is female; 61% of Mary Kays global workforce is female; and 54% of Global Vice Presidents and above are female; 59% of Directors and above are female.

In collaboration with global partner Equal Rights Trust, announced the launch of innovative research on gender inequality in algorithms and artificial intelligence aimed at addressing equality and gender impacts of algorithmic systems, presented by Mary Kay.

Sustainability

Announced global sustainability strategy: Enriching Lives Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow. Our holistic approach encompasses three pillars of sustainabilityeconomic, environmental and socialthrough five pillars, activated by 15 commitments to deliver a decade of sustainable action.

Became a signatory to two crucial causes in protecting our worlds waterways: the CEO Water Mandate and the United Nations Global Compacts Sustainable Ocean Principles.

Joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as a member of its Network, as part of its commitment to becoming a more sustainable, circular business.

Mary Kay released its second documentary, Forest of Hope , in October during the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). The documentary highlights the work of Angelica, a 70-year eco-warrior and leader of a group of women entrepreneurs committed to saving the forests of Monterrey.

, in October during the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). The documentary highlights the work of Angelica, a 70-year eco-warrior and leader of a group of women entrepreneurs committed to saving the forests of Monterrey. Through its partnership with Arbor Day Foundation, the Time for Trees initiative, announced achieving the commitment to planting 100 million trees and inspiring 5 million new tree planters by April of 2022, was achieved one year ahead of schedule.

Mary Kay has partnered with the Nature Conservancy since 1991. In 2021, Mary Kay supported seven projects in the Solomon Islands, Northern Australia, New Zealand, rural China, Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

About Mary Kay

One of the original glass ceiling breakers, Mary Kay Ash founded her beauty company nearly 60 years ago with three goals: develop rewarding opportunities for women, offer irresistible products, and make the world a better place. That dream has blossomed into a multibillion-dollar company with millions of independent sales force members in nearly 40 countries. Mary Kay is dedicated to investing in the science behind beauty and manufacturing cutting-edge skin care, color cosmetics, and fragrances. Mary Kay is committed to empowering women and their families by partnering with organizations from around the world, focusing on supporting cancer research, protecting survivors from domestic abuse, beautifying our communities, and encouraging children to follow their dreams. Mary Kay Ashs original vision continues to shineone lipstick at a time. Learn more at www.MaryKayGlobal.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220107005500/en/
At the start of the new year 2022, VOOPOO, always in pursuit of unique industrial designs, has made another big move. On January 5, it launched Vinci Pod Royal Edition with a new relief design. Its shining and lightweight overall shape emphasizes a retro feel while also showing a strong aristocratic atmosphere.

Original relief craftsmanship for Pod

A large number of relief artworks have been unearthed from the ancient Sumerian Ruins, one of the birthplaces of human civilization. In contemporary times, there are also plenty of art products using relief craftsmanship. According to Vivian, Head of VOOPOO Product Development Team, It is precisely the ancient relief artworks and the fashionable and retro contemporary elements that inspired us to develop the Vinci Pod Royal Edition series. Our original purpose is to explore the artistic and cultural value of the Pod product itself, so that users can also show their artistic taste in the process of using the product.

However, it is no easy to engrave relief patterns on delicate Pod products. Any slight fault in the process will result in failure to achieve art-grade quality. The six products of the VOOPOO Vinci Pod Royal Edition series are all designed by experienced artists and are also integrated with design elements from retro jazz and cool graffiti styles. Product development took 8 months, and 12 manufacture processes and 68 techniques were involved, with 80% of the work completed by hand. The products were a result of the collaboration of more than 20 people including industrial designers, structural designers, and R&D members.

In addition to the unique relief itself, the tactile experience brought by the relief is even more impressive. Since the relief pattern of each product is different, customers can choose according to their own visual and tactile preferences. When the Pod of "tactile beauty" is held in your hand, you can experience an artistic masterpiece with its concave-convex surface, allowing you to enjoy a noble experience at your fingertip.

Focused on the user's product experience

In addition to the appearance, the products material and user experience also fit the users habits. The VOOPOO product development team has chosen the 6061 aviation-grade aluminum alloy, which boasts excellent strength, plasticity, fracture toughness, fatigue resistance, stress corrosion cracking resistance and exfoliation corrosion resistance, and has been widely used in aerospace, high-speed rail and automotive industries. It is worth noting that after 268 precise airflow experiments, the transmitter and airway design of VINCI Pod Royal Edition has been well optimized, bringing unparalleled comfort to the mouth-sucking experience.

VINCI Pod Royal Edition comes with the visual VINCI POD cartridge, which allows users to see the remaining e-liquid in real time, so that they can refill in time and refrain from anxiety. At the same time, VINCI Pod Royal Edition is equipped with 0.8 and 1.2 atomizers for users to enjoy different levels of taste and nicotine experience according to their preferences. VINCI Pod Royal Edition has also perfectly integrated the breathing light, so that it lights up when the user is inhaling, and goes off when stopping, providing users the strong dynamic sense.

WARNING: This product may be used with e-liquid products containing nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

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IG: https://www.instagram.com/voopoo_global/

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Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@voopoo_indonesia?lang=en

Please view the original press release at businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105006068/zh-CN/

The original source-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the source-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220105006058/en/
Chinas first privately-owned high-speed railway sped into operations on Saturday. The railway project, a public-private partnership, could lead the way for more private capital to finance the nations costly high-speed rail network.

Costing 44.9 billion yuan ($7 billion), the 266-kilometer Hangtai high-speed railway links Hangzhou and Taizhou. Travel time between the two cities in the southern province of Zhejiang via the service could take as little as 63 minutes, according to one of the developers, China State Railway Group Co. Ltd. Thats almost half of the current travel time.
AMC Networks has announced the purchase of Houston, Texas-based Sentai Holdings, parent company of anime licensor Sentai Filmworks. The acquisition comes amid great change in the U.S. anime market.

Here are the details:

AMC Networks has completed its acquisition of Sentai Holdings, including all of the member interests from Cool Japan Fund, Inc., a public-private Japanese investment fund. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sentais executive management team of John Ledford, Griffin Vance, and Paul Clinkscales, will continue on in senior roles.

Cool Japan Fund invested $30 million in Sentai in 2019, saying at the time that the companys independent status makes it a rarity in North America as a licensor of Japanese anime. It added another $3.6M in 2020.

Sentai has licensed thousands of hours of content, including series like Made in Abyss, K-On!, Akame ga Kill, and Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, and films such as Clannad and Grave of the Fireflies.

Importantly, it is home to anime streamer Hidive, which will join AMC Networks portfolio of niche streaming services. Other units include Sentai Studios, which oversees localization, subtitling, and dubbing.

AMC Networks (no relation to AMC Theatres) is home to cable channels including AMC and IFC, and streamers like AMC+, horror-focused Shudder, African-American-focused Allblk, and arthouse-focused Sundance Now. It is projecting 2025 million paid streaming subscribers in total by 2025.

Sentai founder Ledford said in a statement:

We are thrilled by AMC Networks acquisition and are excited to be a part of their growth strategy. This acquisition will not change Sentais mission to deliver the most exciting anime content to audiences around the world  it will expand it greatly and will give our content businesses more distribution, more partnerships, more scale, and more reach. I could not be more pleased.

AMC Networks interim CEO Matt Blank said:

With a seasoned team, strong content, and direct-to-consumer offerings for fans around the world, Sentai is a key global player in anime. This acquisition builds on AMC Networks already strong IP and franchises, and furthers our targeted streaming strategy of super-serving passionate audiences with content depth, curation, and community. With the addition of Sentai, we see an even greater opportunity to build on AMC Networks position as the global leader in targeted streaming, as we continue to grow a sustainable and long-term profitable streaming business that will be transformational for our company.

Last year saw major consolidation in the U.S. anime market, when Sonys Funimation acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T, bringing the two biggest anime streamers under one roof. Meanwhile, mass-market streamers like Netflix and  more recently  Disney+ have entered the space.

Image at top: Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul
Photo: The Canadian Press Arlen Dumas, Grand Chief of the Manitoba Assembly of Chiefs speaks during the Assembly of First Nations' 38th annual general meeting Regina, Sask., Thursday, July 27, 2017. Many First Nations across the country are bracing for the spread of the Omicron variant as leaders prepare for labour shortages caused by COVID-19 that could be more severe in Indigenous communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor

Many First Nations across the country are bracing for the spread of the Omicron variant as leaders prepare for labour shortages caused by COVID-19 that could be more severe in Indigenous communities.

"We are well aware that Omicron is coming," said Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

There were less than 1,000 COVID-19 cases on reserves across the country before the holiday season, but that number has quickly surged.

In Manitoba alone over the past week, there have been 1,388 new COVID-19 cases among First Nations people, shows data from the First Nations COVID-19 task force released Friday. There are active cases in more than 40 Indigenous communities in the province despite many having high vaccination rates.

First Nations likely won't be spared the COVID-19-related labour shortages seen in health care, policing and other public sectors across the country, Dumas said. But the impacts can be much more significant, he added.

"What has happened in the past, unfortunately, is you have all the water plant operators getting COVID or having to isolate, but that function still needs to be served for the people," said Dumas.

To slow the spread, at least 10 First Nations in Manitoba have implemented travel restrictions or locked down. While the Delta variant remains dominant among Manitoba First Nations, the task force said it's expected to be overtaken by Omicron by next week.

"The Omicron variant has been making its way through Manitoba in an unprecedented way," Grand Chief Garrison Settee, who represents northern First Nations in Manitoba, said in a news release. "Our leaders are working tirelessly to contain the spread of COVID-19 and ensure essential services are available to community members."

Settee added that a lack of health-care staff is affecting the ability of some First Nations citizens to access their third COVID-19 vaccines.

Both chiefs said they've reached out to provincial and federal officials.

First Nations in Ontario's northwest also brought in significant restrictions recently. The Sioux Lookout Area First Nations declared a regional lockdown to curb the Omicron variant as none of the 33 First Nations have hospitals. The local health authority said it means they face an imminent threat of overloading public health resources.

Half the population of Bearskin Lake First Nation had tested positive for COVID-19 this week, which has left a large proportion of the community in isolation.

Chief Lefty Kamenawatamin said Friday that there were only about 30 front-line workers in the remote community able to deliver water, groceries and other essential supplies to people who are isolating.

"The situation in Bearskin Lake clearly demonstrates the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 for First Nations," Dr. Lloyd Douglas, a public health physician with the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority, said in a news release this week.

"The impacts are devastating to First Nations communities who face major infrastructure shortages, boil water advisories, overcrowding and complex health conditions."

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Friday that the government will do whatever it can to support Indigenous communities facing COVID-19 crises.

First Nations health experts say they are still watching to see the impacts Omicron and what challenges the variant could bring to Indigenous communities during the latest wave of the pandemic.

The second and third wave saw higher rates of infection, hospitalization and death among Indigenous people in many areas of the country.

Dr. Marcia Anderson, who is with the First Nation pandemic response team, said thats why they are approaching decisions with more caution, even as some provinces drop isolation requirements to five days.

She said there could be significant risks sending people who are potentially still infectious out of isolation considering the higher risk settings on First Nations.

"The COVID virus spreads very easily due to those underlying factors like overcrowded housing," Anderson said in an online video Friday, adding First Nations people are also at a higher risk of severe outcomes.

"We want to be more cautious in making these changes," she added.
Local media is facing a lot of challenges in Eastern Afghanistan post-Taliban takeover as six radio stations have been closed in the area.

"Since the fall of the (former) government, six radio stations have been closed in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan--five of them halted their operations due to economic challenges and another one stopped because of the lack of its employee--who was female," said Yousuf Zarifi, head of the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee in eastern Afghanistan, reported Tolo News.

As per Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, the employees are facing economic hardships due to the closure of the radio stations.

Some journalists expressed concerns over their economic status, saying that they have lost their jobs as many media outlets have recently halted operations, reported Tolo News.

"I was working as a local reporter at Radio Jawanan. I have worked for two years in the media. I was preparing reports on general issues about women," said Shukulla Sadat, a female journalist who has worked with a local media organization for many years in Nangarhar province.

She is not the only journalist to lose her job due to the recent crisis in Afghanistan.

"If the Islamic Emirate, the international community, or media-supporting organizations don't help the media with financial issues, the current media will stop their activities," said Saleh Mohammad, a journalist.

A survey conducted by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) showed that since August, 40 per cent of media outlets in Afghanistan have ceased operating, and 80 per cent of women journalists and media workers have become unemployed due to restrictions, reported Tolo News.

"A total of 231 media outlets have had to close and more than 6.400 journalists have lost their jobs since 15 August. Women journalists have been hit the hardest, with four out of five no longer working," the survey said.

(ANI)
Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday seized an abandoned Pakistani boat near the border outpost in Ferozepur district of Punjab.

Ferozepur is a sensitive district because of its proximity to the international border with Pakistan. Earlier, many drones from Pakistan breached Indian territory in the district.

A senior BSF officer said that the wooden boat was spotted by the personnel belonging to the 136 Battalion during patrol duty near the DT Mall border outpost along the international border.

"In winters, the area remained covered under thick fog. After the boat was recovered, we conducted a search operation in the area and alerted local villages to inform BSF in case they see any suspicious activity. Such boats are often used for smuggling of narcotics substance and arms from across the border," he said.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy was stuck for 15-20 minutes due to a road blockade in Punjab's Ferozepur in a security breach.

(ANI)


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District Attorney Neal Pinkston has asked the TBI to investigate an incident in which he said Coty Wamp, legal counsel for Sheriff Jim Hammond, may be guilty of official misconduct and witness tampering. He said he did so at the request of Soddy Daisy Police.

Ms. Wamp, who is running against Mr. Pinkston in the upcoming Republican primary for district attorney, denied that she did anything wrong and said the probe was being used "as a political weapon."

DA Pinkston said he also plans to file a complaint against Ms. Wamp with the board that oversees attorneys in the state.

There was a shooting on Barbee Road in Soddy Daisy on Sunday involving a female victim. He said Soddy Daisy Police identified Hugo Garcia Padilla as the suspect and arrested him with the help of a SWAT Team.

He said Ms. Wamp later notified Soddy Daisy Police that the wrong suspect was in custody. He said that was "based upon her inquiry, talking to witnesses, victims and Padilla's employer. After this alleged intervention, victims recanted their original story, denied Hugo Garcia Padilla is suspect and now accuse Hugo Garcia Robles."

DA Pinkston said, "Soddy Daisy Police state victims are acting strangely after interaction with HCSO legal counsel Wamp and/or others on her behalf that are unknown at this time.

"Further, Wamp and Padilla's employer, Jeff Cannon, attempted to interfere with natural progression of criminal case by asking others to set case for special hearing within next 24 hours, with intention of preventing deportation of Padilla by ICE agents."

Ms. Wamp said, "As to the facts surrounding this fabricated narrative our DA has created for his own political gain, I want to make one thing very clear - I will always seek justice and pursue truth. If I ever come across information that causes me to believe a potentially innocent person has been wrongly accused or incarcerated, just as I did in this situation, I will do everything in my power to remedy it, because I have both an ethical duty as a lawyer to do so but also a moral obligation as a human being. I am happy to answer any questions about this incident, and I look forward to the facts and truth coming out. I have done absolutely nothing wrong, and I will stand by my actions.

"While violent crime is continuing to wreak havoc in our community, our District Attorney has once again proven unfit for office. Instead of focusing on sending violent criminals and drug dealers to prison, he has used his authority and position as a political weapon. It is an absolute abuse of power, and it is disgraceful. The criminal justice system and the authority of a District Attorney should never be used to gain dishonest political advantages. I cannot say I am surprised my opponent has chosen to stoop to this level, but desperate people do desperate things. This is a prime example of why Im running for office.

"How convenient our District Attorney has asked TBI to investigate one attorney in Chattanooga, and that attorney just happens to be his only political opponent. Going forward, I will continue to talk about the issues that matter. I will continue to create solutions for our criminal justice system, and I will continue to focus on restoring integrity to an office that so badly needs it."

Mr. Pinkston said the request to the TBI was made after discussing the matter with Sheriff Hammond and Deputy Chief Austin Garrett.

Sheriff Hammond said he discussed the issue with DA Pinkston and it was agreed that the TBI should come in and sort it out.

He said he did not plan to question Ms. Wamp about the incident, and he said she would not be on any leave or subject to an internal affairs investigation.

Sheriff Hammond said attorneys "do this all the time. It happens every day with a lawyer trying to help somebody." He added, "I hope she's exonerated. But it could be that she and I both end up with egg on our faces."

Padilla, 40, is charged with reckless endangerment and two counts of aggravated assault.

He has been released from jail and has a court date in Soddy Daisy in February.
A 42-year-old Cleveland, Tn., has been arrested by East Ridge Police after a video of a 17-year-old girl getting out of a shower was found on his phone.

The girl's mother said she found the video after Johnny Lankford Delaney left his phone behind when he came to pick up their daughter.

She said it was obvious the video had been shot from the rear of her house.

Police agreed, noting that Lankford could see into the room because some blinds were broken.

Officers said Lankford, who is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor, did not deny any allegations against him.
A payroll supervisor who embezzled over a quarter of a million dollars from Chattanooga construction firms was sentenced in federal court on Friday afternoon. Judge Travis McDonough sentenced Danna Morrison, 65, to over five years in prison. She pled guilty in March 2021 to wire fraud and money laundering.

If it werent for your age, and mental and physical condition, this sentence would have been a lot longer, Judge McDonough said to the defendant. I think this is your last shot.



Ms. Morrison began working at Berry Construction Company in 2017, and in October 2018 she opened two Wells Fargo bank accounts. Prosecutors said she funneled funds to her account while claiming they went to employees. Prosecutors said the funds were used to purchase automobiles, and pay for mortgage payments on land and a home, and a swimming pool.

Defense attorney Gianna Maio cited her clients poor health and mental condition as a reason for a downward variance to 36 months. She said a medical professional at Vanderbilt had flagged Ms. Morrison as someone who displays signs of having Alzheimers, and that she is already diagnosed and is medicated for bipolar disorder among other mental illnesses.



While she can receive medical treatment in prison, I dont think it will be near the treatment she gets at Vanderbilt, attorney Maio said, stating also that her recent bipolar diagnosis may explain some of Ms. Morrisons past behavior.



Prosecutor Steven Neff emphasized that past behavior, citing dozens of past convictions relating to passing worthless checks, credit card fraud, forgery, and other similar fraud-related crimes. While attorney Maio argued that Ms. Morrisons history was mostly filled with small misdemeanors, prosecutor Neff also pointed out that she had already spent 81 and 36 months in prison for crimes.



Its been a very long and consistent course of behavior for a very long time, prosecutor Neff said. She took advantage of the trust given to her by her employers. People (who commit crimes of fraud) like her will know its not going to just be a slap on the wrist.



Attorney Maio said her bipolar disorder may have driven her clients impulsivity, and now that she is being treated for it, that Ms. Morrison is less of a threat to re-offend. When given a chance at speaking, Ms. Morrison apologized for her actions and said she is now a different person.



I pray for you to give me leniency, because my family is dead and all I have is my daughter and granddaughter, and I just want to be able to spend time with them. She said she found new life in Christ and church. I am now a different person and Im now saved.



Prosecutor Neff then drew attention to her lengthy criminal history. Ms. Morrisons first conviction occurred in 1977, and he said, Whether shes on or off medication, this happens. Her history is suggestive that this will continue to happen.



After listening to both sides, Judge McDonough took a long recess to ponder what had been said. When he came back, he said, "This is a case I think people could have different views on, and I appreciate both views presented. He told Ms. Morrison, You have dozens and dozens of convictions, and that tells the court about your values.

I do have questions about the timing of the incident, and some concern about the gap in treatment, and I dont want to ignore or overvalue it the judge continued. But your actions have been so consistent for so long. Some of them are minor, but it permeates your whole life, and never failed to be a part of who you are.

He then sentenced her to 65 months in prison and ordered her to pay back the $249,000 she owes the construction companies. Her Chevy and Mercedes Benz will also be forfeited. Because she has an appointment at Vanderbilt Hospital that will thoroughly check if she has Alzheimers in April, Ms. Morrison will report to prison in May.

You have more convictions than any other defendant Ive had in front of me, and youve shown no regard for other peoples property when youve taken what others have earned, the judge concluded.
A Cleveland man who shot another man in the chest in a Cleveland hotel will be spending the next 75 months in prison. Wallace Beard reached a plea agreement and was sentenced by Judge Travis McDonough.

Defense attorney Presita West told the court about her clients long crime-free history in between his two offenses. She said Beard had spent 20 years at the same company and had had been married.

Mr. Beard has accepted responsibility, and theres evidence he is both employable and has skills, attorney West said. Hes hard working, but he did not make the best choice.

Judge McDonough said the fact that the defendant has been employed at one place for 20 years in between his two felonies, is different from the norm, but he also said Beard is fortunate the victim survived.

Theres no difference between what he did and murder, other than that the victim survived, Judge McDonough said. This was not a snap decision. It bubbled up, and a fair amount of time passed.

Attorney West said Beard will sit and process his actions while in prison, and said she was not asking him to be released. Meanwhile, prosecutor Scott Winne said Beards lack of criminal history aside from felonies 20 years apart was significant. He agreed to the downward variance from the minimum 87 months to 75.

It was out of character and an aberration, the prosecutor said. He also said the victim was not squeaky clean and that there were actions that happened before the shooting that may have provoked the action.

I apologize for this happening, and if I could change what happened, I wouldnt have done it, Beard said. Since Ive been incarcerated, Ive been taking anger management classes.

Its incredibly unacceptable what you did to the victim, the judge said. Nothing about this makes sense, but the lawyers have done a good job of convincing me.

After him, Antonio Evans was sentenced to 53 months in prison for his role in a 2020 shooting. Like her previous client, attorney West told the judge that Evans has been well-employed, and that at just 27 years old, he still has time to become a better citizen.

Youve had good jobs, but you get distracted by things, Judge McDonough said. Were not asking for a lot. Just take care of yourself and take care of your family.
A man said his car was stolen and returned to Chatt Town Radiator at 3315 Brainerd Road. Video surveillance at the business showed an unidentifiable white male enter the vehicle and drive away at 1 a.m. and return the vehicle at 7 a.m. The man said the car was returned with a flat tire and a damaged wheel.

* * *

A man on Grove Street said an unknown man with a black hat and black jacket would not stop coming on his porch. He said the man accused him of owing him money. Police drove the area and did not locate anyone matching that description.

* * *

Police responded to a stolen vehicle on Hillcrest Road. Officers arrived on scene and spoke with the victim, who said his Ford F250 and trailer with lawn equipment were stolen. He was unable to provide officers with any description of the individual/individuals involved. He said his truck was unlocked at the time and his keys were inside. He said his F250 was white with a dent on the bottom section of the drivers side door. On the corners of the bed of the truck were various metal containers. Inside the truck was a black iPhone 8 and various miscellaneous items. The man said on the back of his black trailer he had a weed eater and various other hand tools which were all also stolen. The man was unable to provide officers with any further description of the trailer or any serial numbers linked to it. Officers entered the vehicle and trailer into NCIC as stolen.

* * *

A man on Tunnel Boulevard called police and said the neighbors above him were evicted but he saw them attempting to enter the apartment through a window. The man said he saw his old neighbor use a ladder to reach the top window. He said he tried to confront them and they took off.

* * *

A woman on Broad Street was waiting for traffic and traffic lights and was struck from behind. Both stopped and little to no damage was done. The woman would just like this documented. She only knows the following information about the other vehicle - the drivers name and that she has Progressive Insurance.

* * *

A man on Givens Road was trying to turn around and got stuck in a ditch. He said he did not see any damage and did not want a wreck report but did need a tow for his vehicle. Mosteller's got the car unstuck from the ditch.

* * *

A man and woman on Rawlings Street were in a verbal disorder. The woman wanted the man to leave her house. He left without incident.

* * *

The night clerk at Mapco at 4600 Hwy. 58 said a black male came into the store and picked up two bottles of beer and a pack of paper plates and then exited the store without paying for the items.

* * *

Police were called to Mountain Creek Road on a disturbance with a man, a woman and the womans friend. The womans friend had arrived from Georgia to pick up the woman, but the woman, who was intoxicated, did not want to go with her friend. The man and the friend were trying to persuade the woman. After police spoke with the woman, she finally agreed that it was in her best interest to go with her friend for the night. The officer saw the two women leave and the man returned home.

* * *

A man and a woman on Dee Drive were in a verbal dispute and she wanted him to leave. Upon arrival, an officer spoke with both and the man said he would be leaving to go to work, which he did.

* * *

A man said he had a flat tire and left his Honda Civic hybrid on the side of the freeway. He returned to his car and discovered that it had been taken. All tow logs have been searched including THP and TDOT. The car has been entered in NCIC as stolen.

* * *

A man said he entered the Storm Car Wash at 5575 Hixson Pike. As the car went through the facility, the upper grill molding came off and broke. He said they found half of the molding inside the car wash. The man said the part will cost $74.41 and it will be $100 to install it.

* * *

A man on Union Avenue said someone had vandalized his 1988 Chevrolet truck. The man said the suspect had broken the driver's-side window and the rear window. He said nothing was stolen from inside of his vehicle. The man told police a similar incident occurred three days ago which he filed with CPD. He said he does not know of anyone that would target him or be out to specifically vandalize his belongings. His residence was placed on the watch list for midnight shift officers to patrol.

* * *

An employee at Circle K at 4900 Brainerd Road said a woman, possibly named Ernestine, frequents the business and is rude and aggressive towards staff. The employee told police if they locate the woman to notify her that she is trespassed from coming into the business in the future. The officer attempted to locate the woman at Burger King, her place of employment, but she was not there at the time.

* * *

A delivery man for Pizza Hut was delivering a pizza off Norcross when he was waved down by a female who asked for a ride. The man gave her a ride to the corner of Mauldeth and another street in Red Bank. He said when he was on his way to another delivery he realized his wallet was gone. The man said he either keeps the wallet in his pocket or in the passenger seat of his car and did not think to move it before the female got in the car. There was an attempted charge of $322 at a Walmart Super Center. It is unclear if it was the one on 5764 Highway 153 or 501 Signal Mountain Road. The suspect is a white female, 20-30 years old, with shoulder-length curly brown or red hair wearing a plaid outfit with plaid shorts. The man has frozen his debit and credit card that were in the wallet. He also had $50 and his ID in the wallet.
Tammy McCrary Shell, 57, of Rossville, Georgia, went home to be with her Lord on January 6, 2022, surrounded by her loving family.

Tammy was born on July 6, 1964, in Chattanooga to Mr. Hubert Ray McCrary and Mrs. Tina Teas Hughes.

Tammy was a people person. She loved to make people smile. She spent many years as a cashier at Juniors Building Supply. In her younger years, Tammy enjoyed riding horses. She loved watching her soap operas with a hot coffee in hand and was always there to offer words of encouragement to anyone who needed it. Tammy was a great cook who loved cooking for and spending time with her family. Her smile and love will surely be missed by all those who knew and loved her.

Tammy is preceded in death by her father and brother, Keith McCrary.

Tammy is survived by her husband of 42 years, Mr. Greg Shell, her daughter, Tiffany (Todd) Poteet, grandchildren, Payton and Nolan Poteet, and mother, Tina Hughes, siblings; Mona Green, Anita (Stanley) Whittmore, and Cornell McCrary.

Condolences for the family may be left at www.lane-southcrestchapel.com.

The family will receive friends on Saturday, Jan. 8, at Lane Funeral Home South Crest Chapel from 3- 8 p.m.

A Celebration of Tammys life will be conducted at Philadelphia Baptist Church, 4501 Oak Hill Rd., Chattanooga, Tn. 37416, on Saturday, January 15, at 3 p.m.

Services are by Lane Funeral Home and Crematory South Crest Chapel, Rossville.
Chicago Fire Season 10 introduced a new character who could complicate any future romance between Violet Mikami and Blake Gallo. Chief Evan Hawkins has been taking an interest in Violet, and now the pair will be temporarily spending more time together than ever. This definitely wont sit well with Gallo, who has already noticed the pairs friendly interactions.

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 10 Episode 10]

Jimmy Nicholas as Chief Hawkins, Hanako Greensmith as Violet, and Kara Kilmer as Sylvie Brett in Chicago Fire Season 10 | Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

Is Sylvie Brett leaving Chicago Fire?

Hanako Greensmiths character Violet was promoted to a series regular in Chicago Fire Season 10. She is a paramedic partnered with Sylvie Brett, and the two work well together and have a great friendship. In episode 10, Brett talks with Violet about finally going to visit Matt Casey, who moved to Oregon to take care of Ben and Griffin.

Thankfully, it doesnt appear that Kara Killmer will be leaving the show for good. One Chicago Center states that there have been no reports of Killmer leaving Chicago Fire Season 10. Her trip to visit Casey will likely be brief, but it will give Violet and Hawkins a chance to spend more time together.

Thanks for watching, ChiHards! What shocked you the most tonight? #OneChicago pic.twitter.com/FpjiYTrdgp  One Chicago (@NBCOneChicago) December 9, 2021

Hawkins will be Violets new floater partner in Chicago Fire Season 10

Violet is excited for Brett to visit her boyfriend in Chicago Fire Season 10. However, in episode 10 she cant help but lament that she will be paired with a floater in Bretts absence. Then, Violet gets a surprise when she learns that the floater will be Chief Hawkins himself.

Hawkins is the Paramedic Field Chief who was first introduced to reprimand Sylvie Brett on breaking protocol. Although he initially seemed very strict, Hawkins later proved instrumental in getting Bretts Paramedicine program off the ground. He has also been paying quite a bit of attention to Violet.

Jimmy Nicholas as Chief Hawkins in Chicago Fire Season 10 | Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

Gallo has taken notice of the chemistry between Violet and Hawkins, and he definitely isnt happy about it. Both Violet and Blake have tried to confess their feelings for each other at different times in Chicago Fire Season 10. However, they both kept getting interrupted.

When Gallo noticed Hawkins will be Violets new floater, he definitely didnt like it. Gallo questions why a paramedic chief is riding along on an ambulance. However, when Pelham asks Gallo if it bothers him, he quickly states that its, just an observation.

Will Hawkins push Violet and Gallo to finally get together?

Rather than tearing them apart, Hawkins could be the final push Gallo needs to make a commitment to Violet and tell her how he really feels. Now that Violet and Hawkins are working side by side, the potential for romance between them is only growing stronger. After Violet saves the life of a newborn baby, Hawkins tells her, Youre a really talented medic, Violet. And a lot of fun to be with.

More of these two, please. pic.twitter.com/BXM3GVJxCr  One Chicago (@NBCOneChicago) December 17, 2021

Still, Gallo seems to be the one Violet really wants to be with. In an interview with Parade, executive producer/showrunner Derek Haas stated, So, the problem there is Gallo was going to admit to Violet that he still had feelings for her, but she was on medication because of her appendix so she didnt get to hear that.

However, Haas also assured that Blake wants to do that. Perhaps seeing Violet spending so much time with Hawkins will be the push Gallo needs to confess his feelings to her.

New Episodes of Chicago Fire Season 10 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

RELATED: One Chicago: Dick Wolf Added 1 Common Theme in All 3 Shows
During the 1950s, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly were Hollywood royalty. Both won Oscars and attended glamorous events. They also formed a close friendship, strengthened by working together in Kellys final film, High Society. According to Sinatras former valet, however, they may have had something more than just a friendship.

Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly met on the set of Mogambo

When Sinatra and Ava Gardner were newly married, he flew to Kenya as a romantic gesture. She was filming Mogambo, a film about a love triangle between herself, Kelly, and Clark Gable while on a safari. While shooting, the cast and crew shared a tent, allowing Sinatra and Gardner to put their tumultuous relationship on full display. At first, Kelly was appalled by the arguing, drinking, and sex.

Grace Kelly, Clark Gable, and Ava Gardner in Mogambo | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Ava is such a mess its unbelievable, Vanity Fair reports that Kelly told a friend. She also wrote a letter, hinting that she wasnt Sinatras biggest fan. He was notorious for his temper, particularly when hed been drinking.

Frank left Friday, so maybe things will easier, she wrote, per the Independent.

As the shoot wore on, however, Kelly joined the group in their antics, though after a few drinks she usually ended up turning pink and running into the bushes to vomit. She also reportedly began an affair with Gable.

They had a close relationship

Several years later, Kelly appeared in her final film, High Society, alongside Sinatra. In it, he plays a reporter, one of three men vying for Kellys attention. This was Kellys final film before she married Prince Ranier III of Monaco and retired from acting. Clearly, at this point, her feelings toward Sinatra had softened. When she stepped away from Hollywood, her friendship with Sinatra remained steadfast. According to Kellys son, Prince Albert, Sinatra was a frequent guest at the palace in Monaco.

Sinatras longtime valet George Jones gave further insight into their relationship. Jones said Sinatra dated quite a few of beautiful ladies, he told CBS News. They were all treated very well.

When asked if Sinatra and Kelly had a romantic relationship, Jones replied, He did a movie with her and he dated her, but I dont know.

According to him, though, any possible romance ended when Kelly married Prince Ranier III. He primarily visited Monaco on friendly visits to support her charity work. In addition, Prince Ranier was a good friend of his.

Frank Sinatra led a tribute to Grace Kelly on the first anniversary of her death

One year after Kellys death in 1982, Sinatra hosted a tribute to honor his friend.

Shes just an angel among a lot of saints, and she belongs there, Sinatra said, per UPI.

Save me the first dance in your dreams Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly in High Society. Helen Rose-Costume Designer pic.twitter.com/We5JcYNBOW  Janie Bryant (@JanieBryant) June 9, 2015

According to the article, Sinatra teared up as he spoke to the crowd at the service in Los Angeles. Gregory Peck, Barbara Sinatra, Cary Grant, and Karl Malden were among the mourners.

She was a beautiful human being. She was never without strength, beauty, and dignity, he said, adding, She was the most incredible human being Ive ever known. Everything she touched came alive. It is obvious Prince Rainer is a very lonely man. I think we all are, those who have known her.

RELATED: Frank Sinatra Offered to Work for the FBI  Despite Having a 2,000 Page File at the Agency
Diplo and Pauly D are two of the most famous DJs in the world. But who has the higher net worth? Lets compare the Jersey Shore star and the Lean On creators incomes to determine which DJ has accumulated the most wealth.

Pauly D | Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Jersey Shore star DJ Pauly Ds net worth: $20 million

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Paul Pauly D DelVecchio is a DJ and reality star with a net worth of $20 million. DelVecchio earned the majority of his wealth by starring on the hit MTV reality series Jersey Shore and performing as a DJ in Las Vegas, Nevada.

DJ Pauly D grew up with a passion for music, but he first became famous as a cast member on Jersey Shore in 2009. DelVecchio quickly won fans over, earning him the 2011 Teen Choice Award for Favorite Reality Star: Male.

Pauly D starred in his own spinoff show for MTV called The Pauly D Project. In 2018, he returned with most of the original cast members to the Jersey Shore sequel series, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. DelVecchio and his fellow Jersey Shore cast member Vinny Guadagnino starred in the MTV reality dating series Double Shot at Love in 2019.

DelVecchio also appeared on Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars with his then-girlfriend, Aubrey ODay, and on Famously Single.

The reality star released the single, Beat Dat Beat (Its Time To), in 2010. In 2011, he announced his three-album deal with G-Unit Records. The same year, he opened for Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale Tour and in 2012. Although he has dropped several singles, Pauly D has yet to release a full album.

Diplo | Phillip Faraone/FilmMagic

DJ Diplos net worth: $50 million

Diplo is an American DJ, producer, and songwriter who has a net worth of $50 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Diplo, whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz, is perhaps best known for co-founding the musical groups Major Lazer and LSD. His stage name Diplo is short for Diplodocus, which comes from Pentzs love of dinosaurs.

Diplo started as a DJ for a local radio station while attending the University of Central Florida. After connecting with DJ Low Budget, the two musicians began throwing parties and releasing mixtapes together in the early 2000s. Diplo released the album Florida through Big Nada Records.

The DJ built his own studio called The Mausoleum, where he hosted several artists. He reached international fame after working with M.I.A. on Piracy Funds Terrorism Vol. 1. Diplo and M.I.A. also collaborated on the hit song Paper Planes.

After his success with M.I.A., Diplo collaborated with numerous artists, including Bruno Mars, Kid Cudi, Lil Jon, and Steve Aoki. He has produced songs for musicians like Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, Usher, and Britney Spears. Diplo also worked on Beyonces Lemonade album.

In 2011, Diplo co-founded the group Major Lazer and released the collaborative record Guns Dont Kill People Lazers Do. Artists like Nina Sky and Santigold appeared on the album. Major Lazer then dropped an EP called Lazers Never Die, followed by their second full-length album, Free the Universe.

Diplo and Skrillex got together in 2013 to form the duo Jack U. They toured together before releasing an album called Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack U. The record featured artists like Justin Bieber and Missy Elliott, and the track Where Are U Now was particularly successful.

Diplo, Sia, and Labrinth collaborated to form the group LSD. In 2019, they released the album Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present LSD. In 2018, DJ Diplo created yet another music group with DJ Mark Ronson called Silk City. They have released several songs, including the hit Electricity.

Diplo also has his own record company called Mad Decent and a non-profit organization called Heaps Decent.

The two DJs are friends and might work together someday

Pauly D and Diplo might be professional competitors, but they are friends in real life.

Diplo plays on a Monday and I usually have Mondays off so Ill see him sometimes out  And then we both have Tuesdays off, so we got this boat and we hit Lake Mead in Las Vegas, Pauly D told BuzzFeed in 2014. Hes cool.

The Jersey Shore star also said he would love to work with Diplo. Id love to work with all the top artists, DelVecchio said. Id love to work with Nicki Minaj or Rihanna or something like that. I like the female artists. And as for DJs that are killing it right now, my friend Diplo, hes killin it. Skrillex is killin it. Id love to work with them as well. Theyre out in Vegas with me a lot.

RELATED: Diplos History of Sexual Misconduct Dates Back Years
Josh Duggar is awaiting sentencing on two child pornography charges. While it is unclear just how long Josh will spend in jail, it seems likely that he will be in a federal correctional facility for the next several years. Despite that fact, his wife, Anna Duggar, appears to be standing by his side. Some Duggar family followers assume Anna hasnt filed for divorce because of the type of marriage she and Josh have. Several Duggar family members have covenant marriages, but do Josh and Anna? The answer seems to be no.

What is a covenant marriage?

A covenant marriage is a marriage license that adds additional stipulations on a marrying couple before they wed. Covenant marriage also limits the reasons why a couple can choose to divorce. Before getting married, the couple must attend counseling sessions and sign paperwork that outlines their lifelong commitment to each other. Currently, only three states recognize covenant marriages. Arkansas, the state that the Duggar family calls home, is one of them.

According to Legal Zoom, people who enter into a covenant marriage still have the option of divorce. There are just added steps to the process. A covenant marriage can be dissolved if the spouses enter counseling and remain separated for two years. A spouse can also file to dissolve a covenant marriage if they can prove there was adultery in the union, if physical or sexual abuse were present, or if a partner is convicted of a felony. A spouse can also file for divorce if their partner abandons the marital home and refuses to return.

Anna, technically, could use several of the approved reasons to dissolve her covenant marriage if she had one. Josh admitted to cheating on Anna in a public statement back in 2015. The 33-year-old former reality TV star has also been convicted on two felony charges.

Do Josh and Anna Duggar have a covenant marriage?

Josh and Anna Duggar married in 2008 after a brief engagement. While the couple has openly discussed their courtship, Duggar family followers largely agree that they didnt actually court before their engagement. Either way, the duo was engaged in June 2008 and tied the knot in September 2008.

Josh Duggar and Anna Duggar | Kris Connor/Getty Images

The couple opted to wed in Annas home state of Florida. Their marriage license was generated there, too. Florida does not recognize covenant marriages. Instead, the couple has a standard marriage license. Even if Josh and Anna had opted to marry in a state that recognizes covenant marriages, Anna would have grounds to file for a divorce. Regardless, Anna does not seem to be pursuing a divorce at this time.

Which Duggar family members have covenant marriages?

While Duggar family followers have watched several of the familys offspring walk down the aisle, its hard to say just how many have opted for a covenant marriage. According to Duggar Data, Jill Dillard and her husband, Derick Dillard, discussed their decision to pursue a covenant marriage. Most of the other Duggar kids have remained quiet about it.

Family followers believe Joseph Duggar and Kendra Caldwell have a covenant marriage. They also believe Jedidiah Duggar and his wife, Katey Nakatsu, likely pursued a covenant marriage, as well. Both couples held their weddings in Arkansas.

Josiah and Lauren Duggar, Austin and Joy-Anna Forsyth, Jeremy and Jinger Vuolo, and Ben and Jessa Seewald all got married in Arkansas, too. Arkansas recognizes covenant marriages. Still, none have stated whether or not they pursued the special license. John David Duggar married Abbey Burnett in Oklahoma, while Justin Duggar tied the knot with Claire Spivey in Texas. Neither state recognizes covenant marriages. Its safe to say both have traditional marriages.

RELATED: Counting On: A Complete Timeline of Josh and Anna Duggars Marriage
Josh Duggars trial ended in December 2021 with a guilty verdict, and Josh Duggars wife, Anna Duggar, stood by his side through the entire ordeal. Josh and Anna have seven children together, and despite a number of obstacles in the past, shes always stayed with him through it all. Now, Josh remains in jail as he awaits sentencing. And Anna can reportedly no longer visit Josh in jail due to updated coronavirus (COVID-19) protocol. If Anna wants to call or email Josh, she has to pay a hefty price tag to do so.

After Josh Duggars trial and guilty verdict, Josh remains in jail prior to sentencing

Anna Duggar and Josh Duggar pose during the 42nd annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) | Kris Connor/Getty Images

Josh Duggars trial concluded with the jury finding him guilty for downloading and receiving child sexual abuse material. In April 2021, federal agents arrested Josh on suspicion of the crimes, and now that the trial concluded, a number of Duggar family members have spoken out about everything that happened. Joy-Anna Duggar, Jill Duggar, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, and others posted to social media about how they plan on helping Anna Duggar moving forward.

The family prayed and prayed, but also braced themselves for the worst, an insider from In Touch noted. [Michelle Duggar] and [Jim Bob Duggar] are trying to stay strong, praying for Josh, [Anna Duggar], and their grandkids. The family is rallying, but some of the kids cant forgive their brother Josh for what he did. Theyre horrified that he didnt get help sooner.

Now, Josh awaits sentencing for the crimes. He currently resides in Washington County Detention Center in Arkansas in solitary confinement. When he receives his sentence, hell move.

Can Anna Duggar visit Josh Duggar in jail? She has to pay a price to email or take video calls with him

#EXCLUSIVE: Anna Duggar banned from visiting husband Josh in jail as he awaits child pornography sentencing https://t.co/UuhyJNmt74 pic.twitter.com/RXr1yVtvie  The US Sun (@TheSunUS) January 5, 2022

Can Anna Duggar visit Josh Duggar in jail while he awaits sentencing? It seems she cannot see Josh in person at all. According to The Sun, she can call him or email him  but thats the only contact she can make with her husband at this time until his sentencing in court. All visits via the jail lobby kiosk are suspended due to coronavirus, the Washington County Detention Center in Arkansas confirmed with the publication.

While Anna can still call or email Josh, its not cheap. The Sun notes emails cost $5 for just one message, and video calls cost $0.25 per minute.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, local jails cost a heftier price than many prisons do, too. In 2018, the highest price of a 15-minute in-state call from a jail in Arkansas cost $24.82. The average cost of a 15-minute call in the state was $14.49. Average phone call rates from jail were three times higher than they were from prison.

Does Anna Duggar think her husband is innocent?

Sometimes love just isn't enough. #AnnaDuggar may still love her husband #JoshDuggar, but she's unsure of what their future together looks like following his guilty verdict. https://t.co/fsTUDK3cJg  OK! Magazine USA (@OKMagazine) January 6, 2022

Does Anna Duggar think Josh Duggar is innocent? Josh Duggars trial found him guilty, but Annas stood by his side in the past when he came forward for various wrongdoings. So far, she has yet to make a statement about her husband. And given how Anna and the Duggars were raised, its unlikely shell file for divorce.

A source told In Touch Anna continues to pray for Josh and lean into religion to get her through. Shes leaning on her faith and is certain that it will work out the way its supposed to, the source claimed.

How to get help: If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 for free and confidential support.

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RELATED: Josh Duggar Told Wife Anna Duggar He Loved Her After Guilty Verdict While Anna Remained Stoic
Royals like Prince William are often heavily scrutinized for everything they say and do. Recently, William allegedly made a comment that did not sit well with some members of the public. According to a royal expert, the Duke of Cambridge might be on dangerous ground after the event.

Prince William | Victoria Jones-WPA Pool/Getty Images

Prince William has been supporting Afghan refugees

As a working royal, William often supports many different causes, such as mental health, sports, and environmental sustainability. Recently, he has also been working with people who are helping Afghan refugees in the United Kingdom.

According to The Times, the U.K. government has evacuated around 15,000 Afghans from the country after the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021. Many of these refugees are temporarily living in hotels across the U.K. as there is a shortage of social housing nationwide.

William visited a hotel in Leeds in November. He reportedly told the refugees they couldnt be more welcome in the U.K. and shared some frustration about the government not being able to get more people out of Afghanistan.

He said he was frustrated at the withdrawal effort in August, an unnamed refugee told The Times. He said he wished we could have brought more people to the UK.

Prince Williams alleged comment about the resettlement efforts put him on dangerous ground, royal expert says

RELATED: Prince William Once Showed He Is Stubborn Just Like Princess Diana

William also allegedly expressed frustration at the lack of permanent housing for the new immigrants. One refugee recalled, He asked us: Why is it taking so long to get into permanent homes?

However, according to royal commentator Neil Sean, this comment has sparked some criticism toward William.

Lots of people are saying, Well, you could do more. You have your various homes and palaces. If you want to help these people, why not rescue them and, of course, put them up in your homes? Sean said in a YouTube video.

Sean also pointed out the large homeless population in the U.K. Though William has done a lot to help people who are homeless, Sean added, A lot of people over here, particularly in London, where you do see homelessness at a very acute level  then you see the luxury that certain members of our British monarchy are living in, its a very dangerous ground to trek.

Unless youre opening the doors yourself, you can, of course, open the floodgates of political backlash, Sean said.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have also helped Afghan refugees in the United States

Harry and Meghan visit Afghan refugees and act out Archie's favourite song https://t.co/trjRPaLaCv  Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) November 13, 2021

RELATED: Prince William and Kate Middleton Have Been Sending Secret Messages to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Royal Expert Claims

The United States has also been taking in many refugees from Afghanistan in recent months. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who moved to California in 2020, are supporting efforts to help these refugees as well.

In November, Harry and Meghan visited the Task Force Liberty base in New Jersey, where they met many refugees who are being housed there. The couple even stopped by a classroom and interacted with children learning English.
The name of Ree Drummonds Veggie-Packed Pasta says it all. One of many Pioneer Woman pasta recipes from the celebrity chef and Food Network star, Drummond loads the dish with vegetables. Change them up or follow her recipe exactly, the Veggie-Packed Pastas loaded with an array of greens.

The Pioneer Woman pasta is ready in 1 hour

Ree Drummond | Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

This isnt a 16-minute Pioneer Woman recipe or even what Drummond calls PDQ, or pretty darn quick. Her Veggie-Packed Pasta is a one-hour dish, according to Food Network.

But that doesnt mean its a complicated recipe. Or that every single second of those 60 minutes is spent chopping, dicing, or stirring.

The recipe requires 35 minutes of active work and its classified as easy to make by Food Network. What about the remaining 25 minutes? Its allotted for boiling the pasta and baking. This means there will certainly be some downtime during the cooking process.

The Food Network star includes 6 vegetables

Ree Drummond, Maria Shriver, and Hoda Kotb | Tyler Essary/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

Drummonds Veggie-Packed Pasta is exactly that, a pasta dish that really is packed with veggies. Per the Super Easy cookbook authors ingredient list she includes not just one or two vegetables in the recipe but six.

The 53-year-old, who films The Pioneer Woman in Oklahoma, tosses the pasta with asparagus, frozen peas, fresh kale, and zucchini. Drummond, a food blogger-turned Food Network star, doesnt stop there with the veggies. Other additions include onion and garlic.

Drummonds Veggie-Packed Pasta gets another dose of something green from prepared pesto. Made from scratch at home or bought from the grocery store, the flavor-packed sauce adds another veggie element to the dish.

How to make Ree Drummonds Veggie-Packed Pasta

Ree Drummond | Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images

Drummonds Veggie-Packed Pasta comes together in six easy steps. It starts with prep which included boiling a big pot of water on the stove and heating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the waters boiling its time to cook the pasta. The recipe calls for whole wheat penne but any variety works too.

This is where its important to note a few crucial steps. Drummond advises boiling the pasta until its al dente, or not fully cooked. When draining the pasta, remember to save some of the water because The Pioneer Woman host uses it later on.

Next is the vegetable element of the dish. Drummond heats up a large skillet on the stove before tossing in garlic and onion followed by asparagus and zucchini. Once the vegetables are soft she adds white wine being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.

After the white wine has cooked down a bit she adds kale and peas along with ricotta cheese and pasta water. When a minutes gone by Drummond adds the drained pasta to the pan. If needed, she adds more pasta water to thicken the sauce.

Next, she transfers everything to a baking dish. Then she makes a breadcrumb and cheese mixture which she sprinkles on top.

Finally, Drummonds Veggie-Packed Pasta goes in the oven to bake. Less than 20 minutes later its ready to eat.

RELATED: Ree Drummonds Sweet Potato and Mushroom Carbonara Is so Very Easy, According to the Pioneer Woman
Things are not going well for the Brown family. TLC has been on hand to capture Kody Brown going toe-to-toe with several of his wives over the years. Still, season 16 of Sister Wives is proving to be the most drama-filled yet. Some fans are largely convinced that Robyn Brown is the cause, and they are digging in to find proof that Robyn has been making the family decisions for years. Several moments seem to offer evidence to back up the claim.

Kody had a sudden change of heart about Meris bed and breakfast business

When Robyn joined the Brown family, she wanted to open a small business. The entire family embraced her now-defunct jewelry company idea. The same was not true when Meri Brown approached the family about buying a historic home to open a bed and breakfast. Robyn was the wife that mounted the largest opposition.

Reddit users point out that Kody seemed to understand what Meri wanted to do with the business before the familys big meeting. Christine Brown was almost instantly on board, and Janelle Brown was wishy-washy at worst. Robyn was the wife who asked Meri for a business plan and suggested the business would fail. Kody, fans note, only seemed to question the business potential when Robyn brought it up. In the end, Meri financed the project herself, and it remains a successful small business.

Sister Wives fans think Robyn Brown forced the familys move to Arizona

In 2018 the Brown family inexplicably picked up their life in Las Vegas and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. Sister Wives fans were unclear on the motives behind the move when it happened, and years later, they remain confused by the decision. The family has yet to build on the land they purchased and seemed to walk themselves steadily toward financial ruin for the completely optional move.

The Brown family | Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

While the Brown family has never discussed it, Sister Wives fans believe the evidence suggests Robyn is the wife that talked Kody into moving the whole family. Robyn had been against living in Las Vegas for several years. Coincidentally, her son, Dayton Brown, had shown interest in an Arizona college ahead of the move, claim Brown family followers. Daytons interest in an Arizona college is what drew the entire family to the area, theorize fans. Robyns whole attitude about the move suggests it was very much her idea. Still, no one has confirmed that yet.

Robyn appeared to shut down any talks of returning to Utah

Christine Brown, Kodys third wife, announced her separation from Kody in November 2021. While the couples marriage breakdown had several contributing factors, Kodys decision to go against Christines desire to move to Utah appears to have been the final blow. Sister Wives fans arent entirely sure that was Kodys choice, though. There is reason to believe Robyn largely influenced his vote.

After Christine approached Kody about returning to Utah, Kody went to his wives to discuss the prospect. While neither Robyn nor Janelle, Kodys second wife, were onboard, Reddit users largely believe Robyns desire to stay put is what led to Kody shooting down Christines idea. Several users note that Kody seemed OK with the move until Robyn got her say.

RELATED: Sister Wives: Christine Brown Questions Robyn Browns Covid Rules, What Does the Nanny Do?
The Rocky franchise is a series that has endured the test of time. Sylvester Stallone brought Rocky Balboa to the big screen in 1976, and its still going strong in some shape or form. Lately, Michael B. Jordan has been continuing Rockys coveted legacy with his Creed films. But there was one point where Stallone meant for the franchise to end definitively with the fourth movie.

Rocky Balboa was supposed to die in Rocky V

Sylvester Stallone | Munawar Hosain/Getty Images

Rocky V was the last the audience saw of the Italian Stallion until he returned decades later in Rocky Balboa. But according to Rocky V director John Avildsen, Rocky originally wasnt going to have any type of comeback after the fifth movie. Thats because Stallones decorated character wasnt supposed to live past this sequel.

First of all, in five, Rocky was supposed to die, Avildsen said according to CBS Philly. At the end of the movie he is on the way to the hospital, his head is in Adrians lap and he dies because hes taken this great beating from Tommy Gunn,

Avildsen also had the aftermath of Rockys death planned out.

And the last scene of the movie, Adrian comes out of the hospital and theres the world press assembled because Rocky then is a big deal and she announces that he is dead, but as long as people believe in themselves Rockys spirit will live forever, Avildsen continued. And when I read that I said, wow what a great way to go out. What a beautiful ending!

But studio interference made sure that ending would never come to fruition.

So we started shooting the movie and a couple of weeks into the shooting I get a call from the head of the studio and they said, Oh, by the way, Rockys not going to die. Batman doesnt die, Superman, James Bond, these people dont die, the director remembered.

This resulted in a sequel that even Sylvester Stallone isnt too fond of.

Why Sylvester Stallone meant for Rocky IV to be the last movie

Ironically, Rocky and his journey were also supposed to come to an end in the fourth Rocky movie as well. Talking to Interview magazine, the franchises star felt that Rocky IV was as big as the series could get. When asked how many more Rocky movies he saw himself tackling after IV, Stallone seemed emphatic about his answer.

Oh, this is it for Rocky, he said. Because I dont know where you go after you battle Russia. You know what I mean? You have that clash of ideologies and you take on supposedly the greatest fighting machine ever built  a biochemically produced Soviet fighter. Where do you go after that? Everything subsequent is anticlimactic. And I dont think I can do any better. If I can go out with four good Rocky films, Ive been extremely lucky.

Why Sylvester Stallone agreed to do Creed

Creed is the first film in the Rocky series that Stallone didnt write. Stallone explained that it was the director, Ryan Coogler, who approached Stallone with a new take to continue the franchise.

A young filmmaker came to me and said, I have this idea of, Apollo Creed had an illegitimate son. This perfect guy didnt always walk the walk, Stallone said on The Ellen Show. Now, this kid is born, Michael B. Jordan. And he just feels alienated. Theres a hole in his heart. And he seeks out the one person who knew his father best.

But Coogler wasnt the only person to offer ideas for a Rocky sequel. Ironically, while talking to Interview, Stallone revealed people would pitch him Rocky sequels all the time.

And then you know what? You listen to em and then an hour later their lawyer calls and sues ya, Stallone said.

Fortunately, Stallone felt Cooglers idea was good enough for him to trust the young filmmaker with his franchise at the time.

RELATED: Rocky IV: Sylvester Stallone Wishes Hed Let Apollo Creed Live to Play This Role in Rocky V and Rocky Balboa
The Blacklist Season 9 returned with a new episode on Jan. 6. This time, fans were taken back in time to Donald Ressler dealing with the aftermath of Liz Keens death. Episode 7, Between Sleep & Awake, took fans on an emotional journey as a grieving Ressler ends up helping a mother and son. Ressler actor Diego Klattenhoff shared his thoughts on creating the new episode focused entirely on his character.

[Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers for The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 7.]

Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler in The Blacklist Season 9 | Michael Greenberg/NBC

The Blacklist Season 9 returns with Between Sleep & Awake

The Blacklist Season 9 returned from the holiday break with the episode Between Sleep & Awake. In the present day, the episode takes place on the two-year anniversary of Liz Keens death. Agnes has the idea to have a celebration of life for her mother and Cooper invites Ressler to join but he declines. Instead, Ressler visits the barber and returns to his former clean-shaven self. He also picks up purple carnations and visits Lizs grave for presumably the first time since her death.

At the same time, the episode flashes back to Ressler dealing with the after-effects of Lizs death. In pursuit of Red, Ressler crashed his car. After he was released from the hospital, Ressler was given oxycodone for the pain, which explains how he fell back into addiction. Ressler then traveled to the small town of Liberty Falls. The former FBI agent wanted to be left alone, but he ended up helping a mother and son who are hiding from an abusive man.

Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler in The Blacklist Season 9 | Will Hart/NBC

Diego Klattenhoff talks Resslers flashback episode

Actor Diego Klattenhoff has played Donald Ressler since the beginning. In season 7, Klattenhoff had a Ressler-focused episode titled Brothers. The episode flashed back to a traumatic event in Resslers childhood.

The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 7 was perhaps an even more emotional episode than Brothers. Klattenhoff portrayed grief and addiction in an episode that focused solely on his character.

Ive been very lucky that they gave me a whole episode to myself and to really go deeper into what happened to Ressler in these two years where we left off at the end of last season, Klattenhoff said in an interview with ET Canada.

Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler in The Blacklist Season 9 | Michael Greenberg/NBC

This is what you dream about as an actor, Klattenhoff continued when asked about the challenges of an episode focused on Resslers grief. Of getting these scripts and to put in all this time in the character and the development and the journey of this character and then for it to pay off in an episode like this here. So for myself, its been a long time coming to get to go into this world. Its great to set up also where things are going to go in the future as well.

Will the rest of the cast be back for The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 8?

Since The Blacklist Season 9 Episode 7 was focused on Ressler, fans didnt get to see much of the rest of the task force in Between Sleep & Awake. Despite Klattenhoffs excellent performance, fans are definitely missing Red and the others.

Luckily viewers will get to catch up with more of their favorite characters next week. Episode 8, Dr. Razmik Maier, will air on Jan. 13. Red and the task force will be back to take down a new blacklister criminal.

New episodes of The Blacklist premiere Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

RELATED: The Blacklist Season 9 Will Air on a New Night in 2022
Abram Boise | MTV

The Challenge star Abram Boise and his wife, Rachel Missie, split last year just months after welcoming their first child.

The Challenge star announced his engagement on Valentines Day 2019

The Challenge fan-favorite announced that he was engaged to Missie on Valentines Day 2019. Four months later, the couple tied the knot in an outdoor wedding ceremony that took place in Montana.

At the time, Missie posted photos from their rehearsal dinner and wrote in the caption that the most beautiful thing in her life was us together. A little over a year later, the couple announced that they were expecting their first baby. The pregnancy began with twins. But Missie revealed during her first trimester that her body decided it could only support one baby.

We experienced whats called vanishing twin, Missie posted via Instagram. The body sacrifices and reabsorbs the other fetus into the uterine wall, putting all that nourishment towards the strongest baby. We had gotten so attached to the idea of twins and mourned the loss of what could have been. Now we continue to celebrate what is, the beautiful life growing healthy and strong.

Abram Boise split from his wife in September 2021

Less than five months after welcoming their son Atlas Young Boise in April 2021, Boise and Missie announced that they were separating after two years of marriage as first reported by US Weekly. On September 9, Missie wrote on her Instagram Story that the relationship was officially over.

Life is full of many chapters and its important to recognize when its time to end and begin again, she wrote. While our romantic relationship has come to an end, were forever connected and focused on being the best for our son. Thank you all that have supported us through this journey. Xoxo.

Abram Boise has not publicly commented about the split.

The Challenge is currently on hiatus on MTV. The Challenge: All Stars is now playing on Paramount+.

RELATED: Challenge Star Abram Boise Once Said Cara Maria Sorbello Made Him a Better Man Despite Their Volatile Fights
Actor Valerie Bertinelli is still mourning the death of musician Eddie Van Halen, like the rest of his fans. Even though she and the Van Halen guitarist divorced in 2007, Bertinelli was there for her ex-husband in his last moments. She spoke about his final words and their final moments together in her upcoming book, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today.

Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Valerie Bertinelli has revealed Eddie Van Halens last words

In her new book, Bertinelli talked about her ex-husbands last days and moments. She wrote that loved ones surrounded Van Halen in his final moments. Among the people there were the ex-couples son Wolfgang, Van Halens wife Janie Liszewski, whom he married in 2009, and his brother Alex.

Van Halen spoke his last words to Bertinelli and Wolfgang during these final moments. I love you are the last words Ed says to Wolfie and me, and they are the last words we say to him before he stops breathing, Bertinelli wrote in an excerpt obtained by People.



Maybe next time. Maybe next time well get it right, Bertinelli told Van Halen in those last couple of months.

RELATED: Valerie Bertinelli Says Her Husband Tom Outshines Her in the Kitchen With This Dish

Bertinelli calls Van Halen her soulmate

Even though their 20-year marriage was tumultuous, Bertinelli wrote that Van Halen was her soulmate.

We were portrayed as a mismatch, Bertinelli wrote. The bad boy rock star and Americas sweetheart but privately, Ed wasnt the person people thought he was and neither was I.

One of the biggest reasons for the couples 2007 divorce was Van Halens drug addiction. I hated the drugs and the alcohol but I never hated him, she continued to write. I saw his pain.

After they finalized their divorce and each of them remarried, they remained close, especially for their son. They had a bond, which grew exponentially once Van Halen learned of his cancer.

RELATED: Valerie Bertinelli Accompanied Eddie Van Halen on a 1983 Tour and Was Mistaken For a Prostitute, EVH Biography Claims

The guitarist gave the actor a gift during his cancer treatments

Bertinelli wrote that on Thanksgiving Day in 2019, Van Halen visited her and requested to talk to her privately. In privacy, Van Halen gave her a small bag with a pendant-sized gold bar that he bought while getting cancer treatments in Germany, People wrote.

I hope you dont think its weird, you know, that I bought my ex-wife this gift and didnt get my wife anything, Van Halen told her with tears in his eyes. I just love you.

He wants me to know he messed up [during our marriage], Bertinelli wrote. I contributed to our troubles too and I am also sorry.

Bertinelli regrets not spending more time with her ex-husband during his last months. Her marriage to Tom Vitale and Van Halens to Liszewski were both struggling. There is no chance we are going to get back together, she wrote, but I do know if one of us were to open up, the other one would too, and I dont want to get into that.

I cant explain the feelings Ed and I had for each other, she continued. Who really knows had he not died. I doubt it. I loved him more than I know how to explain and theres nothing sexual about it. It was more than that. And Ed and I understood that.

There is no greater love than what we had between the two of us and with that, we made this beautiful son, she wrote.

Hopefully, Bertinelli found comfort in writing about her relationship with Van Halen. Her new book certainly gives fans the answers theyve been looking for.

How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.

RELATED: Are Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen Still Friends?
If youre watching Women of the Movement on ABC, you want to know what happened to the real Carolyn Bryant (portrayed by Julia McDermott). Is Emmett Tills (Cedric Joe) accuser still alive today, and did she ever tell the truth? The story viewers watched in Women of the Movement Episode 1 differs from what Bryant said during the trial a few episodes later. Which version is the truth? Luckily, she told her story to one journalist, Timothy B. Tyson, published in his 2017 book, The Blood of Emmett Till.

Women of the Movement: Julia McDermott and Carter Jenkins | ABC/James Van Evers

Women of the Movement: Is Carolyn Bryant alive, and how old is she today?

Yes, Emmett Tills accuser, Carolyn Bryant, portrayed in Women of the Movement, is still alive today. She was born in 1934 and will be about 88 years old in 2022. According to the book The Blood of Emmett Till, in 1955, when Emmett Till entered the country store in Money, Mississippi, Bryant was 21.

Women of the Movement shows two versions of the Carolyn Bryant incident

In Women of the Movement Episode 1, Mother and Son, Emmetts friends dare him to talk to Carolyn Bryant. The white woman behind the counter is appalled when Emmett asks her for a date. She runs to grab her pistol, and Emmett whistles. Her husband, Roy Bryant (Carter Jenkins), finds out what happened and abducts Emmett with his brother-in-law, J. W. Milam (Chris Coy), a few days later. They track him down at his great Uncle Mose (Glynn Turman) home and his family never sees him alive again.

RELATED: Women of the Movement: How Accurate is the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Series to Real Life?

In a later episode of the ABC historical drama, Bryant takes the stand and tells a more dramatic story of what happened at the store. She explains that Emmett grabbed her hand and would not let go until she snatched it away. Bryant also testified that he chased her down, blocked her path, and clutched her waist tightly. The other addition to the story since episode 1 is that Emmett said he had been with white women before, so she shouldnt be afraid. Which version of the story is accurate?

Did Emmett actually whistle?

In Tysons New York Times Bestseller, he describes the interview he secured with Carolyn Bryant Donham in 2007, long before Women of the Movement. She invited him to her home to deliver the manuscript and her unpublished memoir to the correct archive for future scholars.

Theyre all dead now anyway, Tyson recalls Bryant Donham saying somewhat to herself before beginning the interview. Her ex-husband, Roy Bryant, died on Sept. 1, 1994. J. W. Milam died on Dec. 31, 1980.

They spoke about her 1955 testimony during the interview that Till had grabbed her around the waist and uttered obscenities.

That parts not true, Bryant Donham told Tyson.

However, when he asked her to elaborate, the woman could not recall what had happened.

I want to tell you, she said. Honestly, I just dont remember. It was fifty years ago. You tell these stories for so long that they seem true, but that part is not true.

Carolyn Bryant now admits she lied when she testified Emmett Till grabbed her. New book by Timothy B. Tyson.https://t.co/UZcxp6tGtb pic.twitter.com/3UCE7k0vVk  Jerry Mitchell (@JMitchellNews) January 27, 2017

Tyson secured the hand-written notes of what Bryant said to her attorney the day after the arrest in 1955. Bryant admitted that Till had insulted her but not grabbed her or attempted to rape her in this earlier version.

Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him, she added during the interview with Tyson.

Carolyn Bryant Donham did not say whether Emmett Till whistled at her all those years ago; however, many accounts report he did. From watching Women of the Movement, viewers know that Emmett had a stutter. His mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, told him to whistle sometimes to help with his stutter. Did he whistle at Carolyn Bryant in 1955 outside the country store like shown in Women of the Movement? We may never know for sure.

Women of the Movement airs on ABC on Jan. 6, Jan. 13, and Jan. 20, with two episodes each week. The 6-episode historical limited series is also available the next day on Hulu. ABC News also added a companion series to the historical drama, which immediately follows it; Let the World See.

RELATED: Women of the Movement: ABC Filmed the Series in Scary Original Locations According to Glynn Turman (Exclusive)
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, center, talks with tribal members ahead of a round-table discussion among pueblo governors at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 6, 2021. New Mexico's plan to address the needs of underserved Indigenous students hasn't been shared with tribal leaders or the public despite promises to do so last year. Native American leaders and education advocates say a draft of the plan, meant to respond to a 2018 court ruling, is being delayed for approval by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
On New Years Day, 43 congregations of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) split from the national denomination, one of the oldest Protestant bodies in the United States, in part over theological differences regarding same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBT clergy.

The departure of the theologically conservative congregations to the new group, the Alliance of Reformed Churches (ARC), leaves some who remain in the RCA concerned for the denominations survival. Before the split, the nearly 400-year-old denomination had fewer than 200,000 members and 1,000 churches.

At least 125 churches from various denominations are in conversation with ARC leaders about joining.

Realistically, its a large group of conservative churches that are also providing a lot of income to the denomination. I really think the mass exodus of all these conservative churches is going to throw the RCA into a really difficult financial situation, said Steven Rodriguez, an RCA church planter in Brockport, New York. I doubt the RCA will be financially sustainable for much longer.

The move follows the RCA General Synods October decision to adopt measures for grace-filled separation with departing churches and to appoint a team to develop a restructuring plan for those that remain.

The new denomination, besides not affirming same-sex marriage or the ordination of LGBT individuals, will have a strong emphasis on church planting and feature a flexible organizational model meant to foster theological alignment and efficient decision-making, according to ARC leaders.

We have a passion for this remnant of believers to become a part of reformation and revival in the Northern Hemisphere, said Tim Vink, the new denominations director of spiritual leadership and outreach. Part of our strategic thinking is designing things for the 21st century that allows a multiplication of gospel-saturated churches and a multiplication of disciples.

Other conservative-leaning churches in the RCA, as well as those in the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC), and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), are also discerning whether to join the ARC, according to Vink.

Other groups, such as the Kingdom Network, a group of five churches in Indiana and Illinois, have formed and expect to absorb conservative churches leaving the RCA.

Vink said the new alignment will promote growth. We want to be a safe landing pad for churches in the near term, but in the long term want to be a serious launching pad for the church, in mission, to the world, he said.

The launch of ARC is part of a larger realignment within North American Protestantism. The last two decades have seen conservative Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Lutherans form their own denominations, and United Methodists are scheduled to consider a denominational split in the fall.

A theologically and politically diverse denomination that dates to the arrival of Dutch settlers in Manhattan in the 1620s, the RCA has been debating sexuality and LGBT inclusion since the 1970s. In 2018, the RCAs General Synod formed a team charged with discerning whether the RCA should stay together, restructure, or separate. The team ultimately suggested a path involving all three avenues, but the meeting to vote on the teams proposals was delayed for 16 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the interim, roughly 15 congregational, regional, and strategic leaders from the RCA began meeting virtually to consider a future outside the denomination. Part of that future, they believed, involved theological unity on the interpretation of Scripture.

We believe if the church is going to be successful in the 21st century, it needs to be powered by a more agile structure and it needs to be more theologically aligned than theologically diverse, said Dan Ackerman, ARCs director of organizational leadership.

Joel Baar, an ARC board member and elder at Fellowship Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan, which opted to join ARC by a vote of 6049, said that theological conformity of ARC is part of what appealed to his congregation.

As the RCA was attempting to define and clarify marriage, said Barr, and efforts had been happening over the decades in that regard, there continued to be this tension within the RCA of whether or not the Bible was the full authority of Gods Word. We started feeling at Fellowship we no longer belonged within the RCA.

But theological differences remain even within the new denomination. While the understanding of marriage as between a man and a woman is a top-tier theological belief, Ackerman explained, the question of womens ordination is a second-tier issue that local leaders can address in their own contexts.

Every five years the organization and individual congregations will assess how well they are serving one another and if they should remain partners in ministry, said Ackerman. The word alliance implies a choosing that happens so you can accomplish a certain thing, and then you reevaluate and say, is that alliance still helpful for the next chapter?

ARC will replace national in-person conferences with video calls, digital messaging platforms, and other forms of virtual communication to make decisions more efficiently, organizers said. Its board already meets twice a month to expedite response times.

The creation of ARC, paired with the RCAs decisions at General Synod, has put many RCA congregations in the position of deciding whether to stay in the RCA.

Baar says the decision to leave the RCA wasnt a simple one. My roots in the RCA are deep, he said, saying part of his congregants discernment about leaving the denomination was a grieving process.

Faith Reformed Church in Zeeland, Michigan, also took time to discern its relationship to the RCA. For now, the congregation has decided to remain in the RCA. But staying isnt easy either.

We mourn some of the people who are no longer part of the denomination. There are churches we planted that will leave, theres children weve raised up in the church that are pastors of churches that are leaving, said the senior pastor, Jonathan Elgersma. We do feel there has to be space to lament.

RCA leadership has reached out to its congregations, hoping to sell them on RCAs increasing diversity and new international church-planting and missional partnerships, which includes its 375-year-old Global Mission organization that supports roughly 100 missionaries and partners through its $8.5 million worth of endowments.

Yet the RCA is also committed to allowing departing churches to leave on good terms. We want to bless our brothers and sisters who are choosing to find another denominational family, said Christina Tazelaar, director of communication for the RCA.

The ARC seems equally dedicated to a smooth transition, and ARC pastors say they are open to the idea of continued partnerships with the RCA. We bless the RCA, we pray for the RCA, said Vink.

Elgersma, too, is hopeful that the ARC and RCA will remain in conversation. Are we faithful enough to respect the full kingdom and listen to and learn from each other? he said. I really hope thats where we land as this plays itself out.

But, said Vink, the General Synod in October made it clear to many conservative churches that the time is now to look for a new wineskin.
3 men sentenced to life in prison for Ahmaud Arbery murder: 'All praise to God'

The three white men convicted of killing 25-year-old unarmed African American Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia have been sentenced to life in prison.

Judge Timothy Walmsley in Georgia sentenced 35-year-old Travis McMichael and his 66-year-old father, Gregory McMichael, a retired police detective, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Meanwhile, their 52-year-old neighbor William Roddie Bryan, 52, was also was sentenced to life in prison but with the possibility of parole.

On Feb. 23, 2020, Arbery was shot to death while jogging outside the city of Brunswick, Georgia.

A widely-shared video leaked by Greg McMichael to a local radio station showed Arbery being chased by a white Ford pickup truck as he ran through the Satilla Shores subdivision. Arbery briefly disappeared off-camera as a gunshot was heard in the background. Two more shots rang out as Arbery appeared back in the footage before falling to the ground. He was dead by the time the police arrived at the scene.

In this case, I think many people are seeking closure, the judge said before the sentencing on Friday.

The mother, the father, the community, and maybe even parts of the nation, but closure is hard to define and is a granular concept. Its seen differently by all depending on their perspective and the prism of your lives.

The judge called for silence for one minute.

That one minute represents a fraction of the time that Ahmaud Arbery was running in Satilla Shores, he said. When I thought about this, I thought from a lot of different angles, and I kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores.

Arberys parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, also addressed the court.

These men have chose[n] to lie and attack my son and his surviving family. They each have no remorse and do not deserve any leniency, Cooper-Jones said. They chose to treat him differently than other people who frequently visited their community. And when they couldnt sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him.

You know, something that just does not sit right with me at this time? The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father, Marcus Arbery said. Ill never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again  not at the dinner table, not at the holidays and not at a wedding. When I close my eyes, I see his execution in my mind over and over. Ill see that for the rest of my life.

The defense had argued that Travis McMichael was trying to make a citizens arrest of Arbery, whom they suspected of burgling a nearby home under construction. The defense had also argued the shooting was an act of self-defense because Arbery was resisting McMichaels attempt at an arrest. The judge noted in his closing statement before sentencing that the men admitted they didnt know for sure that Arbery had done anything wrong. He said Greg McMichael tried to "establish a narrative early on in the case.

The sentencing comes about two months after a jury found the three men guilty of murder in the highly-publicized case that has been among those at the forefront of nationwide protests for racial justice.

The Arbery murder trial was attended by prominent African American faith leaders and civil rights activists, such as the Rev. Al Sharpton. National headlines were made after Bryans defense attorney complained in court about the presence of prominent black pastors.

Jamal Bryant, the senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, had called on pastors from around the country to join him in forming a human prayer wall against racism and injustice at the Glynn County Courthouse. Bryant accompanied Arberys mother to the sentencing Friday.

All praise to God. Nobody said the road was going to be easy. But we dont believe He has brought us this far to leave us now, Bryant said in a news conference after the sentencing. We want to thank the citizens of Brunswick for standing around this family, undergirding them with love and support.

President Joe Biden released a statement soon after the verdict was announced in November, saying that Arberys killing was a devastating reminder of how far we have to go in the fight for racial justice in this country.

Nothing can bring Mr. Arbery back to his family and to his community, but the verdict ensures that those who committed this horrible crime will be punished, stated the president.
Jana Duggar pleads guilty to child endangerment charge, settles outside of court

Former reality TV star Jana Duggar, who was charged with a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child last September, has pleaded guilty and settled outside of court.

Jana Duggar, who along with her family members was featured on the popular shows 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On, highlighting the familys ultra-conservative Christian faith, was ordered to pay an $880 fine as part of the settlement outside of the district court in Elm Springs, Arkansas.

Fox News first reported the development this week, citing documents suggesting that the 31-year-old daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar pleaded guilty on Dec. 15 following her initial not guilty plea. A court official confirmed that the case has been settled.

Duggar was charged on Sept. 9, 2021, in Washington County, Arkansas. The court documents did not reveal further details on the charge as the details of the case had been sealed. A court date had been scheduled for January.

After speculation swirled online, Duggar, who is not married and has no children, clarified on social media that a child she was babysitting escaped outdoors alone. She called it an accident.

The raw facts: I was babysitting a few months ago when one of the children wandered outside alone, she wrote in an Instagram Story. A passerby who saw [the] child called the police. This resulted in a written citation and a follow-up with child welfare, who concluded that it was an accident and the child was unharmed.

They recognized it was a case of a child slipping out of the house when you turn your back for a moment. It all happened so quickly and was scary. I am grateful for law enforcement and those who protect and serve our community. I was certainly never arrested like some may have implied. In the end, I was just upset at myself that it had happened at all, but so thankful it all ended safely, and thats truly what mattered most to me.

According to Arkansas law, endangering the welfare of a child is defined as engaging in conduct creating a substantial risk of serious harm to the physical or mental welfare of a person known by the actor to be a minor.

In Arkansas, a misdemeanor conviction for endangering the welfare of a child is punishable by fine of up to $1,000 or up to 90 days in jail, according to US Weekly.

Her sister Jessa Duggar Seewald and cousin Amy Duggar King defended her on social media.

Bottom line  it was an innocent mistake. She was babysitting and one of the kids slipped out the door unnoticed, but it ended safely. Couldve happened to anyone, Seewald wrote on Instagram at the time.

I will call out what is right and I will call out what is wrong. This couldnt have been intentional, King wrote. I bet you were exhausted, stressed and just emotionally worn out. Watching multiple kids is hard! Bc theres so many of them and you only have two eyes!! Its a very sad situation going on and my heart goes out to @janamduggar love you.

Reports of Jana Duggars charge came a day after a federal jury in Arkansas found Josh Duggar, the eldest Duggar son, guilty of one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

Josh Duggar had previously admitted to molesting his sisters when they were younger.
SPLC: Give them a bench, they'll take a mile

They haven't managed to kill the filibuster or ram through their federal election takeover (yet), but Democrats still have plenty of tricks up their sleeve to sabotage the vote. Their latest idea? Stacking the courts with wildly extreme political activists.

While everyone's distracted with COVID and the pile of other crises this president has created, the White House is hoping to slip a who's who of radicals onto one of the most powerful courts in the country. And almost no one has noticed.

Nancy Abudu isn't a household name, but her employer  the anti-Christian Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)  certainly should be. The disgraced "civil rights" organization, whose fall from grace sent shockwaves through the Leftist establishment a handful of years ago, turned out to be a hive of racist scam artists that exploited its donors, pretending to be America's "arbiters of justice." By 2019, when an ugly internal war went public, destroying SPLC's already fragile facade, it became clear to everyone that the so-called hate watcher was the biggest hater of them all.

Biden's pick for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was at the "poverty palace" when the mask was ripped off  when men at the highest pinnacles of leadership were exposed as sexist, prejudiced crooks  and yet she stayed. Since then, Abudu has been part of the rebuilding effort  desperately trying to give SPLC some scrap of credibility to hold onto. Democrats must have been foolish enough to buy into their rehabilitation project if the President of the United States is willing to take a senior member from one of America's most disreputable organizations and give her a vote on our country's most important cases.

And while the SPLC's phony overhaul might have duped the media, the reality is, they're still the same old SPLC  demonizing opponents, inciting violence and attacking perfectly decent human beings like Ben Carson, a man they once labeled an "extremist." Abudu has been at the helm of that work where election subversion is concerned, spending her days fighting common-sense laws like voter ID. She even supports ludicrous ideas like pre-clearance, which would require states to get approval from the U.S. Justice Department before they change their election laws. In fact, before her time at the SPLC (when she was at another radical stronghold  the ACLU) she equated proof of citizenship rules to "voter suppression" and compared voting bans for felons to "slavery."

These are safeguards everyone should support  like making sure only legal voters are voting and they're only voting once. And yet, these are the common-sense rules Abudu has spent her career fighting.

"This is an organization," Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reminded our listeners on "Washington Watch," "that said you were the head of a terrorist organization, which maybe speaks to the point about why somebody like Nancy Abudu should not be on the 11th Circuit Court."

As Grassley pointed out, the SPLC has a long history of targeting conservatives, and the simple fact that she works for them shows that Abudu has an agenda.

And let's not forget, the court that she's been nominated to has jurisdiction over Alabama (home of SPLC), Florida and Georgia. And, like all appellate courts, they're the final stop for 98 percent of cases in America. Very few  if any  of her decisions would be taken to the Supreme Court, meaning that she would have a tremendous amount of influence over the most explosive issues of the day  like voting rights. "It's extremely dangerous," FRC's Mary Beth Waddell warned. "If she's the one to have the final say over [laws like Georgia's], you could see greater election fraud in certain places if these laws to institute integrity aren't allowed to stand."

A number of organizations like FRC have joined together to sound that alarm, sending a letter to the ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee  Grassley and Senator Richard Durbin, D-Ill,  urging them to oppose Abudu's nomination. "Ms. Abudu works for a disreputable organization that has no business being a feeder for positions to any judicial office  not even of a traffic court  let alone the second highest court system in the United States. She is a political activist not a jurist and is unfit to serve at the federal appellate level."

Unfortunately, Grassley said Tuesday, the Senate is running into this with almost every one of Biden's nominees. That's why Republicans have voiced so much concern these last several months  voting against more of this president's judges through one year than Barack Obama's. "[We] want on the court a person who is going to interpret law the way Congress intended it to be written and the Constitution according to original intent. ... If you want to change the Constitution, you don't have judges do it. You amend the Constitution ... But when somebody like Nancy Abudu gets on the court ... it's all about their personal views when they make a decision."

At the end of the day, the fact that she would accept a management role "inside America's largest political defamation factory" tells us all we need to know about Joe Biden's nominee. It ought to automatically disqualify her from any role that requires impartiality. If you agree, join FRC Action in stopping her nomination. Send a message to your senators urging them to vote no on Nancy Abudu.

Originally published at the Family Research Council.
Parents sue DC over 'reckless,' 'unconstitutional' law to vaccinate kids without parental consent

Parents in Washington, D.C., have filed a lawsuit against the District over a new law that allows officials to vaccinate children in public schools without parental consent, even if they have a religious objection.

The municipal regulation, known as the "Minor Consent to Vaccinations Act of 2020," was passed by the council in a vote of 10-3 in November and went into effect on March 19. It enables children ages 11 and older to consent to a vaccine if they are deemed "capable of meeting the informed consent standard" and "... able to comprehend ... significant risks ordinarily inherent in the medical care."

Under the law, students can have vaccines administered to them without their parents' knowledge because insurance providers are required to "seek reimbursement, without parental consent ..."

Insurance companies are also prohibited from sending parents an "Explanation of Benefits" detailing the medical service their child received. Yet children will be given access to their immunization records "without parental consent."

Childrens Health Defense and the Parental Rights Foundation filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District for the District of Columbia on behalf of four parents who have religious objections to their children getting COVID-19 vaccinations and say the mandate is unconstitutional.

The D.C. Act is reckless, unconstitutional, and needlessly endangers childrens lives by stripping away parental protection and the protection of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, said Mary Holland, president and general counsel of the Childrens Health Defense, in a statement.

The Minor Consent Act subverts the right and duty of parents to make informed decisions about whether their children should receive vaccinations, by both depriving them of the opportunity to make those decisions and by concealing from parents that their children have been asked to consent to vaccinations or may have indeed been vaccinated, the lawsuit claims.

Officials named in the lawsuit against the District include: Mayor Muriel Bowser; Laquandra Nesbitt, the director of the Department of Health; and Lewis Ferebee, chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools.

Though District of Columbia Public Schools is not requiring students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine before classes start in the fall, DCPS would be able to administer the vaccine to eligible children under the Minor Consent Act.

The lawsuit also states that the Minor Consent Act creates two health records for students, such as for those whose parents have a religious exemption for the HPV vaccine. The immunization record available to parents is blank, while the childs actual medical history, including vaccinations, is kept private from parents but is accessible to their children.

On its face, the Minor Consent Act circumvents parents decisions to claim a religious exemption pursuant to D.C., the lawsuit states.

Ferebee, chancellor of the DCPS, sent an email to DCPS parents on May 14 saying it was their responsibility to get vaccinated if they want to see their children back in school.

While the COVID-19 vaccine is currently not required for students to attend school next year, we encourage all students age 12 and older and their parents and caregivers to get vaccinated, the email from the chancellor read.

If you want to see students back in school, then it is our responsibility as a community for everyone to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when its available to them. We are collaborating with local health officials to host vaccination clinics at our schools, the email continued.

In another email sent on June 1, Ferefee wrote: The science is clear: Vaccines are the single most effective tool we have to stop the spread of the coronavirus. To help meet our commitment to fully reopen schools for every student, every day in the fall, it is our responsibility as a community to get vaccinated, including our middle school and high school students.

Mary Cheh, a council member and sponsor of the Minor Consent Act, said before the District's Committee on Health that anti-science beliefs of parents are putting their unvaccinated children at risk.

Unfortunately, we see a rising number of individuals or families across the globe, really, who are choosing not to vaccinate their children based on the widely disproven belief that vaccines may cause autism or other harmful health effects, Cheh said.

These anti-science beliefs not only put the unvaccinated children at risk, but have led to the spread of diseases that have been all but eradicated in the past, she continued.

DCPS opened walk-in vaccination clinics in four schools to offer the vaccine to anyone 12 years old and older.

Bowser announced all schools in the District would be fully reopened for in-person learning, five days a week, for every student starting on Aug. 30.

Shanita Williams, one of the parents named in the lawsuit, said she fears she cannot send her two children back to school in the fall without subjecting her children to receive the vaccine, despite her religious objection to it.

Another parent, Shameka Williams, worries her children will be pressured to consent to the vaccine.

Reports are surfacing of adverse effects to the vaccine, especially in young adults and adolescents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now tracking cases of heart inflammation associated with the mRNA coronavirus vaccine.

Dr. Robert Malone, an mRNA pioneer, has said he believes the "benefits probably don't outweigh the risks for younger Americans contemplating whether to get vaccinated.

The CDC released an update on Tuesday called Reported Adverse Events that lists anaphylaxis, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, myocarditis and pericarditis, and reports of death as adverse but rare side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines, which are not FDA-approved but authorized for emergency use.
People uncertain about their relationship with God more likely to suffer mental distress: study

In the first chapter of the book of James in the Bible, Jesus brother warns against approaching God with unsteady faith because of the instability that comes with being double minded. Now, a new study suggests that people who are uncertain about their relationship with God are more likely to experience mental distress than other believers.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed, James declares in Scripture. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

In Attachment to God and Psychological Distress: Evidence of a Curvilinear Relationship published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion last month, researchers W. Matthew Henderson of Union University and Blake Kent of Westmont College conclude that anxiety or a lack of certainty about ones relationship with the divine represents a threat to psychological well-being.

The study used national data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey, including more than 1,600 Americans who believe in God. The study wasnt limited to just Christians but respondents were predominantly Christian.

While earlier research has shown that religious practices like prayer and religious service attendance are pretty protective of peoples mental health, Henderson, an assistant professor of sociology at Union University in Tennessee, told The Christian Post that not much data was available about how peoples specific religious beliefs affect their mental health outcomes.

We thought that was a pretty glaring weakness because belief is such an important part of religious practice, he said. And we were especially interested in beliefs about God.

So using a concept called Attachment Theory, the researchers set out to examine how peoples specific ideas about God and their relationship with the divine impact their mental health.

Attachment theory examines child-caretaker bonding as a central motivator of human behavior and a primer for future interpersonal relationships. Young children engage in proximity-seeking behavior, drawing close to primary caregivers to feel emotionally comforted, supported, and safe. In this capacity, caregivers provide infants with a secure base from which to explore the world, the researchers noted. The style of attachment a child develops with the caregiver serves as an internal working model, a collection of neurological, biological, emotional, and social stimuli that coalesce to prime expectations for future relationships.

Attachment Theory, which has been used to provide insight into the dynamics of many relational contexts, proposes that internal working models influence the nature of an individuals relationships throughout childhood and into adulthood. Researchers have also used it to examine the relationships between secure attachment style and measures of depression, distress, coping, psychological functioning, and other mental health outcomes.

Attachment to God summarily is a way to measure peoples dispositions like emotional dispositions towards God. So if you feel like God is consistent and responsive, usually we call that a secure attachment to God. If you feel like God is aloof and distant and you cant really rely on Him, that is an avoidant attachment style. And if youre just not really sure, thats kind of an anxious attachment, Henderson explained.

What we found with the curvilinear relationship was higher levels of psychological distress were predicted for people who were in the middle of this avoidance-secure measure.

However, people who had a more secure or confident relationship with God and those who had a more distant relationship with the divine experienced much lower levels of stress.

Thats not really what would be expected based on previous attachment to God research, Henderson said. The highest levels of psychological distress were people who were kind of in the middle there, and thats where you get this kind of curvilinear hump.

Henderson added that if people who are uncertain about their relationship with God have access to the support of a healthy church, it could help alleviate some of their distress.

If people are uncertain or theyre going through a bit of crisis personally in their lives, and if that crisis tends to also intermingle with their view about God, the more they are doing that in isolation, the more I think that their beliefs are going to lead to anxiety, he said. But if they can do it in a healthy congregation, its probably going to lead to greater stability in the face of hard, stressful moments in their lives.

The scholar contends that the studys findings reveal the sheer complexity of belief in God and its impact on mental health.

What I first encountered looking at the research was that you had to believe that God was a certain way [for it to] correlate to good mental health, that there was this way to believe in God that was healthier than others, Henderson stated. And I just dont think were necessarily seeing that. You can believe a lot of different things about God, and it can correlate to pretty good mental health.

Henderson pointed to something he called the Westboro effect, based on the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. The congregation is a controversial family-run church that describes itself as an Old School Baptist Church adhering to the teachings of the Bible. The church preaches against all forms of sin.

The fundamentalist ministry founded by Fred Phelps, who died in 2014, was branded by the Southern Poverty Law Center as arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America. The churchs slogan, God Hates Fags, is the name of its main website.

Theyve got really aggressive views about God, and [that] God is very angry and hateful and judgmental, he said. And presumably their beliefs about God, I think in popular parlance, would assume they are probably not healthy mentally. If you believe God is that angry, that might lead to a lot of stress on you. I have no data to back this up, but my suspicion is that mentally, they might actually be doing OK because if you believe God is super angry but doesnt hate you, youre good.

We were more convicted that based on the findings, beliefs about God are best understood contingent to the social situations that theyre in to the way they help people make sense of their social settings, Henderson added. Peoples relationships with God, the way they perceive God, those change over time, especially as they run into these stressful life events, which are inevitable.
5 missing teen girls found, 30 arrested in 'Operation Boo Dat'

Five missing and endangered teenage girls were found and 30 individuals were arrested as part of a recent lengthy U.S. Marshals endeavor in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area known as Operation Boo Dat.

The operation took place from mid-October until Christmas Eve and resulted in five girls being found, according to a U.S. Marshals announcement released last week.

The Marshals New Orleans Task Force coordinated their efforts with the New Orleans Police Department, Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office, Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office, and the Louisiana State Police.

The five teenage girls, ages 14 to 17, were found by authorities, and 30 arrests, including 17 that were for felony sex offender registration violations, were made.

U.S. Marshal Scott Illing of the Eastern District of Louisiana said in a statement quoted in the announcement that the operation made the area safer, and credited law enforcement teamwork for their success.

This work was accomplished during an interrupted period shortly after the death of one of our areas USMS Senior Inspectors, Jared Keyworth, who died in a line of duty automobile accident in Mississippi, and during post Hurricane Ida recovery and continuing COVID-19 issues, said Illing.

We believe that Senior Inspector Keyworth would be proud of the continuing work to reduce violent crime across the nation and dedicate the results of Operation Boo Dat 2021 to his memory.

Operation Boo Dat is an annual operation conducted by the Marshals and New Orleans law enforcement, with the 2020 endeavor resulting in the recovery of four missing or endangered children and 32 arrests.

According to a press release from 2020, that years operation went from Oct. 19 to Dec. 11, and included more than 100 sex offender compliance checks in Jefferson and Orleans Parishes.

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, stated the Marshals in 2020.

Often times countless hours of follow up investigative work are required during and after a compliance check.

In February of last year, authorities in Arizona arrested 37 people accused of child sex crimes and large-scale human trafficking as part of Operation Broken Hearts.
Adored Michigan priest dies in crash day after 53rd birthday

Barely a day after celebrating his 53rd birthday on Sunday, Fr. David Hudgins, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Lansing and pastor of the St. Joseph Shrine in Brooklyn, Michigan, was killed in a car crash Monday, devastating family, friends and parishioners who absolutely adored him.

The Diocese of Lansing announced his death in a statement on Facebook Monday evening, calling for prayers.

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of Father David Hudgins, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Lansing and Pastor of Saint Joseph Shrine in Brooklyn, who was killed in a car accident this morning, the diocese said, noting that the crash occurred just before 8:30 a.m. on U.S. 127 between Page Avenue and South Street in Jackson County.

Michael Jester, director of public safety for Blackman-Leoni Township, told Daily Telegram that Hudgins, who was a resident of Brooklyn, was on his way to pick up a family member from the airport when the crash happened. Jester said the pastor, who was driving a 1999 Dodge Ram pickup northbound, lost control of the vehicle on the icy roads, went through a median, rolled over, then landed in the southbound lanes of U.S. 127. He was pronounced dead at the scene and was the only occupant of the vehicle.

Officials at the Saint Joseph Shrine were not immediately available for comment when contacted by The Christian Post on Wednesday, but friends like fellow Michigan priest, Fr. Joseph Krupp, shared warm memories on him online.

We shared a rectory for 3 years & they were amazing years because of his goodness. He was filled with joy, fueled by prayer & humbly obscured his razor sharp intellect with great humor. We are devastated by this loss in our diocese, Krupp said in a tweet on Monday in which he also recalled how much Hudgins parishioners absolutely adored him.

He loved the Eucharist. He was crazy about Chesterton & Tolkien. His parishioners absolutely adored him. I know with all my heart that this morning, a voice he knew & loved all his life said to him Well done, good & faithful servant, Krupp added. Please pray for our Bishop @BishopBoyea. Pray for the soul of Fr. David. Pray for his parishes. Ill miss you, brother; I hope to see you in the clearing at the end of the path. Until that day, pray that Im a good priest.

The Catholic Charities of Jackson Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties also expressed sadness about Hudgins passing, noting how he was a strong supporter of their work.

We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our friend Fr. David Hudgins, the group began in a statement on Facebook. Fr. Dave was a former Board member at Catholic Charities, a member of our St. Teresa of Calcutta Giving Society, and a tremendous supporter of our work. He will be greatly missed by us all. May the angels welcome him this day to paradise. Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him.

There will be a visitation on Jan. 7 from 2-7 p.m. at St. Joseph Shrine Church. His funeral will take place on Jan. 8 at 10 a.m., at St. Mary Cathedral located at 219 Seymour Ave. in Lansing.
Over 100 Christian colleges have ties to Planned Parenthood: report

A new report reveals that more than 100 Christian colleges and universities in the United States have had ties to Planned Parenthood, the nations largest abortion business, in the past two years.

The Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, a project of the pro-life group Students for Life of America, released a report detailing Planned Parenthoods relationship with Christian Colleges & Universities in the U.S. over the past two years. Specifically, the report, released last month, analyzed all 784 colleges and universities in the U.S. that are affiliated with a Christian church, finding that 103 of the colleges had some type of relationship with Planned Parenthood.

The report is part of SFLAs Christian Schools Project, designed to raise public awareness of Christian schools maintaining relationships with Planned Parenthood in order to encourage infracting schools to restore their Christian values by cutting ties with the abortion giant.

According to the report, a relationship with Planned Parenthood represents an endorsement of abortion violence and an alarming departure from the Christian tradition and biblical values. In addition to the report, SFLA published a detailed document providing evidence of the schools relationships with Planned Parenthood.

In the report, schools received a grade on a scale from A+ to F based on the degree of their respective relationships with Planned Parenthood. Schools with four or more infractions received an F, while schools with no infractions received an A. A letter grade was docked for each additional infraction up to four. Schools that took the added step of promoting pro-life pregnancy centers as an alternative to Planned Parenthood were awarded an A+.

The research conducted by Students for Life of America revealed that the promotion of Planned Parenthood as a student resource constituted 56% of all infractions. For example, Trinity Washington University, a Catholic school in Washington, D.C., includes Planned Parenthood as a Womens Health resource on its website. The Presbyterian-affiliated Illinois College lists Planned Parenthood as an example of where students can put their gender and womens studies degrees into practice.

An additional 31% of infractions arose from schools listing of Planned Parenthood as an active internship opportunity where students can receive course credit. The report cited Luther College, a Lutheran institution located in Iowa, as an example of a Christian school allowing students to intern at Planned Parenthood.

The remaining types of infractions were partnering with Planned Parenthood for at least one event in the preceding year (6%), listing the abortion provider as an example of a future career opportunity (4%), touting the organization as a volunteer opportunity (2%) and advertising Planned Parenthood events on the school website (1%).

Of the 103 schools with at least one infraction, 22% received an F rating, 20% received a D rating, 19% received a C rating, and a plurality (39%) received a B rating. Schools that received an F rating, indicating a committed relationship with Planned Parenthood, included Duke University, associated with the United Methodist Church, and Emory University, affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Duke lists Planned Parenthood as an option for family planning services, advertised the position of public affairs intern at the abortion provider, and includes a web exhibit of Planned Parenthood featuring links to its social media accounts and website.

Emorys Rollins School of Public Health includes Planned Parenthood as a resource, and the nearby Planned Parenthood of Atlanta serves as a rotation site for medical students studying gynecology.

The 27 schools with F ratings were primarily affiliated with Protestant denominations. Only one Catholic school, St. Michaels College in Vermont, received the lowest possible rating. Three prominent Catholic schools, Marymount University, Sacred Heart University and St. John Fisher College, received D ratings, along with 12 schools affiliated with Protestant denominations.

Thirteen schools, all affiliated with Protestant denominations, received a grade of C. Baylor University, a prominent Baptist school in Texas, received a B rating, as did the Washington, D.C.-based American University, which is affiliated with the Methodist Church. The overwhelming majority of Christian schools examined (666) received a grade of A.

Methodist-affiliated schools accounted for a little under one-third of the share of Christian schools with a grade of B or lower, followed by 15 Presbyterian-affiliated schools, 14 Lutheran-affiliated schools, eight Catholic schools and two schools affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. Schools affiliated with the Episcopal Church, the Church of the Brethren, the Moravian Church, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ accounted for one infracted school apiece.

Arizona Christian University, home to the Cultural Research Center that conducts polling and analysis of the state of American culture and the beliefs of Americans, the non-denominational Hillsdale College, the notable evangelical institutions Liberty University and Regent University, and the Catholic Church-affiliated Villanova University are among the 49 schools with A+ ratings.

While 69 Christian schools had a grade lower than A at the time of the reports publication, an additional 34 schools were also determined to have infractions. However, these schools ultimately severed their relationships with Planned Parenthood after Students for Life of America reached out to them.

Fordham University, Georgetown University, Loyola University and the University of Notre Dame were among the schools that took Planned Parenthood off their websites and broke ties with the abortion giant after being notified of the relationship on their websites. All four schools now find themselves among the group of A-rated institutions.

The SFLA report also cites Planned Parenthoods annual report, which states that the organization performed 354,871 abortions in 2020, before lamenting that the abortion provider had developed relationships with schools that identify as Christian institutions, despite the fact that scripture and Christian tradition are soundly anti-abortion. In a statement announcing the project earlier this year, SFLA President Kristan Hawkins slammed the unholy partnership between a number of Christian schools and the abortion industry.

It is crucial that colleges and universities that claim an affiliation with the Christian faith and biblical values do not contradict those values by partnering with or promoting perpetrators of abortion violence, she added.
Roiled by financial issues in recent years, Abraxas Petroleum this week announced a comprehensive restructuring that will transform the company into a pure-play Delaware Basin company.

Among the restructuring moves was repayment of all of its revolving credit facility and the exchange of its entire Second Lien Term Loan held by Angelo Gordon Energy Funding LLC into newly authorized Series A Preferred Stock.

Simply put, we had too much debt (first and second lien) and were constantly tripping bank covenants which resulted in higher interest and reduced operating flexibility, Steve Harris, Abraxas vice president and chief financial officer, told the Reporter-Telegram by email. Further, as opposed to a costly bankruptcy, which would likely result in little to no equity value for shareholders our out-of-court restructuring provides us an opportunity to grow the company as an unlevered  or low-levered  E&P company for shareholders, which also, we believe, makes us a more attractive merger partner.

The company also announced the cash sale of its Williston Basin assets to Lime Rock Resources for $87.2 million, leaving Abraxas to focus on its Delaware Basin assets.

We loved our Bakken asset, but it was very mature and we couldnt afford to keep both, explained Harris. The Delaware Basin asset also has the bulk of our future drilling inventory plus multiple productive horizons vs. the Bakken.

According to Harris, Abraxas has about 12,000 net acres with all depths and rights, all held by production and 95 percent operated with high net revenue interest. Production is about 2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 22 company-drilled Wolfcamp/Bone Spring horizontal wells. The company also has more than 400 future drilling locations, two company-owned saltwater disposal wells and an office and shop in Pyote.



Harris said Abraxas now has plans to develop the asset at a measured and responsible pace  i.e. within cash flow. Industry has performed a lot of the science experiments for us so were seeking to build off of that knowledge to further our plans, which should be completed sometime soon.

In announcing the restructuring, Bob Watson, Abraxas president and chief executive officer said in a statement, For some time, Abraxas has been trying to find a solution that would resolve the indebtedness held by our lenders while at the same time providing continuing opportunity for our stockholders. The transactions announced pay off all of our bank debt and convert AG's 2L Term Loan into preferred equity. Most importantly, the restructuring positions Abraxas as an unlevered, Delaware Basin pure play that can now access available capital sources to restart a drilling program in the Permian Basin. In short, we now have the opportunity to drill and complete wells in order to grow our production for the benefit of our common and preferred stockholders.
Its a new year, but the focus by Permian Basin oil and gas operators on eliminating methane emissions remains just as intense.

In fact, Jack Blears, director of E&P Technology Research with Darcy Partners, predicted that the use of technology like continuous monitoring will become even more important in 2022.

Speaking with the Reporter-Telegram by telephone after participating in the Oilfield Strong webinar presented by OTA Environmental Solutions, Blears offered three reasons operators are focused on eliminating methane emissions.

First, he said, a poll conducted by his company indicates operators are preparing for a more stringent regulatory environment under the Biden Administration. That applies to the amount of emissions reported to government agencies, he said, noting that operators tend to underreport the numbers they send to the Environmental Protection Agency. Efforts are underway to develop and expand the use of technology that will more accurately measure the amount and intensity of emissions, he said.

Secondly, operators want to prevent the loss of a valuable product by finding leaks and fixing them for good, he said.

And third, he said, companies are responding to investor pressure and market demand to eliminate methane emissions.

Theres no silver bullet, Blears said. There are trade-offs.

Continuous monitoring offers the best visibility on leaks, but the trade-off is cost, he said.

Companies can utilize a cost-effective broader survey to find leaks before coming in with a fine-tooth comb.

Satellites, fixed-wing aircraft and optical gas imaging cameras are being utilized, and drones are increasingly being utilized in leak detection. Drones can offer high-resolution visibility, flow low and get close to the course of leaks and eventually be programmed to fly fixed routes, he said. But, again, the downside is the cost.

Blears said there a lot of good options but operators will need a economic strategy for determining, for example, how many sensors will be needed for continuous monitoring and how high to place those monitors.

That is where industry collaboration comes in, and Blears says he sees less competition in this area than other areas. Theres still competition and companies try to differentiate themselves, but he said things change so quickly theres a lot of collaboration.

Another issue is managing all the data that is generated from satellites, aircraft and sensors and organizing that data into usable forms and making it available on multiple platforms to ensure leaks are quickly found and repaired.

You have to fix the leaks to actually reduce emissions, he pointed out.

Companies want to be seen as leading in efforts to eliminate methane emissions and other ESG  Environment, Social and Governance  issues, such as certifying their efforts. The trend toward certifying natural gas production as responsibly sourced is growing, he said. That way companies can ensure that what they report to regulatory agencies or to the public is reality.

Another benefit of these initiatives is attracting or retaining employees, Blears said. He noted that there is heavy competition for workers right now and the industrys reputation regarding the environment can be a hindrance.

One of the most interesting things I read recently is that the number of energy professionals considering other careers is at an all-time high, he said. Initiatives to help the environment can help keep them from choosing other careers or moving into renewables as well as attracting the next generation of professionals, he said.
The reward has been increased for the capture of one of Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders.

Bobby Joe Flores, Jr., 34, has been wanted since October 2019. He is wanted for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements and for continuous sexual abuse of a young child. The warrants for his arrest were issued by the Dallas County Sheriffs Office and the Duncanville Police Department.

Flores is 5-foot-5 and weighs about 140 pounds. He has tattoos on his neck, chest abdomen, both arms and left wrist. He also has scars on his left arm and wrist. He goes by Bobby Joe Flores and Bobby Joe Williams Flores.

The reward for his capture has increased to $6,000 if tips leading to his arrest are received during the month of January. All tips are anonymous.

These warrants stem from incidents dating back to 2008. Flores was convicted that year of child molesting/intercourse involving a 1-year-old in Indiana. He was sentenced to two years in the Indiana Department of Correction, according to a news release from the Texas Department of Public Safety. He was convicted in 2010 of failure to register as a sex offender in Indiana and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. His previous sentence was also increased to six years.

He moved to Texas in 2014 and was required to register as a sex offender in Duncanville, where he lived.

Flores is considered armed and dangerous. His wanted poster can be viewed at https://www.dps.texas.gov/Texas10MostWanted/MostWanted/SexOffenderDetails?id=488.

Tips can be submitted through the hotline at 1(800)252-8477; through the DPS website; or through the Submit A Tip link in the Facebook tip section of the Texas 10 Most Wanted Law Enforcement Agency page.
West Texas might not be known for wine, but one native is trying to change that.

Los Nopales Vineyards was established in 2017, and now the winery is set to open its first tasting room in Sterling City. Owner Kalyn Hodges, 29, said this venture was never just about wine starting out.

Im a rancher's kid, part of a sixth-generation sheep operation out here in Sterling City, she said. When I was in college, my granddad started a meat company, which was a byproduct of what we were already doing. We started selling all these different lamb cuts to different chefs and I started going to these wine and food pairing events.

That opportunity introduced her to the world of wine and how wine has a connection to the place the grapes are grown. The name Los Nopales comes from the land the vineyard is on, considered the land of the prickly pear. After she graduated from Texas A&M with agricultural communication and journalism degree, she started a harvest internship with Orin Swift in Napa, California.

It was an ignorance-is-bliss moment because I had no idea how big of a brand or name that was at the time, she said. There weren't as many jobs in the Texas wine scene during that time.

She returned home after the internship and made the most of it by bringing grapevines with her to plant. She planted a vineyard a year later in Broome. That first year, she did 2 acres worth of Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo. She said a couple of factors really work in the favor of grape producers in West Texas, including elevation for more diurnal swings, along with the arid environment which keeps mildew and rot away.

Nobody really sees West Texas as being grape country, she said. Its the No. 1 producer in the state between the high plains and West Texas.

Jacy Lewis/ Reporter-Telegram

She said shes hoping to change the narrative, so people believe West Texas can be wine country.

People think wine is pretentious or its too fancy, she said. But again I think wine is a really beautiful expression of what home is to me.

Sterling City is a town of about 800 people situated between Midland and San Angelo. The tasting room was previously The Old City Cafe, which served manhole-sized pancakes. After peeling what seemed like "40 years worth of linoleum" off the floors, Hodges returned the tasting room to its original state with beautiful brick walls and exposed rafters from the 1940s. She added a bar top made from poured concrete done at her fathers shop.

She decided to open the tasting room to showcase her wines while also providing a gathering place for the local community. Hodges said she wanted the tasting room to represent West Texas and the region because thats what her wine reflects. She was able to use the back half of the cafe for a production space until she outgrew the room during this years production.

During the freeze last February, she lost a lot of her grapevines. Out of the original 2,000 she planted shes now down to 700 of her personal grapevines. However, Hodges has worked through the ups and downs and has also reached out to other grape producers in West Texas.

Want to know more? Follow along at https://www.losnopaleswine.com/ on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/losnopaleswine and on Instagram @losnopaleswine See More Collapse

I started outsourcing to different vineyards, she said. For this vintage, I went from one grape variety to six different ones. I partnered with a new vineyard I havent worked with before, Dell City Vineyards, which is right in the shadows of the Guadalupe Mountains.

She also works with Lilli of the Vine vineyards out of Lamesa. Because she has outgrown her 575-square-foot production room and press, which she used to press 10 tonnes of fruit with this year, Hodges will move production to Kerrville Hills Winery.

I will be splitting my time doing production there and having the tasting room here," she said. "The back area will become a rental event space and storage for extra wine... The Kerrville Hills Winery production facility is basically a winery incubator that doesn't have anything comparable in the state. I love the fact we embrace winemakers doing it themselves in a shared space."

The tasting room, which she is hoping to open in February, will also have coffee, tea and eventually beer options; however, her wine will always be the focus, she said. She is also hoping to sell pastries and charcuterie boards while open. To be the first to know about the opening date make sure to follow Los Nopales on social media.

Its really easy to talk down on your hometown, but if were not providing some of the luxuries there are in big towns, then its hard to encourage folks to come back, she said. That is sort of the mission behind this endeavor is to keep our people because we have a great thing going on here in Sterling City. We should embrace home and thats really what wine does.

The Bites

--Whataburger has released a new limited batch of spicy ketchup. The recipe for Spicy Ketchup Limited Batch #2 starts with Whataburgers signature fancy ketchup, then adds hot sauce made from arbol and piquin peppers with a house blend of spices to round it out.

--The Red Plate Diner has announced the addition of breakfast. Starting this Monday, patrons can enjoy breakfast plates, avocado toast, Red Plate Diner oatmeal, pancakes, Broken Egg Sandwiches and more. Breakfast hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

--Participate in a pasta-making class with Chef Kirsten Hocker from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 22. Sign up by calling 432-253-3660.

--Chocolate Decadence will be making a comeback Jan. 28. The Aphasia Center and Diamondback Energy will be hosting a night of classic winter elegance for the 16th annual Chocolate Decadence fundraising gala. Enjoy chocolate treats, delicious food, craft cocktails, enticing live and silent auction items and more. The event will be from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. For more information visit https://aphasiawtx.org/event/chocolate-decadence/.

--Cork and Pig Tavern in Odessa will be closed until Jan. 13 for renovations.

--The Ellen Noel Art Museum will be hosting Les Diners de Gala on March 10 to taste recipes inspired by Salvador Dalis cookbook. The event coincides with the exhibition by the same name of works by Salvador Dali. The exhibit is on view from Jan. 13 to March 27 at the Ellen Noel Art Museum.

--Texas Roadhouse Midland and Odessa locations raised $11,333 for Pink the Basin during the restaurants October fundraising efforts.
BMW created the ideal getaway car: a color-swapping EV that will discreetly disguise itself while making a silent, engine-less escape. The German automaker debuted the iX Flow electric crossover at CES 2022, and though its far from production, its a fun look-ahead for tech geeks and fans of heist movies.

The brainchild of the Bavarian companys Australian research engineer Stella Clarke, the BMW iX Flow breaks new ground for the auto industry with the ability to swap between two colors using E Ink, the electronic paper technology used in e-readers.

The BMW iX Flow debuts only in black and white, but Clarke says there is no reason the cars E Ink couldnt be ordered in any two colors preferred by a customer.

Digital experiences wont just be limited to displays in the future, said BMWs Director of Development Frank Weber. There will be more and more melding of the real and virtual. With the BMW iX Flow, we are bringing the car body to life.

How Does E Ink Work?

The body of BMWs iX midsize electric SUV is wrapped in laser-cut E Ink electrophoretic paper with millions of microcapsules of ink, each the diameter of a human hair. The surface changes color when stimulation by an electric field brings different color pigments to the top of the paper.

The enormous slabs of the E Ink paper used on the iX Flow would fill thousands of Kindle digital book readers, and it has implications for different climates, emergency-service vehicles and customers who just want to change their moods.

Such technology could even change the process for BMWs designers, who work painstakingly for years to capture the essence of movement that Clarkes concept delivers at the push of a button.

One major challenge to using E Ink paper on cars is that it demands flat surfaces. To battle the iXs curves, BMW used a laser to cut incisions in the paper so it would fit around the EVs shape. A clear lacquer coat was applied to protect the non-automotive grade E Ink from the elements.

Michael Taylor watches as

BMWs iX Flow changes from

black to white. Tom Kirkpatrick

BMW also spliced the paper into different shapes to allow the car to bring on GT stripes or to allow the wheels to spin in color. These changing elements give the driver the freedom to express different facets of their personality outwardly, and to redefine this each time they sit in their car, said Clarke.

Though the finished product is impressive, the intricacies of the E Ink can be difficult to use, said Clark. We did the bonnet 20 times in cardboard cutouts to get it right, she said.

The Backstory

While shed been tinkering with it for at least half a year, the creativity behind the iX Flow concept took a giant leap when Clarke was holed up in Covid-19 quarantine in her mothers house in Katoomba in New South Wales, Australia. During her stay, she generated a video of how she thought the iX Flow could work.

She then emailed it to a handful of BMW decision makers and waited for a response. The development department quickly jumped on it, sending her three iX SUVs and the approval to buy as much E Ink as she could carry.

Clarke has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New South Wales and Pennsylvania State University and completed her PhD in robotics at the Technical University of Munich, BMWs home city. She started with BMW in 2007 and concentrated on interiors, rising up the ranks of the Future User Interaction Concepts department.

Bringing iX Flow to Life

One of the beauties of the iX Flow concept is thatunlike other lighting development such as Matrix LEDs, OLEDs or Laser Lightsthere dont seem to be any legislative hurdles.

Its not like light where there are rules, said Clarke. Everything that light can offer, like visibility in darkness, you dont have. BMW sees that as an advantage.

At the moment we are talking with the German authorities to see if its OK, and [feedback] is positive, said Clarke, adding that color change is subtle. The color also can pulse or have waves, or it can remain solid.

Changing the color uses very little electrical energy and, once it has switched from black to white, it takes even less energy to maintain it. BMW is still exploring what else it can be used for, even coming up with ideas like hidden police signage or business logos.

The idea is in its infancy, and it could (and likely will) even extend to other use cases like on the dashboard and the center console, or even the door trims. For example, if its hot inside the car, a lighter color would reflect heat better and use less power for the climate control system, Clarke said. Conversely, using a darker color in a colder climate would help better retain heat.

Far From Ready

Clarke readily admits the idea is still just an idea, and it is a very long way away from a production concept. A lot of stuff has to be done before it goes on to a production car, Clarke said. To be honest, we dont know what we dont know.

So far, the E Ink has a lacquer on the top so water is not a concern. Clarke and her team tested the panels in the chamber at temperatures as high as 158 degrees Fahrenheit and as low as 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Clarke said that testing is OK, but theres still more to be done. Temperature and humidity are the concerns and we have to find the limit of high temperature and high humidity, low temperature and low humidity, she said.

E Ink already has paper technology that works down to 5 degrees Fahrenheit for use in cold rooms. It also has four-color paper rather than the two BMW is working with. If BMW is pushing the limits of what the E Ink technology can do, E Ink itself hasnt even started.

There are no limits to the color combinations, as far as we know, and E Ink has not had economies of scale in automotive before, so theyve never researched whats possible, Clarke said.

It could change design fundamentals. Design is about creating movement, but what if we can do that with color? she said.

This article, BMW iX Flow Previews New Wave Of Color Design, originally appeared on Forbes Advisor.
A Financial Crimes Intelligence Center has been established in Tyler as a result of a House Bill from the 87th Legislature.

The FCIC will operate as a partnership between the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and the Smith County District Attorneys Office, and it will assist law enforcement agencies across Texas and elsewhere with investigations into skimmers, according to a news release from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
Flight disruptions stretched into their third week on Friday with snow in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, prompting high numbers of flight cancellations in the New York City, Boston and Washington regions.

According to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, more than 2,600 flights within, to and from the United States were canceled Friday. Southwest Airlines continued to be the hardest hit among major U.S. carriers, with more than 520 flights canceled, roughly 17% of scheduled departures.

At Boston's Logan International Airport, about 42% of departures were canceled Friday, according to FlightAware. In the New York City area, nearly 200 departures were scrubbed, about 36% of those scheduled. John F. Kennedy International reported more than 130, or 22%, of departures were canceled Friday, while roughly 23% of flights out of Newark's Liberty International were canceled.

Delays also were reported at three Washington-area airports, which are still trying to rebound from a Monday storm that dumped more than 10 inches of snow in some parts of the region. Reagan National Airport received nearly seven inches of snow Monday, prompting the cancellation of more than 85% of flights that day.

On Friday, there were more than 90 flight cancellations at National, about 21% of scheduled departures, according to FlightAware. At Baltimore-Washington Marshall International, a major hub for Southwest, more than 40 flights, roughly 16% of those scheduled, were scrubbed. Meanwhile, at Washington Dulles International, 12% of flights were canceled.

Among U.S. carriers, Southwest remains the most affected, with more than 500 cancellations, about 17% of Friday's scheduled departures. Carriers with strong presences in Boston and New York City, including American Airlines, JetBlue and United Airlines, also were affected. JetBlue scrapped 17% of planned departures Friday, while American canceled more than 180.

United, which also has struggled with staffing issues and weather impacts, warned customers whose itineraries included Denver and cities in the Northeast of potential issues via Twitter.

The Chicago-based carrier canceled 208, or 10%, of its scheduled departures Friday.

Airlines have blamed the cancellations on a combination of factors. Initially, staffing shortages due to rising numbers of coronavirus infections caused by the omicron variant forced airlines to reduce their schedules, but those shortages have been aggravated by bad weather in various parts of the country.

The Transportation Security Administration also has seen an uptick in infections. On Friday, it reported 3,503 cases, an increase of 894 since Monday. The rising numbers are beginning to affect the agency's operations. On Friday, the agency temporarily closed two of the four checkpoints at Phoenix Sky Harbor International's busiest terminal, Terminal 4, which is home to Southwest and American airlines as well as several international carriers. News of the temporary closure was first reported by the Arizona Republic.

"We are monitoring this closely, and this situation only seems to affect Phoenix Sky Harbor," said Carter Langston, a TSA spokesman.

During this most recent wave of disruptions, many travelers have complained about waiting for hours on hold to rebook flights or track lost baggage. Airlines have invested billions of dollars in tools to allow customers to rebook flights online or via their smartphones, but many travelers said those tools did not work for their situations.

Henry Harteveldt, an aviation analyst, said those complaints may prompt some airlines to rethink staffing in their customer service centers.

"As great as tech can be, it's very clear that when problems occur and it's on a large scale, lots of people still turn to the phone [to call the centers]," he said.

With holiday bookings reaching pre-pandemic levels, airlines had hoped to close out 2021 strong. Analysts said carriers are likely to see some effect from the current spate of disruptions, but airlines will bounce back.

"While high profile, the flight cancellations pose only a temporary problem for the airlines, and the cancellation rate will decline in upcoming weeks," Jonathan Root, a senior vice president at Moody's, wrote in a report released this week. "We expect the financial impact of the cancellations to be modest, marginally lowering operating cash flow in these weeks."

U.S. airlines are scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings next week.
Whittenburg

Mr. Dustin S. Whittenburg of the Law Office of Dustin Whittenburg has been elected to membership in the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation. Fellows of the Foundation are selected for their outstanding professional achievements and their demonstrated commitment to the improvement of the justice system throughout the state of Texas. Election is a mark of distinction and recognition of Mr. Whittenburgs contributions to the legal profession.

Selection as a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation is restricted to members of the State Bar of Texas. Each year one-third of one percent of Texas attorneys are invited to become Fellows. Once nominees are selected, they must be elected by the Texas Bar Foundation Board of Trustees. Membership has grown from an initial 255 Charter Members in 1965 to more than 10,000 Fellows throughout Texas today.

The Texas Bar Foundation is the largest charitably funded bar foundation in the country.
In the latest air travel developments, sparse on-site attendance at this years CES conference in Las Vegas sparked concerns that the revival of business travel in 2022 may be delayed due to the COVID omicron variant; as heavy U.S. flight cancellations continued all this week, Alaska Airlines is slashing January schedules for a COVID reset; major telecom companies agree to delay release of new 5G technology due to aviation safety concerns; Hong Kong bans U.S. flights and France toughens entry rules for the unvaccinated, but the U.K. and Ireland remove their pre-flight test requirement and Israel reopens to vaccinated Americans; United and Iberia resume San Francisco routes, plus international route news from Delta and JetBlue; Avelo starts another northern California route; Frontier kicks off a fare sale like nothing youve ever heard of; changes to Americans AAdvantage program take effect this month; and United reopens airport lounges at San Francisco and London Heathrow.

The usually huge CES expo was held in Las Vegas this week, but the in-person event (it also offered a virtual version) didnt seem that huge this year as COVIDs omicron variant continues to spread  and some saw that as a bad omen for the immediate future of business travel. Apparently expecting a bumper crop of passengers for this years CES, United had scheduled several extra flights into Las Vegas from the Bay Area and other cities, but a series of photos published by Mashable.com this week showed almost-empty exhibit halls; for contrast, it also ran pictures of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds at the 2020 expo. CES was, even before the advent of COVID-19, known as a germ soup, Mashable.com said. It's perhaps no surprise, then, that people now accustomed to remote work might chose to sit out a massive in-person event amidst a coronavirus surge in the U.S.

The Consumer Technology Association, which operates CES each year, had put strict health protocols in place, but it still cut back the schedule this year from four days to three after several major participants  including Amazon, Google, Meta (i.e., Facebook), GM, Intel, T-Mobile, Twitter and others  dropped out or decided to attend virtually instead of in person. As the Washington Post observed, This years CES conference in Las Vegas raises questions about the future of giant in-person business events. The newspaper noted that the World Economic Forum, normally held in Switzerland during January, has been pushed back to the summer, and JP Morgan Chases big annual health care conference scheduled for San Francisco later this month has been converted to an online-only event.

The trade publication Business Travel News said this week that If past is prelude, the fast-moving omicron variant will disrupt business travel in a number of ways. Companies themselves could place new restrictions on travel, and with new information about increased transmission associated with omicron coupled with the travel uncertainty wrought by airline staff shortages, short-term demand from would-be business travelers is likely to take a hit. BTN also cited CES, the World Economic Forum and JP Morgan Chase decisions as bad signs for business travel. High-profile moves like these not only eliminate the travel associated with large events, but they may have a chilling effect on other events, with decision-makers looking at them for best-practice guidance. That influence could also trickle down to transient business travel  either through company restrictions or the preferences of individual employees weighing risk-reward of each trip, the publication observed.

Those waves of U.S. flight cancellations that started just before Christmas Eve continued all through the holiday period and into this week. According to an analysis of available flight data by Thepointsguy.com, 11 large U.S. airlines canceled a total of 15,537 flights from Dec. 22 through Jan. 3, or 8% of all scheduled departures. They blamed not only the weather but also a shortage of available staff due to COVID absences and quarantines. That total included the 3,000 cancellations on Monday, Jan. 3, after that another 1,500 flights were scratched on Jan. 4, 1,700 on Jan. 5, and more than 2,100 on Jan. 6. On Friday (Jan. 7), U.S. flight cancellations topped 2,400, helped along by a big winter storm in the east.

Jim Glab

Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines said this week it has decided to reduce its overall January schedules by 10%, which amounts to more than 100 flights a day. This will give us the flexibility and capacity needed to reset while continued flexible travel policies enable guests to adjust their plans accordingly. This will also give us time and space to find our path forward together, with Covid-19 as a continued reality in our business and our world, Alaska said.

U.S. airlines, already plagued with major delays and cancellations due to weather and COVID-related staffing problems, may have dodged a bullet this week thanks to a new agreement between the federal government, AT&T and Verizon that will delay the rollout of new 5G technology pending further study of how it might affect passenger aviation. At issue is so-called C-Band service, a version of 5G that is said to be faster than the original 5G signals. The airline industry has contended that the new 5G transmissions could interfere with the radio altimeters on aircraft, and it argued that two fixes proposed last month by the Federal Aviation Administration wouldnt help  instead, according to the trade group Airlines for America (A4A), they would severely restrict the operation of all types of civil aircraft. A4A said that if the new 5G technology had been operative in 2019, even with the proposed FAA solutions, approximately 345,000 passenger flights, 32 million passengers, and 5,400 cargo flights would have been impacted in the form of delayed flights, diversions, or cancellations. In any event, the telecom companies this week agreed to delay the overall rollout of the new 5G service for two weeks (to Jan. 19)  even though they maintain it is perfectly safe  and to reduce the power of the C-Band transmissions around dozens of major U.S. airports through July 5 as additional studies are conducted of its possible effects on aircraft.

The worldwide spread of the COVID omicron variant is creating new complications for international travel. For example, the government of Hong Kong this week banned all inbound passenger flights from the U.S. and seven other nations at least through Jan. 21 and banned entry to individuals who had been in any of those countries recently. The other countries include Canada, Australia, France, the U.K., India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. In France, meanwhile, unvaccinated travelers from the U.S. can no longer avoid a quarantine by showing a negative COVID test result. France added the U.S. to its red list, meaning that unvaccinated American visitors now must undergo a 10-day quarantine after arrival and get negative test results both before departure from home and after the quarantine period. Vaccinated U.S. visitors can avoid the quarantine, but in addition to proof of vaccination, they must also provide a negative result from a COVID test taken within 48 hours of departure.

But not all the revised entry rules were more restrictive. The United Kingdom this week eliminated its recent requirement that fully vaccinated foreign visitors from countries like the U.S. must show a negative result from a COVID test taken no more than 48 hours before departure from home. Theyll still need a negative PCR test result upon arrival, but they wont have to isolate themselves while they wait for the results. Unvaccinated visitors, however, still need a pre-departure test, two PCR post-arrival tests, and 10 days of quarantine. Ireland took a similar step this week, ending a requirement for fully vaccinated visitors to show proof of a negative pre-departure COVID test. Israel, which closed its borders to all foreign visitors in late November, has now started to allow them back in from dozens of countries, and will reopen to American tourists effective Jan. 9 if they are vaccinated and take pre- and post-arrival COVID tests.

In international route news, United this week resumed its non-stop San Francisco-Singapore route, although it reportedly isnt selling seats on the westbound segment until January 19. The route had been suspended since March 2020, and the carrier reportedly plans to boost service to twice-daily frequencies on March 22. American Airlines, meanwhile, has resumed daily Los Angeles-Sydney flights after suspending them for several months. JetBlues daily New York JFK-London Heathrow service  which has been relying on a temporary allocation of takeoff and landing slots since it started in August  has been extended through October 2022, the airline said. JetBlue will also continue its JFK-London Gatwick daily service, and still plans to launch Boston-London flights this summer. We are committed to collaborating with regulators as well as the U.S. and U.K. governments to identify a pathway to staying at Heathrow for the long-term, said JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes.

Spains Iberia Airlines, a member of the American/British Airways Oneworld alliance, is planning to resume San Francisco-Madrid flights in April, and to add new service from Madrid to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Washington Dulles the same month. Iberia already flies from Madrid to Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago OHare, and New York JFK. Iberia also code-shares with the low-cost carrier Level (like Iberia and British Airways, a member of the International Airlines Group) on the latters San Francisco-Barcelona route, and with Alaska Airlines on several domestic routes beyond LAX and SFO.

Delta has dropped plans to fly from its Atlanta hub to Rio de Janeiro this summer, ending the route after March 23. Meanwhile, Delta has entered into a code-sharing agreement with ITA Airways, the new Italian flag carrier that replaced the defunct Alitalia. The pact will put Deltas code onto ITAs flights from New York JFK to Rome, and on its upcoming routes from Rome to Boston and Miami (starting in March) and to Los Angeles beginning in June. For customers flying beyond Italy, Deltas code will also be placed on ITA Airways flights to Albania, Egypt, Tunisia, Greece, Malta and Israel, Delta said.

On the domestic side, low-cost Avelo Airlines this week kicked off new service from northern Californias Redding Municipal Airport (RDD) to Las Vegas, operating two weekly roundtrips (on Mondays and Fridays) with a single-class 737-800. Avelo also flies from Redding to its home base at Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Hows this for a fare sale? Frontier Airlines this week announced a 100% discount on fares from the mainland U.S. to its 15 destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America, for both non-stop and connecting flights. But as you might expect, there are plenty of caveats. Tickets must be booked online at FlyFrontier.com by 8:59 p.m. Pacific time on Monday (Jan. 10) using the promotional code TROPICAL. The deal is good for travel through March 3, but the discount is only for the base fare  not taxes, government fees, or all those add-on charges levied by low-fare carriers like Frontier. In addition, there are day-of-the-week travel restrictions and blackout dates, and the discount might not be available on certain dates or flights, Frontier said.

Are you a member of American Airlines Advantage loyalty program? If so, heres a reminder that some big changes AA announced in the program took effect this month, so it might be time to study up on what that will mean for your account. The major change is that members who aspire to earn elite status for 2023 no longer have to rely on elite-qualifying miles, dollars spent or segments flown; the program now has just one metric for elite status, called AAdvantage Loyalty Points. The number of Loyalty Points needed is 30,000 for AAdvantage Gold status, 75,000 for Platinum, 125,000 for Platinum Pro, and 200,000 for Executive Platinum. Simply earn Loyalty Points whenever you fly, use an AAdvantage credit card for purchases, or earn eligible miles with AAdvantage partners, the airline said. The conversion rate is basically one Loyalty Point for one AAdvantage mile, but not all miles are considered eligible  mainly just base miles rather than bonus, promotional, or purchased miles. The mileage masters at Thepointsguy.com are the experts on this, so heres their analysis from October (1) about the overall innovations in the program, and from this week (2) about all the AA partners where members can earn Loyalty Points from their miles.

In airport news, United this week finally reopened its Polaris Lounge at San Francisco International, located in International Terminal G near Gate G1. Its open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. for customers traveling internationally in Uniteds Polaris business class, and for those with international first class or business class tickets on Uniteds Star Alliance partner carriers. That leaves the Polaris Lounge at Los Angeles International as the only one still shuttered; it is expected to reopen in the coming weeks. United also has Polaris Lounges at Newark, Chicago OHare, Houston Bush Intercontinental, and Washington Dulles.

Meanwhile, the airline has also reopened its United Club lounge at London Heathrows Terminal 2. In October, the carrier announced plans for a big expansion of service to London starting in March, including new daily flights from Boston; the addition of a third daily flight from San Francisco; the resumption of daily service from Los Angeles and Denver, and the addition of a second daily Denver departure; and the expansion of Newark-LHR service from five daily flights to seven. The United Club at LHR is open to club members, first and business class customers, and Star Alliance Gold members.
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General info for Canadians who wish to sponsor their spouse, common-law, or conjugal partner from South Africa.

How to sponsor your spouse from South Africa General info for Canadians who wish to sponsor their spouse, common-law, or conjugal partner from South Africa.

How to sponsor your spouse from South Africa General info for Canadians who wish to sponsor their spouse, common-law, or conjugal partner from South Africa.

How to sponsor your spouse from South Africa General info for Canadians who wish to sponsor their spouse, common-law, or conjugal partner from South Africa. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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If you want to sponsor your South African partner for Canadian immigration, the first step is to make sure you are both eligible.

Here are some of the general eligibility requirements for both Canadians foreign partners from any country.

Looking to sponsor your partner? Complete this form so an immigration lawyer can help you!

Who can sponsor?

Canadian citizens and permanent residents age 18 and older are eligible to sponsor their spouses, common-law partners, or conjugal partners. Canadian citizens can sponsor a spouse from outside Canada, whereas permanent residents must sponsor their spouses from inside Canada, even if their partner is out of the country.

Also, you will have to prove to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that you can financially support yourself and your familyincluding your partner and any dependent children you have.

In most cases, there is no minimum income cut off for sponsoring spouses, common-law partners, and children. There are very specific instances where you must meet a low-income-cut-off score, which are determined by the government each year. Generally, it only applies if the partner youre sponsoring has a dependent child who also has a dependent child of their own.

You may become ineligible to meet the income requirement if you are receiving social assistance for reasons other than a disability. Other benefits such as employment insurance and federal training allowances are not eligible sources of income. However, if youre receiving maternity, parental, or sickness benefits, you may still be eligible to sponsor.

Quebec residents have to meet eligibility requirements at the provincial level as well. The Quebec government website offers the information you need to sponsor your partner to the province.

What can make me ineligible to sponsor my spouse?

Certain circumstances could make you ineligible to sponsor. You could be ineligible to sponsor if you have committed a violent criminal offence, or even for non-criminal reasons like failing to pay an immigration loan, going through bankruptcy and not being discharged, or if you sponsored a previous spouse within three years of your application. These are just some of the factors that could affect your eligibility.

Also, if you were a sponsored spouse now turned Canadian permanent resident, you cannot sponsor a new spouse within five years of your landing. So you might become eligible once the five years have passed.

If none of these reasons apply to you, and you check all the boxes for eligibility on your end, the next step is to see if your partner is admissible.

Who can be sponsored?

Your partner must be over the age of 18, and pass background, security, as well as medical checks.

The government department that processes immigration applications, IRCC will check that your partner is admissible by running medical and background security checks. People with criminal convictions are generally not allowed to come to Canada, but there may be options to overcome criminal inadmissibility.

The immigration officer handling your file will also want to see that you and your partner are in a genuine relationship. They want to admit people who are coming to Canada for family reunification, and not people who are just getting married for the sole purpose of Canadian permanent residency status.

Spouses need to be married to their sponsor by an in-person ceremony. The pandemic reminded us that virtual marriages are not recognized for the purposes of immigration.

Common-law partners need to demonstrate that they have lived together for at least 12 months.

Conjugal partners are living outside Canada and have been in a relationship for at least one year. They need to demonstrate that there are legal or social barriers preventing them from getting married or living together. You cannot sponsor a conjugal partner who is living in Canada.

Outland vs Inland sponsorship

If your partner is living abroad during the sponsorship process, you will be considered outland applicants. Although it is possible for Canadian citizens to live abroad throughout the process, you have to show that you will both move to Canada if your partner is approved for permanent residency.

However, if you and your partner are living in Canada you will likely be processed as inland applicants. When applying from within Canada your spouse may be eligible for an Open Work Permit.

What documents do you need from South Africa?

IRCC changes document guidelines regularly. The documents required for foreign nationals will depend on residency status, where they are applying from, and maybe even your travel history. The government provides an application guide with more specific and up-to-date information, as well as detailed information on how to fill out forms in the complete guide.

In addition to the application guides, IRCC offers a documents checklist, which shows you the forms and instructions you need for your application. This list also changes so it is important to double-check before submitting all the documents.

Different countries will have different form requirements. As of the time this article was written, there are no additional forms or special instructions that apply to South Africa.

What happens after you submit the application?

The processing begins once IRCC receives your complete application. If the officer finds that your application is incomplete, they will return it to you and you will have to submit again.

IRCC has a 12-month processing standard on spousal sponsorship applications, although it may take longer.

During the processing period, IRCC asks for biometrics and a medical exam from the foreign spouse. You will have 30 days to send them in. IRCC may also ask for more information or an in-person interview at any time.

You can track and update your application status online until IRCC makes a decision on your application. IRCC will send you instructions about the final steps the foreign spouse or common-law partner needs to take to become a permanent resident.

The last step is to complete the landing process. After that, you have officially become a Canadian permanent resident.

Looking to sponsor your partner? Complete this form so an immigration lawyer can help you!

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 7)  President Rodrigo Duterte's order to arrest unvaccinated individuals who would refuse to stay home is "unconstitutional" as there is no law limiting their right to travel, a lawyer said Friday.

"According to the Constitution, neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public security, and public health. However, it also includes the provision that 'only in accordance' with law," Atty. Burt Estrada, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), told CNN Philippines' News Night.

"And so there being no law that limits a persons' right, constitutional right to travel based on the status of vaccination, then such an order, is, to me, unconstitutional," he added.

In his latest public address, Duterte ordered barangay officials to look for the unvaccinated in their communities and request them to "stay put." Those who would refuse and insist on going out can be restrained and arrested, the chief executive said.

Estrada said while he understands the President's concern to curb the spike in COVID-19 cases, he noted it would be up to Congress to deliver such measure.

"The President's word is not law. Law is enacted by Congress, the legislative body of government," the IBP official said. "If they do see a wisdom, if there's a constitutional basis which says that you can pass a law to restrain the right to travel if it is for public safety and public health, but the reasonableness of such a law has to be deliberated upon."

"And it will be up to Congress if it passes a law or not," he stressed.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 8) Arresting unvaccinated individuals who would refuse to stay home would be a "last resort," according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

In a statement on Saturday, the DILG said local officials who would implement President Rodrigo Duterte's controversial order would do so "within the bounds of the law."

"The President is merely exercising his authority as chief executive under the public health emergency. He was very clear in his directive that an arrest will only be a last resort," the DILG said.

"Pakiusapan muna na pumirmi sa bahay (They will be requested to stay home first)," the agency added. "Barangay officials may only arrest the unvaccinated individual who refuse to cooperate and who are leaving their homes for non-essential purposes."

In his latest public address, the chief executive ordered local officials to look for the unvaccinated in their communities and request them to "stay put." Those who would refuse and insist on going out can be restrained and arrested.

The pronouncement, however, was met with backlash.

Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) President Atty. Burt Estrada earlier told CNN Philippines that such directive is "unconstitutional," because there is no law limiting the right to travel.

This was echoed by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

"Any arrest made on these grounds may be illegal; thus, violative of the Constitution and our guaranteed human rights," the CHR said in a statement. "At the same time, any arrest without warrant goes against the guarantees of due process in the Constitution."

The CHR also urged the government to ponder on the consequences of the order, citing the congestion in detention facilities and the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"CHR urges the government to employ a human rights-based approach on the matter, wherein education on the importance of vaccinations will continue to be pursued; vaccine hesitancy, access, and supply will be addressed; and alternatives to arrests will be explored, including understanding why others insist on going out despite being unvaccinated and providing a win-win solution," it added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 8)  Juanito Itaas, the countrys longest held political prisoner, has been released from prison after spending over 32 years behind bars.

Human rights organization KAPATID confirmed the release of Itaas from the New Bilibid Prison on Friday night.

Itaas admitted that he is still worried for his safety, but remains elated that he is now free.

Pahinga muna ako. Gusto ko makapiling ang pamilya ko kasi ngayon lang kami mabubuo, said Itaas. Di pa rin ako makapaniwala. At nangangamba pa rin ako.

[Translation: I want to rest. I want to bond with my family because it will be the first time that we will be complete. I still cant believe it. But, Im still worried.]

The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court recently granted Itaas petition for writ of habeas corpus, which enabled his release.

In a decision penned by Judge Gener Gito on Nov. 8 last year, the court ruled that Itaas was able to completely serve his prison term and that he should benefit from the credits he earned under Republic Act 10592, or the Good Conduct Time Allowance or GCTA Law.

Itaas, then a member of the New Peoples Army Sparrow Unit, was convicted for killing Joint RP-US Military Advisory Group Army Division chief Colonel James Rowe in 1989. He was sentenced to reclusion perpetua, specifically 39 years and 6 months of imprisonment.

We ask the government to let Juanito Itaas live a peaceful life without threats to his security as he deserves to make the most out of every second of his life with his family," said Fides Lim, spokesperson of KAPATID.

"This will be the first instance they can begin a normal life together outside prison bars," she added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 8) An infectious diseases expert said there may already be community transmission of the Omicron coronavirus variant as the country continues to record spikes in infections.

At the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday, Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the government's vaccine expert panel, cited the enormous number of people getting infected in a short period of time.

With the enormous number of people being positive with just a short duration of time, and most of them are manifesting with an upper respiratory tract symptoms, then I would say there is already a community transmission of Omicron variant, Solante said.

The Philippines has recorded at least 43 cases of the highly transmissible variant, data from the Department of Health (DOH) as of Jan. 6 showed. The count includes local cases and returning overseas Filipinos.

The DOH has yet to issue a comment on the matter, but Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier told CNN Philippines that the agency is already assuming that there is community spread of the variant in the country.

RELATED: DOH assumes Omicron community transmission; potential surge to surpass Delta peak

COVID-19 cases nationwide continue to rise, with the DOH reporting more than 21,000 fresh infections on Friday. The positivity rate  or percentage of tested people who yielded positive results  also reached a new record high of 40%.

More transmissible vs Delta

Citing experts initial findings, Solante said that Omicron can be three to five times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

You have to multiply thats the number of possible contacts na talagang pwede niyang mahawaan (that someone can infect) with a single interaction  especially in an enclosed space," the expert said.

"That's why we're seeing a lot of these positives now, not only in the community, we're also seeing a lot of these in the health care facilities," he added.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 8)  The country broke its record for the highest single day tally of new COVID-19 cases on Saturday after the Department of Health (DOH) logged 26,458 new infections.

The count surpassed the 26,303 cases recorded on Sept. 11 last year.

The DOH said 99% or 26,277 of the newly confirmed cases were detected within the last 14 days. The top three contributing regions remain unchanged - with Metro Manila coming in first with 16,139, followed by Calabarzon with 5,387, and Central Luzon with 2,281.

The positivity rate - or percentage of tested people who yielded positive results - also reached a new record high of 43.7%, based on 77,004 tests reported on Jan. 6.

A rate of above 20% is at critical level while below 3% indicates there is adequate testing, according to US nonprofit Covid Act Now. The World Health Organization suggests a positivity rate of below 5% for an area that has controlled the infection.

With the alarming jump in daily COVID-19 cases, the total count is now at 2,936,875.

The number of active cases breached 100,000 for the first time after nearly three months with 102,017 people currently sick. This represents 3.5% of the case tally.

The DOH said among the active cases, 94,007 are considered mild, 3,399 have no symptoms 2,842 are moderate, 1,462 are severe, and 307 are critical.

Meanwhile, the death toll surpassed 52,000 with 265 new fatalities. The total deaths are now at 52,135 - or 1.78% of the COVID-19 count.

Of the new deaths, 15 occurred in January, two in December 2021, eight in November 2021, 37 in October 2021, 59 in September 2021, 51 in August 2021, 35 in July 2021, 13 in June 2021, five in May 2021, two in April 2021, three in March 2021, six in February 2021, 12 in January 2021, four in December 2020, five each in October and November 2020, and one each in July, August, and September 2020.

Around 1,656 persons got better, raising the number of recoveries to 2,782,723 - or 94.8% of the total.

The DOH said it reclassified 238 survivors into deaths after validation and deleted 131 duplicate cases, including 101 recoveries and one fatality.

Around 116 cases - including 18 recoveries - were also removed by the agency after they were found to have tested negative from COVID-19.

The total excludes data from six laboratories that failed to submit their reports on time, the DOH added. These laboratories contributed an average of 3.6% of tested samples and 5.4% of positive individuals in the last 14 days.
On Saturday morning, the National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for State College, as well as other parts of Centre County and central Pennsylvania.

The advisory will be in effect from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday  the last day for students to move back into Penn State dorms and apartments prior to the start of spring semester classes Monday.

The community is expected to see freezing rain, along with snow, sleet and ice  all accumulating less than an inch, the NWS said.

The NWS said drivers should be prepared for slippery road conditions and adjust their speed accordingly.

MORE BOROUGH COVERAGE
Construction company owner Joe O'Dea, a Republican candidate for Colorado's U.S. Senate seat, plans to report receipts totaling more than $1 million through the end of the most recent fundraising period, including $500,000 he chipped in to his own campaign, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Interview: Egypt seeks to learn from China's "unique" development experience: official

Xinhua) 10:27, January 08, 2022

CAIRO, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Egypt seeks to learn from China's "unique, distinguished, and rich" development experience and encourages the advancement of micro, small, and medium-sized industries which had contributed to China's development, an advisor to Egyptian prime minister said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"We are working hard to learn from and benefit from China's development experience. As a result, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi attaches great importance to micro, small, and medium-sized industries, and has relaxed the terms of related loans to encourage them," said Hani Mahmoud, an advisor on administrative reform to Egypt's prime minister.

Mahmoud, also a former minister of administrative development, said this type of development creates a lot of job opportunities and encourages young people to start their own businesses and look for production and service projects to work on rather than waiting for a government job.

Highlighting long-standing strong and friendly bilateral relations between Egypt and China, he expressed hoped that Egypt would become successful in learning from China's experience in details in order to achieve a true renaissance befitting Egyptian civilization and history.

The Egyptian president inaugurated and inspected a number of big development projects in Upper Egypt a few days before the New Year as part of a government initiative to develop the southern provinces. According to Mahmoud, the initiative demonstrates Egypt's aspiration to "achieve a comprehensive development boom in all regions."

Egypt and China collaborate on a number of development projects in several Egyptian provinces, covering sectors of construction, transportation, industrialisation and energy.

Some 50 km east of Egypt's capital Cairo, China State Construction Engineering Corporation has made significant progress in building a massive 20-tower business district in Egypt's new administrative capital city.

In Upper Egypt, TBEA Sunoasis, a Chinese clean energy company, completed the building of three solar power stations at the Benban Solar Energy Park in Aswan Province in March 2019.

In August 2019, China's leading TV manufacturer Konka inaugurated a LED TV factory in Beni Suef Province.

In the desert west of Upper Egypt's province of Minya, Chinese international drilling firm ZPEC has so far drilled more than 140 water wells out of 300 for Canal Sugar, a 1-billion-U.S.-dollar joint venture between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates to build the world's largest beet sugar factory.

The Egyptian prime minister's advisor hailed "Egyptian-Chinese cooperation in various fields," which helps Egypt to achieve comprehensive development.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
Danville, IL (61832)

Today

Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 56F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

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Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 56F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
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Corsicana, TX (75110)

Today

Partly cloudy with late night showers or thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy with late night showers or thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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But then, only eight weeks before shooting was to start, Universal Studios pulled the plug. What happened? Apparently, Watchmen did.

Verbinski wanted between $160 and $200 million to properly recreate the underwater city of Rapture, but after Zack Snyder's dour superhero slo-mo-fest underperformed, Universal got nervous about financing such an expensive R-rated film. Verbinski wouldn't budge on the rating or the budget, so that was it. The studio tried to keep going with another director, but the same problems came up again. Eventually, BioShock's creators decided they didn't need a stinking movie anyways.

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We'd love to end this entry telling you that the recent string of R-rated genre hits proved those cowardly producers wrong, but it's not that simple: Deadpool cost only $58 million, Logan reportedly $97 million, and Mad Max: Fury Road didn't exactly make it rain (by Hollywood standards). Shooting an underwater city probably won't be affordable until we're actually living in one, so cross your fingers for more climate change, gaming fans!

4

We'll Never See Guillermo Del Toro's

Because Of Freaking
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Captain Britain is more than just a rip-off of Captain America. Hes a rip-off of at least four more characters, an amalgamation of so many different sources, he reads like fanfic written like a ransom note made up of letters cut out from a bunch of newspapers and magazines. Here are some more details about this insane character.

Marvel Comics

No one really knows who created Captain Britain in the real world, in the same way that the inventor of the McRib-flavored condom has chosen to remain anonymous to the world. CB was originally part of Marvel UK, an imprint meant only for the British market but still overseen and largely produced by Americans. And, really, the fact that they decided to just mash up a bunch of US superheroes to create him rather than come up with something original that would undoubtedly end up equally part horribly jingoistic and hilarious speaks volumes to their self-awareness.

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So instead of, I dont know, Crumpet Man (whod be powered by tea and weak against temperatures higher than 77 degrees F), Marvel came up with a Captain hero named Brian Braddock who worked at a nuclear research center, got into an accident involving a motorcycle, and was granted magic powers by Merlyn. So the character is already borrowing heavily from Captain America, Hulk, and Captain Marvel/Shazam, but it doesnt stop there.
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Contributed Photo / Connecticut State Police

BRIDGEPORT  Police are investigating a shooting that took place on the southbound lanes of Route 25 in Bridgeport Saturday.

State police were notified of the incident just after noon Saturday. There were no reported injuries from the incident, police said.
Following a year of unwavering advocacy and fighting for the success of the credit union industry, NAFCU has launched its 2022 legislative and regulatory priorities which aim to achieve an operating environment where credit unions  and their 127 million members  can thrive. These priorities, set by the associations Board of Directors, will help guide advocacy efforts and initiatives to strengthen the credit union industry.

Credit unions are continuing their relentless efforts to help Americans recover from hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic, said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. Their commitment to supporting all communities, including those hit hardest by the crisis, must continue to be recognized by members of Congress.

In these uncertain times, NAFCU and its determined Board of Directors have high expectations in 2022 to help the credit unions meet the needs of Main Street America, and is eager to continue working with the Biden administration to achieve those goals, added Berger.

NAFCUs award-winning advocacy team will continue to engage with the 117th Congress and Capitol Hill, sharing the priorities with lawmakers and their staff to keep credit union issues top of mind.
Cullman, AL (35055)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
The lorries are queuing up along the quayside, including a juggernaut bound for Germany. Theres still an hour to go before sunrise but a lot of this seafood will be on its way before dawn.

The weather is on the turn, with a Force Nine gale kicking off in the Channel. It will keep the smaller boats in port for a couple of days but not the larger ones.

That is of absolutely no concern to me, chuckles Mark Ellis, skipper of the 115ft (35m) beam trawler Georgina of Ladram.

Having just landed 40,000 of Dover sole, turbot, gurnard, crab and much else, he and his crew of five are in the middle of what they call a turn and burn.

They want to drop their latest catch at the fish market as fast as possible and get straight back out into a raging sea for another four-day shift.

People said Brexit would kill off the British fishing industry, especially after Covid came along, says Barry Young, fisherman-turned-managing director of Brixham Trawler Agents. In fact, were seeing the opposite. Our problem is we havent got enough space to handle all weve got coming in and we want to handle even more'

The fish are there, the customers are waiting and they are not going to let 30ft waves and 50mph winds keep them from another bumper haul.

Business is not just brisk here in Brixham. It is positively booming, to the extent that this grand old Devon fishing harbour has just had its best year ever.

This is a town that is cheerfully raising two fingers to shroud-waving Remainers peddling the post-Brexit, post-Covid apocalypse narrative that we are heading for the economic abyss.

Whats more, Brixham depends on an industry which, more than any other, should have been crippled by the double whammy of leaving the EU and the coronavirus  at least, that is, if you listen to gloomsters on the Opposition benches.

And yet this port has just clocked up the highest sales in its history. For, in 2021, Brixham sold 43.6 million of fish.

No one talks of furlough. Ask these grafters about working from home and they burst out laughing. The only government hand-outs they want round here are some levelling up funding to build new storage space and more lorry parking.

People said Brexit would kill off the British fishing industry, especially after Covid came along, says Barry Young, fisherman-turned-managing director of Brixham Trawler Agents.

Whats more, Brixham depends on an industry which, more than any other, should have been crippled by the double whammy of leaving the EU and the coronavirus  at least, that is, if you listen to gloomsters on the Opposition benches

In fact, were seeing the opposite. Our problem is we havent got enough space to handle all weve got coming in and we want to handle even more.

He is working with the local council on a 15 million application to enlarge the quayside by reclaiming a chunk of land next to Brixhams northern breakwater.

Mr Young and his staff of 57 run the Brixham Fish Market which was enjoying a brisk trade at 6am yesterday when I turned up for the start of the daily sale.

The first thing I notice is the absence of a fishy smell.

Thats because its all fresh and fresh fish doesnt smell, explains Neil Watson, 54, ex-skipper and lifeboat crewman who did 20 years at sea before switching to running operations inside this market.

Crates of ice-covered turbot, skate, monkfish, red mullet and gurnard (to name but a few) are up for grabs this morning, along with some hefty crabs, their giant claws still nipping thin air.

One or two buyers are wandering around with laptops, logging what looks good. Most will be bidding remotely through a new online system which Brixham has pioneered in the last couple of years. One man has just logged in from Belgium to buy 20 tons of cuttlefish.

Not a single fish will be left over by mid-morning, by which time finance director Adam Mudge tots up the days takings: 302,000. Its not bad, given that atrocious weather is keeping some smaller boats at home.

The atmosphere is remarkably jolly for six in the morning, especially since some of the staff in here have been on shift since six the previous evening, sorting and grading fish. Also noticeable is that everyone on the market floor seems to be from south Devon. Its hard enough to find anyone from Cornwall, let alone Eastern Europe.

What is, perhaps, most surprising is that most of the fish they land here  around 60 per cent  is still heading for Europe. However much Europeans may moan about Brexit, they recognise that seafood from Britains South-West is the best premium fish in the world. And Europeans still eat a lot more fish than we do. It means that a town which was strongly pro-Brexit is enjoying a post-Brexit boom.

Talk about an inconvenient truth. This time last year, as Britain adjusted to post-EU trading rules, the airwaves and TV studios were full of gloating Remainers yelling I told you so as exporters struggled to make sense of the new systems. It was particularly tough for exporters of food. And no food sector was hit harder than fishing.

First, the industry was shafted by the Government during the final Brexit negotiations. Prior to the UK leaving, Boris Johnson had made a lot of noise about reclaiming the 12-mile limit around the British coast for British fishermen. It was a red line issue. Except it wasnt. That promise was soon used as a bargaining chip to get a better deal on other things.

Meanwhile, British fishermen and seafood exporters were up against the box-tickers and pencil-chewers in the customs sheds of Europe. What better way to punish those pesky Britishers for their impudence?

Remember Martijn, the chuckling Dutch customs man? This time last year, he was the chap seen in TV footage who even confiscated a (Polish) truckers British sandwich (because it had no paperwork)  with a patronising: Welcome to the Brexit, sir!

In all the Channel ports of the EU, there were plenty of Martijns insisting that they were only doing their job as they picked off British seafood consignments because forms were filled in the wrong-coloured ink or boxes stacked the wrong way round. In one case, a whole truck was stopped for a single box with a fish tail sticking out of the side.

Crates of ice-covered turbot, skate, monkfish, red mullet and gurnard (to name but a few) are up for grabs this morning, along with some hefty crabs, their giant claws still nipping thin air. One or two buyers are wandering around with laptops, logging what looks good

Exporters had to fill in a mountain of paperwork for a single crate of scallops and still get confronted with a Non/Nein/Nee from the Martijns as soon as their truck came off the ferry. Serves you right, crowed the Remainiacs.

I still have sleepless nights each time I send a load to Europe, says veteran Brixham seafood exporter, Ian Perkes, reeling off horror stories of thousands of pounds of good produce stuck in limbo  like one currently in France  because one official has randomly decided he doesnt like a label on a box.

However, things are now much improved. The sort of people who think nothing of setting sail in a Force Nine to catch a turbot are not likely to be defeated by a chippy nit-picker in a hi-vis bib.

So all the various elements of the Brixham fishing industry have sharpened up their act. They have ensured that all their paperwork and processes are up to speed while their European customers loyally keep on ordering top grade fish. And the results have been phenomenal  up by over 10 per cent on pre-Covid/pre-Brexit figures. Assuming no more lockdowns, 2022 should be even better.

You sense the optimism just wandering around the harbour. I meet Martyn Youell of Waterdance  the biggest presence here with 13 of the largest of Brixhams 100-odd boats. His company has just invested in a brand new 2.5million crabbing boat from a yard in Whitby, thus keeping a team of Yorkshire boat-builders in work.

So what is the secret to Brixhams success? Talking to skippers and traders, it is, in part, down to looking ahead. This is the first market to devise a new online auction system which everyone calls The Clock.

Each catch comes up on screen with a price which then ticks down on a virtual clockface until a buyer jumps in. At which point they can buy as much of that catch as they like before the clock starts ticking down again.

Barry Young says it makes the whole system more transparent and means more money for the fishermen. So more and more boats from all over southern England are landing their catches at Brixham. Some small boats from Sussex even ship their fish down to Devon in a refrigerated truck for sale here because this market handles the mountain of post-Brexit paperwork, leaving skippers more time at sea.

Next door to the market, the Rockfish restaurant has this week kicked off a seafood at home service delivering fresh-as-a-daisy fish from the Brixham quayside to any home in England and Wales the next morning. If it hadnt been for Covid, we might never have got this off the ground, says owner and TV chef, Mitch Tonks.

So what is the secret to Brixhams success? Talking to skippers and traders, it is, in part, down to looking ahead. This is the first market to devise a new online auction system which everyone calls The Clock

The only problem they have, aside from a lack of space, is a shortage of recruits. Young people are simply not keen.

This is an industry with very good prospects but people are still put off, says local Tory MP for Totnes, Anthony Mangnall, who spent a few days at sea on the Georgina of Ladram last autumn. Its hard work, he is the first to point out, but for those who like the sea, there are rich pickings.

Salaries for a skipper can be well above 100,000, a first mate can earn 50,000 and modern boats are safer and more comfortable than ever. Mr Mangnall is now lobbying the government for a 1 million grant to build a fishing industry campus at South Devon College.

For all the innovation, however, it will always be a unique industry with dearly-held traditions. Absolutely no one at all uses the new BBC-approved politically correct label of fisherpeople. Were all fishermen here, even the women, says Neil Watson.

And everyone has their superstitions.

For example, all the boats in Martyn Youells Waterdance fleet are blue  except one that is red.

The skippers wife will only let him go to sea in a red boat because she had a dream that he would drown if he wasnt in a red boat, says Martyn. At the end of the day, this is a people industry. You listen to the families!
I was pleased to hear that the TV series Grange Hill is going to be made into a film.

As a child at a North London comprehensive in the 1970s, I was an avid fan of the BBC drama, which ran from 1978-87.

Grange Hill was set in a fictional school  also in North London  and was widely condemned at the time for painting an unrealistically ugly portrait of life at a typical comprehensive.

Its storylines included drugs, racism, bullying, teenage pregnancy, knife crime, alcoholism and death.

Grange Hill was set in a fictional school  also in North London  and was widely condemned at the time for painting an unrealistically ugly portrait of life at a typical comprehensive

It was unrealistic all right, but not for the reasons its critics said. On the contrary, compared to the comprehensive I attended in Muswell Hill  Creighton  it was like a five-star resort. Take racism, for instance.

There was plenty of racial bullying at Creighton, but it was almost all directed at white children like me  a storyline never explored in Grange Hill.

Creighton was the flagship of an educational experiment run by the Labour-controlled Haringey Council.

Children from the most deprived parts of the borough were bussed over to leafy Muswell Hill in an attempt to promote social integration. In fact, it just meant middle-class softies like me were targeted by the tough kids from the other side of the borough.

We spent our break-time being chased by groups of youths intent on stealing our dinner money. I remember when one of these boys brought an air pistol into school and, as I was running away, shot me in the leg.

Luckily, a teacher witnessed the whole thing. He dragged the boy off to face the headmistress, the wife of Labour MP Roy Hattersley and a star of the Haringey Labour Party. Thatll be one less bully Ill have to avoid every day, I thought.

As a child at a North London comprehensive in the 1970s, I was an avid fan of the BBC drama, which ran from 1978-87

In fact, so progressive was Mrs Hattersleys attitude to bad behaviour that all the miscreant got was a two-day suspension.

This philosophy didnt just extend to behaviour management. According to one of Mrs Hattersleys hare-brained schemes, Creighton had a seven-day timetable, which meant that the first Monday of term was Day One, the following Monday was Day Six and then Wednesday was Day One again.

The upshot was that no one knew where they were supposed to be from one minute to the next.

The only part of the school where there was a modicum of order was the PE department  and in that respect it did bear some resemblance to Grange Hill. In the TV series, one of the few teachers to enjoy any authority was Mr Baxter, the fearsome PE teacher known as Bullet. At Creighton, our Mr Baxter was a Greek Cypriot who was a corporal punishment enthusiast.

Woe betide the boy who forgot his PE kit. You were given a choice of doing PE in your underpants or being given the slipper. None of the children complained, just accepting it as one more humiliation in this educational nut house.

I regarded all this as completely normal and was amazed when Grange Hill was slammed for exaggerating how awful London comprehensives were. I longed to go to a school as well run as the fictional comprehensive.

State schools in the 1970s were often violent places. The abnegation of authority that was so beloved of progressive educationalists  a teacher was to be a guide on the side rather than a sage on the stage  meant there was no one in the playground to protect the weak from the strong. For that reason, most comps were closer to fascist dystopias than socialist paradises. But Creighton was a basket case even by the standards of its day, and in 1976 became the subject of a major newspaper investigation.

That caused such a sensation  a school even worse than Grange Hill!  that the journalist Hunter Davies turned it into a book called The Creighton Report. Six years later, the bussing experiment was ended, Creighton was merged with a neighbouring school and it was renamed Fortismere.

Creighton is a good illustration of everything that went wrong with state education in the 1970s. The school was created in 1967 when Haringey Council combined Tollington Grammar and William Grimshaw Secondary Modern. The idea behind such mergers, said then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, was to create grammar schools for all. But all too often these new comprehensives became secondary moderns for all. After five years of comprehensive education, I emerged with just one O-level.

A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2001  called Education At A Glance  revealed just how far a generation had been let down. It found that adult illiteracy was worse in Britain than in any other country in the industrialised world apart from the US.

I expect Sir Phil Redmond, the Left-wing creator of Grange Hill, will in his new film try to skewer the educational revolution that has taken place since 1987  a national curriculum, league tables, regular inspections. Honesty and accountability, in other words.

Perhaps Grange Hill in 2022 will have become an academy sponsored by a vulgar industrialist, boasting strict discipline, smart uniforms and compulsory Latin. No doubt todays descendants of Tucker, Trisha, Zammo, Judy and Roland will have been turned into automatons by this Tory exam factory, all creativity snuffed out by over-worked teachers chasing grades.

Yet the reality is that most state schools are now a hundred times better than they were in the 1970s. Bullying is no longer tolerated, literacy and numeracy rates have shot up and half the students go on to university.

Just compare Fortismere to Creighton. Its judged Outstanding by Ofsted and has a waiting list as long as your arm.

Last year 92 per cent of its A-level students got grade C or above, with 12 getting places at Cambridge or Oxford universities.

Ive seen this sort of thing at first hand. Educational reforms brought in by Michael Gove enabled me to join forces with a group of local parents in Acton and set up a school that embodied Harold Wilsons original vision for comprehensives  grammar school standards but with a non-selective intake.

In 2019, more than half of all the GCSE exams were marked 7, 8 or 9  A and A* in old money.

That makes the West London Free School one of the highest-achieving academies in the country. But even though we set up our school under the Tories, this transformed educational landscape is the result of a joint effort by both the main political parties.

And the irony is that it was partly prompted by the horrified reaction of the viewing public when Grange Hill first appeared on television.

Sir Phil Redmond was a supporter of progressive education. But his warts-and-all portrait of a typical comprehensive shocked the country into facing the truth  and did us a favour in the process.

Despite the furious denials it provoked, far too many comprehensives really were as violent and depressing as Grange Hill. It proved to be a much-needed wake-up call. I look forward to seeing Redmonds film. But if his new Grange Hill Comprehensive isnt a huge improvement on the old one, it will be a travesty of the truth.
Normally when a jury returns a verdict, that's the end of it. But not in the Ghislaine Maxwell case. If anything, when it comes to this extraordinary tale of power and perversion, the plot appears to be thickening.

The latest revelations come from a key witness in the recent trial, Carolyn Andriano, whose testimony helped secure four of the five guilty verdicts against Maxwell.

This weekend she gave an exclusive interview to The Mail on Sunday's sister paper, the Daily Mail, in which she threw light on Virginia Giuffre's allegations of battery and sexual assault against Prince Andrew.

She claims that not only did Giuffre text her excitedly from London in March 2001 to say she was having dinner with the Prince, she also claims that when she got back to Florida she showed Andriano that snap of her with him and gushed: 'I got to sleep with him.'

According to Andriano, Giuffre didn't seem remotely upset about the experience. On the contrary, 'she thought it was pretty cool' and 'couldn't believe that she got to sleep with Prince Andrew'.

The latest revelations come from a key witness in the recent trial, Carolyn Andriano, whose testimony helped secure four of the five guilty verdicts against Maxwell

She also says that her friendship with Giuffre was what led to her being recruited  aged 14  into Epstein and Maxwell's 'pyramid scheme' of abuse, and that Giuffre was fully aware of what was going on. 'I don't think she deserves any compensation,' she says.

'I don't think she was coerced into doing anything.'

She even goes so far as to say that Giuffre, whom she met when she was 13 and dating a 17-year-old boy who was friends with Giuffre's boyfriend, deserves to get the same treatment as Maxwell, since she 'trafficked' her into a 'world of spiralling downward slopes'.

She says the older girl had a way of making her feel 'comfortable', and that she trusted her  which is presumably why, when Giuffre asked her if she would like to 'go and make some money', she agreed to visit Epstein at his house in Palm Beach to administer a 'massage'.

Giuffre gave her a revealing top and a pair of 'tight skimpy shorts' and told her 'whatever you do, don't say your age'. They went to Epstein's place, where she watched Giuffre massage him and have sex with him, before Maxwell took her phone number and gave her $300.

She also says that her friendship with Giuffre was what led to her being recruited  aged 14  into Epstein and Maxwell's 'pyramid scheme' of abuse, and that Giuffre was fully aware of what was going on. 'I don't think she deserves any compensation,' she says. Pictured: Maxwell, Andrew and Roberts

To my mind there is no doubt: if what Andriano is saying is true (and I have no reason to doubt her), her testimony opens up a new can of worms. It casts Giuffre in a completely different light, one in which she appears less the innocent victim of a predatory prince and more a knowing participant in a network of sleaze.

She seems to have done to Andriano exactly what she claims Maxwell did to her: groomed her as a sex object for Epstein.

Sure, she was herself an underage victim (though, of, course the age of consent  on which so much in this case hinges  varies wildly around the world). Nevertheless, there are some serious blurred lines here. Not just in relation to her role as recruiter for Maxwell, but also in terms of her claims against Prince Andrew.

A woman who claims he sexually assaulted her, yet was so excited about the chance of bedding him that she texted her friend on the other side of the world? Who showed off a picture of them together?

A person who claims to be a victim, yet herself recruits other victims, tells them to lie, gives them certain clothes to wear and shows them what to do?

To my mind there is no doubt: if what Andriano (pictured) is saying is true (and I have no reason to doubt her), her testimony opens up a new can of worms. It casts Giuffre in a completely different light, one in which she appears less the innocent victim of a predatory prince and more a knowing participant in a network of sleaze

Don't get me wrong: Andrew is a pompous, entitled oaf who has handled this whole thing appallingly. But if he did sleep with Giuffre, which he has vehemently denied, Andriano's testimony raises the distinct possibility that he might not have had the slightest clue what was really going on. Giuffre's allegation is still pretty sleazy, of course: after all, she was 17 at the time, he was almost 40. But if Giuffre encouraged Andriano to lie about her age, who's to say she didn't do the same for herself?

At some point Giuffre allegedly turned from victim into abuser, and visited on others the horrors that had been visited on her. Her supporters like to gloss over this fact.

'Virginia has said for years that her role in facilitating other young women's involvement is something she has always regretted,' says her lawyer, David Boies. I'm sure she does. But the fact remains, she still did it. And just because she regrets it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

I'd hope Ghislaine also regrets many of the things she did. It won't stop her being held accountable for them, and nor should it. But the more we hear about this case, the more I can't help thinking: why was she the only one on trial?

If Scotty David is any indicator of the calibre of jurors in America, God help us. He revealed after the Ghislaine Maxwell verdict that he was a sexual assault victim, putting the whole trial at risk. The guy is a self-serving, publicity-seeking idiot.

Pope Francis has criticised 'selfish' couples for having pets instead of children, calling it 'a denial of fatherhood and motherhood' and something that 'diminishes us, takes away our humanity'. Um. Shouldn't someone remind him that he has taken a vow of celibacy?

Poor Molly-Mae doesn't deserve this foul abuse

The case of Molly-Mae Hague, the reality TV star and 'influencer' who last week became the latest celebrity to be cancelled by the pitchfork-wielding Twitter mob, is a classic of our times.

All she did was reference a viral trend dating back to 2013 in which people shared clips of Beyonce alongside the motivational quote: 'You have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce.' In other words, if you work hard, you can do anything.

For that, she's been accused of 'not caring' about poor people, vilified by Left-wingers as 'Thatcher with a fake tan' and suffered appalling abuse such as 'she is best known for being getting her s***ch out on Love Island'.

By all means disagree with her, but that kind of language is just blind misogyny.

The case of Molly-Mae Hague, the reality TV star and 'influencer' who last week became the latest celebrity to be cancelled by the pitchfork-wielding Twitter mob, is a classic of our times

Trinny earned those millions

Some people have expressed surprise (or is it envy?) that Trinny Woodall should have built a multi-million pound make-up brand just by 'larking around on Instagram'.

But the truth is her self-deprecating tutorials, honesty and sense of humour have proved a refreshing antidote to super-fakes like Kylie Jenner, who get rich by making ordinary girls and women feel worse about themselves.

Trinny is a real woman selling real solutions. She deserves every penny.

Trinny is a real woman selling real solutions. She deserves every penny

Meghan's lawyer informs us that 'bullying is a very damaging term, particularly for career women'. That may well be the case. But what does she mean by 'career'? Is that what we're now calling a stint in a third-rate soap, followed by marriage to a rich man with a title?

It is starting to look like the Australian authorities  not to mention half of Twitter  may have egg on their faces when it comes to Novak Djokovic, currently being detained in a maggot-infested hotel for allegedly breaching quarantine rules.

No doubt we will find out more tomorrow when his lawyers present their case. But until then, perhaps the gods of social media might like to break the habit of a lifetime  and wait until they have all the facts before passing judgment.

It is starting to look like the Australian authorities  not to mention half of Twitter  may have egg on their faces when it comes to Novak Djokovic, currently being detained in a maggot-infested hotel for allegedly breaching quarantine rules

TENT BOY PUTS HARRY TO SHAME

I can't stop laughing about the fact that a boy in a tent (Max Woosey, aged 12) raised more for charity in 2020 (107,000) than two champagne philanthropists in a multi-million-pound mansion in California.

I speak, of course, of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, whose charitable foundation, Archewell, made just 36,681 in the same year. Perhaps if they spent less time bitching about their family to Oprah

I can't stop laughing about the fact that a boy in a tent (Max Woosey, aged 12) raised more for charity in 2020 (107,000) than two champagne philanthropists in a multi-million-pound mansion in California

Seeing as the four wokelets who toppled the Colston statue have been acquitted of criminal damage, can I take a hammer and chisel to the monstrosity on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square?

It may not be as problematic as Colston, but in terms of aesthetics the giant Mr Whippy ice cream topped with a fly, a cherry and a drone is easily as offensive.

After a week of transport chaos, London is bracing itself for months of industrial action from disgruntled RMT members arguing for better pay and conditions.

Do you know the basic salary for a full-time Tube driver in London? 56,496, plus perks. The average UK salary? 25,971. Just saying.
At a crucial meeting on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will meet the EU's chief Brexit negotiator to discuss Northern Ireland's future place in the United Kingdom.

Ever since the UK departed the EU, it has become plain that the Northern Ireland Protocol is causing huge disruption to the lives of the people of that part of our country.

The Protocol was aimed at protecting the EU Single Market, ensuring an open border on the island of Ireland and thereby maintaining the stability established by the Good Friday Agreement.

But its operation in practice has been deeply damaging.

Northern Ireland has been left behind the rest of the UK, stuck in a no-man's land of EU bureaucratic control.

At a crucial meeting on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will meet the EU's chief Brexit negotiator to discuss Northern Ireland's future place in the United Kingdom

Keeping the border open with the Republic has resulted in another border, in the Irish Sea, making trade with the mainland much harder.

Goods passing into Northern Ireland are subject to burdensome checks, slowing up and sometimes destroying supply chains.

Food supplies have been hit. There are fears that it may become impossible to supply British-licensed medicines in Northern Ireland.

No wonder there is growing resentment, amid fears that the Protocol has changed the constitutional status of Northern Ireland without the consent of its people.

In effect, the province has become an EU colony, subject to decisions made by a foreign administration and to the jurisdiction of a foreign court: the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

This is intolerable and must end. In fact, the issue could be relatively easily resolved.

Ever since the UK departed the EU, it has become plain that the Northern Ireland Protocol is causing huge disruption to the lives of the people of that part of our country. The Protocol was aimed at protecting the EU Single Market, ensuring an open border on the island of Ireland and thereby maintaining the stability established by the Good Friday Agreement. But its operation in practice has been deeply damaging

The Centre for Brexit Policy suggests a proposal for mutual enforcement of customs regulations, whereby the UK and the EU would each take responsibility for ensuring that no non-compliant goods were exported into the other's territory, thus protecting both internal markets.

Although Brussels is offering relatively small, cosmetic changes, it refuses to alter the substance.

Crucially, Liz Truss wants to see rapid progress toward resolving the issue. She has indicated that the threat to invoke Article 16 of the Protocol, so as to make unilateral changes to it, remains live.

The Foreign Secretary's star is in the ascendant. She attracted high praise at International Trade for negotiating trade deals. But Thursday's talks will be of a wholly greater magnitude.

Ms Truss must make clear to the EU's chief Brexit negotiator that the time has come for Northern Ireland to be freed from the intolerable constraints of the Protocol.

If her Brussels counterpart won't agree, the UK should trigger Article 16.

For what is at stake is nothing less than the very future of the United Kingdom as a nation.
Carol Drinkwater, 73, (pictured) shares items of personal significance in her writing room in the South of France

1. LOVES OF MY LIFE

My husband, the film producer Michel Noll, and I have lived on this olive farm in the hills near Cannes on the French Riviera for more than 33 years. We renovated the property extensively, doing much of the work ourselves. I love the climate, swimming in my pool and being surrounded by nature. Some people come here to reinvent themselves, possibly Ive done the same.

2. ALL THAT GLITTERS

Im wearing a diamond ring my father, Peter, gave to my Irish mother Phyllis, a nurse. I grew up in Kent but my happiest times as a child were spent on holiday on her family farm in Ireland. My first acting job was a tiny part in Stanley Kubricks A Clockwork Orange, then Laurence Olivier took me under his wing at the National Theatre. But my big break was as Helen in All Creatures Great And Small.

3. SOFT HEARTED

Michel and I met in 1984 in Sydney  I was in a mini-series that he was producing. We were in the same hotel and he invited me to dinner. He asked me to marry him on our first date  before the first course had even been served! I thought he was kidding, so I ignored it.

But he kept trying and we married in 1988. Years later when we were working in Australia again, he had to leave early and so bought me this bear, saying, Hell keep you warm until were together again.

4. CHEERS TO THAT

Carol cherishes this bee brooch as a reminder of a talk at a university in Chicago

When I was a young and struggling actress my father gave me 200 as a birthday present, advising me to spend it wisely  on rent or electricity, for example. I was living in London and, one day, in a Primrose Hill antiques shop I saw these beautiful Georgian Champagne glasses costing exactly 200.

I couldnt resist and bought them as a hopeful nod to my future! I couldnt celebrate paying my electricity bill in the same way. We only get them out for special occasions  so thank you Daddy. They are lovely.

5. MISTER MUSIC

My handsome and very charming father Peter was a well-known band leader and musical agent who looked after more than 120 dance bands. He began his career in the RAF Gang Show with, among others, Peter Sellers and Tony Hancock. This photo was taken on a family holiday in Devon. Here he is standing outside the chalet playing his banjo, which Ive kept.

6. BEE-EAUTIFUL

I was on a book tour in America a few years ago and was due to give a talk at a university in Chicago. A reader knew it would be my birthday that day and wanted to organise a party for me.

She flew up from the Deep South and I found shed contacted my readers all across America. The place was packed and on every table was a little olive tree. Knowing my passion for protecting our diminishing honeybees, she gave me this beautiful bee brooch. I treasure it as a reminder of an absolutely wonderful evening.

As told to Yvonne Swann. Carols latest novel An Act of Love, published by Michael Joseph, is out now. Carols series, retitled Carol Drinkwaters Secret Provence, is coming soon to My5.
For a man who appears to have stumbled from one golden opportunity to another with an open mind and endless enthusiasm but little or no preparation, things haven't turned out too badly for John Bishop.

An award-winning stand-up comedian with multiple sell-out tours under his belt and the fastest-selling stand-up DVD in UK history, he became a regular on all manner of panel shows and is now an accomplished TV and film actor  with his latest role being the coveted one of the Doctor's new companion in Doctor Who.

Oh, and along the way he's raised many millions of pounds for charity with gruelling challenges such as a 'triathlon' from Paris to London and a cycle ride from Australia to the UK.

Tonight he's adding another string to his bow with the start of his own ITV chat show, but he says The John Bishop Show will have a typical John Bishop twist.

Each of the six episodes will be recorded just a few hours before transmission in front of a live studio audience, with John opening with a topical, up-to-the-minute stand-up routine.

John Bishop, 55, (pictured) has been given his own ITV chat show with celebrity guests including James Nesbitt and Sarah Millican

'It's not going to be a traditional chat show, because Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton are brilliant at what they do,' he explains. 'I don't want to emulate what they do, I want to do what I do  and I'm a stand-up comedian.

'I love the adrenaline of a deadline. I think everybody raises their game because of it. It's so exciting. The news agenda moves so fast, so doing it all on the day is good. This show is as close to stand-up as you can get.'

Guests on the opening show will include James Nesbitt and Sarah Millican, with Rob Brydon, Oti Mabuse, Hugh Bonneville, Olly Murs and Michelle Keegan among the stars to feature later in the series.

John's already proved himself to be an engaging interviewer on his W channel show John Bishop: In Conversation With, which has featured celebrities such as Steve Coogan, James Corden and Lindsay Lohan.

'Prior to this life I was a salesman, and the key to selling is not talking  it's listening,' he says. 'If there's a skill from my previous life that I've brought in that helps with interviewing and comedy observation, it's just listening. You've just got to be in amongst people and listen.'

A former salesman for pharmaceuticals company Syntex, John, now 55, was reborn as a comedian in his 30s when he fell into stand-up by accident after splitting up with his wife Melanie.

'We had three kids, and I was working all the hours God sends,' he recalls. 'So I'd lost my sparkle, I suppose. I'd get out of the car on my phone, walk into the house, go into the study and carry on working.

'Now I feel like punching myself in the head. I was doing what I thought was right, but I wasn't putting the attention where I needed to. So Mel and I split up.'

John (pictured) was given his first headline spot just three months after an open-mic night at Manchester's Frog & Bucket comedy club

Living alone in a semi, he was at risk of spiralling into depression. 'Because of the travelling in my job I didn't know where I was going to be during the week, so I could only have the kids every weekend, which meant that on Mondays I was on a downer.

'I used to drop them off at school knowing I wasn't going to see them until the weekend and it just wiped me out. Mental health awareness wasn't like it is now, where men are encouraged to chat to each other.'

Fate intervened one Monday night in October 2000 when, to cheer himself up, he headed for Manchester's Frog & Bucket comedy club. 'I wanted to go out and decided to go there. I didn't know anything about comedy.

'The bouncer said it was an open-mic night, but I didn't even know what that meant. He said, 'If you put your name down you only have to pay 4.' So I did, just to save a few quid because getting divorced is costly. I didn't expect to get called up on stage!

I'd never been on stage but I had nothing to lose

'The first man came on and did an impression of a chicken. It was the maddest thing I've seen. Then I was called up second, otherwise I would probably have left. I'd have paid 4 just to get out.

'I thought, 'Whoa!' I'd never been on a stage. But then I thought, 'What have I got to lose? I'll only be going back to an empty house.' So I did it and that was it. I would just go on about therapy and divorced dads and what was going on in my life.

'Three months later I got my first headline spots there. I often reflect upon the fact that my life could have been very different for the sake of that ten minutes.'

John kept his second job under his hat for ten months, but then he was invited to join a group of friends celebrating a birth at the Frog & Bucket and his secret was exposed.

John (pictured) said Melanie now comes to see him when a tour starts and then again six weeks later, as she's not just his soulmate but also his mentor

'You can only keep things secret for so long. I was working at the club that weekend so I told the manager not to put my name on the door, just to announce me from the stage. I was with my mates wetting the baby's head, then I said I was going to the toilet and the next thing I walked out on stage. They were all like, 'Whaaat?'

And when Melanie eventually found out, it saved their marriage. 'She came to the Frog & Bucket on a work do. I was meant to have the kids but I had a call to say a comedian had dropped out, so I got a babysitter and went to the club.

If I can make Melanie laugh then I know it's funny

'I used to do a joke about missing my ex so much that I kept her severed head in the fridge. It's not the best joke, and as I said it I realised the head that was meant to be in the fridge was in the audience.

'We were at the decree nisi stage in our divorce at this point, so we only had to finalise the finances. I remember thinking, 'That joke's going to cost me another 20,000.' Afterwards she came over to the bar. I was expecting a row but instead we started chatting.' This led to the couple agreeing to go to counselling and a reunion soon followed.

Today Melanie's not just his soulmate, but also his mentor. 'She comes to see me when a tour starts and then again six weeks or so later.

John and Melanie (pictured) met in the library at the now Manchester Metropolitan University, while both were studying for a BA in social science

'She can be honest with me and tell me what's good and bad. If I've got any television decisions to make, I always ask her. In many respects she's my audience. If I can make Melanie laugh, then I know it's funny.'

The couple met in the library at the now Manchester Metropolitan University, where John was studying for a BA in social science and Melanie was doing the same course but was one year ahead. And that was another turning point in his life that might not have happened but for fate.

John's father Ernie was a labourer and his mother Kathleen washed dishes in a factory canteen. They lived on a council estate in Runcorn in Cheshire and money was tight.

DOCTOR WHO IS A DREAM COME TRUE In Doctor Who, John plays the Doctor's new companion Dan Lewis, a humble, kind, vulnerable man who's prepared to stand up for what's right; following the recent six-part series and New Year's Day special there are two more specials to come this year. But it almost didn't happen. 'I was on tour when Doctor Who writer Chris Chibnall asked if we could have a cup of tea,' recalls John. 'He said, 'Look, I've got this character called Dan Lewis from Liverpool, and I've seen you act in a few things. I think you can do it.' Pictured: John as Dan with the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and fellow companion Yaz (Mandip Gill) 'But unfortunately I couldn't because I was on tour. I was gutted, but then my tour was postponed because of Covid so I called Chris and said, 'Have you cast anyone yet?' Fortunately he hadn't. 'So I auditioned on Zoom, then went down to Cardiff for an audition with Jodie Whittaker in the Tardis. If I could have told my younger self that one day I'd be asked to step on board the Tardis I'd never have believed it. It's a dream come true. 'But I'm not going to oversell my acting ability. Me and Dan Lewis are very similar in looks, age, mannerisms and actions,' he laughs. 'He's a nice, caring, giving person but unlucky in love. He's never really been anywhere or done anything, which is why when he ends up as a companion to the Doctor it gives him a confidence he's never had before. I've always said I've definitely got more confidence than I've got ability.' Advertisement

'I stayed on at my school, Brookvale Comprehensive, to do my A-levels but only lasted one day because I wasn't allowed to wear jeans and I didn't want to ask for money to buy some slacks. So I left and got a job in a chemical factory and started doing my A-levels at night school, which was hard because I'd have to be back at work at 6.30am.

'Then I bumped into my English teacher at Brookvale, Geoff Logan, who said they would try and make it work for me to come back. At the time I was earning 35 a week at the factory.

'If you were part-time at a further education college you could claim benefit of 18.50 a week on top of the family allowance. I said there was no way I was going to give up my factory job unless Brookvale gave me a letter to say I was only studying there part-time.

'And the headmistress did it. I don't know whether I would have made it to the exams if it hadn't been for that.

'I remember sitting down with my mum and dad that night and telling them I was going to go back to school and on to university. They spent the night trying to talk me out of it because I had a good job, but we reached a point where Dad said, 'You really want to do it, and you'll always wonder if you don't do it.'

John's family  he has three siblings  are close-knit and lived in a tough but hugely supportive community. This spirit shone through when his father was sent to prison for a year after getting into a fight.

Ernie had been walking home with Kathleen from a night out when two men started an argument outside a chip shop. Kathleen intervened, only for one of the men to push her so hard she bounced off a car bonnet.

Ernie retaliated and sadly, as he couldn't afford a decent defence, he took bad advice and got a one-year sentence. That year was a defining point in John's life.

'I remember my Uncle John telling us what had happened when he came back from court. 'You're going to have to look after your mum,' he said. 'You're all going to have to step up. There might be people saying things and you're going to have to learn to deal with that.' So we all stepped up, none of us wanted to let Mum down.

'It changed a lot of things. I was six at the time and I remember going to see my dad in Preston Prison. I remember how the guards looked at you when you visited. It motivated me to make sure my family were not looked down upon again.

'We had great support from the community. My dad tells me stories about this even now. Everyone knew he did the right thing defending Mum, so people used to go to my dad's twin brother  my Uncle Freddie  every weekend in the pub and give him a few quid to pass to my mum.'

John's still in close contact with all his old mates. He lives in Surrey now and shuns the flashy celebrity lifestyle, instead living quietly with Melanie and a menagerie of rescue animals.

John (pictured) hasn't looked back since he quit his job as a sales representative in 2006 to embark on his first tour

'We've got three rescue dogs, five rescue pigs and four rescue horses. Then we've got sheep, chickens and a Shetland pony. I did pay a bit of money for my horse Dolly as there wasn't a rescue one big enough for me to learn to ride on,' he says.

Next up in the spring is his new arena tour Right Here Right Now, his eighth to date, and he believes the power of laughing together can help people who may have been left lonely and isolated by the pandemic.

To that end he's launched his Say Hello initiative, which will see the audience at every gig be offered a Say Hello badge upon arrival. John hopes that when they see someone else wearing one they'll put their phones down and nod, smile or maybe even strike up a conversation with a stranger.

'No matter who you are or how successful you are, there are very few people who have not felt alone or lonely,' he says.

Loneliness can be lifted by just one person

'Being a comedian's a bit like being a cowboy. You ride into town on your own, you have the shoot-out with the audience, then you get on your horse and ride out again. But it's a chosen form of loneliness.

'I haven't been lonely in a depressed way or anything like that, but loneliness is the easiest thing to fix. It's such a heavy weight for people to carry, and it can be lifted by just one person. Just a few words could be part of a communication revolution.'

It was a huge plunge for John to jack in his job as a sales representative in 2006 when he embarked on his first tour, but he's never looked back.

'I look at life as all about consequences. You gain confidence when you look at consequences. If the consequences of you doing something are that nobody will die if you get it wrong, you might as well do it. If the consequences of me getting this show wrong are that nobody laughs, then there's nothing to lose.'

The John Bishop Show starts tonight at 9.30pm on ITV. The Right Here Right Now UK arena tour runs from 9 February to 8 April. For tickets go to johnbishoponline.com.
She's a bona fide member of the Russian aristocracy, whose great-uncle Tsar Nicholas II was murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. She's also a cousin of the Queen, is related to Prince Philip and was once considered an eligible match for Prince Charles. But Princess Olga Romanoff has no truck with the general perception of her moneyed class.

'I'm not your ordinary princess,' she says. 'At home you'll find me shovelling s***, sadly, not eating caviar.'

While Olga's blood may be as blue as the Danube, she's far more likely to be seen mucking out at her 13th-century home in Kent than quaffing Champagne. 'Only children expect a princess in a tiara and a frilly dress,' she says.

'Adults might sometimes raise an eyebrow because I smell of horses and don't wear make-up, but they're too polite to say so.'

New ITV series Keeping Up With The Aristocrats follows four upper-crusts families in Britain - including Princess Olga Romanoff (pictured) who has a 13th-century home in Kent

Olga, 71, is one of the stars of Keeping Up With The Aristocrats, a light-hearted three-part ITV series following four upper-crust families in Britain whose lives are beset by many of the same worries as the rest of us. Instead of hunting and shooting, today's aristos tend to fret about how to pay for the upkeep of the grand houses that have become magnificent albatrosses around their necks.

Olga's pile is medieval Provender House near Faversham, which she inherited 21 years ago upon the death of her mother (her father, Nicholas II's nephew, had escaped to England). By then the money had run out and it was a ramshackle wreck. 'It's still falling down, 2.5 million later,' says Olga dryly.

'I had to sell some of our Russian heirlooms to fund it.'

Today she generates income by renting out a wing of the house via Airbnb and by giving 14-a-head tours to busloads of tourists.

Yet Olga grew up in the grandest of circles because decades ago money was no object for her parents, until tax problems and her mother's spending habits saw it whittled away. At 17 she was touted as a potential match for Prince Charles in high-society magazine Harpers.

'They were trying to line up suitable foreign princesses for Charles,' she says. 'Most of us were the wrong religion  I'm Russian Orthodox. I remember reading the article with horror, because my mother didn't tell me it was coming out. She was trying to sell me.'

In 1968, Princess Anne delivered a sharp kick to Olga's leg at the Queen's annual Ghillies' Ball at Balmoral. 'We both liked the same young man and we were dancing an eightsome reel with him in the middle.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten, 58, who lives in 18th-century Bridwell Park in Devon, tries to earn a crust by organising a pop-up restaurant at the house. Pictured left to right: Lord Ivar Mountbatten, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Ivar's husband James

'At one point you're holding the hand of the woman on the other side, which happened to be Princess Anne, and I was slightly slow on the turn, so the royal foot came out and gave me an eff-off bruise on my shin.' On purpose? 'Probably,' smiles Olga.

Also appearing in the series is Lord Ivar Mountbatten, 58, a cousin of both the Queen and Prince Philip who cleans the 100-plus windows of his mansion, 18th-century Bridwell Park in Devon, himself. The divorced father-of-three made history four years ago when he became the first British royal to enter into a same-sex marriage, with airline steward James Coyle.

In the series, Lord Ivar and James try to earn a crust by organising a pop-up restaurant at the house in collaboration with French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, charging guests 165 a head for an exclusive dinner.

Other toffs in the show include Alexandra Sitwell, 63, and her husband Rick. She inherited the 17th-century Grade I-listed Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire where her family has lived since 1625. There's also Lord Gerald Fitzalan-Howard, 59, whose father was the 17th Duke of Norfolk.

When Gerald's elder brother Edward inherited Arundel Castle in Sussex, as well as 126-room Carlton Towers in North Yorkshire, he gave the latter to Gerald, who's lived there since 1991. Who needs two stately mansions?

Lord Gerald is also related to royalty  he's a descendant of Anne Boleyn. The upside of having a stately home for Gerald is that he can practise playing his drum kit on the roof without annoying the neighbours (Carlton Towers sits in 1,000 acres). But with a heating bill of 70,000 a year, he's always dreaming up new ways of earning money.

'I'm always full of ideas, some good and some completely rubbish,' confesses Gerald, 59.

To bring in money, Lord Gerald and his wife Lady Emma host weddings at Carlton Towers, which has 17 bedrooms for paying guests and six for the family.

But Gerald is also teaching himself to smoke fish and meat in a shed he bought from Homebase ('It's such an eyesore!' moans Emma), which he eventually hopes to serve to guests and he's also planted a vineyard so the estate can produce its own sparkling wine.

'The moment the vines start growing, we're immersed in that,' explains Emma, 60. 'We're pruning all day long. It's back-breaking but it's so rewarding.'

The wine and smoked meats businesses are still embryonic, but the Fitzalan-Howards hope they will bring much-needed extra income.

'Having a stately home is a privilege,' says Emma, 'but it comes with a big emotional price tag.'

Olga Romanoff hopes the series will reveal the reality of life for today's blue bloods.

'Hopefully it'll show people that we don't sit on our backsides doing sweet FA,' she says bluntly. 'We actually get off them and try to make the place pay.'

Keeping Up With The Aristocrats, Monday 17 January, 9pm, ITV.
Brenda Blethyn is used to getting surprised looks when fans of her detective series Vera meet her in the flesh. This is other peoples words, she says, but they see me and look shocked and say, Oh, youre pretty! and Why do they make you look like that? And I say, Well, thats Vera. Im not Vera.

Its understandable she gets confused with DI Vera Stanhope, the character she inhabits so completely in the ITV smash-hit drama, which returns tomorrow to continue its 11th series. Its also true that without Veras bucket hat and unkempt hair, Brenda looks way younger than her 75 years.

Perhaps quitting the booze last autumn and embracing a healthier lifestyle is contributing to her fresh-faced look.

Ive given up alcohol for a few months now and I feel the better for it, she says. Not that I had a lot anyway. The reason I stopped was because of Covid.

Brenda Blethyn, 75, is returning as DI Vera Stanhope for 11th series of the Northumberland set drama. Pictured: Vera with DS Aiden Healy

'We have to do all we can to keep ourselves healthy. Youre not going to get any fitter not looking after yourself, are you?

Brenda certainly needs stamina to endure the gruelling six-month shoots on Vera, where days are long, the weathers often foul and shes in nearly every scene.

Shes been doing it for 12 years, and the Northumberland-set crime drama based on the novels of Ann Cleeves remains one of Britains most popular shows. Brenda attributes this not just to its twisting plots and gorgeous scenery but also to its heroines lack of glamour.

People like Vera because the viewers are not in competition with her hourglass figure, she chuckles.

She doesnt look like shes just rolled off a catwalk and shes not dependent on lipstick, and I think people appreciate that. They like her put-downs too.

The 11th series returns with four more juicy whodunnits after two of the six episodes were screened last autumn, attracting a whopping seven million viewers. The opener sees Vera called to a container port after a hit-and-run leaves a man fighting for his life.

Brenda revealed the cinematic opener is one of her favourite episodes, as it follows Vera investigating a hit-and-run that left a man fighting for his life. Pictured: A scene from tomorrows episode

Its not something shed ordinarily be called to because the chap wasnt killed, explains Brenda. Then it transpires that his son has been kidnapped. So this turns it into something interesting for Vera. Id say its one of my favourite episodes. It has a cinematic feel.

Next week, Vera investigates the death of a primary school teacher found at the bottom of a cliff.

A subsequent episode involves the murder of a GP after she left home to attend to a patient  Vera discovers the doctor had spun a web of lies. The final episode sees the death of a beloved local whose body washes ashore on the River Tyne.

Veras team of sidekicks including DS Aiden Healy (Kenny Doughty) are back too, and ex-Emmerdale actress Charlie Hardwick stars in the first episode as the head of a crime syndicate.

Although the rugged backdrop of Northumberland is an integral part of the drama, it does mean the actors often film in brutal cold. Luckily for Brenda, Veras matronly figure is achieved by bundling her in layers.

Brenda (pictured) said she was chuffed to receive the Rose dOr Lifetime Achievement Award for her 40-year career in November

Im generally the warmest one on set, she says. But the long, freezing shoots do take their toll. At the end of every series Brenda swears shes going to quit the role.

I come home and say, Never again! Wheres me slippers? But then I miss Vera. I miss the cast and crew and so I hope itll come around again.

In a recent poll, Vera Stanhope was named the fifth best British detective of all time after icons like Sherlock Holmes. And the icing on the cake for Brenda is that in November she received the Rose dOr Lifetime Achievement Award for her 40-year career thats seen two Oscar nominations.

I was chuffed, she says. I mean, its chosen by the European Broadcasting Union and covers millions of viewers. Last year David Attenborough got it, so if Im walking in his footsteps Im doing all right.

Vera, tomorrow, 8pm, ITV.
Celebrities share the stories behind their favourite photographs. This week it's broadcaster Jeremy Vine, 56.

Broadcaster Jeremy Vine, 56, shared the stories behind a selection of his favourtie snaps

1970: This photo of me (left) with my six-month-old sister Sonya (centre), a painter, and brother Tim (right), a comedian, was taken by my uncle David at the home in south-west London where we grew up. I had the most loving parents imaginable and a very happy childhood. More than 50 years on, my siblings and I are still the best of friends

1981: The Flared Generation is the band I formed with my brother (left), who played guitar, and our pal Simon (right) on the drums. A magazine described us as 'the most unfashionable punk band' but, weirdly, wearing huge flares as punks got us noticed. We called it a day pretty quickly though as we weren't getting anywhere  but it was fun while it lasted

2002: One of my strangest TV moments was donning a lace-up leather corset, fishnet stockings and pink high heels for a Rocky Horror Picture Show sketch on BBC Children In Need night along with (clockwise from bottom left) Michael Buerk, Carol Kirkwood, Jeremy Bowen and Sophie Raworth. Our version of Sweet Transvestite was seen by millions and was so utterly bizarre that I still get asked about it today

2008: This always makes me cringe! It was the night of a BBC council election special. The Lib Dems under Nick Clegg, the new kid in town, were on a roll so we decided to do something crazy and I dressed up in a cowboy outfit. When David Dimbleby introduced me I said in a cheesy American accent, 'Hey, Dimble!' I looked a complete muppet. Thank God Twitter wasn't around then or we'd have been massacred

2010: I stood in for Sir Jimmy Young a few times, then was given the great man's flagship Radio 2 show in 2003. After nearly 30 years, they were big shoes to fill. One of the most memorable moments was interviewing then Labour leader Gordon Brown (left) and playing him back his 'bigoted woman' comment during an election campaign. He buried his head in his hands in despair. Over the years, I've learnt you may become friendly with politicians but you can never be friends

2015: Doing Strictly was amazing  I loved it. I became good friends with my partner Karen Clifton (pictured with Jeremy on the show) and the other contestants and dancers. It hurts when you get eliminated but my elimination was watched by 11 million people, a measure of how popular the show is. If the right song comes on the radio and there's no one around, I'll pull a move or two in the kitchen, but I'm better off dancing behind closed doors

2017: My wife Rachel, a former television reporter, and I met in 2001 and married in Devon in 2002. Two decades on, we're the proud parents of two wonderful teenage girls (pictured, with Rachel and Jeremy). It's lovely living with three women and two male cats  It's absolutely clear that I'm number six in the pecking order! I hope to throw a dinner party this year to celebrate 20 years of wonderfully blissful marriage

2020: I'm a keen cyclist and bought a penny-farthing a couple of years ago and learnt to ride it properly during the first lockdown last year. You can only go at about 5mph but it's truly joyful, and in a way, safer than riding an ordinary bike because most drivers are terrified of it. Mind you, riding on it in heavy traffic in the centre of London isn't a good idea

Jeremy hosts the new series of Eggheads, coming soon to Channel 5. As told to York Membery
A former heroin addict who became hooked on drugs at 18 reveals how he was guarding Buckingham Palace just 12 years later after enlisting in the Scots Guard when he got clean.

Paul Boggie, 42, of Fife, first tried the Class A drug after falling out with friends as a teenager and began taking it every day, eventually racking up 16,000 in debt, dropping to just 8 stone in weight due to his habit.

After years denying he was an addict, Paul eventually realised he had a problem when he was left without heroin for eight hours following a police drugs bust.

Paul Boggie, 42, who lives in Fife, became a heroin addict at the age of 18 after he took the drug when he felt upset about falling out with some friends

Paul finally got clean on his 14th attempt to come off the drug and joined the Scots Guard at the age of 30 (pictured)

Paul was medically discharged after he broke his back while driving a truck ahead of a tour of Afghanistan

'I remember when I finally got that drug again I felt amazing, all the physical pain, shivering and nose and eyes running all went away,' he told the BBC. 'But then I thought: 'Oh no, I think I've just signed my death warrant'.

'It was the realisation that I was in so much danger because I loved heroin so much and I didn't want to feel cold turkey ever again. I remember thinking I must be addicted.'

Paul first tried the drug in a friend's car on the estate in Craigentinny, Edinburgh where he was living and remembers how it smelled like 'rotten fish'.

He became hooked but initially managed to hold down his office mail delivery job, sneaking off to the toilets to smoke heroin at work.

Paul hid his drug use from his family, friends and employer, passing off his red eyes as hay fever.

Paul, who grew up in Edinburgh, first tried the drug with friends on his estate of Craigentinny

Despite smoking every day, he confessed he 'didn't think he was addicted' or take the drug habit 'seriously.'

Despite smoking every day, he confessed he 'didn't think he was addicted' or take the drug habit 'seriously.'

After coming to the realisation he was an addict, Paul's dependency continued to worsen. He lost his job and began to look unwell.

'I gave up on life, I was only focused on getting heroin. I was wallowing in self-pity and heroin would take it all away,' he said.

'Luckily most of the time my parents let me stay at their house, but I have slept in stairwells. You don't feel the pain or the cold because you are happy wherever you are when you are on heroin.'

Paul tried to come off heroin 13 times before finally succeeding after attending a course organised by the homeless charity Cyrenians.

The group offers supported accommodation in London for people who have mental health needs, learning disabilities or who may be vulnerable, homeless or sleeping rough.

Paul recalled a turning point when he looked in the mirror and told himself he would never have heroin again - and he stuck to that promise.

Paul was able to get clean for a second time after he wrote a book about his heroin addiction during the first lockdown (pictured)

After working in a supermarket, Paul decided to enlist in the Scots Guards at the age of 30 and found himself stationed at Buckingham Palace just months later.

Life in the Scots Guard gave him a sense of purpose and achievement. Sadly his time in the Armed Forces came to an end when he broke his back in a car crash while being driven to a training session and was medically discharged.

Tragically, he became addiction to prescription painkillers given to him to help with his crushed spine.

He was able to get clean for a second time after he wrote a book about his heroin addiction during the first lockdown.

Paul now speaks in schools to warn children about the dangers of addiction, and also talks for inmates in prison.

FRANK is a support service that offers information about drugs, plus advice for people who use drugs. Call the FRANK helpline on 0300 123 66 00.
The Duchess of Cornwall has placed copies of some of her favourite books in a red phone box library for people to find.

Camillas popular online book club, the Reading Room, has been planting publications by recommended authors in phone boxes around the country to encourage people to read, and she lent a hand in Scotland.

Snaps shared on Instagram showed the Duchess wrapped up in a scarf and gloves as she carried her contributions inside the converted phone box, which was packed with books.

Charlie Mackesys The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse and The Island by Victoria Hislop, signed by the authors, were left by the duchess in the tiny library exchange in Abergeldie.

It comes after an exciting period for the Duchess, as it was announced the Queen is personally awarding her the highest honour possible thanks to her 'service to the sovereign'

The images were shared online with the caption: 'With The Reading Room planting signed copies of our authors' books in phonebox libraries around the UK in recent weeks, The Duchess of Cornwall decided to swing by this fabulous library near Birkhall, the Scottish home of Their Royal Highnesses, and add to the collection.

'What an amazing location for a book swap!'

Among those to like the picture was author Charlie Mackesy, who shared a series of red heard emojis in gratitude to the Duchess.

The Prince of Wales opened the converted phone box in 2018 on the B976 in rural Aberdeenshire, between the private royal residences of Birkhall and Balmoral, and Charles and Camilla have deposited books there in the past.

Snaps shared on Instagram showed the Duchess beaming as carried her contributions inside the converted phone box, which was packed with books

The Duchess of Cornwall decided to swing by this fabulous library near Birkhall, the Scottish home of Their Royal Highnesses, and added to the collection

Launched on Instagram in January 2021, Camillas Reading Room is a hub for literary communities around the world and celebrates literature in all its forms.

It was inspired by the popular reading lists she shared during the pandemic in 2020, and offers book recommendations as well as exclusive insights from the authors, in a community space for book lovers of all ages and backgrounds.

It comes after an exciting period for the Duchess, as it was announced the Queen is personally awarding her 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.

It comes after an exciting period for the Duchess, as it was announced the Queen is personally awarding her the highest honour possible thanks to her 'service to the sovereign'

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.

It will spark renewed speculation that the 95-year-old monarch may yet endorse Camilla to be Queen when she dies and Prince Charles accedes to the throne.

Clarence House says the 'intention' is for the duchess to become Princess Consort, showing sensitivity to previously negative public opinion over Camilla's role in the breakdown of Charles and Diana's marriage.

But Charles has never made any secret of his desire for Camilla to become queen by his side.

And it is known that the Queen has been impressed by the way in which her daughter-in-law has embraced her public role and shown quiet and respectful dedication to both her husband and the institution of the monarchy.
Beth Neale, 21, has just finished self-isolating with Covid  something she has in common with a fair few people right now.

But heres the thing: its not the first time the student from Teesside has had the virus. Nor is it the second. There have been numerous stories of people whove been reinfected circulating since Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer tested positive with Covid last week, having already had it four months ago. And for Beth, this is her third round with Covid.

She got her latest positive result on December 30, the day she was due to have her booster jab, and says she couldnt believe it. Beth adds: I was really looking forward to going out with my mates on New Years Eve, but I felt a bit sniffly in the morning so I did a lateral flow test. I thought there was literally no way I was going to get it again, so when the test came back positive I was pretty shocked.

Journalist Giulia Crouch, pictured, has been vaccinated twice but despite this she has been infected twice by Covid-19

Angelica Malin, pictured, tested positive for Covid-19 two days after attending a party on New Year's Eve

The first time she caught Covid was in October 2020, during her first year at Newcastle University. At the time, Beth, who studies English Language, says that her symptoms were pretty mild. It was like a cold, really  a bit of a headache and runny nose.

When she caught Covid the second time, in June, two weeks after her first vaccine, it was a different story. That was during the Euros so everyone was out and about, so I dont think it was very surprising that I caught it. What was surprising was how badly I got it. At one point I was really struggling to breathe.

In September, Beth got her second jab and says at that point she was confident she wasnt going to get Covid again. I remember joking with my family that it would be such bad luck if it happened again.

But on December 30, she took a lateral flow test and found she had caught Covid for a third time. Thankfully, this time the symptoms were the mildest theyve been, but it was really frustrating to be isolating all over again, she says.

Even more surprisingly for Beth, who doesnt really get ill, is the fact that no one else in her family has had Covid. I live with my mum and shes a healthcare worker so she sees Covid patients every day, but shes never had it. We were in the same house while I was isolating and she didnt get it then either.

The episode has led Beth to question the strength of her immunity against Covid. It seems like every time I come into contact with someone who has Covid, I get it as well. And she is not alone.

Mail on Sunday journalist Giulia Crouch has revealed her complete shock at testing positive, just five weeks after recovering from her first Covid infection. She says: As a 29-year-old, fairly fit, fairly healthy woman who only rarely catches a cold, I figured my risk factors were low.

Giulia, who tested positive on Monday  the day she was due to have a booster  adds: I have a friend whos been on ten foreign holidays since the pandemic began and another who partied in a club with 2,000 people abroad. Neither has caught the virus. Am I highly susceptible or just unlucky?

Sir Keir Starmer, pictured in Birmingham on Tuesday while delivering a keynote speech was forced into self isolation hours later having tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time

Its a good question  and, it seems, scientists may be inching closer to an answer. Last week in these pages, we highlighted the mounting evidence that some people may be naturally immune to Covid.

Studies that examined blood samples from thousands of people as far back as 2011 found that one in 20 already had immune-system cells that could fight the virus.

Some experts suggested that previous exposure to coronaviruses that cause common colds has provided a form of indirect protection in these people, while others are searching for genetic clues that might make some people more Covid-proof than others.

However, scientists believe the opposite is also true: some people are more susceptible to the virus.

Data already appears to confirm this. Between November 1 and December 18, the UK Health Security Agency recorded 11,100 people had been infected for a second time. And 69 people were believed to be on their third bout of Covid.

Data already appears to confirm this. Between November 1 and December 18, the UK Health Security Agency recorded 11,100 people had been infected for a second time. And 69 people were believed to be on their third bout of Covid

Meanwhile, in South Africa, scientists believe they have even identified a woman in her 30s who has had the virus four times

But why is this happening?

Part of the answer lies in the fact that the mutations in the Omicron variant mean it is able to evade immune-system cells which have built up through vaccination.

But research now suggests that people with certain genes are more likely to catch Covid, even if they do not get severely ill with it. Other scientists say that factors such as lifestyle and general health can explain why someone may be repeatedly infected.

One thing scientists agree is for certain: the biggest risk factor for reinfection is not being vaccinated at all.

According to a report by Imperial College London, previous infection alone provides less than 20 per cent protection against catching Omicron and the risk of reinfection with this variant is more than five times greater than that with its predecessor, Delta.

Scientists now believe that hybrid immunity  a combination of previous infection and a full course of vaccines  provides the best protection against getting Covid again. An Israeli study found that while it was still possible for people with hybrid immunity to catch Covid, the risk within this group was seven times lower than in those who had received only two vaccine doses.

There are other factors that explain why some people are prone to catching the virus.

An analysis of PCR tests by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that having a long-term health condition increased the chances of reinfection by 50 per cent.

An analysis of PCR tests by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that having a long-term health condition increased the chances of reinfection by 50 per cent

Since the start of the pandemic, doctors have been concerned that patients with conditions which severely weaken the immune system, such as blood cancer, are more likely to fall seriously ill with Covid.

Studies show that many of these people produce far fewer antibodies  defensive cells that stop infections entering the body  after vaccination and prior to infection, and for this reason they have now been offered a fourth jab.

There are all sorts of chronic conditions that mean someone might be more susceptible to catching Covid repeatedly, says Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at the University of East Anglia.

This is because these people will inevitably have fewer antibodies. Thankfully, growing research is finding that many in this group are well protected after three jabs and will be even better protected after four, so its unlikely theyll get seriously unwell, but they remain more likely than the average population to catch it and have symptoms.

However, this doesnt explain how otherwise-healthy young people such as Beth and Giulia are able to catch the virus again so quickly.

Experts believe there are several reasons, and one of them is how often they are exposed to the virus. According to ONS, socialising outside of the home can increase the chances of catching Covid by as much as five per cent for every social event someone attends. Beth admits that, before her third positive test, she had been going out loads. And Giulia says that having had Covid once and been vaccinated, she felt invincible.

She adds: I even bragged to my friends that Id caught Covid at the perfect time. I went to Christmas parties, yoga classes, plenty of pubs, a friends wedding, and didnt once think about Covid.

A similar story was true for Angelica Malin, 30, who tested positive a second time last Sunday, just two weeks after having her booster jab. The London-based author caught Covid for the first time last January, before she had her first vaccine.

It hit me really badly  I was wiped out in bed for at least ten days. It was like no illness Id had before. Having had it, and been vaccinated and boosted, I thought I was pretty well protected.

But two days after attending a New Years Eve party, Angelica came down with familiar symptoms again and a lateral flow test confirmed she was positive.

I wasnt as ill this time round, but it still was like a bad cold. I had a headache, constant temperature and could barely swallow.

I dont get ill that much, and Im fit and healthy, so I was surprised to catch it the first time. It makes me think I might just be more vulnerable to Covid.

But the biggest risk of infection comes from children.

Parents with school-age children are 25 per cent more likely to catch Covid, while working in education can raise this risk by as much as 50 per cent.

Experts say the same is true for reinfections.

If youve got kids, or work in a school or a job that requires you to come into contact with loads of people every day, youre going to keep coming in to contact with the virus, and therefore increase the chances of getting it again, says Professor Eleanor Riley, an immunologist at the University of Edinburgh.

If youre lucky enough to be able to work from home and you dont socialise that much, then your chances are reduced.

Intriguingly, there is also growing evidence that some people are naturally more susceptible to catching Covid due to variations in their genes.

We see this with every infectious disease, says Professor Lawrence Young, a virus expert at the University of Warwick.

One theory is that genetic changes to what is known as the ACE2 receptor  the part of human cells through which Covid enters  can give the virus easier access. A German study found that people with a change to the ACE2 receptor, labelled by the scientists as the GG genotype, were associated with an almost two-fold risk of infection.

Of nearly 300 Covid-positive patients, the researchers found that about 77 per cent had this GG variation in the receptor.

While scientists are unable to say how many people in the general population carry this variation, it may explain how an otherwise-healthy person could repeatedly catch Covid.

Other viruses, such as flu, do not enter the body through the ACE2 receptor, meaning someone could feasibly be susceptible to Covid but not other diseases.

Prof Young says: Different viruses use different doorways to get into the body. Someone could be perfectly OK with every other virus theyve come into contact with, but Covid could be their weak spot and the virus slips past their defences easily.

Many scientists believe catching Covid several times in a short period is not necessarily a bad thing, and will most likely provide even stronger protection in the long run.

We are all going to get this virus several times in our lifetime, and each time we are infected it will be less severe, says Prof Hunter.

Prof Riley agrees: Its very rare to come across a case of reinfection where the person had more severe symptoms the second time around.

All of this comes as little comfort to Beth.

She says: If Covid is everywhere, I dont know how I can avoid it. Am I just going to keep catching it?
Omicron has had the entire country in its highly infectious grip. An astonishing one in 15 people had the virus in the week before New Year, the Office for National Statistics confirmed on Wednesday. In London, where the outbreak is thought to be two weeks ahead of the rest of the country, it was one in ten.

Despite the spiralling numbers, vaccination means the virus is having a milder impact, in terms of causing ill health, than previous variants.

The most pressing problem now facing health chiefs and policymakers is one of disruption. More than one million people are believed to be currently self-isolating due to a positive Covid diagnosis, which is having a paralysing effect on healthcare, transport, schools, supermarkets and public services such as bin collections.

If this continues, the economic impact will be considerable  not to mention the effect of cancelled operations and hospital treatments as the health service battles under the dual pressure of rising Covid admissions and unprecedented staff absence.

More than one million people across Britain are self isolating having been infected with Covid-19

More than one million people are believed to be currently self-isolating due to a positive Covid diagnosis, which is having a paralysing effect on healthcare, transport, schools, supermarkets and public services such as bin collections

Twenty-four NHS Trusts last week declared critical incidents and patient waiting lists have hit six million, driven not just by Covid itself but due to the fact that vast swathes of the workforce are stuck at home. On Friday, health chiefs warned that hospitals have never known such high staff absences, with 120,000 off work last week  half of them self-isolating or testing positive for Covid  and the Army is now being brought in to plug the gaps.

As countries around the world battle similar problems, the focus has turned to whether the current strict rules on self-isolation are fit for purpose. Reflecting the latest research on how long individuals are likely to remain infectious, experts are looking at whether people could potentially be released from isolation earlier to reduce the amount of time they are off work.

The situation is not being made any easier by the fact that regulations are increasingly complex and confusing to navigate.

In December, in England and Wales, isolation time was cut from ten days to seven  so long as the patient records two negative lateral flow tests, 24 hours apart, on days six and seven.

Critically, the NHS states that isolation begins from the day symptoms first begin  they call this day zero  not from when the individual tests positive.

So if someone has been suffering from symptoms for two days (day zero and day one) before taking a test (day two), and the results come back a day after that (day three), they will have four further days of isolation  depending on those two negative lateral flows. If one of the lateral flows is positive, they must stay in isolation until day ten.

Twenty-four NHS Trusts last week declared critical incidents and patient waiting lists have hit six million, driven not just by Covid itself but due to the fact that vast swathes of the workforce are stuck at home

Those without symptoms start their isolation clock (day zero) on the day their positive test is taken, which  and only if youre asymptomatic  now no longer needs to be confirmed with a PCR test, in an attempt to relieve the pressure on testing labs.

The UKs approach has been followed by both Spain and Ireland, while last week Scotland and France announced similar changes.

Yet some argue these rules dont go far enough and are undoubtedly leading to people who are no longer infectious or may never have had symptoms having to quarantine for longer than necessary.

A growing number of experts now believe we have reached a tipping point: that the risks to society are so great that the isolation period should be cut to just five days from the onset of symptoms. There is a crucial balance to be struck, they say, between following the science and keeping society functioning.

The US health agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced that it would slash isolation from ten to five days for people who no longer have symptoms, while here in Europe, Greece is the first nation to adopt a similar policy.

Leading scientists calling for the UK to follow suit  including Professor Tim Spector, the epidemiologist behind the Covid Symptom Study, who said it would protect the economy.

The NHS is struggling to cope with demand as thousands of staff every day are forced to self-isolate for a week after picking up Covid-19

At present, the Government has ruled it out, saying time is needed to see the effect of cutting isolation from ten days to seven before making any further changes. But could we, as some argue, move to a five-day isolation period now, as America has?

The answer, as ever with this pandemic, is not straightforward.

Some scientists have argued that reducing isolation time to five days from the onset of symptoms could mean people are released while they are still infectious. And this could contribute to a counterproductive rise in cases and staff shortages.

Modelling by the UK Health Security Agency, which advises the Government on public health issues, suggests between ten and 30 per cent of people could still spread Covid on day six.

Despite this, Professor Monica Gandhi, a specialist in infectious disease at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Mail on Sundays Medical Minefield podcast that she believed the UK should adopt the US rules.

The reason that the CDC did this [cut isolation time to five days] is because isolating and quarantine with such a transmissible variant is very disruptive to society. So they are being practical and balancing the fact that its an endemic virus with keeping people safe.

Prof Gandhi, a highly respected trailblazer in HIV research who has also been a vocal commentator during the pandemic, cites a Taiwanese study, the largest contact-tracing study ever performed, which looked at when people passed on the virus after having symptoms.

All of it, 100 per cent, occurred in the first five days, Dr Gandhi said. Six days or later, there were no transmissions from symptomatic people with Covid to their contacts.

Prof Gandhi also points out that people with Covid are most infectious before they develop symptoms, which is impossible to control. She said: Two years into the pandemic theres a realisation it isnt going to go away. Its impossible to eradicate. Now we just need to prevent people from getting ill, which vaccination has done.

One of those in the UK who is in favour of a five-day isolation period is Professor Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist at the University of East Anglia. He explains that most studies have looked at how long people test positive on PCR tests  which varies from about four days before symptoms begin to a few weeks afterwards. But this alone doesnt prove they are infectious, because people can shed dead virus, which cant replicate in another human body.

One of the few studies that has looked at the close contacts of Covid cases found that round about day three, whether or not you still tested positive on a lateral flow, you were very unlikely to infect anybody else.

So keeping people off work just because they had a positive test a couple of days ago doesnt make much sense. There is no doubt the current system is keeping people in isolation who are no longer infectious, or are only very low risk of being infectious.

The risk is much greater from those whove been infected but dont yet have symptoms.

We should reduce isolation to at least five days, and let people back to work even if they test positive on a lateral flow.

The same rules could also apply to asymptomatic people, he adds.

The exact number of asymptomatic infections has never been known, but it is thought to be between 20 per cent and one third of the total.

Most are picked up by routine lateral flow tests.

While some go on to develop symptoms, others remain asymptomatic. The evidence suggests that although they can still transmit Covid, its about a third less likely than those with symptoms.

If we were having this conversation at the start of the pandemic I would be up for keeping everyone in isolation for two weeks, Prof Hunter adds. But the difference is that then there was hardly any Covid in the community and a single case getting out could spread rapidly into a population that had no immunity.

Now youre not trying to stop it spreading any more. In terms of the actual impact on transmission, the difference between a five-day isolation or seven will be minimal.

Lateral flow tests tell us when were most infectious, as they pick up proteins associated with live viral cells.

This is why the UK rules required negative tests on days six and seven to leave self-isolation.

But they are not foolproof. Some experts say they can still pick up small amounts of viral protein even when transmission is highly unlikely, either because there are not enough cells to infect another person or the cells are defective and no longer live.

Meanwhile, Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, suggests the opposite also may be true, due to the nature of Omicron: Its possible that Omicron can transmit at much lower viral loads  meaning less of the virus is needed to infect a person than with previous variants.

This may give rise to a situation where people are testing negative [on lateral flow tests] due to low levels of the virus in their system, despite being infectious.

Graham Cooke, Professor of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, agreed: Omicron might be behaving differently in terms of how much of it you need [in your system] to be infectious.

Neither Prof Young nor Prof Cooke is in favour of reducing the isolation period as it stands because the incubation period for the virus, and the speed at which the infection progresses varies from person to person.

Both point out that, fundamentally, we still dont know enough about Omicrons infectious window.

Prof Young agrees that most people are probably no longer infectious five days after symptoms begin, but adds: Like everything in biology, its not an exact science. So my feeling has always been that seven days gives you a very good margin, to make sure that you are not infectious any longer.

He does, however, concede that as we understand more about Omicron this may change. If the infectious period is shorter  which may be the case if you are asymptomatic or only have mild symptoms  then reducing the self-isolation period to five days is a possibility, he adds.

In America, patients are not required to take a lateral flow test to end isolation, but they are asked to wear a mask for five days when around other people.

None of the UK experts we spoke to supported this. Prof Young said: If we were to cut isolation time to five days, it would require strict enforcement of lateral flow testing before ending isolation and, of course, no problems with the availability of these tests.

However, Prof Hunter points out that the symptoms of Omicron are generally mild and might go unnoticed for longer before someone seeks out a test.

He adds: In which case theres even less of an argument for a longer isolation period, because by the time weve got our results or thought Maybe this cold isnt just a cold, we might already be past the peak infectious period.

Seven-day isolation is designed to reduce transmission, but there are now questions as to whether that even remains a good idea at all.

Many people in the UK are protected against severe disease because they are vaccinated  and 60 per cent of the population has now had a booster.

But there is already evidence that immunity from a third shot wanes after ten weeks.

Prof Hunter suggests that slowing the spread of Covid may now actually be a bad idea: Prolonging the peak may just mean that youre actually infecting more people just as their immunity starts to wane.

Were all going to be infected with Omicron, but ultimately the issue is whether were going to get infected at a time when were still protected against disease.
The most aggressive type of bone marrow cancer could soon be treated with a five-drug combination thats 20 per cent more effective than current medications at halting the spread of the deadly disease.

While the drugs are already in use separately by the NHS, a study has shown that given together they can help sufferers live longer, healthier lives. They include a chemotherapy drug, several anti-cancer pills designed to combat bone marrow cancer, and dexamethasone, a steroid thats also highly effective against Covid-19.

The discovery represents the first advance for decades in treatment of myeloma, also called multiple myeloma, which is less responsive to conventional treatment and relapses more quickly than other forms of bone marrow cancer.

Dr Martin Kaiser, consultant haematologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London and The Institute of Cancer Research, said: We could take these drugs off the shelves now and give them to people quickly and easily

One of the drugs used in the trial at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London is Dexamethasonum. The cheap steroid has already been proven very effective in treating Covid-19 patients

The average survival rate for patients with myeloma is ten years, but for some ultra-high-risk patients it can be just three  and its in this group that the new drug combination has proved a success.

Experts hope the findings mean all myeloma patients could benefit.

Dr Martin Kaiser, consultant haematologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London and The Institute of Cancer Research, said: We could take these drugs off the shelves now and give them to people quickly and easily.

Myeloma is a blood cancer arising from plasma cells, a type of white blood cell made in the bone marrow, the spongy material at the centre of larger bones. Its sometimes called multiple myeloma as it often affects several areas of the body at once, such as the spine, skull, pelvis and ribs.

Every year more than 6,000 Britons are diagnosed with the disease  it struck actress Maureen Lipmans husband, playwright Jack Rosenthal, who died from it in 2004.

In its early stages myeloma does not cause any symptoms, although sufferers may eventually begin to experience persistent bone pain, tiredness or repeated infections.

Once identified through a blood test, the disease can be controlled by chemotherapy and stem cell transplants, but it cannot be cured.

Studies have found ultra-high-risk patients are 11 times as likely to die compared with other patients  of the 3,000 multiple myeloma deaths in the UK every year at least half are in this category.

Myeloma is a type of bone marrow cancer which claimed the life of Jack Rosenthal. He was married to actress Maureen Lipman, left

Researchers at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research compared the five-drug combination with the current NHS treatment  a concoction of four cancer medicines, three of which are also in the new treatment  in a trial of more than 100 people with ultra-high-risk multiple myeloma.

Results from the trial found that, after 18 months, 82 per cent of patients on the five-drug combination saw their cancer stabilise, meaning it was unlikely to grow in the immediate future, compared with 67 per cent of patients on the standard treatment. Dr Kaiser said: Sadly we cant cure this cancer, but this treatment is the best option these patients have right now, so were hopeful that it will be implemented on the NHS soon.

One patient already benefiting is former care worker Ruth Parry, 59, from Lancing, West Sussex, who in 2019 was diagnosed with ultra-high-risk multiple myeloma that had spread to her ribs and spine.

I was so scared when the doctors told me, she says. I didnt know what was going to happen. All I knew is that they could treat it but they couldnt cure it.

Ruth was referred to The Royal Marsden, where she started on the trial in June 2019. Every month she went to hospital for a ten-hour session of chemotherapy, and would take up to 20 pills a day of the four other drugs.

She says the treatment was not without side effects, causing her widespread rashes and itches.

But Ruth, who is married with two children and three grandchildren, says it stalled the cancer almost immediately. After my first round of chemo, the levels of cancer in my blood halved, and they kept falling after every round.

After the chemotherapy was completed, Ruth had a stem cell transplant which is designed to restore immune cells destroyed by the treatment. She now takes seven pills a day as part of a maintenance regime to keep the cancer at bay. So far, it has been successful.

My cancer is still under control, and Im feeling healthier than ever, says Ruth. This year I want to get back to work and start living my life again.
In this series, we bust the jargon and explain a popular investing term or theme. Here it's an IPO.

What is an IPO?

When a privately-owned company sells its shares for the first time through a stock exchange, it is said to be floating, or listing.

Older readers will remember the floats of the privatised utility companies, back in the 1980s and 1990s.

These days, people increasingly use the American term 'to IPO'.

American term: IPO stands for Initial Public Offering, but the noun has been turned into a verb

IPO stands for Initial Public Offering, but the noun has been turned into a verb.

The company hires lawyers and banks who assemble a prospectus with detailed information about the business and the number of shares to be sold to raise capital.

The banks will also underwrite the float. These professionals earn handsome fees. Of course they do.

The UK is set for a boom year for floats in 2022, with companies like fashion retailer Very, craft beer maker Brewdog and Starling Bank forming a queue.

How do they set the share price?

The price of the shares is set close to the time when the company is set to make its debut on the exchange.

It is partly determined by the anticipated level of demand: if this is high, the float may be oversubscribed and applicants for shares will have their allocations cut back. If the float is under-subscribed  because of a nervous mood in the markets, say  allocations will be met in full. The bank that has underwritten the float will buy any surplus.

What happens when the shares start trading?

Some floats are warmly received, sending the shares soaring. Others are met with indifference or hostility.

Despite the lauded expertise of advisers, there is no fail-safe way to gauge the markets' sentiment in advance.

Two UK companies were among those that got off to a great start in 2021. Darktrace, the Cambridge cyber security company, floated in April. Its shares, offered at 250p, rose to 330p. Moonpig, the greeting card company, also fared well, jumping from 350p to 440p on the first day.

So floats are a great way to make money?

Sometimes, but not always. The risks are high and there can be a lot of hype. A float may flop because of doubts about the company's management or prospects.

The March 2021 float of food delivery service Deliveroo was dubbed 'the worst IPO in London's history'. The shares, offered at 390p, slumped by 26 per cent on the first day, a debacle blamed on a list of factors. They now stand at 197p.

Can anyone apply for shares?

Er, no, not always. Small investors are excluded from many floats which are open only to financial institutions.

Exclusions may apply: Small investors are excluded from many floats which are open only to financial institutions

As a result, small investors miss out on the profits that can be made in early trading. All very unfair. It is short-sighted too. In many businesses, offering shares to customers could create a loyal and stable shareholder base, along with a great deal of goodwill.

Could this change?

PrimaryBid  whose app makes it easier to apply for shares in a float  is one of the organisations pressing for reform. Richard Wilson, chief executive of Interactive Investor, argues that for legislation requiring all companies to reserve a chunk of shares for small investors. Why should a float be called an IPO if the public are shut out?
After years in the doldrums, Marks & Spencer is showing signs of getting its mojo back.

The share price has all but tripled in value since crashing to an all-time low of just 85p during the depths of the pandemic in 2020.

However, at 258p it remains well below its peak above 700p in 2007 and the more recent high over 560p in 2015.

So chairman Archie Norman and chief executive Steve Rowe will not be declaring 'job done' when it posts its third quarter trading update on Thursday  including how it fared over the crucial Christmas period.

But investors will hope for further signs that the turnaround is well underway, putting a return to the FTSE 100 this year on the cards.

'The Christmas and third-quarter trading update could provide fresh insight into what Britain's shoppers are thinking and doing, how the High Street is faring and how the long-planned turnaround at M&S under Norman and Rowe is developing,' said Danni Hewson at AJ Bell.

There were signs of improvement in the first half of the year when M&S said it was on course to post full-year profits of 500m.

Investors and analysts will also hope for further progress in the food arm following its tie-up with Ocado.

In the first half of the year, M&S food sales were 10.4 per cent higher than two years earlier, before Covid struck.

At the same time, clothing and home sales were down just 1 per cent, as a strong performance online cushioned the blow from store closures during lockdown.
A Texas mother who dramatically fell to the ground sobbing when she was told her 'missing' two-year-old daughter's body was found in a Houston bayou has pleaded guilty for her role in the child's death.

Sahara Ervin, 22, pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, a human corpse, during a court hearing Wednesday as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

On August 22, 2020, an Amber Alert had been issued for two-year-old Maliyah Bass when Ervin told cops the toddler disappeared after the mom left her alone on the playground outside of the couple's apartment for a few minutes while she cooked breakfast.

Sahara Ervin, 22, (pictured) flashed a big smile for her mugshot when she was arrested after the death of her daughter. She pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, a human corpse, during a court hearing Wednesday as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors

On August 23, 2020 a jogger spotted the body of Maliyah Bass (pictured) in Brays Bayou just southeast of the University of Houston and about 17 miles west of her home

A day later, a jogger spotted the girl's body in Brays Bayou just southeast of the University of Houston and about 17 miles west of Maliyah's home.

Ervin and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Travion Thompson, were both filmed by local news overcome with emotion.

Ervin was even captured in the fetal position on the ground as she 'cried' over the girl's death. But according to police it was all an act and when they arrested Ervin and Thompson, Ervin flashed a huge smile for her mugshot photo.

Ervin and Thompson were both charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence.

An autopsy showed Maliyah had a left forearm that was broken and extensive superficial blunt force trauma. The trauma looked to be a looped-pattern bruising all over her body.

Medical examiners ruled Maliyahs death a homicide.

Investigators recovered the girl's body after a jogger spotted her body

Ervin fell to the ground in the feral position as she 'cried' over the girl's death, but according to police it was all an act

Travion Thompson (pictured) was also charged in the girl's death and is scheduled to appear in court next week

Thompson told police that Ervin beat Maliyah with a hairbrush for not going to bed and forced the girls to sleep in a closet, where she was found dead the next morning, according to court records.

Thompson said that they disposed of the girl's body in a storm drain on August 22.

Prosecutors will recommend a 20-year prison sentence for Ervin as part of the agreement where she could be called to testify against Thompson, who was also charged in Maliyah's death but has not been scheduled for trial.

Ervin is set to be sentenced on June 1 and Thompson, who remains jailed, is scheduled to appear in court on January 11.
In seeking a dismissal of Black's claims, Ganieva and the Wigdor law firm denied conspiring against him. 'Simply put, there are no "funders" or "flacks'"

In his defamation suit, Black accused Ganieva and Wigdor LLP of employing an unnamed financing source and PR reps to extort him and destroy his reputation

lack has denied the accusations and said he and Ganieva had engaged in a consensual affair starting in 2008 until 2015 - when he claims she extorted him

The former model who accused billionaire Leon Black of rape has asked a judge to dismiss the financier's defamation case against her as she pursues a separate lawsuit over the sexual assault claim.

Model Guzel Ganieva, 38, accused Leon Black, 70, the former Apollo Global Management chief executive, of trying to drive a 'wedge' between her and the Wigdor LLP law firm with a defamation suit filed four months after she sued him in a New York court.

Black, a close friend of the notorious financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was first publicly accused of rape and sexual abuse in March by Ganieva.

Model Guzel Ganieva, 38, (pictured) accused Leon Black, 70, of trying to drive a 'wedge' between her and the Wigdor LLP law firm with a defamation suit

Leon Black (pictured) has denied the accusations and said he and Ganieva had engaged in a consensual affair starting in 2008 until 2015 - when he claims she extorted him

In a lawsuit filed in June, Ganieva accused Black of being a 'violent, sadistic' sexual predator who raped and harassed her then coerced her into signing a non-disclosure-agreement.

She also alleged that the married tycoon, whose net worth is estimated at $10.5 billion, tried to arrange a sexual encounter between her and Epstein in 2008. Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for a slew of sex-trafficking charges.

Black has denied the accusations and said he and Ganieva had engaged in a consensual affair starting in 2008 until 2015 - when he claims she extorted him by threatening to take their relationship public if he did not pay her $100million.

In his defamation suit, Black accused Ganieva and Wigdor LLP of engaging in a 'criminal enterprise' where they employed an unnamed financing source and public relations representatives to extort him and destroy his reputation.

In seeking a dismissal of Black's claims, Ganieva and the Wigdor law firm denied conspiring against him.

'Simply put, there are no "funders" or "flacks,'" the law firm said, using a term for PR representatives.

Black, a close friend of the notorious financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was first publicly accused of rape and sexual abuse in March by Ganieva

Leon Black, who is married to broadway theatre producer Debra Black, (pictured together) has refuted all of the sexual abuse claims made against him.

Susan Estrich, a lawyer for Black, in an interview on Friday said her client had offered 'incontrovertible evidence' against Ganieva's claims, and her 'scurrilous claims have no purpose other than to humiliate and embarrass Mr. Black with lies.'

Both lawsuits stem from a relationship between Ganieva and Black from 2008 to 2014, and which Black has called consensual but 'regrettable.'

Ganieva has accused Black of forcing her to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and defaming her by claiming she tried to extort him.

Black had previously admitted to having a six-year affair with Ganieva, which he claims was consensual, and said he paid Ganieva $100,000 a month for 15 years not to discuss the relationship.

But the financier, who is married to Broadway producer Debra Black, has refuted all of the sexual abuse claims made against him.

After filing her initial lawsuit in June, Ganieva amended it in September to include the accusations of a second woman, referred to only as Jane Doe, who alleged she was violently raped by Black in Jeffrey Epstein's New York residence in 2002.

Ganieva's legal team said Jane Doe's experiences show that 'contrary to Black's version of events that he knew 'nothing' about Epstein's sexual wrongdoing, as alleged, Black was perpetrating his own sexual crimes at Epstein's home as far back as 2002.'

Going a step further, the motion alleges that Black had a, 'long-standing relationship with Epstein for years. that involved arranged massages with women for money at Epstein's home.'

According to the amended suit, the Jane Doe met Epstein 'sometime around 2000,' when she was introduced by an acquaintance, a Ukrainian woman.

Jane Doe alleged that a short while into her association with Epstein, she was violently assaulted by Black after he instructed her to give him a massage at Epstein's NYC home.

The suit claims that a 'huge' Black, standing more than 6ft 4in and weighing more than 300lbs, brutally raped her before paying her off.

Jane Doe is described as a single mother of 'limited financial means' and, it is alleged, Black, 'believed that his money couldsilence [her] and nullify his behavior.'

Black has publicly regretted his involvement with Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Earlier this year, Black stepped down from Apollo after an outside independent review found he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning, though was not involved in Epstein's criminal activities.
Michigan high school shooter Ethan Crumbley's parents drained his bank account and made plans to move to Florida where they planned to sell horses immediately after he was arrested for killing four classmates, a court heard.

James and Jennifer Crumbley appeared in court on Friday where they asked a judge to lower their $500,000 bond to $100,000. But that request was denied by an Oakland County judge who deemed that both parents were a flight risk.

The parents are charged with manslaught in connection to the November 30 massacre at Oxford High School where four students were killed. The Crumbley's ignored numerous warning signs about their 15-year-old son and instead bought him a gun that was used in the shooting, assistant prosecutor Marc Keast told a judge.

The pair are also accused of refusing to take him home earlier that day when school counselors confronted them with distressing drawings he made, including that of a gun and blood on the floor.

They then went on the lam for two days, December 3 and 4, after he was arrested and withdrew $3,000 from his bank account, leaving only 99 cents.

At Friday's hearing, the judge rejected the argument by attorneys Mariell Lehman and Shannon Smith that the Crumbley parents had enough ties to the community that a reduced bond would be enough to keep them in Michigan.

James and Jennifer Crumbley were in court Friday in an attempt to have their bond lowered from $500,000 to $100,000, and be released from jail.

Earlier on Friday, Ethan Crumbley waived a key hearing, a decision that moves his case straight to a trial court

The couple, who is accused of making a gun accessible to their son and refusing to take him home earlier that day when school counselors confronted them with distressing drawings of violence, went on the lam between Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, and Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, after he was arrested for the shooting at Oxford High School on November 30.

During Friday's bond hearing, Prosecutor Karen McDonald argued that the bond should remain at $500,000 for each of them because of their lack of ties to the state of Michigan and their plans to flee the area just hours following their son's arrest.

McDonald said James, who worked as a Doordash delivery driver and Jennifer, who had been terminated by her employer, both had families in Florida and started making plans to move there immediately after the shooting.

'On November 30, just hours after their son murdered children in a school, they started making plans.,' McDonald told the court.

She added that they started making plans to sell horses once they were in Florida and bought four cellphones. They had also drained their son's bank account of $3,000, leaving only 99 cents.

On December 1, the couple checked into a different hotel where they made contact with discussion of the sale of their horses and withdrew $2,000 from their bank. They then checked out of the hotel, leaving one of their cars behind but parked so that the license plate could not be easily seen.

McDonald said they drove to the art studio in Detroit the same day where they were captured and taken into custody after leading authorities on a large-scale manhunt.

Both Crumbleys have pleaded not guilty to all four charges of involuntary manslaughter - one for each Oxford High School student. Each count is punishable by up to 15 years in prison along with a $7,500 fine and mandatory DNA testing.

Earlier on Friday, their son waived a key hearing, a decision that moves his case straight to a trial court.

Crumbley, 15, is charged as an adult with murder accused of killing Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17, and injuring several others after opening fire in the school

Hours before the school shooting begun, the Crumbleys were called to the school to discuss Ethan's disturbing behavior including drawings depicting a gun, a bullet, blood everywhere, a shooting victim and a laughing emoji. Crumbley's parents are also accused of refusing to take him home earlier that day when school counselors confronted them with distressing drawings

Prosecutors in Michigan typically have to present evidence to show there's probable cause to send people to trial on felony charges, a low bar.

Crumbley, 15, is charged as an adult with murder accused of killing Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17, and injuring several others after opening fire in the school.

'The last thing they expected was that a school shooting would take place, or that their son would be responsible,' defense attorneys Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman said in a court filing.

Before the shooting, Jennifer bragged on social media about going out with her son to test his Christmas present - a 9mm handgun - just three days before the shooting and just one day after her husband had purchased the gun.

When Jennifer was later made aware of her son's 'inappropriate' web search researching firearm ammunition while at school, she texted him: 'LOL I'm not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.'

She never responded to the school's message about the 'inappropriate internet search.'

A wanted poster for James Crumbley. A massive manhunt of the area led to their capture in the basement of a nearby building - less than a mile from the Canadian border

Hours before the school shooting begun, the Crumbleys were called to the school to discuss Ethan's disturbing behavior including drawings depicting a gun, a bullet, blood everywhere, a shooting victim and a laughing emoji.

The note included the words: 'Thoughts won't stop, help me'; 'my life is useless' and 'the world is dead,' Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said. After the meeting, the Crumbleys left their son to finish the day at school when he opened fire on his classmates and teachers.

Defense attorney Shannon Smith acknowledged that Jennifer Crumbley sent a text message to her son on the day of the shooting, telling him 'don't do it.'

But Smith said it was a plea for him to not kill himself, as the school shooting had already occurred and the gun was missing from home.

'The Crumbleys, like every parent and community member, are devastated by the school shooting,' Smith and co-counsel Mariell Lehman said in a court filing. 'The last thing they expected was that a school shooting would take place, or that their son would be responsible.'
Isolation rules for supermarket staff and workers in other key industries could be slashed in a bid ease supply shortages as Omicron rips the country.

Supermarket and food supply retailers urged federal, state and territory leaders to ease isolation requirements for workers in a meeting on Friday.

The proposal comes after supermarket shelves were left bare with the food industry giant blaming staff shortages prompted by Covid-19 close contact and isolation rules.

NSW supermarkets have been hit the hardest with fruit and vegetables, meat and poultry and dairy displays left empty.

The isolation period for food and grocery retail employees could be dramatically slashed from seven to five days for close contacts as part of a bold new plan (pictured, a Coles supermarket employee begins a shift in Melbourne)

Woolworths shelves have been left bare with the food industry giant blaming staff shortages prompted by Covid-19 close contact and isolation rules

Australian Food and Grocery Council chief executive Tanya Barden presented the workforce plan in a bid to resolve supply chain shortages, reports The Australian.

The proposed changes would reduce isolation periods from seven to five days and loosen the isolation requirements for close contacts.

Household contacts of a positive Covid-19 case would be allowed to continue working during isolation if they presented as asymptomatic and tested negative by a PCR or rapid antigen test.

Employees who test positive for Covid would also have their isolation period slashed from seven to five days.

Staff shortages have impacted supply chains leaving supermarket shelves striped bare (pictured)

Free rapid antigen test kits for food and grocery workers was also discussed.

'Food and grocery manufacturers are more concerned about the workforce impacts than at any point in the last two years,' Ms Barden said on Friday.

'We are trying to be measured. We need to keep health and safety mechanisms in place, but we need to get people back to work quicker and in a safe way.'

Food and grocery retailers are urging for a 'balanced' approach to the ongoing Omicron crisis (pictured, meat shelves are left bare due to supply chain shortages at a supermarket in Sydney)

Relaxed isolation rules could also extend to the Aged Care sector after Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly revealed the interim framework on Wednesday.

Under the new changes, workers at low risk of spreading the virus could continue working in aged care facilities to ease significant staff shortages.

Staff deemed close contacts of a positive case and considered high risk, could return to work without isolating if staff shortages cause a 'high impact' on services.

This comes as federal, state and territory governments face increasing pressure to combat workforce shortages after supermarket shelves are left bare.

Woolworths emailed its Everyday Rewards members on Friday revealing that one in five workers in their distribution centres and one in 10 retail staff are absent.

The widespread shortages have taken a direct hit on the supply chain with products unable to be delivered on time.

The surge of Covid-19 cases continues to cause widespread chaos as Woolworths revealed one in 10 retail staff in distribution centres are in isolation (pictured, residents queue for Covid-19 PCR tests amid the Omicron outbreak)

Food suppliers have warned of huge disruptions to their supply chains, with as many as 70 per cent of staff at some factories off work and in isolation.

The surge of Covid-19 cases continues to cause widespread chaos, despite the national cabinet amending the definition of close contacts to ease isolation rules.

The rules have also been overhauled for positive Covid cases, who only have to isolate for a week if they have no symptoms on day seven.

Testing requirements for truck drivers have also been amended to removing the need for a PCR test every seven days.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the decision was key to ensuring food distribution networks could continue moving.

Food suppliers have warned of huge disruptions to their supply chains, with as many as 70 per cent of staff at some factories off work and in isolation (pictured, Woolworths employees process orders at a store in Melbourne)

'We need truckies keeping on trucking ... to keep moving things around,' he told reporters on Thursday.

But Ms Barden argued there needs to be a balanced approach between the health response and ensuring food and groceries remained available to Australians.

'Covid cases are spreading in the community,' told The Australian.

'We can't put the genie back in the bottle. Given we have a greater demand for food and grocery products, supply constraints need to be alleviated through managing Covid cases.'

The Department of Home Affairs said national co-operation was required to maintain critical services as the impacts of Covid-19 on demand and workforces were 'very complex'.

'The Australian government and state and territory governments are working together to manage and minimise the impacts of these supply, demand and workforce pressures,' it said.
Jesse Sharkey is a name you need to know. He is as a self-declared champion of the working class, and a prominent socialist activist.

Shockingly (or not so much) he is also the proud owner of a $1.4 million dollar property in Chicago, where he lives with his wife, socialist author Julie Fain.

Fain also just happens to be the daughter of wealthy capitalist Richard Fain, who up until mere days ago was the CEO of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines group.

These are all interesting qualities for a socialist, but perhaps the most important quality, in this context, is that Sharkey is the current President of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the lead cheerleader for unnecessarily shutting out Chicago's 350,000 public school students, even as parents and the Mayor of Chicago beg them to return to school.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) cancelled classes for the third-straight day on Friday, as the vast majority of staff refuses to report to work.

Happy New Year!

Jesse Sharkey (above) is a name you need to know. He is as a self-declared champion of the working class, and a prominent socialist activist.

Ninety percent of Chicago Public School students are racial minorities. They are depending on 'the system' to give them an equal footing in the educational arena and yet the system is currently unavailable to them. If that is not systemic racism, I don't know what is.

And there is currently no end in sight to the standoff as the union and public schools file dueling charges of unfair labor practices.

Sharkey said Wednesday that absent a new agreement over COVID safety protocols teachers won't return to school until the latest COVID wave subsidies.

The biggest losers  as always  are the most innocent and vulnerable among us. Our kids.

On top of that, Chicago Public Schools host a minority population of 90%.

You read that right.

According to the district's own numbers, only 10% of Chicago Public School students are white.

61% of public school students are on the free lunch program, which is the metric state and federal entities use to determine poverty rates among students.

How could only 10% of the public schools be made up of white students? Chicago itself has a much larger white population. Where are all their kids? Not in public school.

The majority of white parents seem to have options and people who have options very rarely voluntarily choose public schools in the Windy City.

You can see why in the case of Chicago.

With the resurgence of COVID, fueled by the Omicron variant, the union has seized this new excuse to make exorbitant demands, and hold the children, mostly minority children, hostage to do it.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, 'systemic racism' is defined as: 'policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization, and that result in and support a continued unfair advantage to some people and unfair or harmful treatment of others based on race.'

It should infuriate every minority parent that this privileged white man is able to hold the education of their children hostage even as he enjoys the trappings of wealth and power. (Above) Author, Kira Davis

Ninety percent of Chicago Public School students are racial minorities.

Nearly seventy percent are considered to live below the poverty line.

CPS students are depending on 'the system' to give them an equal footing in the educational arena and yet the system is currently unavailable to them.

If that is not systemic racism, I don't know what is.

'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs' is the slogan popularized by Karl Marx  that any good socialist, like Jesse Sharkey, must know by heart. That's sure looking pretty anemic these days.

What's worse  when kids are not in the school  many are not supervised, as their parents work to pay the bills.

As of September 2021, more children under the age of 17 had been shot in Chicago (261) than have died from COVID-19 nationwide (214), according to data from police and the CDC.

What the CTU is doing to public school students right now is unconscionable. It is repugnant.

Even worse, it is a repugnance aimed squarely at poor and minority children, and the union knows it and they don't care.

It's not as if Chicago public schools lack the funding to educate our kids.

President Biden's American Rescue Plan earmarked $1.8 billion for the city's schools.

The Chicago Public School District receives $27,000 for every single public school student every year.

It is time to end this pathetic charade. The Chicago Teachers Union has no interest in their students. (Above) Teacher Stuart Abram holds a sign in support of the Chicago Teachers Union on Jan. 5, 2022, the first day that classes were canceled amid the dispute over COVID-19 safety measures

What would you do if tomorrow someone walked up to you, handed you $27,000 dollars and told you the only caveat for keeping it is that you can only spend it on your child's education?

What if that same person told you that this money is only for one year of education, and you'll receive another $27,000 for your child for every year following?

What if that same person told you that you could receive $27,000 per year not just for your household, but for every single child in your family?

If Chicago decided to hand over that $27,000 per student to minority parents tomorrow, would we find a single one who would say, 'I'll just wait for the union to pull it together before I use this money to educate my child.'?

It's hard to imagine so.

It should infuriate every minority parent that this privileged white man is able to hold the education of their children hostage even as he enjoys the trappings of wealth and power.

There are no more legs left to stand on for the CTU. The worst of the pandemic is over. The majority of Americans are vaccinated against COVID.

Both the Mayor of Chicago and the CDC have admitted that the Omicron variant is highly transmissible but significantly weaker than past variants, and poses a minimal threat to children.

The only people asking for this shutdown are the union stooges.

Parents have already been through the utter disaster of remote learning. They do not wish to see their children return to educational degradation. They do not wish to see the gap between the wealthy and poor continue to widen as their children are denied education, while the children of wealth simply avail themselves of other options.

Think about what the CTU is saying to parents. It isn't just the hypocrisy of a wealthy white man like Sharkey that is insulting. It is also the intimation that they are smarter than the parents of Chicago -- that they love and care for the students more than their own parents do.

The parents of Chicago have been home with their children throughout the holidays. They've seen up close the truth of this COVID variant, and they understand it isn't much more than a winter cold at this point. They've done the math and they find the limited risks acceptable. School is just as safe for their children as home is at this point.

On Tuesday, Chicago's public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, said she is 'extremely comfortable' with students learning in-person.

'We've got to do risk-benefit analysis here,' she said, 'and at least among children, we have to think of this as similar to flu.'

It is time to end this pathetic charade.

The Chicago Teachers Union has no interest in their students.

It's right there in the name  the 'teachers' union  and it's right there in Jesse Sharkey's extravagant lifestyle.

They have access to enough money per student to provide the highest quality of education imaginable, and it is still not enough for them to go to work.

Jesse Sharkey and the Chicago Teachers Union have betrayed our children, all the while wrapping themselves in a cheap cloak of social justice. They should be ashamed, and Chicago should defund them immediately.
Residents in Australia's eastern pocket are struggling to overcome monsoon-like flood conditions - just days after tropical cyclone Seth lashed some parts of Queensland.

One person is dead, tragically drowning in a vehicle after being swept away in floodwaters about 7.30pm on Friday in Kanigan, a remote area split between the Fraser Coast region and Gympie region.

A police spokesman confirmed the incident unfolded on Cherry Tree Rd.

Overnight 650mm of rain was recorded across the Wide Bay region, north of Brisbane, with a major flood emergency unfolding across the Wide Bay and Burnett areas.

The Bruce Highway has also been shut by floodwaters north of Gympie, between suburbs Curra and Tiaro.

Overnight, approximately 650mm of rain was recorded across the Wide Bay region, north of Brisbane, with a major flood emergency unfolding across the Wide Bay and Burnett areas (pictured)

Ominously, a new weather threat is emerging over the Gulf of Carpentaria, (pictured) with a monsoon stretching more than 1000km

Authorities have reported multiple vehicles have been washed away and many properties are now flooded.

Queensland Fire and Emergency have also responded to multiple incidents, with dozens of rescues currently unfolding.

They include the dramatic rescue of three people from a flooded house at Gundiah, a remote area in Queensland's Fraser Coast region.

The rural township is located 5km north-west of Mt Kanigan, where more than 650mm of rain has fallen since Friday morning.

On Friday night, an emergency alert was issued by the Fraser Coast Regional Council, following intense flooding in Miva and Tiaro, south of Maryborough.

Residents were forced to seek refuge at a petrol station, with local Mike Fry describing the scenes as 'crazy.'

'All the fences are gone, people's gear is washed into them, cars are under water, houses and sheds inundated,' he said.

'It's the worst I've seen in 16 years, by a very large margin.'

Two more residents were also saved from a flooded house in nearby Brooweena.

Queensland Police have since issued an urgent warning to motorists in the Wide Bay region.

'During and immediately after severe weather events traversing roadways, either in vehicles or on foot, can be extremely hazardous as water levels can rise and fall quickly,' Queensland Police,' a statement read.

'If driving, please travel with extreme caution and drive to the prevailing weather and road conditions  plan your trip, allow additional travel time, incorporating travel at low speeds, delays and diversions.'

The heavy rainfall in some pockets of the Sunshine State is largely due to tropical cyclone Seth, which has caused havoc on the Gold Coast the past few days.

Ominously, a new threat is emerging over the Gulf of Carpentaria, with a monsoon stretching more than 1000km.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts there is a 50 per cent chance the system will develop into a full-blown cyclone over the next 48 hours, with effects to be felt from Cardwell to the tip of the Cape, according to the Courier Mail.

Weather bureau hazard response co-ordinator Brooke Pagel said experts are 'definitely keeping an eye on it' before confirming storms and isolated heavy falls are expected until at least Monday.

The aftermath of Cyclone Seth this week in Queensland, which has rocked areas such as the Gold Coast (pictured)

In some parts of Queensland, trees have been uprooted as Cyclone Seth left its mark across the state

Rainbow beach in Queensland was also hammered by the cyclone, with a ute (pictured) trapped by strong waves

On the Sunshine Coast, the hinterland areas recorded up to 90mm leading into Friday, while on the Gold Coast, king tides and the ex-tropical cyclone have hit hard.

Currumbin Vikings Surf Club was hammered by swells of up to five metres, with the club carpark suffering significant damage.

Beer kegs were swept into the ocean and a fence was also destroyed, with club CEO Michael Sullivan labelling the scenes 'next level.'

In other states, the weather outlook is also bleak, with rain forecast for Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart this weekend.

Perth and Darwin are the only capital cities tipped to see sunshine, with showers also predicted for Canberra.
A Texas mother faces child endangerment charges after forcing her 14-year-old son to ride in the trunk of her car to get a COVID test at a drive-thru site.

Sarah Beam, 42, from the Cyprus-Fairbanks area near Houston, allegedly packed the teen in the trunk as she drove to the testing site at Ken Pridgeon Stadium after he tested positive for the virus on January 3 to get another test.

Cypress Fairbanks ISD Police Department (Cy-Fair ISD PD) issued a warrant for her arrest Friday, according to KETK.

Police said Beam pulled to the giant tent set up on Falcon Road when Bevin Gordon, the health services director at the site, heard a noise inside her trunk.

Beam, who has worked in the Cy-Fair district as a teacher since 2011, told Gordon that her son had tested positive for the virus and had to be quarantined, according to the court affidavit.

She told Gordon she placed in him the trunk in order to protect herself from the virus and wanted to get him an additional test, police said.

Police did not say whether the mom or her unidentified son were vaccinated.

Sarah Beam, 42, of Harris County, Texas, has been charged with child endangerment and has a warrant for her arrest after her son, 14, was found in her trunk when she arrived at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at Ken Pridgeon stadium

Health Services Director Bevin Gordon heard noises in the back of the trunk when she arrived at the stadium (pictured) and found the child laying in the trunk. Gordon ordered the child to be placed safely in the backseat before he would test them

When she popped the trunk, Gordon found the boy laying down inside the vehicle and told Beam she could not receive a COVID-19 test until the boy was seated safely in the backseat.

Surveillance footage obtained by Cy-Fair ISD PD reportedly showed the 14-year-old exiting the trunk and climbing into the back seat.

DailyMail.com has contacted Cy-Fair ISD PD for the footage.

The teen was not harmed during the incident, Cy-Fair ISD spokeswoman Leslie Francis said in a statement.

Beam recently worked as a teacher in the district but is currently on administrative leave, Francis said.

Harris County currently has 100,000 COVID-19 cases with a seven-day average of 10,000. Texas has had almost a 400 percent increase in cases in the last two weeks.

The county, which encompasses Houston, currently has 57 percent of its citizens fully vaccinated.
Citigroup warned workers who have yet to comply with a companywide vaccine mandate that they will be fired by the end of the month if they fail to get a shot by January 14.

On Friday, the bank sent workers a memo reminding them that the end of next week is the deadline to submit proof of vaccination, reiterating the deadline first established in October.

Currently, nearly 95 percent of the banks 65,000 US employees are vaccinated, leaving roughly 3,250 workers in jeopardy of losing their jobs.

The memo, which comes as COVID cases continue to surge nationwide, warned that any U.S staffers who ignore the deadline will be placed on unpaid leave and terminated on January 31.

In March of last year, Citigroup told employees that because the investment banking company is a government contractor, employees would have to comply with President Joe Bidens executive order on vaccines, CNBC.com reported.

Citigroup has had the most aggressive vaccination policy among major Wall Street firms

The bank, led by CEO Jane Fraser, also said that enforcement of the mandate would protect employees who return to office work.

Citigroup does allow religious and medical exemptions for employees and is complying with local laws.

The memo comes after New York City Mayor Eric Adams publicly demanded Wall Street banks and other major Big Apple employers bring their workers back to the office to save the city's small businesses.

Adams, speaking with CNN's Brianna Keilar on Tuesday, said he was unhappy with many places like Goldmann Sachs and JP Morgan beginning 2022 with remote work after return to office dates were pushed back by the COVID Omicron variant.

'We have to open up,' Adams said. 'I need my city to open. And we have to be safe, we have to double down on vaccinations and booster shots. We have to double down on testing. But we have to reshape our thinking of how do we live with Covid.'

Citigroup has had the most aggressive vaccination policy among Wall Street firms.

Major banks like JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, whose US offices also have vaccine mandates, have not threatened to fire unvaccinated employees.

Some of them have told their workers to remain remote while JPMorgan and others made it optional.

Wall Street has been pushing for workers to return to their desks as soon as possible.

Adams said it's imperative for the firms to return in order to save surrounding businesses, many of them independently owned and staffed by low wage workers who rely on Wall Street customers and business travelers for their income.

'We have low-skilled employees who can't do remote employment from home, or telecommuting,' Adams said. 'It is time to open up, and feed our ecosystem, our financial ecosystem.'

On Friday the Supreme Court heard arguments against the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for larger private companies with more than 100 employees to move ahead.

They were hearing a case brought by Republican states and business leaders that the mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees represented federal overreach.

The courts' liberal justices appeared to side with the Biden administration's position that mandates and vaccines were the best way to tackle the pandemic.

But Roberts asked U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar whether the 1970 law that established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration gave it the power to introduce the mandate.

'That was 50 years ago that you're saying Congress acted. I don't think it had COVID in mind.

'That was almost closer to the Spanish flu than it is to today's problem,' he said in reference to the 1918 pandemic.

Benjamin Flowers, Ohio solicitor general, said the mandates had been formulated when a different, more dangerous variant - the Delta variant - was the most common as he argued against the policy.

Justice Sonia Sotamayor took issue with his characterization of the pandemic.

'We have more affected people in the country today than we had a year ago in January,' she said.

'We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators.

'We have over 100,000 children which we've never had before, in in serious condition. And many on ventilators.'

The justices heard more than two hours of arguments over the administration's requirement for businesses before turning to a second argument over whether to block the administration's vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities.

A partial ruling could come in record time, as the business mandate is due to come into force on Monday.

The justices are being asked for an emergency block while the lower courts continue to hear cases.

The court heard the arguments as the nation gripped by the latest wave of infections, triggered by the highly infectious Omicron variant.

On Thursday, the US recorded 786,824 new infections, an increase from the prior day and the third highest count since the pandemic began, following only the numbers recorded on Monday and Tuesday. The seven-day rolling average of daily cases - now at 607,064 daily cases - was up 71 percent from a week ago, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

Deaths remain at relatively low levels, with 1,870 new deaths on Thursday, a 9 percent increase from a week ago on a rolling-average basis. Hospitalizations rose 40 percent in the past two weeks, to nearly 100,000, but remain well below last year's peak level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a round of television interviews on Friday morning, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky defended her agency's confusing new isolation guidelines, and predicted that the US had not reached the peak of the current wave.

'The number of cases are rising faster than the number of hospitalizations and deaths, although we're now starting to see the number of hospitalizations rise as well,' she told the Today Show. 'The way it is peaked in other countries, in South Africa, it has come down as rapidly as well. But I don't believe we've seen the peak yet here in the United States.'

'We are definitely looking at a time ahead of us where COVID will be an endemic virus. We are in the middle of a surge right now so we have to do everything we can to address that surge,' said Walensky.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has been in the role for less than a week, has appointed his younger brother to serve as a deputy NYPD commissioner.

Bernard Adams, who is 56, is a retired cop, just like the 61-year-old mayor, and was a sergeant with the NYPD.

In his new role, he will oversee governmental affairs.

The appointment appears to have been swift: Bernard Adams is already listed as a deputy commissioner on the official NYPD roster.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed his younger brother as a deputy NYPD commissioner

Although the position is a civilian post, deputy police commissioners make about $240,000. It is not known what Adams' salary will be.

Adams' LinkedIn profile mentions his current job as the assistant director for parking at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he has worked since 2011.

Bernard Adams started his career in the 7th Precinct on the Lower East Side which was a rough, heroin-infested neighborhood at the time, before moving on to Brooklyn's 88th Precinct,

Eventually, he was assigned to the NYPD's Queens headquarters.

During his first taste of the job on the beat, he wanted to quit - but his brother persuaded him to stay.

'I always, always, always wanted to be a cop, and that was my life's dream,' Bernard Adams recalled. 'But then when I got the job, I was like, "I don't want to do this.'''

Bernard Adams was assigned to the office of new Police Commissioner The post comes with a yearly salary of around $240,000

On one of his first nights on patrol, brother Eric walked alongside to reassure him.

'He said, "Listen, stay there. Don't worry. Stay there. Don't worry,'" Bernard Adams recounted. 'So, I look up, 20 or 30 minutes later he comes walking up the street. And I'm like, "What are you doing here?" He said, "Listen, you can't quit." And he literally walked my beat with me.'

Bernard Adams retired with the rank of sergeant after 20 years of service in 2006. The mayor retired from the NYPD as a captain.

Friday's appointment raised eyebrows over possible conflict of interest claims.

'New Yorkers expect that public servants are hired based on their unique qualifications and not because they are the mayor's brother,' Common Cause New York's Executive Director Susan Lerner said to the Daily News.

'It is unclear whether a waiver from the Conflict of Interest Board would be required for this appointment. With or without a waiver, it is troubling.'

Bernard Adams is one of the few members who appeared with Eric on the campaign trail last year.

He also worked phone banks and handed out flyers for his brother's campaign.

The pair appear to be close. He described his older brother as his role model when he introduced him during an election night party last November.

On Thursday, there was an internal shakeup of the NYPD executive staff. Internal Affairs boss Joseph Reznick and the head of the department's employee relations, Robert Ganley, pictured, were forced out

'We are twins separated at births  just kidding, don't print that,' Bernard Adams joked onstage. 'I'm so happy to be here this evening with you all. On behalf of the family, thank you, thank you for your support.'

His appointment comes just after the mayor appointed longtime friend and confidant Philip Banks as deputy mayor of public safety.

Banks' brother, David, had previously been tapped to be the new New York City schools chancellor.

On Thursday, there had been an internal shakeup of the NYPD executive staff.

Internal Affairs boss Joseph Reznick and the head of the department's employee relations, Robert Ganley were forced out.

The pair were both working their taxpayer-funded job while still being able to collect a substantial pension.

Michael Bloomberg brought his daughter Emma, left, and sister, Marjorie Tiven, right, into his administration, although they did not take a salary or were bestowed any prestigious titles

Bill de Blasio's wife Chirlane McCray was the city's First Lady and headed a failed $1.3 billion mental health initiative ThriveNYC. City nepotism rules meant she was unable to draw a salary

Previous New York City mayors have been known to hire their family members.

Michael Bloomberg brought his daughter Emma and sister, Marjorie Tiven, into the administration, although they did not take a salary or bestowed any titles.

Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray, headed the failed $1.3 billion mental health initiative ThriveNYC.

City nepotism rules meant she was unable to draw a salary.

It's unclear if those rules would also bar Eric Adams' brother from pulling in a salary.

Adams will be working alongside the city's first ever female Police Commissioner.

Adams will be working alongside the city's first ever female Police Commissioner, Keechant Sewell, pictured

Keechant Sewell was introduced as Eric Adams' choice last month. He said the longtime Long Island police official was 'calm, collected, confident' and had the 'emotional intelligence needed to lead at this challenging and hopeful time in our city.'

'I think leadership prepares you to be able to tackle anything that comes your way,' Sewell said in an interview. 'I look forward to what I can learn from the NYPD and being able to bring what I already have to the table.'

Sewell spent her entire policing career in suburban Nassau County before becoming the NYPDs first outside leader in more than two decades. She is also the third Black person to lead the department. Sewell said she brings 'a fresh perspective' to the job while also acknowledging the department's 'incredible sense of tradition.'

Sewell said she spent the weeks leading up to her swearing-in speaking with everyone from street level officers to former top brass. She also named two NYPD veterans as her top deputies: Edward Caban, the new first deputy commissioner and Kenneth Corey, the new chief of department.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell talks to reporters at police headquarters in New York. Sewell spent her entire policing career in suburban Long Island before recently becoming New York City's first police commissioner from outside the department in over two decades

Earlier this week, Sewell spoke about her priorities and the challenges of policing a city of 8.8 million people.

'First and foremost, I want the city to be safer,' Sewell said. 'I want there to be a better quality of life. I want the police department to collaborate with the community, because they're part of the community.'

Sewell started with the Nassau County Police Department as a patrol officer in 1997, then became a precinct commander, head of major cases, a top hostage negotiator and finally chief of detectives, where she oversaw a staff of about 350 - about 1% the size of the NYPD's unformed ranks.

Adams promised during his campaign to hire a female commissioner, and in hiring Sewell vaulted her to the top of a list of notable women in policing that includes Philadelphia Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and former Seattle Chief Carmen Best. He said Sewell "carried with her throughout her career a sledgehammer, and she crushed every glass ceiling that was put in her way."

Like the men who came before her, Sewell's success will be measured largely in crime statistics and whether she's able to rein in a pandemic-era increase in gun violence and homicides.

After reaching a low of 292 homicides in 2017, the city hit 468 in 2020 and more than 480 last year, the highest number since 2011.

Sewell this week endorsed Adams plan to reinstate a plainclothes anti-crime unit that was disbanded amid police misconduct protests in 2020 over concerns that it accounted for a disproportionate number of shootings and complaints. Sewell said this time around the unit will be more responsible and better behaved - an assurance critics view skeptically.

Also this past week, Manhattan's new district attorney unveiled a sweeping new policy to only seek prison sentences for a handful of offenses, and downgrade or dismiss charges for many felony crimes - and Mayor Eric Adams is on board with the plan.

Alvin Bragg, who took office last weekend, revealed his progressive new approach in a 'day one policies and procedures' memo released on Monday.

The Democrat said offenses like marijuana misdemeanors, prostitution, resisting arrest and fare dodging will no longer be prosecuted.

Bragg instructed prosecutors to stop seek prison sentences for crimes except for homicides, assaults resulting in serious injury, domestic violence felonies, sex offenses, public corruption, and 'major economic crimes'.

The directive comes despite New York City seeing a surge in violent crime. City-wide, crime statistics published in December by the NYPD show that shootings, murders and auto grand larceny have all nearly doubled while murder is up 50 percent in the city compared to 2019.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has vowed not to prosecute some violent crimes and downgrade felonies like armed robberies to the misdemeanor petit larceny if there isn't a 'genuine threat', even if a weapon is involved

New York City is currently experiencing soaring crime rates and an increase in shooting incidents not seen since the mid-2000s

Aside from the same list of offenses, Bragg's prosecutors have also been told not to seek bail requirements for suspects awaiting trial.

The memo also outlines a number of circumstances in which charges should be downgraded, including certain cases of armed robbery and drug dealing.

Bragg also vowed to stop prosecuting many low-level offenses including subway turnstile jumping, prostitution, and trespassing. He will continue his predecessor Cyrus Vance Jr's policy of declining to prosecute marijuana possession.

Mayor Eric Adams expressed support for Bragg's new polices at a Tuesday press conference, saying: 'I like Alvin.'

'I believe that he's going to be a good district attorney, and I'm going to sit down and have a conversation with him as we build out what we need to do around public safety,' the mayor said.

'I think he's on Team Public Safety,' added Adams. 'Team Public Safety is not only handcuffs, Team Public Safety is also ending the pipeline that turns people into career criminals.'
The killers of Ahmaud Arbery were led to their cells in handcuffs on Friday to begin their life sentences, as rifle-toting members of the New Black Panther Party protested outside the Georgia courtroom.

Travis and Gregory McMichael were both sentenced to life without parole for the February 2020 murder, while their neighbor William Roddie Bryan, 52, - who filmed the murder - will be eligible for parole.

The trio were later seen being led away from the courtroom in handcuffs - the McMichaels never to be seen in public again.

Travis McMichael was shackled by the ankles as well as being handcuffs; the other two men were just handcuffed.

During the sentencing hearing, heavily-armed members of the New Black Panther Party gathered outside, raising their fists in a show of support for the Arbery family.

Members of the black nationalist group, which is also anti-white and anti-Semitic, also congregated outside the courthouse during closing arguments, leading the defense lawyers to call for a mistrial and accuse them of intimidation.

Along with banners showing Ahmaud Arbery's face, the group also carried black and white coffins with mannequins inside them that feature the names of black men killed by police, such as George Floyd.

The NBPP was founded in 1989 and is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The group is not affiliated with the original Black Panthers from the 1960s, and members of the original Panthers have accused the NBPP of the misappropriation of their name, both in public statements and in legal action.

Travis McMichael, 36, (left) and his father Gregory, 66, were handcuffed as they were led from court on Friday to begin their sentences

William Bryan, the 52-year-old neighbor of the McMichaels, is seen being led away. He too was sentenced to life, but unlike the McMichaels he has the possibility of parole

A member of the New Black Panther Party is seen outside the Glenn County courthouse on Friday

The heavily-armed NBPP members marched outside the courthouse on Friday as the trio were sentenced for Arbery's killing

Arbery's parents asked a judge to sentence his killers to life without parole on Friday at a courthouse in Georgia, saying they 'lynched him in broad daylight' and targeted him when he felt most 'free and alive'. Pictured are members of the NBPP

The NBPP flag is hoisted aloft as the party members march in front of the Georgia courthouse

Members of the NBPP raise their fists to show support for the Arbery family during Friday's sentencing

Judge Timothy R. Walmsley did not specify how long he would have to spend in prison - prosecutors asked that he spend at least 15 years behind bars. Typically, the minimum in Georgia is 30 years.

In handing down his sentence, Judge Walmsley called the murder 'chilling' and 'disturbing'. He talked about the 'terror' Arbery must have felt for the five minutes the men chased him in their pick-up trucks with a shotgun and revolver.

'As we all now know based on the verdict that was handed down in this courtroom, Ahmaud Arbery was murdered. It's a tragedy. It's a tragedy on many, many levels.

'On February 23, 2020...a young man with dreams was gunned down in this community. As we understand it, he went for a run and he ended up running for his life.'

To emphasize how long the five-minute chase must have felt for Arbery, the judge sat silently for a minute in the courtroom.

'That one minute represents a fraction of the time that Ahmaud Arbery was running in Satilla Shores. The chase that occurred, occurred over a five minute period.

'When I thought about this, I kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores,' he said.

'He was hunted down and shot and he was killed because individuals took the law into their own hands.'

Travis McMichael, left, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for shooting dead Ahmaud Arbery in 2020

Gregory McMichael, Travis's 66-year-old father, will also die in prison under the life without parole sentence

William Roddie Bryan, the 52-year-old neighbor who filmed the murder, was sentenced to life but he has been given the possibility of parole. Prosecutors asked that he have to serve at least 15 years behind bars

Judge Timothy Walmsley on Friday called the killing 'chilling' and 'disturbing.' He talked about the 'terror' Arbery must have felt as the men chased him in their pick-up trucks for five minutes

He then recited some of the comments made by the McMichaels after the shooting to prove that it was a 'callous' execution, and said they never showed any remorse.

'Remorse is something that's felt and demonstrated. In this case, getting back to the video, after Ahmaud Arbery fell, the McMichael's turned their backs. They walked away. This was a killing. It was callous and it occurred because confrontation was being sought.

'The most violent crime in Satilla Shores was the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

'The record speaks for itself. Greg McMichael tried to establish a narrative. He said he was 'trapped like a rat.'

Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed in Brunswick, Georgia, U.S. on February 23, 2020,one year on

'He said, 'stop or I'll blow your f*****g head off.'

'He told Travis 'you have no choice'. He also said, 'If I could have gotten a shot at the guy, I would have shot him.''

Unlike the father and son, Bryan appeared to show some remorse in the days and weeks after the killing, he said.

However all three acted as vigilantes, chasing down Arbery and then murdering him because they were 'seeking confrontation.'

'Taking the law into your own hands is a dangerous endeavor. Ultimately with regard to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery it holds us all accountable. At a minimum his death should force us to consider expanding our definition of what a neighbor may be and how we treat them.

'I believe that assuming the worst in others, we show our worst character. Assuming the best in others is always the best course of action. Maybe those are the grand lessons of this case,' the judge said.

There were celebrations outside the court as the sentences were read aloud.

Earlier, Arbery's parents asked a judge to sentence his killers to life without parole on Friday at a courthouse in Georgia, saying they 'lynched him in broad daylight' and targeted him when he felt most 'free and alive'.

On February 23, 2020, they chased Arbery, a 26-year-old black man, through a street in Satilla Shores. They said they thought he was a burglar. Travis pulled the trigger, with his father nearby. Bryan filmed the entire incident on his phone.

In November, they were all convicted of murder - which carries a mandatory life sentence. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty.

Gregory and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William Brian Jr were found a guilty of murder in state court on November 23 by a panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror. In compiling that jury pool, 1,000 people in the mostly-white Glynn County were called. Pictured: The moment Arbery was shot by Travis McMichael

Ahmaud Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper Jones celebrates as she leaves court with her family on Friday after her son's killers were sentenced to life behind bars without parole

Ahmaud Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper-Jones, center, speaks with supporters after Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced Greg McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William 'Roddie' Bryan, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick

(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 23, 2021 a woman holds portraits of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd during an event in remembrance of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Ahmaud Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper Jones (left) and father Marcus (right) asked a judge to impose the maximum sentence possible for his killers - life without parole

Arbery's father Marcus spoke first, telling the court: 'The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every day next to his father. I'll never get the chance of sitting next to my son ever again. Not at a dinner table, not at a holiday, not at a wedding. I pray that no one in this courtroom has to do what we had - bury their child.'

Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper Jones, pleaded: 'They were fully committed to their crimes - let them be fully committed for the consequences.'

'MY SON'S KILLERS HAVE NO REMORSE' - AHMAUD ARBERY'S MOTHER'S VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT I want to speak directly to my son. This verdict doesn't bring you back, but it does help bring closure to this very difficult chapter of my life. I made a promise to you the day I laid you to rest. I told you I loved you and someday, somehow I would get you justice. Son, I love you as much today as the day you were born. Raising you was the honor of my life and I am very proud of you. Your honor, these men have chosen to lie and attack my son and his surviving family. They have no remorse and do not deserve leniency. This wasn't a case of mistaken identity or mistaken fact. They chose to target my son because they didn't want him in their community they chose to treat him differently when they couldn't sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him. My young son, he was born on mothers' day of 1994. He had a smile so bright it lit up the room. He was a greedy baby and it seemed like he was always searching for something to stick in his mouth. He was always a loving baby who seemed to never tire of cuddling, hugs and kisses He loved. He never hesitated to tell me, his sister Jasmine or brother Marcus, and we loved him back, He was messy. He sometimes refused to wear socks. I wish he would have cut and cleaned his toenails before he went out for his jog that day. I guess he would have if he knew he would be murdered. My family is going to miss Ahmaud, his jokes, impersonations, his warm smile. These men deserve the maximum sentence for their crimes. Ahamud never said a word to them. He never threatened them, he just wanted to be left alone. They were fully committed to their crimes - let them be fully committed for the consequences. I'm standing here before you asking you to please give all three defendants who are responsible for the death of my son, the maximum punishment in this court which I do believe is life without bars without the possible chance for parole. Advertisement

She also referred to her son's toenails on the day of the murder - something that was brought up during the trial in by a defense attorney who stoked outrage by referring to his 'long, dirty toenails'.

Wanda, on Friday, said: 'I wish he would have cut and cleaned his toenails before he went out for his jog that day. I guess he would have if he knew he would be murdered.'

She then pleaded with the judge: 'Your honor, I am standing here before you today as the mother of Ahmaud Arbery asking you to please give all three defendants who are responsible for the death of my son, the maximum punishment which I do believe is life without bars without the possible chance for parole.'

The men's lawyers are asking that they be granted parole after 30 years. Prosecutors have asked the judge not to grant any of the men parole.

Cooper Jones spoke about Ahmaud as a 'loving' baby who 'never seemed to tire of cuddles, hugs and kisses.'

His father Marcus told how he loved to run more than anything because it made him feel 'free'.

'Not only did they lynch my son in broad daylight but they killed him when he was doing what he loved more than anything - running.

'That's when he felt most alive. Most free. And they took all of that from him.

'When I close my eyes, I see his execution over and over. I'll see that for the rest of my life.

'When I became a father my life became bigger than me, it became bigger than me about my family, protecting him, protecting my boy. I know in my head that there is nothing I could have done that day to have saved my son.

'To save him from this evil and hate. My heart is broken and always will be.

'If I could trade places with Ahmaud, I would in a heartbeat but I can't'. I'm standing here to do what he can't - that is to fight for him. His memory, his legacy and to tell you who he was.

'That's the one thing you didn't hear in this courtroom. More than anything else, you should know who my boy was.

'We love our son and we will never have him with us to celebrate anything. Thanksgiving, Christmas...his birthday his killers should spend the rest of their lives thinking about what they took from us.

'It should be behind my bars.

'Me and my family have got to live with this for the rest of our lives. They should stay behind those bars the rest of their lives. They didn't give him a chance.'

Ahmaud's mother spoke directly to him, saying: 'This verdict doesn't bring you back. But it does help bring closure to this very difficult chapter of my life.

'I made a promise to you the day I laid you to rest.

'I told you I loved you and someday, somehow I would get you justice.

'Son, I love you as much today as the day you were born.

'Raising you was the honor of my life and I am very proud of you.'

She said none of the killers showed remorse for their actions, and deserved to die in prison.

'They have no remorse and do not deserve leniency. This wasn't a case of mistaken identity or mistaken fact.

'They chose to target my son because they didn't want him in their community.

'They chose to treat him differently.

'And when they couldn't sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him.'

Arbery, a 25-year-old avid jogger, was running through the mostly white residential neighborhood of Satilla Shores on the afternoon of Feb. 23 when the McMichaels decided to grab their guns, jump in a pickup truck and give chase.

The younger McMichael would later testify to the jury they had a hunch Arbery might be fleeing a crime.

Bryan joined the chase in his own pickup truck after it passed his driveway, and pulled out his cellphone to record Travis McMichael firing a shotgun at Arbery at close range.

Arbery had nothing on him besides his running clothes and sneakers.

The video caused outrage when it emerged months later and it became clear that none of the men involved had yet been arrested after a local prosecutor concluded the killing was justified.

Ahmaud Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper-Jones wipes a tear from her eyes while listening to her daughter's impact statement to Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley

Ahmaud Arbery's sister Jasmine Arbery wipes a tear from her eyes while listening to her mother's impact statement to Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley during the sentencing of Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William 'Roddie' Bryan in the Glynn County Courthouse, on January 7, 2022 in Brunswick, Georgia

Ahmaud Arbery's father Marcus Arbery, center, sits in the courtroom with other family members during the sentencing of Greg McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William 'Roddie' Bryan in the Glynn County Courthouse

William Roddie Bryan, 52, arrives at court in Brunswick, Georgia, on Friday to be sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery

Travis McMichael, 35, arrives in court in shackles on Friday morning to be sentenced for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. He will be at least 65 before he gets out of prison

Gregory McMichael, 66, is shown arriving at court for the 10am sentencing hearing

Gregory McMichael makes his way into court on Friday to be sentenced to life in prison

'The day has finally come that we will get justice.

'The day my family an I have prayed for... it has finally come.'

Defense attorneys then pleaded with the judge not to sentence the men to the harshest possible term.

Gregory McMichael's attorney, Laura Hogue, called him a 'man of goodness' and referred to the killing as a 'five minute chase that ended in tragedy.'

'Greg McMichael is a good man. He is not a perfect person but none of us are.

'The choices he made as a young man, all the way through to the rest of his life, to serve, not to acquire wealth, but to quietly go through the business of choosing career options to help other people.

'I say without hesitation he remains a man of goodness,' she said.

Three white men guilty of Ahmaud Arbery faced 27 charges between them - this is what each of them mean COUNT 1 - MALICE MURDER This is defined as causing a person's death with deliberate intention without provocation and 'where all the circumstances in the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart'. Travis McMichael - Guilty Gregory McMichael - Not guilty William 'Roddie' Bryan - Not guilty COUNTS 2, 3, 4 AND 5 - FELONY MURDER This applies when a death is caused in the course of committing another felony whether or not the killing was intentional or unprovoked. Travis McMichael - Guilty on all counts Gregory McMichael - Guilty on all counts William 'Roddie' Bryan - Guilty on three counts, not guilty on one counts COUNT 6 and 7 - AGGRAVATED ASSAULT Under Georgia law this is an assault using a deadly weapon. Count six refers to the shotgun used, count 7 refers to the two pickup trucks, driven by Gregory McMichael and William 'Roddie' Bryan, used to box Arbery in. Travis McMichael - Guilty Gregory McMichael - Not guilty on count 6; Guilty on count 7 William 'Roddie' Bryan - Not guilty on count 6; Guilty on count 7 COUNT 8 - FALSE IMPRISONMENT This is when a person 'arrests, confines, or detains' another person without legal authority. Travis McMichael - Guilty Gregory McMichael - Guilty William 'Roddie' Bryan - Guilty COUNT 9 - CRIMINAL INTENT TO COMMIT A FELONY This refers to performing 'any act which constitutes a substantial step' toward the intentional commission of a crime Travis McMichael - Guilty Gregory McMichael - Guilty William 'Roddie' Bryan - Guilty Advertisement

Ahmaud Arbery's father Marcus Arbery arrives at court on Friday for the sentencing. He spoke briefly before the hearing, telling reporters he is a 'different man now'
Over the years, hundreds of thousands of City commuters filed past the sour-faced ticket collector at busy London Bridge railway station but never gave him a second glance.

Tony Sawoniuk, an expat Pole, didn't say much to anyone, no cheery 'good mornings' or 'good evenings'. Nor did he look up from underneath his peaked cap as he checked their tickets and ushered the tide of humanity through the gates.

Perhaps, inside his head, he was reflecting that, in a past he was desperate to keep hidden, he had a lot of experience of donning a uniform and herding people . . . to their deaths.

He was not much liked. British Rail colleagues remember him as a misery guts  'morose, unable to make eye contact, surly and reluctant to hold any sort of conversation', one recalled. 'Silence prevailed. There was always something strange about him.'

None of them, however, had any inkling of the terrible secret their workmate was concealing  that he was a mass murderer who, during World War II, had rounded up Jews in his native Belorussia in eastern Europe and, as an SS auxiliary, butchered men, women and even small children in cold blood, gunning them down with a bullet in the head and tossing their bodies into mass graves.

After the war, he would somehow come to settle in Britain and, for more than half a century, escape responsibility for his crimes against humanity.

Hidden past: Sawoniuk as a young man during the war

Until  as a compelling new book by Mike Anderson and Neil Hanson details  he was eventually tracked down and brought to justice in what was this country's one and only ever war crimes trial.

In 1999, at the Old Bailey, after an exhaustive and unique 28-day hearing, the ticket collector's own ticket was finally punched and he saw out the rest of his miserable life in prison.

His case is all the more shocking as a depressing insight into how the Holocaust happened.

Yes, the orders came from on high in Hitler's vile anti-Semitic regime, but carrying them out depended on the complicity and the active involvement of countless ordinary individuals like him.

A small and insignificant man, Sawoniuk suddenly found himself  as the judge in his trial noted  'a lord and a master' with the power of life and death over others in his community, and he used it with bestial ruthlessness and unremitting cruelty.

Sawoniuk's story begins in 1921 when he was born in the town of Domachevo. Today, it lies in the modern state of Belarus, but in the years between World Wars I and II it was part of Poland.

In 1999, at the Old Bailey, after an exhaustive and unique 28-day hearing, the ticket collector's own ticket was finally punched and he saw out the rest of his miserable life in prison

A relatively affluent holiday resort in the forest, straddling the railway line linking Warsaw and Moscow, it had a majority Jewish population who worshipped in its two synagogues.

Sawoniuk, though, was from the Christian side of the tracks and named Andrusha, 'Little Andy', a diminutive of the Russian Andrei, by his unmarried mother. She was a cleaner at a local school, his father most likely the headmaster, who then disappeared and left her penniless to bring up the boy on her own.

He grew up taunted as a bastard, a serious stigma in his Russian Orthodox community, and was shunned by his peers.

Home was a one-room log shack on the edge of town where his mother took in washing and as a youngster he himself earned a pittance by doing menial chores for rich Jews during the sabbath.

His schooling was minimal and he left at 14, virtually illiterate  yet another reason for people to look down on him. Then his mother died of cancer and he was completely alone and friendless.

But he had grown into a powerful youth, who got a kick from bullying smaller and weaker kids. He had a reputation for trouble, too  any petty theft or act of vandalism in the neighbourhood was laid at his door. He came to resent everyone and everything around him.

Meanwhile, the Europe in which he lived was descending into the political chaos that preceded the war, with Poland now divided in two  one half under German control and the other a satellite of the Soviet Union.

Domachevo fell just inside the newly created Soviet sector, and for two years life went on there pretty well unchanged.Until in June 1941, Hitler broke his peace pact with Stalin and his army rampaged eastwards. Within an hour, German troops had overrun the town.

Vicious: Mini-series The Winds Of War recreated scenes of Nazi soldiers about to massacre civilians in Belarus

Three days later, the SS arrived, and a rabbi and 40 other Jews were marched to the river, where they were forced to dig a pit, lined up beside it and shot.

It was just the start. The Holocaust had come to town. But the SS found itself stretched to the limits, with so many Jews, Bolsheviks and Soviet prisoners-of-war to eliminate all over the falling Eastern Front.

So they hired in local help, police auxiliaries, to assist in the dirty work  a force known as the Schutzmannschaft (literally 'the guarding troops').

Initially, the auxiliaries watched, often reportedly drunk while doing so, but they increasingly took over the killing as some German soldiers, particularly those with families, became traumatised by shooting women and children.

In Domachevo, Sawoniuk was the first to step forward, seeing the German invasion as a career opportunity. 'He had been the lowest of the low in the town's hierarchy,' write the authors, 'but when he put on the blue police uniform, for the first time in his life he became a man of authority, with power over the townsfolk who had previously jeered at him.'

He got his own back in spades  literally  as more and more Jews were rounded up and made to dig their own graves.

Sawoniuk in 1948, as a young man

Before the war, Sawoniuk had shown few signs of being anti-Semitic but now he not only adopted the Nazi creed with enthusiasm but went into overdrive. 'He rivalled the Germans in his cruelty,' one Jew who had known him before the war would later recall.

A clerk who worked at the police station throughout the occupation said that the Germans thought so highly of Sawoniuk they requested him in preference to any of the other Schutzmanner for round-ups and liquidation operations.

They also trusted him with a sub-machine gun when most of his comrades were issued with rifles.

Later, when the SS contingent in the town moved on, he was left in charge, and, like angels of destruction, he and his fellow auxiliaries would roam the ghetto looking for any pretext to beat up and kill Jews.

He was infamous for his cruelty, demanding a Jewish girl have sex with him and then slaughtering her when she refused.

A witness who would later give evidence to the jury hearing Sawoniuk's case recalled 'Little Andy' lining up 15 terrified women, forcing them to strip naked, then machine-gunning them in the back and kicking their bodies into a freshly dug pit.

Many others saw him ushering whole families through the streets and along what became known as the Road Of Death to an execution site in sand hills just outside the town.

Many others saw him ushering whole families through the streets and along what became known as the Road Of Death to an execution site in sand hills just outside the town

He was also said to have led a mopping-up operation in a nearby village, wiping out 54 children in an orphanage. He would apparently watch executions even when he was not taking part, just for the pleasure. 'He was an animal,' one local said.

And war crimes investigators who came to the town after the war could find no one who would disagree. All over Belarus, home-grown butchers like Sawoniuk were out-performing the SS in mass murder as the country suffered more than any other occupied region at the hands of the Nazis, its cities in ruins and thousands of villages destroyed.

The death rate of Jews was roughly 80 per cent, among the highest in Europe. Half the population were either killed or sent to slave labour camps. More than two million people died. And most met their violent end at the hands of local auxiliaries rather than the Germans, as 'Little Andy' and his ilk killed with merciless savagery.

But then the tide of the war turned, and, with Germany's defeat at the siege of Stalingrad, Hitler's forces on the eastern front went into retreat ahead of Russia's now rapidly advancing and unstoppable Red Army.

In the summer of 1944, Sawoniuk, savvy enough to know what his fate would be if he was caught, fled his home town. When it fell to the Russians shortly after, only 13 Jews remained alive.

He was also said to have led a mopping-up operation in a nearby village, wiping out 54 children in an orphanage. He would apparently watch executions even when he was not taking part, just for the pleasure. 'He was an animal,' one local said

The rest of Domachevo's 4,000 Jews lay dead in mass graves  hundreds of them Sawoniuk's victims. He, meanwhile, was hundreds of miles away, in the heart of Nazi Germany.

There, he was recruited as a corporal in the Waffen-SS and transferred with his unit to France, where, rather than fighting duties, he was in a labour battalion strengthening fortifications against invaders.

Just three months later, he deserted and then cleverly switched sides. After producing his Polish birth certificate and claiming to have been a forced labourer in Germany, he was recruited into the Free Polish Army.

He was a pretty rotten soldier apparently, described as someone who 'requires supervision in his work, no initiative, reckless, superficial, unreliable, likes to drink, constantly dissatisfied and insubordinate'. He was sent to Egypt and Italy, but there is no record of him being involved in any front-line fighting.

He received a medal, the Star of Italy, awarded to all soldiers who had been under British command in Italy, however minimal their involvement.

By now he had buried his past so comprehensively that, with the war over, he was allowed to join the Polish Resettlement Corps, set up to allow Poles to settle in Britain if they had served with the British Armed Forces and did not wish to return to the now-communist Poland. His cover story passed muster with Home Office officials, and he came to this country, taking a job in the building department of a South London hospital.

Witness Fedor Zan leaves the Old Bailey after seeing the jury being sworn in during Sawoniuk's trial

Sawoniuk had married twice as a young man, and soon after the war he had bigamously collected a third wife, a Dutchwoman called Christina van Gent, who divorced him in 1951.

In 1958, the same year that he became a naturalised British citizen, he married for a fourth time, this time to an Irishwoman called Anastasia, and they moved to 'a pretty home' in a quiet residential street in Peckham.

They had a son, but the relationship broke down when he was only a few months old and the couple divorced in 1961.

That same year, he joined British Rail, first as a porter, then as a cleaner, finally as a ticket collector. He retired in 1986 and continued to live at his one-bedroom council flat in Bermondsey, just off the Old Kent Road. He had anglicised his name of 'Andrusha' to 'Anthony', hence 'Tony', but he kept his old surname of Sawoniuk. And that would be his undoing.

From the moment Domachevo was liberated, Sawoniuk was being sought by war crimes investigators from the Soviet Union. But with no success. They had no idea he had fled to the West until 1951, when a letter he sent to his half-brother in Belorussia was intercepted. It was post-marked 'London'.

Former training centre of the Lithuanian State Security Department

Thirty years went by, and in 1981 KGB trackers intercepted another letter from a Belarussian exile to his sister back in Domachevo.

'You will never guess who I saw the other day!' he wrote, after spotting a man with a familiar shambling gait in Marylebone High Street in London. 'Andrusha Sawoniuk! He was walking in that same way!' The information was added to his file but, once again, nothing happened.

What changed matters was when Parliament in Britain passed the 1991 War Crimes Act.

This was a controversial piece of legislation, opposed by many who thought the past should not be raked up in show trials of old men.

It was, though, promoted vigorously by the then PM, Margaret Thatcher, after she promised the Israeli government to take action on war criminals, and paved the way for 'proceedings for murder, manslaughter or culpable homicide against a person in the UK irrespective of nationality at the time of the alleged offence'. And Sawoniuk was the first in line.

It was, though, promoted vigorously by the then PM, Margaret Thatcher, after she promised the Israeli government to take action on war criminals, and paved the way for 'proceedings for murder, manslaughter or culpable homicide against a person in the UK irrespective of nationality at the time of the alleged offence'. And Sawoniuk was the first in line

Until that moment, no Western intelligence agencies had even heard of him, but his name was on a list of 97 suspects handed over by the Soviet Union to a special nine-man unit set up at Scotland Yard.

His file accused him of 'assisting the Nazi fascists in the killing of innocent civilians', and named people in Domachevo with evidence of his crimes. For a long time he went untraced.

A quarter of a million Poles had come to Britain after the war, and sifting through them to separate blameless immigrants from potential war criminals was a mammoth undertaking.

It didn't help that his name had been given by the Russians as Andrey 'Savanyuk', which did not show up on any national records here. Years went by before his proper name was discovered in Stasi archives in East Germany  and he was at last identified.

A detective was dispatched to Domachevo, where old people queued up outside the town hall to denounce their tormentor from 50 years ago. One said: 'He's killed more people than you've got hairs on your head.'

The defence and prosecution at the house where Sawoniuk lived in Domachevo

And so, one morning in March 1996, police knocked at the door of Sawoniuk's rundown flat in Bermondsey with a search warrant. He was stunned into silence. He must have thought he'd escaped his past but, in his mid-70s, it was back to bite him.

His neighbours were shocked at the idea they had a war criminal in their midst.

To them he was 'Tony the Pole', seen most mornings walking stick in hand, shopping at Tesco, but otherwise keeping himself to himself. Some thought him friendly enough, others 'rude and a prat'.

The police advised him to get a solicitor and this he did, saying he was being 'accused of killing some Jew boys'. He denied the allegations. 'No one can put a finger on me that I killed a Jew,' he said. As he had done for the past half-century, he was going to brazen it out.

HIS TRIAL  which began in February 1999  was a sensation from the start, not least because, in an unprecedented move, the judge, jury and lawyers (with the Press in tow) all went to Belarus to see the scene of the alleged crimes.

English law also dictated that there could be no general war crime accusation against Sawoniuk. He faced specific counts of individual murders that had to be proved, and while elderly and over-awed witnesses came from Domachevo to the Old Bailey to tell of Jews being rounded up, taken away and then hearing the sound of machine-gun fire coming from the forest, there were few undisputed sightings of Sawoniuk, gun in hand, carrying out killings.

A child at the window of Sawoniuk's former house in Domachevo

Distance of time and place gave his lawyers scope to argue that what the court was hearing was no more than historic gossip, and that there was no hard evidence on which the jury could safely convict him.

And that uncertainty could have seen him acquitted  if he had not insisted on going into the witness box himself, against the advice of his lawyer, who feared the increasingly out-of-control 78-year-old would blow his top under cross-examination.

Which is precisely what he did. He went puce with anger, railing against all the witnesses as liars, and making statements that were increasingly absurd.

He denied even being in Domachevo in September 1942, claiming to have been sent to Germany as a forced labourer earlier that year.

He said he had never been a member of the Schutzmannschaft, that there had been no ghetto in the town and no restrictions had ever been imposed on the Jewish population under the German occupation.

If he was to be believed, uniquely among all the territories the Nazis overran, the Jews of Domachevo were not persecuted and were free to come and go and live untroubled lives. History showed him to be the liar, not his accusers.

As he gave his evidence, he was hysterical, shouting and banging his fists, insisting he was being stitched up. But he contradicted himself, his stories falling apart as he piled one lie on another. The judge privately noted his propensity to 'tie himself up in knots'. Pictured: The Old Bailey

As he gave his evidence, he was hysterical, shouting and banging his fists, insisting he was being stitched up. But he contradicted himself, his stories falling apart as he piled one lie on another. The judge privately noted his propensity to 'tie himself up in knots'.

Over three days, the jury carefully contemplated the evidence they had heard, before finding Sawoniuk guilty on two counts of murder.

His head slumped as he realised his years of deception were over.

As he was taken off to prison to begin his life sentence (which ended with his death six years later, aged 84), he asked his solicitor to go to his flat and collect some of his belongings. They included the gold watch he had been given after 25 years' service for British Rail.
The What Not To Wear star posts hours of content on her Instagram account, sometimes multiple times a day

She's best known as one half of the acerbic posh pair who counselled 'fashion disasters' on BBC makeover show What Not To Wear.

Now Trinny Woodall has undergone a transformation of her own  becoming one of Britain's most successful beauty entrepreneurs.

Newly filed documents reveal her brand Trinny London more than tripled its turnover in a year to a huge 44.2million. One of her most popular products, a 35 glow-boosting suncream, is said to be sold every ten seconds.

The business, which she set up in 2017, made a gross profit of 27.4million in the year to March 2021, a massive increase on the previous year's 8.5million.

Sales outside Europe soared from 1.9million to 13.4million, according to the accounts filed at Companies House this week.

Trinny Woodall has undergone a transformation of her own  becoming one of Britain's most successful beauty entrepreneurs with her fashion brand Trinny London

The brand is said to employ 194 staff, sell 187 different products and have customers in 167 countries.

The achievement is made all the more impressive by the fact that it happened during the pandemic, when many people ditched make-up because they were staying at home, and other companies saw sales plunge.

Social media has been key to the success of Trinny London, which has called itself a 'digital brand'.

Miss Woodall posts hours of content on her Instagram account, sometimes multiple times a day, promoting her skincare and make-up products to her million followers. She receives tens of thousands of YouTube views a week.

Often appearing bare-faced and not afraid to pull bizarre expressions with hilarious effect has helped her to win legions of fans.

Miss Woodall posts hours of content on her Instagram account, sometimes multiple times a day, promoting her skincare and make-up products to her million followers. She receives tens of thousands of YouTube views a week

Describing social media as 'essential', Miss Woodall said: 'If anyone leaves a comment on my channels, I "like" it and respond. The more you can create a two-way interaction, the better.'

But it wasn't all plain sailing, with the business losing 800,000 in its first year.

Miss Woodall, 57, has spoken of her tears at the first 'appalling' prototype of the Trinny London make-up products, which fitted together in a stack.

'It looked cheap and clunky,' she told The Mail On Sunday's You magazine. 'It was a horrible moment and I actually cried. But I kept going. Eleven prototypes later, we got it right.'

Described by friends as 'the most self-sufficient person they've ever met', Miss Woodall launched herself into the venture by selling her 20-year collection of designer clothes, raising 60,000 to tide the company over while she fundraised with investors.

The daughter of a banker, and educated at boarding schools from the age of six, she first ventured into business by selling velvet hair bows decorated with brooches with a friend at the age of 16.

'We were stocked in Harvey Nichols, but it fizzled out,' she said.

She later wrote a weekly style column in a newspaper with Susannah Constantine, which was turned into What Not To Wear. The show went on to win a Royal Television Society Award.

Miss Woodall, who has been going out with super-rich art dealer Charles Saatchi, 78, since 2013, said last year that the assumption he bankrolled her business behind the scenes got to her 'more than anything else because it's the furthest from the truth'.

Saatchi was previously married to television cook Nigella Lawson, who claimed that she was subjected to 'intimate terrorism' during their ten-year marriage.

Miss Woodall's ex-husband, Johnny Elichaoff, father of her daughter Lyla, 18, fell to his death from a London car park in 2014 aged 55 after he 'lost everything' in a series of failed oil investments.
The Australian Space Agency aims to launch manned shuttles into space in five years as part of an ambitious $12billion plan to transform the country into a 'space nation'.

Enrico Palermo, who is head of the national space organisation, said he was already beginning to shape Australia's image as a 'space nation' and that 2022 would be a launching pad of sorts for the country.

'The world wants to work with Australia that's clear and the agency team in the first three years built those bridges  now we will turn it into active activity and partnership,' he told Herald Sun.

The Australian Space Agency aims to launch manned shuttles into space in five years as part of an ambitious $12billion plan to transform the country into a 'space nation'

Enrico Palermo, who is head of the national space organisation, said he was already beginning to shape Australia's image as a 'space nation' and that 2022 would be a launching pad of sorts for the country (pictured, Australian Space Agency headquarters to be set up at the McEwin building in Adelaide)

Mr Palermo has set high goals for the country to not only send manned shuttles into space but also recruit 'space tradies' and eventually turn Australia into a hub for international space missions.

Australia has also signed several agreements with NASA to allow the US space agency to launch several rockets from the Arnhem Land base near Nhulunbuy, in the Northern Territory, later this year.

It will mark the first time NASA has staged a commercial launch outside of the US.

NASA has also signed an agreement for Australia to help build a rover that will be deployed in future missions to Mars.

'We have a real opportunity for Australia to be a regional hub for human space flight activities, I truly believe that and that's a position we should grab,' Mr Palermo said.

'Our estimates are that it's a very large market opportunity human space flight both professional and private space travel.'

The AUKUS security pact - which was signed by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in September - will also include discussions about space ventures.

TAFES have already been tasked with finding and educating the next generation of 'space recruits' to help build the new future (stock image)

Australia currently receives its data about weather and geological mapping from foreign satellites. Mr Palermo said this needed to change for the sake of national security.

TAFES have already been tasked with finding and educating the next generation of 'space recruits' to help build the new future.

'Many of the careers that need to be filled now and into the future require the hands-on learning of places like our TAFES, we need space apprentices, we need space tradies,' Mr Palermo said.

There are currently 150 space-related organisations set up around Australia with 90 in South Australia.
One man is dead and another is in hospital awaiting police questioning after a stabbing in Sydney's west.

A 45-year-old man was found with stab wounds to his head and abdomen in Toongabbie about 6.30pm on Friday.

Police rendered first aid before paramedics arrived but the man died at the scene, police said on Saturday.

A 45-year-old man is dead and a 56-year-old man is under police guard in Blacktown Hospital after a stabbing in Toongabbie on Friday (pictured, stock photo)

Another man, 56, was arrested nearby a short time later. He was taken to Blacktown Hospital under police guard before his arrest.

'Detectives hope to speak with the man once he is released,' a police statement said.

The homicide squad will assist local detectives with the investigation.
Thousands of leaseholders trapped by the cladding scandal will not have to pay a penny to get their properties made safe under a scheme drawn up by Michael Gove.

The Housing Secretary will unveil plans next week for a 4billion grant scheme to pay for repairs demanded by banks and insurers in the wake of the Grenfell fire.

It will directly help those living in buildings under 18 metres tall who have missed out on previous grants and been told to take out huge loans to remove dangerous cladding.

At least 116,000 flats in 7,500 blocks are expected to benefit from the plan.

The Housing Secretary will unveil plans next week for a 4billion grant scheme to pay for repairs demanded by banks and insurers in the wake of the Grenfell fire (above)

Mr Gove will warn developers that they will be expected to pay for the scheme.

They will be asked initially to make voluntary contributions but warned that they face the prospect of swingeing new levies if they refuse.

They will also be banned by law from passing on the bill to leaseholders through inflated service charges.

A Whitehall source said: 'It will take a little while to sort out but it should give people in these properties the confidence and security that the work will be done and that they will not have to borrow the money to pay for it.'

The move represents a major victory for the Daily Mail, which has campaigned for justice for the thousands of people facing huge bills to remove dangerous cladding and fix other fire risks.

Many have found they are unable to sell their homes because banks have been unwilling to offer mortgages.

The scheme, drawn up by Michael Gove, will directly help those living in buildings under 18 metres tall who have missed out on previous grants and been told to take out huge loans to remove dangerous cladding. At least 116,000 flats in 7,500 blocks are expected to benefit from the plan

Mr Gove will also announce a review of the scale of the work required, following concerns that it has been inflated.

All unsafe cladding will be removed but officials believe that the overall bill has been inflated by demands to fix other building problems that do not directly affect safety.

Ministers are understood to have reached agreement with lenders on the issue in recent weeks.

A Whitehall source said: 'We want a proportionate approach to fire safety. There has been some over-reach on buildings that are essentially safe, so we are going to look at that.'

A report by Capital Economics last year found that up to 1.3 million flats may be ineligible for a mortgage because of concerns about unsafe cladding.

People living in properties above 18 metres are already able to access Government grants from a 5billion Building Safety Fund.

But the former housing secretary Robert Jenrick had proposed a loan scheme for those living in properties standing 11-18 metres tall despite warnings it would cost 300million to administer and leave leaseholders saddled with debt for years.

Under the new proposal, people living in these buildings will also be able to access Government grants to pay for vital fire safety work.

The average post-Grenfell repair bill for properties above 18 metres is 59,000.

Those in properties with a height of 11-18 metres have faced bills averaging 27,000.

Some have faced demands for six-figure sums for remedial work, plunging many into debt and despair.

Mr Gove, who took over responsibility for the crisis after the Government reshuffle in September, had already indicated he was unhappy with the idea that 'innocent' leaseholders should have to pay for building defects.

He told MPs last year: 'I'm still unhappy with the principle of leaseholders having to pay at all, no matter how effective a scheme might be in capping their costs or not hitting them too hard at any one time. My question is why do they have to pay at all?'

Mr Gove has also savaged developers and building firms that have continued to make huge profits in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy.

A dossier compiled by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities last month found that companies involved in the Grenfell fire have gone on to make huge profits since the June 2017 disaster which claimed 72 lives.

The dossier, obtained by the Mail, found that 12 firms connected to the west London fire have since made pre-tax profits of 6.7billion, paid out dividends of 3.1billion and awarded pay packages and bonuses to directors worth 335million.

Speaking to MPs last year, Mr Gove made clear his view that the private sector should foot the bill, adding: 'We have a responsibility to relieve some of the obligations faced by leaseholders, who are innocent parties in this and who are being in many circumstances asked to pay disproportionate sums when there are individuals in business who are guilty men and women.'

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up said last night: 'We don't comment on speculation.

'The Secretary of State will set out further detail on our approach to building safety next week.'
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has entered the row over the BBCs coverage of an anti-Semitic attack targeting teenagers on a bus.

The minister has asked the corporations director-general Tim Davie how he intends to resolve the issue in a suitably timely manner.

Miss Dorries wrote to Mr Davie amid continuing controversy about the way the BBC has covered the story.

In a report about the late November incident in Londons Oxford Street, the corporation carried the claim that racial slurs about Muslims could be heard inside the vehicle when the attack occurred.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries (pictured) has entered the row over the BBCs coverage of an anti-Semitic attack targeting teenagers on a bus

It later amended the online article to say that a slur about Muslims could be heard from within the bus.

But the corporation has been accused of making a colossal error in its reporting, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews commissioning research which it said proved the slur was not used.

Last night the BBC said Mr Davie had instructed that the process involving these complaints was accelerated to its editorially independent Executive Complaints Unit.

In her letter to Mr Davie, Miss Dorries is understood to have said she would like to understand the actions the BBC has taken so far in response to concerns raised by the Board of Deputies and how it intended to resolve the issue in a suitably timely manner.

She added: You will know my concerns about the speed of the process which I asked officials to communicate to the BBC.

Miss Dorries pointed out that the Board of Deputies continued to be dissatisfied with the BBCs coverage of the incident.

She added that it was crucial that the BBC can be properly held to account for fulfilling its mission and public purposes, which included a fair and effective complaints process.

Earlier this week there was controversy over claims the BBC had asked that the victims of the attack provide their identities before it dealt with their complaints about the story.

The minister has asked the corporations director-general Tim Davie (pictured) how he intends to resolve the issue in a suitably timely manner

A Jewish broadcaster and Rabbi this week also said he would no longer appear on the BBC in protest at its reporting of the anti-Semitic attack.

A BBC spokesman said: Anti-Semitism is abhorrent. We strive to serve the Jewish community, and all communities, fairly. As we have stated previously, our story was a factual report that overwhelmingly focused on the individuals the police want to identify: those who directed abuse at the bus.

The spokesman added: We know that there are some strong views about this report. We take complaints very seriously and they are being taken through our complaints process.

Tim Davie has instructed that this process is accelerated to the Executive Complaints Unit which is editorially independent from news and will ensure complaints are fully responded to as swiftly as possible.
He was a bankrupt, a drug addict and a man who stood accused of seducing the 13-year-old half-sister of his murdered girlfriend, then paying for her to have cosmetic surgery so that she looked more like her sibling.

Later, she became his second wife. Peter Bogdanovich was also a revered director, a splendid actor and an accomplished screenwriter.

When he died on Thursday, at the age of 82, the film industry mourned.

May he sleep in bliss for eternity, enjoying the thrill of our applause forever, said fellow director Francis Ford Coppola.

Shortly after splitting up with Shepherd, Peter Bogdanovich started dating nude model and actress Dorothy Stratten (pictured), whom he had met at Hugh Hefners Playboy mansion. In August 1980, the year in which she was Playmate of the Year in Playboy magazine, Stratten was murdered by her estranged husband, a nightclub promoter and pimp, who then shot himself

And yet there was a time when his failures were celebrated.

It isnt true that Hollywood is a bitter place divided by hatred, greed and jealousy, another great director, Billy Wilder, once said.

All it takes to bring everyone together is another flop by Peter Bogdanovich.

Such were the paradoxes that governed this charismatic genius.

Even by Tinseltown standards, Bogdanovichs life was a roller coaster of spectacular highs and calamitous lows, although he seemed to have had the Midas touch with the lives of others.

His wonderful 1973 film Paper Moon, about Depression era con artists, made ten-year-old Tatum ONeal the youngest ever winner of an Academy Award.

His masterpiece The Last Picture Show  only his second film, made two years earlier  won Oscars for Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman, and made stars of a young Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd.

Bogdanovich allegedly seduced Strattens much younger half-sister Louise shortly after the murder, when she was just 13. Bogdanovich fiercely denied it and dismissed as garbage claims that he paid to have Louises jaw altered to make her look more like Dorothy. In 1988, when Louise was 20, the age Dorothy was when she died, he married her  aged 49. Pictured: Louise Stratten and Bogdanovich together in 1993

During filming, she and Bogdanovich began an affair. He left his first wife and their two young daughters, and stayed with Shepherd for eight years, by which time his career had stalled.

The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon and the wildly popular 1972 screwball comedy Whats Up Doc? were followed by a series of duds.

The darkest experience of his life, however, was yet to come. Shortly after splitting up with Shepherd, Bogdanovich started dating nude model and actress Dorothy Stratten, whom he had met at Hugh Hefners Playboy mansion.

In August 1980, the year in which she was Playmate of the Year in Playboy magazine, Stratten was murdered by her estranged husband, a nightclub promoter and pimp, who then shot himself. Bogdanovich was inconsolable.

'For several years his grief became practically a full-time occupation. He had cast Stratten in a romantic comedy, They All Laughed, which came out after her death and he watched it obsessively as if communing with a ghost.

In his 1984 book The Killing Of The Unicorn, an account of his relationship with Stratten, he blamed her tragic death partly on Hefner, for commodifying her and other young women.

The Playboy boss retaliated furiously, claiming Bogdanovich seduced Strattens much younger half-sister Louise shortly after the murder, when she was just 13.

Bogdanovich fiercely denied it and dismissed as garbage Hefners claims that he paid to have Louises jaw altered to make her look more like Dorothy.

In 1988, when Louise was 20, the age Dorothy was when she died, he married her  aged 49. She was like a contact with Dorothy, as far as I was concerned, he later admitted. They divorced in 2001.

Bogdanovich with actress Cybill Shepherd photographed in May 1974 just prior to the release of Daisy Miller

Bogdanovich was born in upstate New York in 1939. His father was a Christian Serb, his mother an Austrian Jew, and both had fled Europe to escape the Nazi threat.

They had already lost a son, who died as a baby when a pot of boiling soup was accidentally spilled on him  a tragedy that shrouded the family home in sadness.

He found refuge in the cinema, making notes on every film, and yearned to become an actor, though it was behind the camera that he found real fame and fluctuating fortune  being declared bankrupt twice, in 1985 and 1997.

He lost millions by buying the rights to They All Laughed and trying to distribute it himself in an irrational bid to honour Strattens memory, leaving himself with just $21.37 in the bank.

But by the time of his death Bogdanovich had bounced back, making acclaimed documentaries about other great Hollywood figures.

His lugubrious, jowly features also became well-known to fans of The Sopranos, the hit HBO series about a Mob family in New Jersey, in which he played psychiatrist Dr Elliot Kupferberg.

He certainly knew all about inner demons himself, but it is as a richly talented filmmaker that he will be remembered.
Windsor Castle is set to be protected by a 'no-fly zone' amid fears about the Queen's security.

According to The Sun, aircraft and drones will be banned from passing within a 2,500ft altitude over the residence from January 27.

Fighter jets will also be scrambled if a plane breaches the zone and fails to respond to radio warnings.

The move comes after Her Majesty was targeted at the palace on Christmas Day by a crossbow-wielding man who was arrested inside the grounds of Windsor.

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the Queen has spent nearly all of her time living in her private apartments at Windsor.

Windsor Castle is set to be protected by a 'no-fly zone' amid fears about the Queen's security

The Civil Aviation Authority reportedly said it is in the public interest to impose a ban.

Police will also be given more powers to halt illegal drones in the area. The new regulation is called a 'restriction of flying regulations under the Air Navigation Order'.

A man was arrested by police inside the grounds of Windsor Castle just minutes after Jaswant Singh Chail uploaded a video Snapchat in which he threatened to 'assassinate the Queen in revenge for the 1919 Amritsar massacre'.

He said: 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I've done and what I will do. I will attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family. This is revenge for those who have died in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

'It is also revenge for those who have been killed, humiliated and discriminated on because of their race. I'm an Indian Sikh, a Sith. My name was Jaswant Singh Chail, my name is Darth Jones.'

The move to impose a no-fly zone over Windsor is reminiscent of the Queen Mother's demand to have similar measures imposed over her Scottish Highlands retreat so she could enjoy her afternoon nap in peace.

The move comes after Her Majesty was targeted at the palace on Christmas Day by a crossbow-wielding man who was arrested inside the grounds of Windsor

They royal, who was commandant-in-chief of the RAF Central Flying School, had bought the semi-derelict Castle of Mey in Caithnessas for 100 in 1952, intending to use it as a holiday home.

But official correspondence revealed in December last year that she raised a formal complaint on one of her yearly visits to the fortress and ordered one of her staff to contact the Ministry of Defence after low-flying jets disturbed her sleep, The Times reports.

Staff at the castle said Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother would take an afternoon nap at around midday after her first drink of the day - a mixture of one part gin and two parts fortified wine.

A man was arrested by police inside the grounds of Windsor Castle just minutes after Jaswant Singh Chail uploaded a video Snapchat in which he threatened to 'assassinate the Queen in revenge for the 1919 Amritsar massacre'

A letter dated August 12, 1993, eight days after the Queen Mother turned 93, confirmed the installation of a 'special protection' zone to not disturb the royal while she is in residence at the castle, near John O'Groats.

It reads: 'Following your telephone call yesterday about low flying over the Castle of Mey while HM the Queen Mother is in residence I thought it might be helpful to confirm the arrangements that have been made.

'The castle will receive special protection from low flying (which will extend to two nautical miles laterally and two thousand feet vertically) until the Queen Mother leaves on August 27.

'While we can give no guarantee that aircraft are not seen in the vicinity, this should ensure that Her Majesty is not disturbed... Similar arrangements can be made for future periods when the Queen Mother is in residence. I understand that this is usually during the month of August.'

October 1955: H,M,Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother with her pet corgi Honey at her Caithness home, The Castle of Mey which had just been renovated and modernised
Police have seen a huge rise in e-scooter crashes, with at least one a day in London, compared to just nine in the whole of 2018.

Latest figures show there were 258 collisions in the capital in the first six months of last year.

By comparison, there were just nine in 2018, rising to 38 in 2019.

As the popularity of e-scooters took off, 2020 saw 266 crashes. But that figure is likely to be dwarfed by the final 2021 total.

Police have seen a huge rise in e-scooter crashes, with at least one a day in London, compared to just nine in the whole of 2018. Latest figures show there were 258 collisions in the capital in the first six months of last year. (File image)

The figures come after a spate of serious accidents across the country.

Most recently, a pensioner was killed after crashing into parked cars on New Year's Day in Tameside, Greater Manchester.

Great-grandfather David Ackers lost his balance and collided with two vehicles the day before his 75th birthday, dying at the scene from a suspected bleed on the brain.

Weeks earlier, an inquest heard how a teenager was listening to music on his headphones when he turned off a footpath and hit an oncoming car in Portsmouth. George McGowan, 19, died after suffering a brain injury.

David Ackers, 74, died after he crashed into two parked cars while riding an electric scooter

E-scooters are not allowed on public roads unless they are rented from Government-backed trial schemes available in certain areas.

They were involved in 460 accidents in 2020 in the UK and there were 484 casualties, of whom one died and 128 were badly hurt.

Transport for London has banned private e-scooters on its network after one burst into flames on the Underground at Parsons Green Tube station.

Yesterday, Labour's London Assembly policing and crime spokesman Unmesh Desai  who obtained the latest figures  said: 'The use of illegal e-scooters on our roads and pavements is putting Londoners at risk of significant harm, especially the most vulnerable in our communities.'
Deals struck with Australia and New Zealand allow produce made under much worse standards to enter Britain, the Governments food tsar said yesterday.

Henry Dimbleby launched a scathing attack on former Trade Secretary Liz Truss  who oversaw the deals  at the Oxford Farming Conference.

He said British farmers were competing with food that was worse for animal welfare and the environment.

Deals struck with Australia and New Zealand allow produce made under much worse standards to enter Britain, the Governments food tsar (pictured) said yesterday

If similar agreements were struck with countries such as Brazil and the US it would be absolutely disastrous, he said.

But Mr Dimbleby  co-founder of the restaurant chain Leon  said he was hopeful new International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan would ensure food produced abroad was made to the same high standards as in the UK.

Trade deals signed in December promised cheaper Jacobs Creek wine and surfboards for Britain, while Australia and New Zealand will get cheaper Scotch, cars and clothes.

But critics point out Australian beef has been linked to deforestation and is flown across the world racking up huge greenhouse gas emissions.

Henry Dimbleby launched a scathing attack on former Trade Secretary Liz Truss (pictured)  who oversaw the deals  at the Oxford Farming Conference

Miss Truss has said the agreements benefit all nations and regions of the UK.

But Mr Dimbleby said the deals were made in a hurry to show something was happening with Brexit.
The owners of British Gas have called for green levies to be removed from energy bills to help struggling customers.

The plea comes amid pressure put on Boris Johnson from his own backbenchers and the Opposition to protect households against the spiralling cost of heat and light.

A review of the household price cap by industry regular Ofgem could see annual bills rise by 500 to 700 a year from April 1.

The owners of British Gas have called for green levies to be removed from energy bills to help struggling customers [File photo]

This would take the current figure for a household  based on typical use  from 1,277 to approaching 2,000.

Options include switching green levies, which are helping fund the shift to renewable power, to general taxation.

The chief executive of British Gas parent company Centrica, Chris OShea, said: Overnight, this would reduce annual bills by 170. It would also be fairer.

Funding environmental costs through the bill means every customer pays the same amount, regardless of how rich or poor they are.
Elated leaseholders have hailed the Daily Mail for shaming their developer into paying to replace dangerous cladding on their building.

More than a hundred residents at The Decks, a six-building development in Runcorn, Cheshire, are set to be spared bills of up to 40,000 each.

Families say they feel liberated by the news and can now start planning their lives again.

Leaseholder Phillip Symes said it was the best Christmas present ever. The retired sailor, 72, had been facing a bill worth half of the 80,000 he had paid for his two-bed flat

In February, the Mail reported leaseholders in three of the blocks at The Decks faced crippling bills to replace flammable cladding in their flats, while those in the other three wouldnt have to pay a penny.

The divide came about after the Government announced its beefed-up cladding fund would only be available to those living in buildings above 18 metres tall. It meant half the blocks at The Decks would not qualify for funding despite being just one storey shorter than the others.

But just weeks after the Mail highlighted the injustice, developer Taylor Wimpey pledged 125million to fix fire-trap flats it had built in the past 20 years.

And last month leaseholders received an email from their managing agent stating: We are confident the developer will fund Lock 6, 7 and 8 [the smaller blocks] in full.

More than a hundred residents at The Decks, a six-building development in Runcorn, Cheshire, are set to be spared bills of up to 40,000 each

Leaseholder Phillip Symes said it was the best Christmas present ever. The retired sailor, 72, had been facing a bill worth half of the 80,000 he had paid for his two-bed flat.

He said the news Taylor Wimpey is set to fund the work was a massive relief and he could now afford to visit his son and grandchildren in New Zealand.

He added: I think Taylor Wimpey was shamed into it by the coverage. We cant thank the Mail enough for its campaign.

But Mr Symes said leaseholders still faced soaring insurance costs, which would not be rectified until their buildings were made safe.

Their premiums have soared by 1,000 per cent since 2019 due to safety fears. The company is yet to set a timetable for work to be completed.

Resident and campaigner Julie Fraser, 58, had said in February the developer should hold their hands up and cover the costs. She added: We, as leaseholders, didnt create the problems... the developers are the ones with the deep pockets.

A Taylor Wimpey spokesman said: We have always been guided by the principle that the safety of our customers is of paramount importance.

Further updates will be provided to residents as soon as possible.
Any attempt by Russia to sever crucial communication cables will be seen as an act of war, the head of the armed forces has said.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, 56, warned there had been a serious rise in submarine and underwater activity in recent years.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss yesterday called on Russia to end its malign activity towards the Ukraine, and Nato said the country would pay a heavy price if it attacked its neighbour.

Sir Tony also said it was important to develop hypersonic missiles  which can travel at 3,850mph and are difficult to detect  to compete with Moscow. He explained: We havent [got them] and we should.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, 56, (pictured) warned there had been a serious rise in submarine and underwater activity in recent years

Highlighting the threat from the Kremlin, the admiral said: Theres been a phenomenal increase in Russian submarine and underwater activity over the last 20 years.

He told The Times: That is where predominantly all the worlds information and traffic travels. Russia has grown the capability to put at threat those undersea cables and potentially exploit those undersea cables.

The cables are essential to transmitting internet data. His comments came days after it was reported that a Royal Navy warship had its sonar equipment damaged in a collision with a Russian submarine it had been hunting.

HMS Northumberland had been sent to find the underwater vessel about 200 miles north of Scotland over fears it was capable of tapping into undersea cables.

But as the ship went over the top of the submarine, the Russian vessel collided with the boats towed array sonar which was tethered behind the ship underwater.

Regarding Ukraine, Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg said the risk of conflict is real if the Kremlin does not end its aggressive actions.

Pictured: A handout picture provided by the British Ministry of Defence shows the HMS Northumberland (front) monitoring the Russian destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov as it sails north-west of the Outer Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, in December 2020

The alliances foreign ministers held virtual discussions yesterday to discuss the Russian military build-up near the border.

It comes ahead of talks between US and Moscow officials in Geneva tomorrow aimed at defusing the crisis, and the first meeting in two years of the Nato-Russia council on Wednesday. Miss Truss yesterday called on the country to abide by its international commitments.

We stand with our Nato allies in urging Russia to end its malign activity and adhere to international agreements it freely signed up to, she said.

Mr Stoltenberg said that while Russias willingness to come to the negotiating table was a positive signal, they had to be prepared for the possibility the talks would fail.
The Queen would be asked to help fund a potential settlement that her son Prince Andrew pays to his accuser Virginia Roberts, it has been reported.

It emerged this week that Prince Andrew could settle out of court with Ms Roberts to avoid the case going to trial.

If he does decide to offer his accuser a payoff, which allegedly could exceed 5million, the Queen would be asked to contribute alongside his own input, The Telegraph reported.

The monarch has been funding the Duke's legal fees since last February, when he first appointed a solicitor.

He made the move after his disastrous Newsnight interview with BBC journalist Emily Maitlis.

Ms Roberts, who now uses her married name of Giuffre, claims that the prince had sex with her three times after she was trafficked by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Andrew has consistently denied the allegations.

The funds provided by the Queen are sourced from the income from her private Duchy of Lancaster estate.

The Queen would be asked to help fund a potential settlement that her son Prince Andrew pays to his accuser Virginia Roberts, it has been reported

It emerged this week that Prince Andrew could settle out of court with Ms Roberts to avoid the case going to trial. If he does decide to offer his accuser a payoff, which allegedly could exceed 5million, the Queen would be asked to contribute alongside his own input

'Virginia told me she'd slept with Andrew in London': Witness in Ghislaine Maxwell trial makes sensational new claim against the Duke of York as she reveals the full story about her ordeal in Epstein's 'House of Sin' Virginia Roberts told a fellow Jeffrey Epstein 'sex slave' that she slept with Prince Andrew in London, it was claimed last night. The then 17-year-old is also said to have shown the infamous picture of her posing at Ghislaine Maxwell's home with the Queen's second son. In a world exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Carolyn Andriano says Miss Roberts texted her from London in March 2001 to say she was going for dinner with Andrew, Maxwell and Epstein. Miss Roberts is alleged to have shown the picture to Mrs Andriano back in Florida, saying of the prince: 'I got to sleep with him.' Mrs Andriano, 35, gave harrowing testimony against Maxwell at her trial last month. Four of the five guilty verdicts against her were underpinned by the evidence of the married mother of five, including the most serious charge of sex trafficking a minor which carries a maximum 40-year jail term. Today Mrs Andriano bravely waives her legal right to anonymity to tell the full story about her horrific ordeal in Epstein's 'House of Sin' in Palm Beach, Florida  when she was aged 14 to 17  and her then friendship with Miss Roberts, who she says, recruited her into Epstein and 60-year-old Maxwell's sexual abuse 'pyramid scheme'.

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Prince Andrew is also selling the Swiss chalet he and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson bought for 17million in 2014 and the money could also be used to help pay fees associated with the case brought by Ms Roberts.

It was claimed yesterday that Andrew is trying to speed up the sale of the property. It is being sold after Andrew and the Duchess of York settled a legal dispute with its former owner, Isabella de Rouvre, 74.

She claimed they still owed her 6.6million after allegedly missing the final instalment for the property on January 1, 2020.

She took the case over the property, which has an indoor swimming pool and costs up to 22,000 a week to rent, to the Swiss courts.

However, Ms de Rouvre agreed to drop the legal proceedings when it emerged the property was close to selling for the asking price of 17.3million.

The Yorks are set to repay the debt once the sale of the home goes through.

The Yorks became friends with Miss de Rouvre after regularly renting the chalet for holidays with their children, Beatrice and Eugenie.

Prince Andrew and his ex-wife bought it with a mortgage and private funding from the Queen as a 'long-term family investment', sources claimed.

When the sale is complete, the duke will no longer own any property, it is believed.

If judge Kaplan does decide that Virginia Giuffre's case should go to full trial, insiders said the option to settle out of court 'remains on the table'.

A source told the Daily Mail earlier this week: 'Obviously, this is a US case involving US lawyers and involving a US civil lawsuit,' one source said. 'In reality, 99 per cent of US civil litigations are settled out of court.

'A settlement would always be an option on the table, as that's where the vast majority end up. There is also the wider pressure and attritional impact to consider.'

Buckingham Palace previously refused to comment, describing it as an 'ongoing legal matter'.

Andrew's lawyers argued this week in a New York court that Miss Roberts' case should not go to trial because of her civil settlement with Epstein.

Ms Roberts, who now uses her married name of Giuffre, claims that the prince had sex with her three times after she was trafficked by paedophile Jeffrey Epstein . Prince Andrew has consistently denied the allegations. Above: Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts, aged 17, and Ghislaine Maxwell at Ghislaine Maxwell's townhouse in London, Britain on March 13, 2001

Ghislaine Maxwell gives Jeffrey Epstein a foot massage on his private jet dubbed the 'Lolita Express'. The photo was entered into evidence in Maxwell's case on December 7 by the US Attorney's Office

The Duke's legal team say that in return for a $500,000 (370,000) payout, she agreed to waive her right to sue any other 'potential defendants'  which would include the prince, given the allegations she has made against him.

Miss Roberts claims she was raped by the Duke on three occasions in 2001 when she was 17 and he was 41.

Whilst a no-liability settlement would prevent Andrew having to be interviewed by Miss Roberts' lawyers, it would do little to help clear his name.

Prince Andrew walks through New York's Central Park with Jeffrey Epstein following the latter's prison term in 2011

Prince Andrew is interviewed for the BBC's Newsnight in November 2019. In the interview, Andrew denied Ms Giuffre's claim that they had shared a sweaty dance at a London nightclub, saying that at the time he could not sweat due to a condition

Andrew has always vehemently denied the allegations and said he does not recollect meeting Miss Roberts, despite the existence of a picture of them together with Ghislaine Maxwell.

Andrew's legal team argued this week Miss Roberts' case should be thrown out on several grounds: her previous settlement, the fact that she has not given enough specifics about the alleged abuse and that her pursuit of the case was 'unconstitutional'.

Judge Kaplan said his ruling on whether the case should go to trial would be issued 'pretty soon'. It is expected any day.
Illegal migrants are staying in four-star hotel rooms at 125-a-night paid for by British taxpayers as the country braces for spiralling energy bills amid a cost of living crisis.

More than 18,000 migrants are staying in hotels across Britain.

Conservative MP Tom Hunt said putting up illegal migrants in such pricey rooms would inevitably lead to Brits forming a 'deep resent' for them.

It comes as migrant crossings across the Channel trebled last year with more than 28,300 risking their lives to reach the UK.

The first group of migrants are brought to Dover by a lifeboat after they tried to cross the Channel

More than 18,000 migrants are staying in accommodation across Britain, some of them in four-star hotels

Conservative MP Tom Hunt (pictured) said housing illegal migrants in fancy hotels rather than detention centres would lead to British people 'deeply resenting' them

While a record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year, 2021 also saw the record for the most migrants coming in a single day as 1,185 journeyed across in 33 boats on November 11.

An average of 28 people were crammed onto each dinghy that made the perilous crossing last year.

Some councils were declining to house asylum-seekers who came across the Channel, while others simply had no space left, data seen by the Sun showed.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by the RNLI following a small boat incident in the Channel on January 4

Lifeboatmen in RNLI helmets and life jackets assist a group of migrants who had crossed the Channel illegally

A man thought to be migrants carries a small child after they were brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel

Mr Hunt said: 'At a time when lots of people are struggling to get by... they are going to deeply resent people who have come here illegally being put up in three and four-star hotels.'

The Tory MP said the UK needed to rely on detention centres for immigrants rather than top-of-the-range hotels for people who were coming into the country illegally.

The Government intends to make it a criminal offence to knowingly come into the UK illegally and plans to introduce life sentences for the people smugglers who make it possible with the Nationality and Borders Bill.

A record 28,395 migrants reached the UK illegally last year by taking small boats across the Channel, a 200 per cent increase on 2020's tally

A view of one of two areas being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats intercepted in the Channel by the UK Border Force

While many migrants took their first steps on British soil, some seemed more excited than others

How many migrants reached Britain in 2021, by month? January 223 February 308 March 831 April 751 May 1,619 June 2,179 July 3,510 August 3,012 September 4,652 October 2,671 November 6,869 December 1,770 Total 28,395

The Bill will also increase Border Force powers to stop and redirect vessels.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'Due to an unprecedented rise in demand, we have had to use temporary accommodation such as hotels across the UK to manage demands.

'We are working to end the use of hotels in the asylum estate.'
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Drivers have been told to stay alert on icy roads amid a yellow weather warning as temperatures plummet to -4C ahead of 'thundersnow' that could wreak havoc over a freezing weekend.

Thundersnow is similar to a thunderstorm but instead of heavy rain snow falls on the ground.

Heavy frost across Scotland will make ice a major problem in the early hours of Saturday and the rest of the UK is forecast to see low temperatures for a wet and windy weekend.

Yesterday night saw a Yellow Weather Warning for ice put in place for Scotland and parts of Southern England and Wales- with some areas seeing as much as 11cm (4.3in) of snow.

The threat is set to continue in Scotland where there remains a high chance of ice patches throughout the country.

Temperatures are expected to get slightly milder through the early hours of this morning, with rain coming in from the West.

BBC forecaster Christopher Blanchett said: 'Through the course of this evening and overnight, our concern is with ice and there is a Met Office yellow warning in force through west central Scotland and the south.

'There is a chance of icy patches almost anywhere and under clear skies temperatures are readily falling away to sub-zero and in rural parts of the north east perhaps minus 6C.'

Motorists make their way through falling snow near County Durham on Thursday

Meteorologists predict ice and frost across west Central Scotland and the South with temperatures getting slighter milder this morning

Commuters struggle in heavy traffic in Mossley, Greater Manchester as 'thundersnow' hits the area

People walk in heavy snow in Hawes, North Yorkshire on Thursday

And NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has issued advice to 'walk like penguins' in the icy conditions to avoid getting injured.

It is urging people to bend their knees loosely, point out their feet slightly, extend their arms at the sides, walk flat-footed- taking short steps, and to keep their centre of gravity over the feet in order to avoid falling.

Linda de Caestecker, Director for Public Health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: 'While it might seem silly to walk or waddle like a penguin, in the context of the wintery conditions we're seeing today, penguins know best.

'If you find yourself out and about in icy conditions, adopting the penguin stance is a really effective way to move without falling.'

Mr Blanchett said the early hours of this morning will see a new weather system arrive.

He added it would be bringing cloud, rain and further snow across the hills, rain for most and will mean something a touch less cold as the weekend begins.

He said: 'Initially very wet on Saturday but that rain clears through apace and for most of the day it is a case of bright sunny spells and rain showers.

'Those showers most frequent in the west, wintery on the hill tops, driest and brightest in the east.'

Temperatures in Scotland are expected to be between 6C and 8C and feeling cold in the brisk west wind .

Maximum temperatures in the South of the UK are forecast to reach around 10C or 11C. In the North of England around about 7C or 8C.

Into Sunday afternoon Scotland will likely be dry and bright for most, 4C to 7C.

Pedestrians walk through heavy snow in Gateshead on Thursday morning

Swimmers have an icy plunge in the river amid freezing temperatures in Compton Lock, Hampshire

A light mist rises over the River Itchen in Ovington, Hampshire

Pictured: An abandoned car surrounded by snow on an icy road as snow fell in Hexham, Northumberland on Thursday

The forecast from Sunday in England is mainly dry and bright but with occasional showers in the west.

Outbreaks of rain are likely to spread east Monday, with the far southeast staying dry.

Mr Blanchett said of Scotland: 'Looking ahead on Monday, showers and longer spells of rain. The thing you will notice is it will be a mild Monday with temperatures of 10C, 11C and maybe 12C.'

It follows an already chilly week, with temperatures plunging as low as -8C on Wednesday  making it the coldest night of winter.

The weekend weather is expected to remain unsettled, with milder spells, as a spiralling area of low pressure brings changeable weather conditions to the UK.

Following the cold blast from the snowstorms, an Atlantic weather front is then set to bring massive downpours.

Liverpool and Manchester could be soaked by up to 5mm of rain an hour on Saturday, before the initial band of rain heads further across the country.

And meteorologists say intermittent rainfall is expected on Sunday, before patches of rain and snow hit parts of Britain.

SNOW: A car drives through fresh snow fall in Thurlstone, Barnsley yesterday

A member of the public walks through Victoria Park in Glasgow yesterday, surrounded by snow

PLAYING: A happy dog enjoys playing in the park in Glasgow in the snow

Cold: A walker strolls through Victoria Park in Glasgow yesterday, surrounded by snowy trees

Wintry: Cars navigate the treacherous conditions in Barnsley, Sheffield yesterday
Police are searching for a man who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman while she was asleep in her home.

The victim was sleeping in her home in Fitzroy North on Clauscen St, Melbourne, when a man allegedly broke into her home around 4:05am.

While she was asleep the man alllegedly sexually assaulted her and stole several 'electrical items' before fleeing in an unknown direction.

A woman was sexually assaulted in her sleep after a man broke into her Melbourne home and stole several items around 4:05am

Detectives are still investigating and determining the exact facts of the horrific case.

Anyone with information relevant to the case is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
A North Carolina woman who brought her 14-year-old son to Washington DC before storming the Capitol during the insurrection was sentenced to 90 days behind bars after the judge lambasted the miscreant mom for showing a 'total lack of judgment.'

Virginia Spencer, 38, wore a sweatshirt with the phrase 'F*** Gun Control' on the back when she and her husband, 41-year-old Christopher, went into Nancy Pelosi's office and joined a 'crowd that formed outside the House of Representatives chamber that attempted to enter that chamber while lawmakers were still trapped inside,' according to court documents.

Prosecutors said that Spencer was among rioters who chanted 'Stop the steal!' and 'Break it down!' Footage from inside the Capitol shows Spencer taking selfies on her phone, taking a phone call and even smoking a cigarette.

It is unclear whether their son, whose name was not disclosed in court papers because he is a minor, went inside with them, or whether he waited alone outside.

Virginia Spencer of North Carolina, 38, was charged with illegally parading in a government building after she and her husband joined rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 last year

Spencer, pictured center holding her cellphone, took her 14-year-old son along with her to Washington D.C. to participate in protests that day

Spencer, pictured right beside her husband, was sentenced to 90 days in prison with 3 years of post-release probation

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told Spencer that the protests in the Capitol were 'not like a school trip or a tourist trip' and said she 'didn't understand' why Spencer (pictured) would bring her teenage son with her

At Spencer's Friday sentencing, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told the mother that the protests that became violent on January 6 of last year were not 'like a school trip or tourist trip,' and said it was 'hard to comprehend' why she would would bring her underage son.

'Law enforcement had weapons, some of the [rioters] had weapons,' the judge said.

'I don't understand but I sincerely hope he is alright.'

Spencer told Kollar-Kotelly she was 'very sorry' at the sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors said that in initial statements to the FBI, Spencer tried to minimize her involvement in the riot, telling agents that she and her family tried to find an exit to get out of the building within 15 minutes of entering.

But video evidence contradicts that account, showing that the couple spent 30 minutes inside the building and passed three exits. As Spencer took selfies in the building, her husband livestreamed to Facebook.

She pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of illegally parading in the government building on September 9. The maximum sentence for the charge is six months in prison.

Additional pending charges for entering and remaining in a restricted building on government grounds, disorderly conduct and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building were dismissed at Friday's sentencing.

Spencer's husband, Christopher, is also facing charges for his role in the riots. It is unclear when his case will be seen in court

She must begin her jail sentence on February 25, according to the Associated press, and pay $500 in restitution fees.

Allen Orenberg, Spencer's attorney, filed court papers arguing that his client had only intended to exercise her First Amendment rights and peacefully protest when she visited the Capitol.

He also wrote that she was misled by then-President Donald Trump and Conservative media that there were problems with the election, and that media coverage of the 2020 protests over the death of George Floyd led her to believe that she could avoid criminal liability for her actions that day.

Her husband faces the same charges, along with an additional charge for obstructing an official proceeding, for his behavior that day. His next court date is scheduled for January 13.

Spencer's sentence, which also carries three years of probation, is one of the harsher punishments handed down to participants in the Capitol riots.

Rioters assaulted 139 law enforcement officers and caused approximately $1.5 million in damages to the Capitol building, including broken windows.

Over 725 individuals who stormed the capitol have been arrested since the insurrection. Over 70 of them have been sentenced with over 30 getting jail time, according to FBI data

Spencer's was one of the harsher sentences extended to a participant in the Capitol riots

Lawmakers stood on the steps where just a year ago, Trump supporters broke through barricades and overwhelmed law enforcement in a bid to stop the certification of the 2020 election results

More than 725 individuals who stormed the Capitol have been arrested since the insurrection. Of those, 70 have been sentenced, with just 31 getting jail time, according to FBI data.

The median sentence for the January 6th rioters has been 45 days, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia. Most sentences have consisted of fines, community service and probation, and 18 Capitol rioters have been sentenced to home detention.

Spencer's sentence was handed down just over a year after rioters stormed the US Capitol building in an attempt to overturn Joe Biden's 306-232 electoral college win over then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was joined by over 100 mask-wearing lawmakers on the steps of the Capitol building for a candle-lit vigil for the four protesters and three law enforcement officers who were killed in the chaos.
A Georgia auto shop owner was sued by the federal government for 'illegal retaliation' after he was accused of dumping 91,000 oil-covered pennies at the end of a former manager's driveway with a crude note reading 'f*** you!'

Miles Walker, who owns A Ok Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City, allegedly dumped the tens of thousands of pennies on former manager Andreas Flaten's driveway in March 2021 after the employee quit due to a 'toxic work environment,' according to the complaint filed in US District Court in Georgia.

The lawsuit by the Labor Department also alleged that the auto shop owner 'willfully' denied paying employees overtime payment, instead opting for a 'flat weekly rate of pay regardless of the number of hours worked per workweek.'

Flaten, 27, called the US Department of Labor after not receiving his last $918 paycheck in January 2021. When the Labor Department contacted Walker concerning his former employee's missing paycheck, the owner said he would not pay Flaten.

Hours after Walker learned Flaten had complained to the government, he changed his mind, but told the agency he would show Flaten how 'disgusting' he was by paying him in pennies.

'How can you make this guy realize what a disgusting example of a human being he is,' Walker said, according to the lawsuit. 'You know what? I've got plenty of pennies, I'll use them.'

Miles Walker, owner of A Ok Walker Autoworks in Peachtree, Georgia, has been sued by the federal government in Georgia District Court for 'illegal retaliation' after he dumped at least 91,000 pennies on a former employee's driveway

Andreas Flaten, 27, reported his missing paycheck in January to the Department of Labor, which contacted Walker about the $918 that was owed to the former manager. Walker called Flaten a 'disgusting' human being and told the department that he would only pay his former employee in pennies

After Walker dropped off the pennies, Flaten and his girlfriend claimed they were covered in oil, an allegation Walker denied doing on his company's website.

'No one employed by A OK Walker put grease on the pennies. In our opinion the former employee and his girlfriend did that to make this more explosive,' Walker wrote.

He also explained that there were more than 91,000 pennies and a few other coins among the bunch, so the former employee would get 'every penny he requested.'

He said he left 'exactly 100,003 pennies, 750 dimes, 2 quarters, a nickel and his pay stub in the pile.'

The pile of pennies left on Flaten's driveway with his paystub in an envelope on top

After Walker left, Flaten realized the pennies were coated in oil. Walker denied covering the coins in grease and allegedly on his website that Flaten and his girlfriend did it 'to make this more explosive'

Walker also left an explicit note for his former employee, who cited a 'toxic work environment' as the reason he was leaving

The paystub in question was placed in an envelope with an explicit 'f*** you' message written on the front.

Walker said he spoke to Flaten at his house prior to dropping off the pennies and said the disgruntled worker accepted the bizarre payment.

Flaten described the pile of pennies as 'a childish thing to do' and claimed he spent many nights cleaning the coins so that he could cash them in.

He said at the time that it took him roughly an hour and a half to clean off several hundred of the coins.

'I think that's going to be a lot of work for money I've already worked for,' Flaten said in March.

'It's definitely not fair at all.'

As for the 'toxic work environment' Flatten cited in his resignation, Walker wrote it off as the whining of a 'disgruntled employees.'

'Sure I have some. What employer doesn't? They're former employees for a reason,' he wrote on his website.

Walker left a scathing retelling of the story on his website

Walker also took a dig at the 'keyboard warriors' and 'cancel culture' by calling Walker 'ignorant' and 'sad' for believing he would cover the pennies in oil.

Flaten is encouraging others to file complaints with the Department of Labor.

'I honestly didn't think anything would be done,' he told Insider. '[Others] definitely should not be scared to reach out.

'Speak up. Don't be quiet about it. Because if you're quiet about it, it's just going to continue to happen to you and everybody else.'

DailyMail.com contacted Walker for comment.
An Uber driver from Washington, D.C. who became stranded along with his teenage passenger for five hours during a snowstorm on Tuesday definitely earned a five-star review after footing the bill to put the scared girl in a safe hotel room.

Davante Williams, 32, was taking his teenage passenger on a ride in his BMW when the pair suddenly became stuck on an icy stretch of Interstate 95 in Virginia, together with hundreds of other drivers.

The fare was already going to be substantial as he attempted to navigate his way from downtown D.C. to Williamsburg, Virginia, a journey of 150 miles.

But Williams found he was going nowhere fast as 48 miles of I-95 was shut down with weather conditions making the road impassable.

Uber driver DaVante Williams became stuck together with a passenger on I-95 on Tuesday

Drivers wait for the traffic to be cleared as cars and trucks are stranded on sections of Interstate 95 on Tuesday after 48 miles of the Interstate was closed due to ice and snow

Despite attempting to avoid the Interstate, at one point there was no other option, leaving the pair stuck in the horrendous traffic jam.

'I just figured out maybe it was a little fender bender, but when I got closer, I noticed traffic was not moving.' Every time Williams tried to get off the freeway he was advised by police officers to get back onto the main road because surrounding roads were also closed by snow and ice.

Williams said that he gave the girl who was sitting in the back seat his supply of water and crackers during the journey. Nevertheless, she became extremely anxious and upset during the ordeal.

'At this point we are just sitting on the same location, hours are starting to go by and people are starting to get off their cars to stretch,' Williams explained. 'This doesn't look good.'

Upon exiting the freeway at the earliest opportunity, Williams drove to a hotel to make sure his teenage passenger was safe

Drivers were faced with never-ending tailback after the Interstate was completely shut down

At one point he became so concerned about fuel levels that Williams had to keep switching his car engine on and off every few minutes in order to conserve gas while still attempting to keep the interior warm.

'I need to get out of this traffic because my anxiety is starting, and I'm in a car with a complete stranger,' Williams told The Washington Post. 'I'm responsible for her and me at this moment.'

'My passenger, she was so distraught,' he told NewsNation. 'Apparently, I picked her up from Union Station, and her train was canceled due to derailment. So she only could call for Uber, and I was her driver.

Williams spoke to the girls' parents to explain that he would drive her back to Washington D.C. without charge.

'I had to explain to her parents that, 'Hey, I'm not anyone crazy. I'm just trying to get your daughter somewhere safe.

Williams, 32, even telephoned the girls' parents so they wouldn't worry

'I understand your fear and what's going through your mind,' Williams told the girl's mom. 'But please see that this is coming from a genuine place. I just want her to be safe and get rest.'

Williams ended up getting the girl a hotel room for the night and even footed the bill.

'I wind up having to put her in a hotel because she wasn't old enough to get a room  So I wanted to make sure she was comfortable. And I didn't want to leave her stranded,' he said.

His story went viral with Uber tweeting the tale of his good deed and refunding the $150 it cost for her hotel room.

Uber tweeted about the story and even footed the bill for the hotel he paid for

Some drivers were stuck overnight after the Interstate was completely closed

'Not all heroes wear capes. Thank you, Davante!' they tweeted.

'Mr. Williams went above and beyond during this very stressful situation, and we thank him for his thoughtful actions,' added Uber spokesperson said in a statement.

Since then, Williams has received nothing but praise as well as offers for a new job.

'I received an offer to be a lead driver for Ride Alto, where I will be pretty much in the office, just being a supervisor.'

Following the drama, the teenager reached out to thank him for his moment of kindness.

'She actually texted me and just thanked me  for everything that I had done for her that night.

'The following morning her parents also  just outpouring of thanks again, for all that I could do to assist their daughter.

'At the end of the day, the situation was larger than me and it was not about the money,' Williams said. 'It was about me doing the humane thing for me and her to be safe.'
Thousands of anti-vax protesters have taken to the streets of Melbourne to rally against Covid-19 restrictions as the state records 51,356 new infections.

Demonstrators have gathered in Melbourne's CBD on Saturday as part of the Save Our Children Protest against Covid-19 vaccines for children.

From Monday, children aged 5 to 11 will be eligible to receive their Covid-19 vaccination across Australia.

Victoria Police lined Parliament House steps as crowds gathered below while music blared on speakers.

Anti-vax protesters gather in Melbourne CBD as the state records 51,356 new Covid-19 infections on Saturday

A man bearing the Australian flag confronts Victoria police on Saturday during anti-vaccination protests

The man is seen facing off with a line of police officers as tensions rose in protests on Saturday

Another anti-vaccination rally has kicked off in Melbourne on a day where Victoria saw its highest ever case tally

Anti-vaccine protesters are seen making their way through the streets of Melbourne on Saturday

Protesters braved rainy conditions to gather in the city at around midday, bearing signs reading 'leave our children alone' and 'hands off our kids'.

Young children were also spotted in the crowd holding signs saying 'children are not government experiments'.

Crowds marched from Parliament House to Alexandra Gardens chanting 'save our children' and 'no more mandates' to the sound of beating drums.

Thousands of protesters have flocked to Melbourne CBD to protest Covid-19 vaccinations for children

Protesters brandished an array of flags at anti-vaccination protests in Melbourne

An Australian red ensign flag synonymous with anti-vaccination movements was spotted at the Melbourne rally on Saturday

Large crowds gathered to protest Covid-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11

Many held handwritten signs reading 'kill the bill' in relation to vaccine mandates in Victoria

Thousands of maskless residents packed the streets of Melbourne protesting against vaccinations for children

A flyer for the Save Our Children demonstration advertised an array of guest speakers, live music and offered children's face painting.

Multiple red Australian ensign flags were spotted in the crowd a common feature in anti-vaccination demonstrations.

One maskless protester was spotted holding a sign offering free hugs to fellow demonstrators as a man encouraged the crowd to hug via megaphone.

Victoria Police said it was aware of a planned protest on Saturday and said noted there were no issues with demonstrators.

'There has been a highly visible police presence to ensure there are no breaches of the peace and to keep the community safe,' it said.

Thousands of protesters gathered to rally against vaccine mandates for children as they chanted 'save our children' through Melbourne's CBD
Hospitals around the country are seeing a sharp uptick in the number of children under five years old admitted due to COVID-19 - leading the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reinforce the importance of vaccination for those eligible.

At present, only children aged five and over can be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director, said on Friday that the increase in hospital admissions among the very young was another reason for everyone eligible in a home to get their jab.

'Sadly, we are seeing the rates of hospitalizations increasing for children 0 to 4, who are not yet currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination,' she said.

'It's critically important that we surround them with people who are vaccinated to provide them protection.'

The number of hospitalized young children infected with the virus rose dramatically last week, to the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic, Walensky said.

More than four in 100,000 children aged 4 and younger admitted to hospitals were infected with the coronavirus as of January 1 - double the rate reported a month ago and about three times the rate this time last year.

Infections among older children, aged 5-11, was far lower and remained stable, however, with no spike in admissions.

The rate of hospitalized was 0.6 per 100,000 - roughly the same figure reported over past many months.

A child receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at an elementary school vaccination site for children ages 5 to 11-year-old in Miami, Florida. Children under four are now being admitted to hospital in increasing numbers

Concern about young people came as experts warned that the current surge was not yet at its peak.

On Friday, 900,832 new cases were reported and 2,615, according to data from John Hopkins University.

The figure was slightly below the record high of 1,171,378 new cases recorded on January 3, but was still deeply concerning for health experts.

The hospitalizations of young children now are 'blowing away our previous Delta wave at the end of the summer, early fall, which had been our highest prior to that,' said Dr. Danielle Zerr, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at Seattle Children's Hospital.

The nation is now recording roughly 600,000 cases on average per day, about one in five of them in children.

There has not been a spike in deaths among children, however, and young people are still considered far less dramatically impacted than older adults.

'The more kids that get infected, the more you're going to have kids who are going to be sick enough to be hospitalized,' said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the committee on infectious diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics and a physician at Stanford University.

The United States has recorded the three highest daily counts of new COVID-19 cases in the pandemic this week alone, with top health officials saying that the Omicron surge has not peaked and warning Americans to prepare to live with the virus for a 'very, very long time.'

On Friday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky spoke about concerning data showing an increase of hospitalizations among the under 4s

In a round of television interviews on Friday morning, Walensky defended her agency's confusing new isolation guidelines, and predicted that the U.S. had not reached the peak of the current wave.

'The number of cases are rising faster than the number of hospitalizations and deaths, although we're now starting to see the number of hospitalizations rise as well,' she told the Today Show.

'The way it is peaked in other countries, in South Africa, it has come down as rapidly as well. But I don't believe we've seen the peak yet here in the United States.

'We are definitely looking at a time ahead of us where COVID will be an endemic virus. We are in the middle of a surge right now so we have to do everything we can to address that surge,' said Walensky.

In Britain, the number of daily coronavirus cases fell for the second day in a row and there early signs NHS admissions are peaking in England, and already dropping off in London where cases were surging.

There is now growing hope the UK's outbreak will follow a similar trajectory to South Africa's, where the Omicron crisis has completely collapsed in just six weeks.

Some experts have always maintained that the coronavirus would eventually morph into a seasonal cold-like virus as the world develops immunity through vaccines and natural infection. But the emergence of the highly-mutated Omicron variant appears to have sped the process up.

MailOnline analysis shows COVID killed one in 33 people who tested positive at the peak of the devastating second wave last January, compared to just one in 670 now.

But experts believe the figure could be even lower because of Omicron. The case fatality rate  the proportion of confirmed infections that end in death  for seasonal influenza is 0.1, the equivalent of one in 1,000.

Researchers at Washington University modeling the next stage of the pandemic expect Omicron to kill up to 99 percent fewer people than Delta, in another hint it could be less deadly than flu.

MailOnline analysis shows the UK's case fatality rate  the proportion of confirmed infections that end in death  has shrunk 21-fold from three per cent during the darkest days of the second wave last winter before the vaccine rollout to 0.15 per cent at the end of December. For comparison, widely-circulated data suggests seasonal influenza has a case-fatality rate of around 0.1 per cent

I dont believe weve seen the peak yet here in the United States. -@CDCDirector Rochelle Walensky on the latest surge in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant pic.twitter.com/PGiEtv5LpX  TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 7, 2022

Meanwhile, Rick Bright, a former health adviser to President Joe Biden, on Friday called for continuous updates to vaccines to match new variants, with regular booster campaigns.

'We're entering year three of this pandemic and we're becoming increasingly convinced that this virus - the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID - is going to be with us for a very, very long time,' Bright said in an interview with CNN.

'We need to harness the full power of those tools that we used to make the Johnson & Johnson and the Pfizer, Moderna vaccines, we need to sharpen those tools against the virus as it changes,' he said, saying it was necessary to 'update our vaccines to match the Omicron variant.'

'That's what we do with influenza and that's what we should be doing with SARS-CoV-2,' he said, pointing out that flu vaccines are reformulated annually to match new viral strains.

Bright, along with two other former high-ranking public health officials, penned an editorial on Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) calling on the Biden administration to impose stricter vaccine mandates on the population and invest more in therapeutics and variant-specific vaccines.

Bright said on CNN that he thought the Biden administration had focused too much on its vaccination rollout campaign, and that 'they need to acknowledge that there are other things that need to happen in parallel.'

'I do think that they have been overwhelmed and they've been caught off guard by the virus as it changes,' he said.

Could Omicron be even LESS deadly than seasonal flu? Scientists believe ultra-infectious strain may kill 100 TIMES fewer people than Delta Omicron could be even less deadly than flu, scientists believe in a boost to hopes that the worst of the pandemic is over. Some experts have always maintained that the coronavirus would eventually morph into a seasonal cold-like virus as the world develops immunity through vaccines and natural infection. But the emergence of the highly-mutated Omicron variant appears to have sped the process up. MailOnline analysis shows Covid killed one in 33 people who tested positive at the peak of the devastating second wave last January, compared to just one in 670 now. But experts believe the figure could be even lower because of Omicron. The case fatality rate  the proportion of confirmed infections that end in death  for seasonal influenza is 0.1, the equivalent of one in 1,000. One former Government adviser today said if the trend continues to drop then 'we should be asking whether we are justified in having any measures we would not bring for a bad flu season'. But other experts say coronavirus is much more transmissible than flu, meaning it will inevitably cause more deaths. Meanwhile, researchers at Washington University modelling the next stage of the pandemic expect Omicron to kill up to 99 per cent fewer people than Delta, in another hint it could be less deadly than flu. No accurate infection-fatality rate (IFR), which is always just a fraction of the CFR because it reflects deaths among everyone who catches the virus, has yet been published for Delta. But UK Government advisers estimated the overall figure stood at around 0.25 per cent before Omicron burst onto the scene, down from highs of around 1.5 per cent before the advent of life-saving vaccines. If Omicron is 99 per cent less lethal than Delta, it suggests the current IFR could be as low as 0.0025 per cent, the equivalent of one in 40,000, although experts say this is unlikely. Instead, the Washington modelling estimates the figure actually sits in the region of 0.07 per cent, meaning approximately one in 1,430 people who get infected will succumb to the illness. Leading researchers estimate flu's IFR to sit between 0.01 and 0.05 per cent but argue comparing rates for the two illnesses is complicated. Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, told MailOnline his 'very rough best guess' was that triple-jabbed people were at the same risk from Omicron as they are from the flu. 'Add the new medications into the mix and it gets even more complex,' he added. But scientists today leaped on the estimates, saying it was more proof that the worst days of the pandemic were over and that Britain needs to get back on the path to normality. Professor Robert Dingwall, a former JCVI member of and expert in sociology at Nottingham Trent University, told MailOnline it will be a few weeks until there are definitive Omicron fatality rates, but if they are consistent with the findings that it is less severe 'we should be asking whether we are justified in having any measures we would not bring for a bad flu season'. Advertisement

'I don't think many people anticipated the virus would change as rapidly and as much as it has,' he said.

'So it's a new virus, and we're learning about it, but it has shown us that capability now, when it changed from the original strain to Alpha to Beta to Delta and now Omicron, so now we need to, with humility, respect this virus, understand its capability and use what we know about vaccines and stop the virus.'

In her interview, Walensky also defended the mixed messaging around the CDC's move to slash isolation recommendations in half, to five days, for asymptomatic cases, and to recommend a negative test the exit isolation in certain cases but not all.

The American Medical Association issued a stinging rebuke to the convoluted guidelines, saying in a statement that they are 'are not only confusing, but are risking further spread of the virus.'

'I have deep respect for AMA, and I've read their statement,' Walensky responded on the Today Show.

'We're now standing on the shoulders of years of science that demonstrated if you are infected, you are most contagious in the one to two days prior to your symptoms, and two to three days after your symptoms. So we know that the vast majority of your contagiousness by day five is really behind you.'

Meanwhile, rising cases have forced hospital systems in nearly half of U.S. states to postpone elective surgeries.

While many school systems have vowed to continue in-person instruction, some have faced chaotic closures as cases rise.

Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest U.S. education district, were closed for a third day on Friday as teachers refused to hold classes over COVID-19 protections.

The stalemate, idling some 340,000 students, came after the teachers' union voted to reinstate virtual instruction and pushed for more rigorous safety protocols.

U.S. and other officials have said schools can be safely opened, especially amid widely available vaccines and boosters, and the CDC on Thursday issued new guidelines for schools on isolation policies.

For nearly two weeks, more than 1,000 flights in the U.S. have been cancelled every day due to staff shortages and illness.

On Friday, the number of cancellations jumped to more than 2,700, exacerbated by winter storms in various parts of the country.

In Los Angeles, a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases has sidelined more than 800 city police and fire personnel and led to slightly longer ambulance and fire response times, adding to concerning absences of public safety officers, health care workers and teachers across California.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday that more than 500 LAPD officers and other police employees and nearly 300 firefighters were off-duty after testing positive for COVID-19, though he said measures were being taken to ensure the safety of the public.

'This is an incredibly tough moment,' Garcetti said. 'The Omicron variant has taken off like wildfire.'

The rapid rise in infections of public employees and frontline workers is mirroring the trend in the general public driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant first detected in late November.

The nation's largest state extended an indoor mask mandate until February 15 to prevent overwhelming hospitals as cases climbed nearly five-fold in the last two weeks.

Two-in-five hospitals expect critical staff shortages and some have a quarter of staff out because of the virus, said Kiyomi Burchill of the California Hospital Association.

California had the lowest case rate in the U.S. in September, but now ranks 31st in new cases per capita over the past two weeks.

One in six of San Francisco's 3,600 teachers were out Thursday.

Even with administrators, substitutes and others stepping in there weren't enough teachers for every classroom, Superintendent Vince Matthews.

'This is the most challenging time in my 36 years as an educator,' Matthews said during a break from filling in as a sixth grade science teacher.

'We're trying to educate students in the middle of a pandemic while the sands around us are consistently shifting.'

The Jahn School in Chicago is seen closed on Thursday. Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest U.S. education district, were closed for a third day on Friday amid a teacher walkout over COVID-19 protections

A line of cars wraps around the campus of Redondo Union High School, as people participated in a drive-thru of the campus, to pick up their student's one allotted Rapid Test kit, in Redondo Beach, California on Thursday

Separately, the CEO of Moderna warned on Thursday that a fourth injection to protect against COVID-19 could be necessary, adding that he expected the immunity from booster shots administered this fall was 'not going to hold great'.

CEO Stephane Bancel told a conference of healthcare professionals on Thursday that he believed getting jabbed regularly would become a way of life.

Bancel said the company is working on a vaccine candidate tailored to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, but it is unlikely to be available in the next two months.

'I still believe we're going to need boosters in the fall of '22 and forward,' Bancel said.

'I will be surprised when we get that data in the coming weeks that it's holding nicely over time - I would expect that it's not going to hold great,' Bancel said, referring to the strength of the booster shots.

He said that some governments, such as the British and South Korean, have already placed orders for a fourth vaccine.

Bancel added that people who are older or have underlying health conditions might need annual boosters for years to come.

'We have been saying that we believe first this virus is not going away,' Bancel said.

'We're going to have to live with it.'
A convicted sex offender in North Carolina has been arrested in connection with the 1986 kidnapping and murder of a then-4-year-old South Carolina girl.

Deputies in Lexington County have been searching for Jessica Gutierrez since her disappearance over 35 years ago.

Thomas Eric McDowell, 61, was taken into custody at 7:50 a.m. at his home in Wake Forest, near Raleigh, about 250 miles from where the girl was abducted 35 years ago.

He was charged with murder, kidnapping and first-degree burglary in connection with her disappearance, the Lexington County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

He was living in Lexington County in South Carolina when Gutierrez went missing overnight on June 6, 1986, according to the arrest warrants.

On Thursday, 61-year-old Thomas Eric McDowell (pictured) was arrested by police in North Carolina about 20 miles from his home in Raleigh

Jessica Gutierrez, 4, has been missing since June 6, 1986, when she was taken from her home by a man who had broken in through the window

Footage from outside the home of the Gutierrez family on the morning that Jessica was kidnapped

Police revisited the case in September, interviewing more than 125 people and reviewing more than 3,500 case files, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a statement.

'Because of the work we did, coming together as a team, we were able to sort and connect more pieces of the puzzle about what happened to Jessica all those years ago,' Koon said.

In a court hearing Friday in Wake County, a district court judge said he would remain in custody until he is extradited to South Carolina.

Gutierrez was abducted after someone broke into her Lexington home in the early morning hours on June 6, 1986.

The suspect entered through a window and based on the investigation at the time of her disappearance, kidnapped Jessica and left out the front door.

Debra Gutierrez, mother of missing girl Jessica Gutierrez, holds up an enlarged photo of her daughter

Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said his department interviewed more than 125 people and reviewing more than 3,500 case files

Debra Gutierrez, Jessica's mother, woke up to find her gone, and her family and law enforcement was unable to find her.

To date, the girl's body has not been found.

'Everything's happening like a whirlwind,' she said in a video posted by the sheriff's office titled 'Jessica is Still Missing' on June 3, 2021. 'You don't know what to do. You don't know what to do.'

McDowell is listed on a sex offender registry maintained by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) for a conviction in North Carolina in March 1987.

He was convicted of second-degree rape and criminal sexual conduct in the second degree and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to North Carolina incarceration records.

The three arrest warrants issued for McDowell on Thursday also say McDowell's fingerprint was found in the home where Jessica was abducted.

'I knew his were the only ones (on the window) because I used to clean those windows every night,' the mom told The State.

McDowell was also picked out of a photo lineup as the kidnapper, according to the warrants, supposedly by Jessicas then-6-year-old sister, who was in the room when the girl was kidnapped.

Weeks after her daughter went missing, a man living in Lexington County who the family knew stole a van, drove to North Carolina and raped a woman, the mom said.

That man was later convicted and sent to prison, where he confessed to kidnapping a girl in Lexington County, she told the News and Observer in Raleigh.

A spokesperson for the Lexington County Sheriffs Department would not say Thursday whether McDowell was the convict who reportedly confessed to kidnapping a Lexington girl.

'We took a fresh look at this case in September when FBI special agents and analysts assigned to its specialized Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team and prosecutors with the South Carolina Attorney General's Office came to Lexington,' Koon said in a statement Thursday.

'SLED agents also joined us in reviewing initial reports and interviewing more than 125 people,' he added. 'Because of the work we did, coming together as a team, we were able to sort and connect more pieces of the puzzle about what happened to Jessica all those years ago.'

A neighbor of McDowell's in Wake Forest, said he had lived in the town for about seven years.

McDowell rarely spoke to others, said the neighbor, Tony Parker, and drove a white pickup truck.

The South Carolina Attorney General's Office will prosecute the case, according to deputies.

'Our work is beginning,' Attorney General Alan Wilson said. 'The South Carolina Attorney General's office has the hardest working prosecutors who are ready.'
A judge showed little interest in the love life of an accused Capitol rioter who begged to travel to Jamaica to see his girlfriend, shooting down the request on the one-year anniversary of the deadly insurrection.

Anthony Williams, of Michigan, who is currently on pretrial release, faces multiple charges for his alleged role in the riot, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and tampering with a witness, victim or informant.

On Thursday, he submitted a request through his lawyer to travel to Jamaica from January 31 to February 10 to visit his girlfriend of one year.

His bold bid a year to the day of his alleged crime was quickly denied by Judge Beryl A. Howell - just hours after it was submitted.

Accused rioter Anthony Williams (pictured) submitted a request to through his lawyer to travel to Jamaica from January 31 to February 10 to visit his girlfriend of one year

Williams (pictured) faces multiple charges, including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and tampering with a witness, victim or informant

'This Court will not commemorate the one-year anniversary of this attack on the Capitol by granting defendant's request for non-essential foreign travel when he is awaiting judgment for his actions on that day,' Howell wrote.

Howell acknowledge Williams' 'wishes to leave the Michigan winter to spend ten days in the warmer climes of Jamaica' would be a big step in his year-long relationship, but said that he 'surrendered his entitlement to unfettered international travel when, also 'more than a year' ago, on December 30, 2020, he allegedly announced his intent to 'Storm the Swamp.'

In his response to the request Howell also cited evidence from the FBI that says Williams allegedly said he 'took (that) f***ing building,' on January 6  which he allegedly viewed as the 'proudest day of (his) life.'

Last January 6, Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, leading to multiple deaths.

Four people died on the day of the violence - protester Ashli Babbitt was shot dead by police, while three others died from other causes.

Last January 6 Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, leading to multiple deaths

In less than a year, more than 725 Donald Trump supporters have been arrested and charged for their role in the deadly riot

A Capitol Police officer who had been attacked by protesters died the following day and two police officers who took part in the defense of the Capitol later took their own lives. More than 100 police officers were injured.

Just before the attack, Trump delivered fiery remarks and then encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing although he spent the weeks after the November election claiming he won and was the victim of voter fraud, despite showing no evidence to prove his claims.

He was impeached a second time on charges he incited the insurrection at the Capitol. He was acquitted by the Senate.

Since the riot, more than 725 Trump supporters have been arrested and charged.

That list has grown almost by the day, and it could ultimately double. Federal investigators originally estimated that 800 people took part in the siege of the Capitol, but now say the number is closer to 2,000.

The accused are predominantly men - 87 percent - and most of them white, with an average age of 39.

They come from across the United States, with varied socioeconomic profiles including lawyers, landscapers, real estate agents; and those with military backgrounds or who have faced bankruptcy are significantly overrepresented.

The varied group includes far-right extremists and the conspiracy-minded, but also ordinary supporters of Trump convinced by his insistent claims that the election was stolen.

Most of the accused are not charged with any violence or vandalism but merely with having illegally entered the building; they generally face only misdemeanor charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct on restricted grounds.

Prosecutors appear eager to process members of the group as quickly as possible, often through plea bargain agreements that avoid the need for trial: 165 of the accused have already reached such agreements, and some 50 have been sentenced.

Most of those sentences have been relatively light: one young man, who admitted having stolen a beer from the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was sentenced to 20 days in prison, to be served on weekends - allowing him to keep his job.

The longer sentences are just beginning to be handed down, against those accused of the most serious crimes. Approximately 225 individuals are accused of acts of violence, notably against Capitol police.

The heaviest sentence so far has gone to Robert Palmer, a 54-year-old Florida man accused of attacking police with boards and a fire extinguisher.

He received a five-year sentence.

Some 40 people are being charged with criminal conspiracy, which implies a pre-organized attack.

This serious charge has been levied primarily against members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.

These defendants, some of whom have been held in preventive detention for months, are expected to face jury trials beginning as soon as February.

One member of the Proud Boys, a New York man in his 30s, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence.

So far, no one is being accused of sedition or insurrection - serious charges mentioned early in the investigation but which are difficult to prove
A disturbing Instagram account featuring hundreds of pictures of men taken without their knowledge has been exposed by one man whose photo ended up online.

The owner of the account, which is based in Sydney, said they are 'celebrating candid guys' while they're out in shopping centres, gyms and on public transport.

Many photos have suggestive captions such as 'there's something in those footy shorts' on a close up of a man's exercise shorts.

Others had inappropriate comments about men's genitals.

However one Sydney local found out in December through a friend that his photo had made the page, having been snapped on his way to work last May.

A disturbing Instagram account featuring hundreds of pictures of men taken without their knowledge has been exposed by one man whose photo ended up online

He told Seven News he recognised his tattoos and gym bag and instantly felt 'foul'.

'The photo was taken from less than a metre away from me as I sat on the bus on my phone. The person would've been standing right in front of me,' he said.

The account has close to 2,500 followers and has been running for years, with photos also featuring men in cafes, at the beach and just walking down the street.

'I already thought it was weird but then when I looked at other posts, there were pictures of guy's a***s in gym gear, and men's bulges with a caption like "what're you hiding there?",' the man who found himself on the page said.

'That's when I realised it was all sexual and predatory and I didn't want to be part of it.'

The account's biography says those who don't like their photos can ask for them to be removed, which the man did, resulting in his picture being taken down.

He reported the account to Instagram in December and it was temporarily taken down before he was told by the social media platform it 'probably doesn't go against our Community Guidelines'.

Many photos have suggestive captions such as 'there's something in those footy shorts' on a close up of a man's exercise shorts

The account has close to 2,500 followers and has been running for years, with photos also featuring men in cafes, at the beach and just walking down the street (stock image)

'Due to the high volume of reports that we receive, our review team hasn't been able to view your report,' Instagram said.

'We understand that this decision may be frustrating for you, but there are a few things that you can do to avoid seeing accounts that you find upsetting,' it added, before suggesting he 'unfollow, mute or block.'

The man posted his experience to a community Facebook page to warn others with many dubbing the account 'creepy'.

In Australia privacy laws do not prevent people from taking photos of others if they are in public places such as in parks or on the street.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Instagram for comment.
Covid is now so widespread in Australia doctors are treating every hospital patient as if they have the virus even if they have tested negative, top health executives have warned.

Liverpool Hospital, Nepean Hospital and St George Hospital in Sydney's south-west, west and south will no longer treat Covid-positive patients any differently to those without the virus, 7News reported.

The policy change came amid concern the true number of positive cases in NSW is far higher than the 45,098 reported on Saturday.

Rapid antigen tests in private homes have not yet been counted in official figures in NSW, but will be added to daily case totals on Wednesday.

Case numbers are expected to double at that point.

Bosses at three major hospitals say Covid-19 is now so widespread that they have warned staff every patient could have the virus - even if they have returned negative test results

Australia could reportedly be well on the way to one million Covid cases (pictured, people at a walk-in Covid testing clinic in Melbourne)

The new warnings to frontline healthcare workers in Sydney came amid concerns the true number positive cases in New South Wales are far higher than the 45,098 reported on Saturday (pictured, ICU Registered Nurse Shaunagh Whelan caring for a COVID-19 positive patient in St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney)

Victoria's new case numbers doubled to 51,356 on Saturday after RAT results were included in official numbers.

Adviser to the Federal Health Aged Care portfolios, Troy Billsborough, said Australia could see more than one million positive cases within days.

'That's more people than cancer, that's more people than lung disease and kidney disease,' he said.

He predicted the huge case load and the likelihood of new variants could even affect the upcoming Australian Federal election.

Professor Mohamed Khadra, Professor of Surgery at Nepean Hospital, has warned staff negative rapid test results can no longer be relied upon.

He instructed staff in an email to treat all patients - Covid-negative and Covid-positive - as if they have the illness.

It is also understood similar instructions were given to healthcare workers at St George and Liverpool hospitals.

Up to 5,000 healthcare workers are believed to be in isolation after either testing positive or coming into close contact with a positive case.

'Our approach is make sure people don't get lulled into false sense of security because someone has a negative Rapid Antigen Test,' Professor Khadra told Daily Mail Australia.

'We're saying you have to assume everyone has it, whether you're on bus or in the street or in theatre, you have to protect yourselves and patients.'

Among his warning to staff is that regular surgical masks do not provide sufficient protection on their own.

'The numbers are so big now I'm asking all staff to make sure they protect themselves' by wearing full gowns, protective eyewear, face masks and continually washing their hands.

Senior doctors are warning staff all patients could have Covid, even if they have returned negative RAT results (pictured, Registered Nurse Niamh Costello demonstrates a Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Test at a drive-through testing facility in Sydney)

'This kind of approach protects patients and protects staff and allows to treat as many people as possible,' Professor Khadra said.

Meanwhile the Australian Medical Association issued new warnings that anyone going into a hospital could contract the virus.

'Many people who go to hospital without Covid will be unfortunate to contract it while they are in hospital,' said Michael Bonning, a federal councillor with the AMA.

Mr Bonning said it was 'infuriating' to hear continual claims that the health system is 'coping'.

'It is infuriating to continue to hear that when we know that this is the biggest challenge we have ever faced,' he said.
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'Icy stretches' and snow could hit parts of the UK as heavy downpours sweep across the country from the west over the weekend, forecasters have said.

Western Scotland, Northern Ireland, north-west England and North Wales could face frosty conditions, caused by showers expected to last until Sunday morning, according to the Met Office.

Forecasters also warned of wet and windy conditions across other parts of England and Wales on Saturday with parts of the country set for 'very unsettled weather'.

On Saturday night, temperatures could plummet as low as -4C in higher areas of Scotland but averages of 2C are expected for most of the rest of the UK.

Blustery showers are expected to continue in England today, mainly in the north and west (Pictured: People under umbrellas whilst out punting on the River Cam in Cambridge during wet and windy conditions on Saturday morning)

Huge waves crash into the Plymouth seafront in Devon on Saturday, as strong winds and rain hit the south west of England

Meteorologists predict ice and frost across west Central Scotland and the South with temperatures getting slighter milder this morning

Western Scotland, Northern Ireland, north-west England and North Wales could face frosty conditions, caused by showers expected to last until Sunday morning, according to the Met Office.

The Met Office reports there are currently 10 flood alerts in place, including in areas of Barnstaple, Leicestershire, Bristol and Somerset (Pictured: Rain falls on people punting in the River Cam in Cambridge on Saturday)

A person carries an umbrella as they walk across a bridge over the river Thames in Reading, Berkshire, amid a weekend washout for much of the country

People make their way along the tow path alongside the river Thames in Reading, Berkshire, with showers predicted for much of the country on Saturday

Rowers braved the miserable conditions on Saturday morning to get the training in along the river Thames in Reading

Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said: 'There are no official ice warnings out at the moment that we have issued but we are sending out a message in general that there is an isolated risk that any wet surfaces along with these showers could lead to icy stretches.

'This is mainly due to the showers that will be feeding in to the west.'

A pulse of heavier rain across the Greater Manchester area and parts of Cornwall will continue on Saturday afternoon and clear before nightfall, he said.

Higher areas in Scotland, the Pennines and Snowdonia are also likely to see some snow before the weekend is over.

Mr Vautrey said any ice would be likely to have melted away by Sunday morning, when the showers are expected to ease. Most of the ice risk will have abated before people are getting out and about,' he said.

However, commuters are set to endure a 'cloudy, drizzly' start to the week, with another band of rain forecast across most of the UK on Monday, he said.

High pressure coming from the south on Wednesday is set to bring more settled weather in general from midweek onwards, with dry conditions expected for most of the country.

Drivers were told to stay alert on icy roads amid a yellow weather warning early on Saturday.

There was heavy frost across Scotland in the early hours while the rest of the UK is forecast to see low temperatures for a wet and windy weekend.

Friday night saw a Yellow Weather Warning for ice put in place for Scotland and parts of Southern England and Wales - with some areas seeing as much as 11cm (4.3in) of snow.

The Met Office reported 10 flood alerts were in place, including in areas of Barnstaple, Leicestershire, Bristol and Somerset.

BBC forecaster Christopher Blanchett said: 'Through the course of this evening and overnight, our concern is with ice and there is a Met Office yellow warning in force through west central Scotland and the south.'There is a chance of icy patches almost anywhere and under clear skies temperatures are readily falling away to sub-zero and in rural parts of the north east perhaps minus 6C.'

A person holds an umbrella as they stand on a bridge over the river Thames in Reading on Saturday

Swimmers brave the cold weather as big waves crash into the Plymouth seafront in Devon on Saturday

Several flood alerts have been issued as the UK faces a wet and wintry weekend (Pictured: Swimmer in the sea by the Plymouth seafront)

Rowers make their way along the river Thames in Reading as seagulls take off in the foreground

And NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) has issued advice to 'walk like penguins' in the icy conditions to avoid getting injured.

It is urging people to bend their knees loosely, point out their feet slightly, extend their arms at the sides, walk flat-footed- taking short steps, and to keep their centre of gravity over the feet in order to avoid falling.

Linda de Caestecker, Director for Public Health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: 'While it might seem silly to walk or waddle like a penguin, in the context of the wintery conditions we're seeing today, penguins know best.

'If you find yourself out and about in icy conditions, adopting the penguin stance is a really effective way to move without falling.'

Mr Blanchett said the early hours of Saturday morning would see a new weather system arrive.

He added it would be bringing cloud, rain and further snow across the hills, rain for most and will mean something a touch less cold as the weekend begins.

He said: 'Initially very wet on Saturday but that rain clears through apace and for most of the day it is a case of bright sunny spells and rain showers.

'Those showers most frequent in the west, wintery on the hill tops, driest and brightest in the east.'

Temperatures in Scotland are expected to be between 6C and 8C and feeling cold in the brisk west wind .

Maximum temperatures in the South of the UK are forecast to reach around 10C or 11C. In the North of England around about 7C or 8C.

Into Sunday afternoon Scotland will likely be dry and bright for most, 4C to 7C.

The forecast from Sunday in England is mainly dry and bright but with occasional showers in the west.

Outbreaks of rain are likely to spread east Monday, with the far southeast staying dry.

Mr Blanchett said of Scotland: 'Looking ahead on Monday, showers and longer spells of rain. The thing you will notice is it will be a mild Monday with temperatures of 10C, 11C and maybe 12C.'

It follows an already chilly week, with temperatures plunging as low as -8C on Wednesday  making it the coldest night of winter.

The weekend weather is expected to remain unsettled, with milder spells, as a spiralling area of low pressure brings changeable weather conditions to the UK.

Following the cold blast from the snowstorms, an Atlantic weather front is then set to bring massive downpours.

Liverpool and Manchester could be soaked by up to 5mm of rain an hour on Saturday, before the initial band of rain heads further across the country.

And meteorologists say intermittent rainfall is expected on Sunday, before patches of rain and snow hit parts of Britain.
People these days are often ready for a well-earned rest when they approach retirement age in their 60s.

But experts have now claimed that within 80 years humans could be living until they are aged 130.

And scientists at HEC Montreal in Canada suggested the extreme limit of lifespans could rocket to as much as 180 by the end of the century.

Assistant Professor Leo Belzile said that the record for the oldest person to have lived could be smashed by 2100.

The current record belongs to Jeanne Calment, a French woman who died at the age of 122 in 1997.

The world's oldest living person is Kane Tanaka who is currently 119 years old

He warned some datasets do not suggest there is any upper limit to human lifespan and it 'lies well beyond any individual lifetime yet observed'.

He warned in a paper published in the Annual Review of Statistics and Its Applications more people pushing the current limits of lifespan will have massive ramifications for society.

The effects would include sky-rocketing medical bills as people suffer from ailments caused by extreme old age.

It would also have a profound effect on social care, pensions, and other social security programmes would face crisis as more people than ever rely on them with fewer taxpayers.

Over a dozen people alive are verified to be currently over the age of 110 years old.

The current record for the oldest person to have lived belongs to Jeanne Calment, a French woman who died at the age of 122 in 1997

Professor Eileen Crimmins, an life expectancy expert at the University of Southern California, told The Times: 'You're going to have incredible medical bills.

'If you're going to have to make major interventions to keep them alive and healthy, it's going to be an incredible expenditure to replace all their knees, all their hips, their corneas, their heart valves.

'We can probably do this, it's like keeping an old car running. But eventually it'll die.'

The International Database on Longevity - which tracks people who live to at least the age of 110 - said that the risk of dying increases steadily from the age of 50 but slows at the age of 80 and could even level off by the age of 110.

When a person reaches 110, the chances of dying in the next year reach 50%.

Professor Eileen Crimmins, an life expectancy expert at the University of Southern California, warned of the ramifications of people living to extreme ages more frequently

This means that, in some models, an upper lifespan limit of 130-180 years old is possible.

Crimmins added in The Times: 'Nobody has lived beyond 122. The fact that somebody might live to 130, OK, fine, what's the big deal?

If you throw the dice enough times the probability that somebody is going to make it a little longer is always a little bit higher.'

She did, however, mention that her immediate concern in life expectancy was the two-year drop in the average lifespan seen in the US since the pandemic began.
Holidaymakers are rushing to book getaways ahead of the Covid travel rules being relaxed tomorrow with airlines seeing demand increase by as much as 400 per cent.

Fully vaccinated travellers and under-18s arriving in the UK will be able to take a lateral flow test rather than the more expensive PCR version for their day two test from 4am tomorrow.

The lateral flow tests only cost around 22, compared to at least 60 for PCRs travellers were previously forced to fork out for.

And from yesterday they were no longer needed to have taken a pre-arrival lateral flow test or isolate on their return. The combined changes will save a family of four around 300.

Travel bosses said they are seeing an 'immediate and dramatic spike in bookings' because of the relaxation in the rules.

EasyJet said it saw demand for some destinations increase 400 per cent in a week, with overall bookings up 200 per cent.

Virgin Atlantic reported a jump of 150 per cent in website searches and British Airways saw a spike of 40 per cent.

But yesterday it was claimed Sajid Javid opposed Boris Johnson's decision to loosen the rules because of fears the move could heighten the risk of another lockdown.

The PM said he had taken the decision because the Omicron variant is now so prevalent in the UK that the border measures were only having a limited impact on the spread of the disease.

But Mr Javid is said to have strongly opposed relaxing the rules, warning his Cabinet colleagues that the move increased the risk of having to shut down the economy again.

Fully vaccinated travellers and under-18s arriving in the UK will be able to take a lateral flow test rather than the more expensive PCR version for their post-arrival test from 4am on Sunday

Pictured A busy terminal 5 arrivals hall at Heathrow Airport yesterday after the rules were relaxed so passengers arriving back into the UK no longer need to take a PCR test

From 4am yesterday, passengers no longer needed to have taken a pre-arrival lateral flow test. The changes will save a family of four about 300

What will the new travel rules be for UK tourists? If you qualify as fully vaccinated for travel to England (meaning at least 14 days has passed since your second jab), and you will arrive in England from today (Friday, January 7), you do not need to: Take a Covid test before you travel to England

Quarantine when you arrive in England If you qualify as fully vaccinated and will arrive in England after 4am this Sunday (January 9), you can choose to take a lateral flow test instead of a PCR test after you arrive in England. If you take a lateral flow test and test positive, you will need to self-isolate and take a free confirmatory PCR. You must book the test before you travel to England. You can book lateral flows from today. You must take the lateral flow test no later than the end of day two after arriving. For example, if you arrive on a Monday, this would be by the end of the Wednesday. You cannot use a lateral flow until after 4am this Sunday. Before this time, you must use a PCR test after arrival. The fully vaccinated rules also apply to children aged 17 and under, people taking part in an approved vaccine trial, and people who are unable to have a vaccination due to medical reasons. Click here for more details Advertisement

EasyJet said it has seen a 427 per cent rise in bookings for Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

Summer bookings for for Tenerife, Alicante and Malaga are also up 200 per cent, the company said.

The Government website states: 'If you qualify as fully vaccinated for travel to England, and you will arrive in England after 4am, Sunday 9 January, you can choose to take a lateral flow test instead of a PCR test after you arrive in England.

'If you qualify as fully vaccinated for travel to England, and you will arrive in England after 4am, Sunday 9 January, you can choose to take a lateral flow test instead of a PCR test after you arrive in England.'

It continues: 'If you take a lateral flow test and test positive, you will need to self-isolate and take a free PCR test.'

Steve Heapy, chief executive of tour operator Jet2holidays and leisure airline Jet2.com, said bookings soared after Mr Johnson announced on Wednesday that the testing and quarantine requirements for arrivals will be eased.

His firm reported huge popularity for trips to mainland Spain, the Canaries, the Balearic Islands, Turkey, and Greece.

Mr Heapy said: 'The relaxation of travel restrictions is welcome news for both the travel industry and holidaymakers and comes during what is traditionally a very busy period for holiday bookings.

'We have seen an immediate and dramatic spike in bookings, with volumes since the Government announcement heading towards pre-pandemic levels, which demonstrates just how much demand is out there among people wanting to get away for a much-needed holiday.'

A spokeswoman for tour operator Tui said Mr Johnson's announcement 'has given Brits the reassurance that travel will once again be easier and more affordable'.

She went on: 'We've already seen an immediate and strong uptick in bookings and we now expect summer 2022 bookings to be normalised.

'January is traditionally the busiest month for holiday bookings and demand is yet to reach pre-Covid levels, so we need to see sustained confidence in travel so the industry can fully recover.'

The firm's biggest booking spikes have been for Mexico and the Canaries.

Derek Jones, chief executive of luxury travel company Kuoni, said the easing of testing rules 'should be the beginning of the end of Covid as a blocker to international travel'.

Mr Jones continued: 'I predict travel will be 90 per cent back to 2019 levels before the end of spring.

'We're already seeing increased call volumes and inquiries about trips for the year ahead as confidence builds.'

A survey of 2,000 UK consumers by travel trade organisation Abta indicated that Spain is the most popular overseas destination people plan to visit in 2022, followed by the USA, France, Italy and Greece.

Sajid Javid opposed Boris Johnson's decision to loosen travel testing rules because of fears the move could heighten the risk of another lockdown, it was claimed today

Britons can fly to 16 countries for under 10 this month - including Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain

Cheapest flights available for Britons this month 4 to Croatia: London Stansted to Zagreb (Ryanair, January 22, 0830-1150, 2h20m)

London Stansted to Zagreb (Ryanair, January 22, 0830-1150, 2h20m) 5 to Italy : London Luton to Rome (WizzAir, January 22, 1020-1350, 2h30m)

: London Luton to Rome (WizzAir, January 22, 1020-1350, 2h30m) 5 to Netherlands : London Stansted to Eindhoven (Ryanair, January 22, 0615-0830, 1h05m)

: London Stansted to Eindhoven (Ryanair, January 22, 0615-0830, 1h05m) 6 to Norway : London Stansted to Oslo (Ryanair, January 22, 1800-2100, 2h)

: London Stansted to Oslo (Ryanair, January 22, 1800-2100, 2h) 6 to Poland : London Stansted to Krakow (Ryanair, January 22, 0840-1155, 2h15m)

: London Stansted to Krakow (Ryanair, January 22, 0840-1155, 2h15m) 7 to Austria : London Stansted to Vienna (Ryanair, January 22, 0830-1135, 2h05m)

: London Stansted to Vienna (Ryanair, January 22, 0830-1135, 2h05m) 8 to Bulgaria : London Stansted to Sofia (Ryanair, January 25, 0635-1135, 3h)

: London Stansted to Sofia (Ryanair, January 25, 0635-1135, 3h) 8 to Ireland : London Stansted to Dublin (Ryanair, January 25, 0530-0745, 1h15m)

: London Stansted to Dublin (Ryanair, January 25, 0530-0745, 1h15m) 9 to Czech Republic : London Stansted to Prague (Ryanair, January 25, 1145-1435, 1h50m)

: London Stansted to Prague (Ryanair, January 25, 1145-1435, 1h50m) 9 to Denmark : London Stansted to Copenhagen (Ryanair, January 26, 0840-1125, 1h45m)

: London Stansted to Copenhagen (Ryanair, January 26, 0840-1125, 1h45m) 9 to Germany : London Stansted to Berlin (Ryanair, January 22, 0730-1010, 1h40m)

: London Stansted to Berlin (Ryanair, January 22, 0730-1010, 1h40m) 9 to Greec e : London Stansted to Athens (Ryanair, January 25, 1545-2115, 3h30m)

: London Stansted to Athens (Ryanair, January 25, 1545-2115, 3h30m) 9 to Latvia : London Stansted to Riga (Ryanair, January 19, 0620-1055, 2h35m)

: London Stansted to Riga (Ryanair, January 19, 0620-1055, 2h35m) 9 to Portugal : London Stansted to Lisbon (Ryanair, January 25, 0620-0910, 2h50m)

: London Stansted to Lisbon (Ryanair, January 25, 0620-0910, 2h50m) 9 to Romania : London Luton to Bucharest (WizzAir, January 22, 1650-2205, 3h15m)

: London Luton to Bucharest (WizzAir, January 22, 1650-2205, 3h15m) 9 to Spain : London Stansted to Zaragoza (Ryanair, January 22, 1245-1555, 2h10m)

: London Stansted to Zaragoza (Ryanair, January 22, 1245-1555, 2h10m) 9 to Sweden : London Stansted to Gothenburg (Ryanair, January 25, 1845-2140, 1h55m) Checked by MailOnline on Skyscanner. Flight arrival and departures times are local. Advertisement

But Mr Javid told a meeting of the Cabinet's Covid-O committee that dropping the PCR testing requirement would restrict the UK's ability to identify new coronavirus strains, according to The Times.

The Health Secretary told his colleagues that ditching the PCR testing rule could therefore increase the risk of a dangerous new variant spreading undetected in the UK which could then force the Government to impose a lockdown.

A Government source told The Times: 'Sajid was very unhappy about the decision to remove the requirement for PCR tests.

'He argued they are instrumental in spotting new variants sooner. He said that by scrapping them you increase the risk of having to shut down the entire economy. But he lost the argument.'

Mr Johnson, who was reportedly not at the Covid-O meeting, ultimately sided with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and decided to loosen the rules.

Downing Street yesterday insisted the changes to the travel system had been 'collectively' agreed by ministers.

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said: I dont think youd expect me to comment on private meetings but ministers collectively agreed to these changes to our international travel rules, including the changes around day two PCR testing, given we no longer feel they are proportionate, given that Omicron is now the dominant variant in the UK by community transmission.

But I would also highlight that we have maintained the requirement for passengers to take a post-arrival lateral flow test and if that test is positive, they will still need to take a PCR test, which will help us identify variants.

The tougher testing measures were originally introduced following the identification of the fast-spreading Omicron variant in South Africa last November.

Mr Johnson announced the move in the House of Commons on Wednesday, telling MPs: 'When the Omicron variant was first identified, we rightly introduced travel restrictions to slow its arrival in our country.

'But now Omicron is so prevalent, these measures are having limited impact on the growth in cases, while continuing to pose significant costs on our travel industry.

'So I can announce that in England from 4am on Friday, we will be scrapping the pre-departure test, which discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense.'

The announcement  which covers those passengers who are fully-vaccinated or are under the age of 18  was broadly welcomed by the travel industry, which has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the industry body Airlines UK, said it would be a 'massive boost' for the sector at a 'critical' time of the year.

NHS lateral flow tests cannot be used for international travel, and the tests must be brought from a private provider.

People who have already brought PCR tests for travelling needs can still use them.
Highly-potent cannabis is not being taken seriously enough by some liberal-minded parents, who would rather see their teens smoke pot than drink alcohol, a top psychologist has warned.

Sir Robin Murray, 77, a professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King's College London, said around a third of the psychosis patents he sees at his practice in south London are caused by use of high-strength skunk.

The expert said the cases mostly involve young people, who often suffer from debilitating paranoia and hallucinations.

It comes as London is set to relax drug laws by no longer prosecuting young people caught in possession of cannabis - offering them educational courses on the drug's dangers instead.

But results from European neighbours offer an insight into the potential pitfalls of such a policy - with Portugal seeing a huge surge in cannabis-induced psychosis after it decriminalised the drug in 2001.

According to research in the International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, the number of hospital admissions in the country with a primary diagnosis of psychotic disorders and schizophrenia stemming from cannabis use soared by nearly 30-fold, from 20 a year in 2010 to nearly 590 in 2015 - and almost 90 per cent of these patients were men, whose average age was 30.

Sir Robin Murray (pictured) , 77, a professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), King's College London, said around a third of the psychosis patents he sees at his practice in south London are caused by use of high-strength skunk

The expert said the cases of cannabis-induced psychosis mostly involve young people, who often suffer from debilitating paranoia and hallucinations (file photo)

It comes as London is set to relax drug laws by no longer prosecuting young people caught in possession of cannabis - offering them educational courses on the drug's dangers instead (Pictured: Cannabis farm which was busted in Coventry in June last year)

Cannabis is most widely used illegal drug in the UK - but it can cause a myriad of health problems Cannabis (also known as marijuana, weed, pot, dope or grass) is the most widely used illegal drug in the UK. The effects of cannabis can vary a lot from person to person. It can also vary depending on how much or how often it's taken and what it contains. Some examples include: Feeling chilled out, relaxed and happy; laughing more or become more talkative; feeling hunger pangs ('the munchies'; feeling drowsy, tired or lethargic; feeling faint or sick; having problems with memory or concentrating; experiencing mild hallucinations; feeling confused, anxious or paranoid. Cannabis and mental health Regular cannabis use increases the risk of developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia. A psychotic illness is one where you have hallucinations (seeing things that are not really there) and delusions (believing things that are not really true). The risk of developing a psychotic illness is higher in people who: start using cannabis at a young age; smoke stronger types, such as skunk; smoke it regularly; use it for a long time; smoke cannabis and also have other risk factors for schizophrenia, such as a family history of the illness Cannabis also increases the risk of a relapse in people who already have schizophrenia, and it can make psychotic symptoms worse. Other risks of regularly using cannabis can include: feeling wheezy or out of breath; developing an uncomfortable or painful cough; making symptoms of asthma worse in people with asthma; reduced ability to drive or operate machinery safely If you drive while under the influence of cannabis, you're more likely to be involved in an accident. This is one reason why drug driving, like drink driving, is illegal. Source: NHS Advertisement

Sir Robin suggested the high number of cases in his practice are now impacting the facility's ability to care for patients.

He told the Times: 'I think we're now 100 per cent sure that cannabis is one of the causes of a schizophrenia-like psychosis.

'If we could abolish the consumption of skunk we would have 30 per cent less patients [in south London] and we might make a better job of looking after the patients we have.'

Sir Robin works at the first NHS clinic in England to specifically treat cannabis smokers suffering from psychosis.

Running from Maudsley Hospital in Camberwell, south London, patients are typically seen for a minimum of 15 weeks, with treatment including one-on-one sessions with specialist therapists.

The aim of the clinic is to first help cannabis users wean themselves off the drug before helping them to manage without it - helped by weekly group therapy sessions with fellow patients and experts.

Sir Robin has praised the clinic, reporting it to be a success, even when services moved online due to the Covid pandemic.

It comes after he was part of the first team of researchers who proved a link between cannabis and mental illness among teenagers in the early 2000s - with many papers backing up his findings ever since.

Only two years ago, a study found that south London had the highest incidence of psychosis in Europe - and cannabis was said to be the largest contributing factor.

The investigation, overseen by Sir Robin and published in The Lancet Psychiatry, found that those who smoked high-potency skunk were five times more likely to develop psychosis than those who did not smoke it.

According to the findings, rates of psychosis in London could be slashed by 30 per cent if skunk was taken off the streets.

Despite its potentially harmful effects, Sir Robin welcomed London's plans to end prosecution of young people found in possession of cannabis.

The policy, set to be adopted by the Metropolitan Police, would see carriers of the drug offered educational courses on its dangers.

But Sir Robin wants more clarification over the scheme.

He said: 'My questions will be: where will they get the counsellors who know anything about risks of cannabis?

'What will happen if they don't accept the counselling or go back to cannabis use?

'And will it be accompanied by any education regarding the risks of cannabis  this is by far the most important thing.'

He added: 'Because Lewisham is one of the proposed boroughs [where the scheme could first be introduced] we will be able to track the effects on psychiatric problems secondary to cannabis use  addiction, suicide attempts and psychosis.

'But we need also to track road traffic accidents, street violence and visits to A&E departments for cannabis problems.'

Sir Robin said policy changes in other countries provided potential warnings for Britain.

In the state of Colorado in the US, there are now cannabis products available which contain more than 70 per cent THC - or tetrahydrocannabinol - the compound which gives users a high.

For comparison, traditional weed from the 1960s contained around 3 per cent or less THC, while the average in Europe and North America today is 10 to 15 per cent, according to an article by Sir Robin in JAMA Psychiatry.

What is psychosis? Psychosis is when people lose some contact with reality. This might involve seeing or hearing things that other people cannot see or hear (hallucinations) and believing things that are not actually true (delusions). The two main symptoms of psychosis are: Hallucinations  where a person hears, sees and, in some cases, feels, smells or tastes things that do not exist outside their mind but can feel very real to the person affected by them; a common hallucination is hearing voices Delusions  where a person has strong beliefs that are not shared by others; a common delusion is someone believing there's a conspiracy to harm them The combination of hallucinations and delusional thinking can cause severe distress and a change in behaviour. Experiencing the symptoms of psychosis is often referred to as having a psychotic episode. Source: NHS Advertisement

Meanwhile, a study in Denmark found that alongside a rise in THC potency, cannabis-associated schizophrenia has increased by up to 400 per cent over the past two decades, reported the Times.

Sir Robin's study in 2019 warned that 94 per cent of all cannabis available on the streets of London was in the form of skunk.

Researchers from Kings College London studied 2,100 people in 11 cities in Europe and South America in the biggest study of its kind.

They found that the link with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and paranoid delusion was strongest in London and Amsterdam  the two cities where high-potency cannabis is most commonly available.

Sir Robin said at the time: 'If you are going to legalise, unless you want to pay for a lot more psychiatric beds and a lot more psychiatrists then you need to devise a system in a way that will not increase the consumption and will not increase the potency. Because that is what has happened in the US states where there has been legalisation for recreational use.

'The critical question is whether medicinal use remains medicinal. The problem in California and Canada was that medicinal use became a synonym for recreational use.

'You could go on the internet and tell a doctor, I have headaches, I have back pain, I feel better if I have cannabis. The main reason they legalised it was to try to control the amount of so-called medicinal use there, hoping that there would be a decrease in the use.

The research, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, found that skunk  with a THC level of more than 10 per cent  increased the odds of psychosis 4.8-fold in a person who smoked every day compared with someone who never used the drug.

Using it more than once a week was less dangerous, but still increased the risk 1.6-fold.
Time to tell who has done more for African people: Chinese FM

Xinhua) 10:27, January 08, 2022

MOMBASA, Kenya, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- History and facts will tell who is Africa's true friend and partner, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Thursday.

Wang made the remarks while attending a ceremony with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to witness the completion of the Chinese-built Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) upon invitation.

Wang congratulated Kenya on accomplishing another major infrastructure project under the leadership of President Kenyatta, adding that the KOT project will benefit the country and the region.

"What we witness here today is the enduring sincere friendship between China and Africa, the gratifying achievement of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the bright prospect of China and Africa jointly pursuing modernization," Wang said.

Wang said that more than 600 years ago, Chinese navigator Zheng He led one of the world's most powerful fleets to Mombasa three times, bringing friendship and trust to Africa, not colonization and slavery.

Six hundred years later, Chinese engineers and technicians followed Zheng's footsteps to Africa and the coastal city of Mombasa, where they built the best roads, railways and today the best oil and gas facilities for local people, Wang said.

"History is the fairest judge, facts are the most powerful testimony. Our brothers and sisters in Kenya and other African countries know who is Africa's true friend and partner," Wang added.

The KOT project is highly technical and difficult to construct, Wang said, noting that a world-class offshore platform has been adopted to effectively protect the marine environment and create a large number of local jobs and business opportunities.

All this shows that the Belt and Road cooperation between China and Africa is moving forward in a high-standard, sustainable and people-friendly way, following the goals set by President Xi Jinping and African leaders, he said.

Wang said that the completion of the oil terminal is an important step for Kenya to accelerate its industrialization.

Modernization is not achieved by slogans but actions, he said, noting that China and Africa have jointly built over 10,000 km of railways, nearly 100,000 km of roads, nearly 1,000 bridges, nearly 100 ports and a large number of hospitals and schools.

"China and Africa have become steadfast allies and reliable partners on the path to modernization. As long as we continue to work together, we will surely blaze a new trail for developing countries to achieve modernization," Wang said.

Every country should be entitled to development and progress, and every nation should have the opportunity to realize their dreams, Wang said.

The 21st century is not only a century for Asia but also for Africa, he said, adding that the 2.7 billion Chinese and African people, working together to achieve modernization, will constitute the most glorious chapter in the history of human civilization.

Wang said China has always called on the international community to pay more attention to Africa and welcomes other countries, especially developed countries, to actively participate in Africa's development process.

Africa should be a big stage for international cooperation, not an arena for competition among major countries, Wang said. "If there is any competition, it should be a competition of who has done more for Africa, who has contributed more to Africa, and who has worked more for the African people."

"China is ready to join hands with all countries with goodwill towards Africa in making new contributions to an even brighter future for Africa," Wang said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
Thousands of Australians who spent hours queueing for a Covid PCR test have been told their samples are now invalid after spending more than a week in a laboratory.

Melbourne Pathology sent a text informing residents who had waited more than seven days for a result their 'sample is no longer suitable and no result can be provided'.

The lab's message offered no apology, instead telling frustrated Melburnians they should just 'assume you are positive' if they have symptoms.

Covid testing centres across Australia have been hit by a surge in demand in major cities over the New Year period as transmission of the Omicron strain reaches record heights.

Melbourne Pathology sent a generic SMS informing people who had waited more than seven days for a result that their 'sample is no longer suitable and no result can be provided' (pictured, Melburnians queue at a walk-in COVID-19 testing site at in Melbourne on Wednesday)

The SMS sent out to thousands of Victorians who queued for PCR tests for hours then waited in isolation for over a week

Testing at 54 Victorian clinics was halted due to the sheer number of people queuing as wait times ballooned out to six hours and piles of unprocessed swabs began to overwhelm laboratory staff.

The operators were 4Cyte, ACL, Dorevitch and Melbourne Pathology.

One woman, who obeyed forced isolation rules for more than a week as she waited to hear from Melbourne Pathology, said it was 'physically and mentally draining' to find out she wouldn't receive a result.

'No one cares that our New Year was the worst we have ever had,' she wrote in a Facebook post.

Another woman, Helen, was told by the lab she'd need to be tested again - despite waiting eight days.

The message sent by Melbourne Pathology also told residents to 'repeat swab confirmation as appropriate'.

Thousands of frustrated Victorians waited for over a week for their test results to come back and in some cases were informed they would need to be tested again

Fed up Victorians who can't get a PCR test at overwhelmed testing sites (pictured) flocked to hospital emergency departments

The text is understood to have only been received by those who had waited more than seven days for their results.

The company said it had received an 'absolute tsunami' of demand for tests, but it saw 'no relief' in sight.

'I would just beg for some forgiveness from the community about the limitations of the system to be able to provide them with the level of testing that theyve become used to,' Melbourne Pathology's Elaine Maxwell told ABC Melbourne radio.

A Victorian Department of Health spokesman said the problem was caused by a backlog of samples to process due to a high demand for PCR tests.

Melbourne Pathology said it had received an 'absolute tsunami' of demand for PCR tests, but it saw 'no relief' in sight (pictured, residents wait in line at a walk-in Covid-19 testing site in Melbourne on Wednesday)

Testing at 54 Victorian clinics was halted due to the huge numbers of people queuing as wait times ballooned out to six hours and mountains of unprocessed swabs began to overwhelm the centres. The operators were 4Cyte, ACL, Dorevitch and Melbourne Pathology

'The Department is working with pathology providers to address any temporary backlogs,' it said in a statement.

It is understood some swabs need to be processed within a week or they become useless as the virus can die.

Victoria recorded 51,356 new infections on Saturday.
The husband of slain Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt insists she would still be alive today if he had attended the January 6 rally with her.

Ashli, 36, was fatally shot by Capitol police officer Michael Byrd during the Capitol riot as she tried to climb through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby outside the House chamber while cloaked in a Trump flag.

Ashli's husband, Aaron, told TMZ that he believes his wife wouldn't have even stepped foot inside the Capitol building during the riot a year ago if he had flown to DC with her. He had stayed home in San Diego last January to run their pool maintenance company.

'Nobody's gonna watch over her or watch her back better than I could have.

'We never would have been in the Capitol for one...that never would have happened. I wouldn't have gone in there. That's not my scene,' Aaron said, explaining that he was 'shocked' when he found out about his wife's final moments because they both hate crowds.

Aaron Babbitt believes his wife, Ashli, would have prevented his wife from being killed at the Capitol riot last year as he reflects on the first anniversary of her death (Pictured: Aaron Babbitt, left, with his now-deceased wife Ashli, right)

'We never would have been in the Capitol for one...that never would have happened,' Aaron Babbit told TMZ reflecting on the one year anniversary of his wife's death

Aaron said Ashli decided to go to DC on January 6 while the two were celebrating Christmas in Cabo in 2020. He then discovered that his wife had entered the Capitol and been injured after a friend called to say she saw Ashli possibly hurt on TV.

Describing himself as a 'very vigilant person' he thinks that he would have noticed that 'something wrong was going on around there'' and picked up on signs that the situation was escalating.

'I'm pretty sure I would have been able to pick that up pretty quickly,' Aaron said.

The first anniversary of the Capitol riot passed this Thursday and Aaron said he was happy to see his Ashli's name trending on Twitter.

Although he has become accustomed to death threats and hate mail, Aaron wants to keep Ashli's memory alive.

Ashli's death has been a lightning rod in the debate over the Capitol riot, with Trump's loyalists painting her as a patriotic martyr, and his detractors dismissing her as a conspiracy-spouting extremist.

Babbitt, 36, was fatally shot by Capitol police officer Michael Byrd during the Capitol riot as she tried to climb through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby

Rioters are seen outside the Speaker's Lobby in the seconds after Babbitt was fatally shot

In footage filmed by one of the intruders, Ashli could be seen trying to get through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby when she was shot

Ashli Babbitt flew to DC for the January 6 riot believing Donald Trump's claims that the election had been stolen from him. She died wearing a Trump flag

An Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and previously voted for Barack Obama, Babbitt died wrapped in a flag bearing Trump's name, convinced of his claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Babbitt was among the first of hundreds of people to breach the Capitol building's security, as elected officials barricaded themselves in rooms, cowering from an angry mob.

In footage filmed by one of the intruders, she could be seen trying to get through a broken window into the Speaker's Lobby.

'Go! Come on!' she shouts, encouraging those behind her to hoist her in.

As her head appears through the window, a Capitol police officer fires his weapon, striking Babbitt in the shoulder. She would die from her injuries.

An investigation into Babbitt's death by the US Capitol Police and the United States Department of Justice determined that the shooting was 'lawful and within Department policy.'

But Ashli's mother, Micki Witthoeft, disagrees and said that her daughter was 'murdered' by Byrd, whom she called 'careless and reckless.'

Witthoeft appeared outside the Capitol with controversial Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday, demanding Speaker Nancy Pelosi release surveillance footage from the shooting and calling for 'justice' for those arrested in the riot, whom she called political prisoners.

Ashli Babbitt's mother Micki Witthoeft (right) appeared outside the Capitol with controversial Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on the anniversary of her daughter's death

Ashli Babbitt's mother Micki Witthoeft along with others during a candlelight vigil on the anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot

Michelle Witthoeft speaks at a vigil sponsored by Look Ahead America to protest the treatment of prisoners charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol

'I feel like the Capitol police need to change the way they do things, they operate with impunity, which I did not know until my daughter was publicly executed,' Witthoeft told reporters.

Witthoeft addressed Pelosi, telling the House speaker: 'This is not your playhouse or your private domain.'

'These surveillance cameras were put up to capture what happened that day, the American people have a right to see the 14,000 hours of footage,' she said.

She appeared to be referring to footage provided by Capitol police to two key committees investigating the Capitol assault, The House Administration Committee and the Senate Rules Committee, which has not been made public.

'You're not the queen, Nancy Pelosi. This is America's 14,000 hours of missing footage. We have a right to see it,' said Witthoeft.

Ashli was born in 1985 to a modest Southern California family in the San Diego suburbs, where politics was not particularly important, said Roger Witthoeft, one of her four younger brothers in an interview with AFP.

She enlisted in the Air Force at 17-years-old, straight from school, and did tours of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Witthoeft called on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to release surveillance footage from the shooting

U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd is seen minutes before fatally shooting Babbitt she and other rioters were breaking into the Speaker's Lobby where members of Congress were retreating

Subsequent spells in the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard led to a posting near Washington, as well as two more deployments to the Middle East.

Ashli left the military as a relatively low-ranking senior airman in 2016, several years before she would have become eligible for a pension or other benefits, and she returned to her hometown, not far from the Mexican border.

There, she and her second husband took over a struggling pool maintenance company.

In videos posted to social media, Ashli raged against both the homeless and undocumented migrants, castigating Democratic elected officials for 'refusing to acknowledge or even admit that we do need' a wall on the Mexican border -- Trump's signature campaign pledge.

'The border is an absolute s**t show,' she said. 'There's riots, there's arrests, there's rapes, there's drugs... there are tons of issues.

'I want my politicians to start coming down here and telling me that my reality is a lie. You guys refuse to choose America over your stupid political party.'

She attended Trump rallies wearing the red 'Make America Great Again' hat that symbolized the movement, and presented herself on Twitter as a 'libertarian.'

It was here that she railed against the 'pedophiles' and 'satanists' she believed controlled the Democratic Party.

To her brother, Babbitt was just 'a normal Californian.' 'The issues she was mad about were the things all of us are mad about,' he said.

'That was one of her things -- for the first time in her life, she could actually say what she wanted to say, and didn't have to bottle it up' as she had had to do in the military.

When the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the United States, Ashli embraced the anti-science rhetoric of the hard right.

A sign posted on the door of her company read: 'Mask free autonomous zone, better known as America,' where 'we shake hands like men.'

Antifa demonstrators hold a sign reading 'Ashli Babbitt deserved it' days after her death

A portrait of Ashli Babbitt who was shot dead during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, hangs on a fence on the first anniversary of the event outside the Capitol on Thursday

On January 5, she took to social media again, writing: 'Nothing will stop us...they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon (Washington) DC in less than 24 hours...dark to light!'

The phraseology is common among followers of QAnon, the loose amalgam of conspiracy theories that sees present-day politics as an existential fight between good and evil.

For some fellow travelers, this invocation was enough to earn Babbitt immortality as a woman fighting for the soul of America, a tragic heroine who fell in battle.

Babbitt's mother told The Washington Post her daughter 'made the ultimate sacrifice' to bring attention to what she said was 'a stolen election.'

But she acknowledged that not everyone agrees.

'Half the country loves her and half the country hates her,' she told the paper. 'It's weird to have your child belong to the world.'

Celeste Norris, pictured, revealed Monday how she was rammed and stalked by slain Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt four years before the January 6, 2020, attacks

DailyMail.com first revealed last year how Babbit had harassed, chased and rammed Celeste Norris with her SUV in July of 2016.

At the time, Babbit, then 30, was engaged in an extramarital affair with Norris' then boyfriend of six years, Aaron Babbit - the man Babbit would eventually wed.

Now, however, speaking publicly for the first time since the incident with the Associated Press, jilted lover Norris decided to detail the horrors she faced at the hands of the late Air Force veteran, who has been hailed as a hero by right-wingers for her part in the 2020 attacks.

Norris, 40, told the Press exclusively Monday that her first encounter with Babbitt in 2015 was a rude one, when the future insurrectionist rammed her vehicle three times with an SUV, and proceeded to exit the car and pound on the window of Norris' Ford Explorer, challenging her to a fight.

Norris has revealed exclusive photos of her car after it was repeatedly smashed by Babbitt's SUV in 2016

'She pulls up yelling and screaming,' Norris said in an exclusive interview with The Press, recounting the July 29, 2016, incident, which occurred in Prince Frederick, Maryland.

'It took me a good 30 seconds to figure out who she was.'

Norris added that Babbitt - who was married to another man during the affair - also hit her with a barrage of 'all sorts of expletives, telling me to get out of the car, that she was going to beat my ass.'
The newly elected Manhattan district attorney, who was slammed by the new NYPD commissioner for his woke policies to lighten the punishments for armed robbery and burglary, said he does not understand the criticism.

DA Alvin Bragg defended his policies at Al Sharpton's National Network Rally on Saturday afternoon, which include ditching felony armed robbery charges and instead charging suspects with petty larceny - even when a weapon is involved so long as the firearm did not 'create a genuine risk of physical harm.'

'This is going to make us safer. It's intuitive. It's common sense. I don't understand the pushback,' Bragg said during the rally.

'We said we were going to marry fairness and safety, and we laid out a specific plan...That's what we started to do this week.'

Bragg has faced backlash from newly appointed NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell and police union leaders, who said his policies would endanger the lives of officers and civilians.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg defended his sweeping policy changes during Al Sharpton's National Network Rally on Saturday as he faces criticism from police leaders

Newly appointed NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell was the latest opponent to the policy changes, which she said left officers, businesses and the general public vulnerable to crime

On Monday, Bragg sent out a memo to his staff announcing that drug dealers will not be prosecuted for felony crimes unless they commit other offenses on top of drug dealing, and prison should be a 'last resort' - despite the mounting number of violent crimes being committed on the streets of New York by repeat offenders who have been let out of jail early.

Burglaries will also no longer be prosecuted as such if the person steals from a storage unit or outdoor property that isn't connected to a 'living' dwelling, and quality-of-life crimes such as prostitution, turnstile jumping, weapons possession (of non-firearms) and marijuana possession won't be prosecuted at all.

The DA's office later clarified that it would still prosecute armed robberies involving a gun as a felony.

Bragg insisted his office would treat armed robberies seriously and recounted his own experience with gun crimes to try and prove his dedication.

'I've had a semi-automatic weapon pointed at my head,' Brag told audience members at the Saturday rally.

'I've been shot. And just late last year I had walked to a crime scene with more than 20 shell casings on the ground with my two young children just to get home, so don't tell me about guns. I know about guns, and I know from my work to you all day.'

Bragg's changes also included a statement that he will 'not seek carceral' sentences for criminals, unless they were guilty of murder or a handful of other crimes he deemed serious enough to warrant prison.

The reforms come amid a week where the Big Apple saw more than a 20 per cent spike in crime.

Sewell, the city's first black female commissioner, sent an email to NYPD officers on Friday saying she's concerned about the effects Bragg's sweeping changes.

'I have studied these policies and I am very concerned about the implications to your safety as police officers, the safety of the public and justice for the victims,' Sewell wrote in the email obtained by the New York Post.

Sewell wrote that among her biggest concerns included Bragg's refusal to prosecute resisting arrest charges unless they part of a larger felony case.

She feared the decision would 'invite violence against police officers and will have deleterious effects on our relationship with the communities we protect.'

Sewell said Bragg's sweeping changes would cause harm to local businesses already reeling from the pandemic and would 'invite more open-air drug markets and drug use in Manhattan.'

She added that it would also lead to more gun violence and exacerbate quality of life concerns, which have gone up by 59 per cent since 2019.

'The new charging policies of the Manhattan District Attorney effectively decriminalizes much of the conduct that New Yorkers are asking the police to address,' Sewell wrote.

Sewell said that while she agreed with Bragg's hopes for more criminal justice reform in the Big Apple, she argued that the NYPD was already making headway through its community based policing.

Sewell's criticism comes out of step with new NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who endorsed Bragg and called him 'a great prosecutor.'

ALVIN BRAGG'S MEMO PROMISING NOT TO JAIL CRIMINALS AND ONLY USE PRISON AS A 'LAST RESORT' Advertisement

NYPD unions, New York Republicans and angry residents were left dumbfounded amid growing fears that the crime-ravaged city will experience the same fate as other progressive-run bastions on the West Coast that have been plagued by looting and lawlessness.

'Why doesn't Bragg just give the drug dealers business cards telling everyone they're open for business, what their hours are, and what they charge?' Detectives Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo said in a statement on Wednesday.

'Alvin Bragg's memo to his staff specifying his prosecution policy will result in more crime and increased shootings.

'Where there are drugs, there are guns. D.A. Bragg has made himself the police, the judge and the jury.'

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican mayoral candidate who lost to Adams by a landslide, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday: 'It's an advertisement for criminals. Come to Manhattan.'

In an earlier appearance on Newsmax, Sliwa said it created an 'open season' for criminals and that Adams - who promised to be tough on crime - needed to come down harder on the new DA.

Beware of Eric Adams who says one thing and then immediately embraces the guy who is advertising: 'come to the borough of Manhattan and commit crime. Republican Mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa

'Beware of Eric Adams who says one thing and then immediately embraces the guy who is advertising: 'come to the borough of Manhattan and commit crime.

'It's open season.

'That means smash and grabs, that means shoplifting, armed robbery, somebody can put a gun to your head as a tourist and guess what, he gets a desk appearance ticket.

'Eric Adams can't have it both ways.'

The Police Benevolent Association president Patrick J. Lynch, who leads the nearly 24,000-member union, said that has 'serious concerns' over the new policies.

'Police officers don't want to be sent out to enforce laws that the district attorneys won't prosecute.

'There are already too many people who believe that they can commit crimes, resist arrest, interfere with police officers and face zero consequences.'

The Detectives' Endowment Association released this statement saying he might as well give the criminals business cards

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said he has 'serious concerns'

The union chief said he hoped that Bragg would sit down with the leaders from his union to discuss the changes.

'We must all pull together towards one goal: a safer New York City.'

Business leaders are also worried that these new policies could have detrimental effect on Manhattan's economy.

'New York City's quality of life must remain competitive if we are to lure back office workers and tourists,' Jessica Walker, president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce said. 'The district attorney's stance against prosecuting certain low-level crimes may undermine both the perception and the reality that ours is a safe big city.'

NYGOP Chairman Nick Langworthy called the policy 'pure insanity'.

'I fear for the safety of New York residents, businesses owners and tourists. They tried the same reforms in San Francisco that focused on decarceration and what you see very fast is a descent into a free-for-all.' Richie Greenberg, former mayoral candidate in San Francisco

'This policy is pure insanity by a Soros-funded, woke DA who is opening the door for even more crime and chaos on New York City streets.

'This, on top of Democrats' end to cash bail, will have deadly results and send even more residents, businesses and tourists fleeing.

'This is a damning reminder that elections have consequences,' he told DailyMail.com.

Richie Greenberg, a former mayoral candidate in San Francisco who is now spearheading the effort to remove Chesa Boudin, the city's prosecutor who has abolished cash bail, said he feared for the people of New York.

'I fear for the safety of New York residents, businesses owners and tourists.

'They tried the same reforms in San Francisco that focused on decarceration and what you see very fast is a descent into a free-for-all.'

'Criminals come from all around to prey on businesses and the people of San Francisco,' he said.

'Beware of Eric Adams who says one thing and then immediately embraces the guy who is advertising: 'come to the borough of Manhattan and commit crime' said Adams' former opponent, Curtis Sliwa

Crime in New York City is so bad that the Mayor Eric Adams called 911 himself this week after watching two men brawl in the street

Bragg's memo said he would seek 'alternatives' to jail time for misdemeanors, and that some felonies should be downgraded to misdemeanors so that the suspects who commit them can escape custody.

It was a shock to some of those who voted for Adams on his promise that he would crack down on the city's worsening crime problem.

The new mayor has not commented on the criticism of Bragg's memo.

On Wednesday, Bragg tried to offer reassurances that he would only let non-violent criminals who stole 'toothpaste' or 'bread'.

'We will be tough when we need to be, but we will not be seeking to destroy lives through unnecessary incarceration.

'In practical terms that means: I've prosecuted gun cases and if you use a gun to rob a store, or any armed robbery, you will be prosecuted. I've prosecuted cases involving assaulting law enforcement, and if you punch a police officer, you will be prosecuted.

'But if you are houseless with an addiction problem and you steal toothpaste and some bread, you will be diverted for treatment to help break the cycle of recidivism.'

New Mayor Eric Adams (pictured Tuesday) endorsed Bragg for Manhattan prosecutor and claimed on Monday that his policies would help reduce crime

He did not clarify the extent to which the criminals would be prosecuted, or if he would seek jail term for them.

Some expressed concern over Bragg's ability to unilaterally decide which laws will or will not be enforced. The critics argue prosecutors 'must be allowed discretion,' but not the authority to change entire sections of penal code on their own.

Others allege his apparent looser stance on crime is surprising given he grew up in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood in the 1980s, during an endemic time of 'crack violence' and 'crack turf war-related bloodshed'.

The violence extended beyond drug dealers, with many residents sheltering their children in bathtubs to protect them from stray bullets that would shoot through the walls, the New York Post reported.

Critics contend, given Bragg grew up in that time of violence - which was significantly worse than today's crime levels - that he should want to hold criminals accountable for their actions and protect public order.

New York City is currently experiencing soaring crime rates and an increase in shooting incidents not seen since the mid-2000s

George Soros has funneled millions into the successful campaigns of other progressive district attorneys across the country. He has also been pumping money into a far-left effort to overhaul the criminal justice system which critics say is creating a lawless America

The most recent crime stats put out by the NYPD show that crime continues to tick up in the new year.

Compared to last year major crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery, felony assault and others, have jumped 38 per cent for the week of December 27 to January 2.

There have been fewer murders in that period - five to last year's 10 during the same period - but grand larceny spiked 84 percent, rape is up 35 percent and robber climbed 21 percent.

Crime is only up about two percent compared to two years ago, but 15 percent higher than last decade.

Critics also argue Bragg's policies directly conflict with the views and goals of the newly-elected mayor.

However, Adams endorsed Bragg for Manhattan prosecutor and claimed on Monday that his policies would help reduce crime.

Adams was an attractive choice for many voters because of his repeated promises to crack down on crime and bring back plain clothes units to disband gangs and tackle gun violence.

In July 2021 - before they were elected - Bragg and Adams joined famed civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton at the National Action Network rally in New York.

Adams, at the time, said he saw his role as mayor as making 'Bragg's job boring'.

'Prosecution rates is [sic] tied to my educational failure rates, Adams said, according to NewsOne. 'If I do my job right, then he will have nothing to do in this office.'

Bragg added: 'The state has the power to take away someone's liberty. We are going to use that power judiciously and wisely. We're going to use that for fairness and for safety.'

The first homicide of 2022 in NYC: A woman was stabbed to death near a diner in Astoria, Queens on New Year's Day at 9pm

Famed civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton (left) and Alvin Bragg (right) celebrate a decade of 'PoliticsNation With Al Sharpton' on August 24, 2021 in New York City

Bragg was elected thanks in part to the Color of Change super PAC, a political action committee that received $1million from Democratic super-donor Soros.

Soros has funneled millions into the successful campaigns of other progressive district attorneys across the country.

The billionaire, one of the most prolific Democratic donors, is most known for giving to Presidents Clinton and Obama but he has also been pumping money into a far-left effort to overhaul the criminal justice system which critics say is creating a lawless America.

Among those he backed is Kim Foxx, the State's Attorney for Cook County, Chicago, where murder is at its highest in nearly 30 years.

In 2020, Soros donated $2million to a PAC that backed Foxx in her re-election campaign. She won the race and has since offered deferred prosecutions and softball deals to criminals.

In 2021, there were more murders in Chicago than in any other year since 1994.

There have been more than 1,000 murders in Cook County, Foxx's district, this year.

Soros bolstered her re-election campaign by donating to the Illinois Justice and Public Safety PAC.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, left, was propped up by a PAC that Soros gave $2million to. San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin is pictured, right

The PAC spent over $500,000 on materials to damage one of her challengers. It's a pattern that can be seen in other parts of the country.

He has also donated to PACs that support Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who is being widely condemned for not cracking down on shoplifters and violent criminals.

Soros has also donated to the campaign of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

He donated $1.7million to Krasner's campaign, according to The New York Post.

Soros also donated to Super PACS that prop up Democratic prosecutors and politicians across Republican states.

Republican pundits say he has blood on his hands now for the deaths of innocent people like those killed at the Waukesha Christmas Parade by Darrell Brooks, a career criminal who had been bonded out of jail days earlier for other crimes.

In 2016, Soros pumped $3million into seven local district-attorney campaigns including races in Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.
A group of Resident Assistants has slammed Western Carolina University for being 'hijacked by wokeness' after they were subjected to mandatory racial and gender sensitivity training where they were told not to refer to America as a 'melting pot'.

During the training courses, the RAs were shown a series of slides that told them to avoid using certain phrases while working at the North Carolina school and were shown a 'gender unicorn' to highlight transgender identities.

In one example, they were told to stop referring to America as a 'melting pot' because it emphasized the idea that people should assimilate to the country's 'dominant' culture.

'It really pisses me off how what should be the one of the premier leadership positions on campus, being an RA, has been hijacked by wokeness,' one of the students told Fox News.

'I took the job because I wanted to help people in their college experience, not be told that men and women don't exist and that everyone has their own gender unicorn.'

As part of the training, the group was taught the type of language to avoid using in racially sensitive environments along with a graphic illustrating concepts related to gender identity and expression.

In the presentation, one of the slides discussed language that could be deemed offensive to a person of a different race.

They were told not to use phrases like 'When I look at you I don't see color' and 'Gender (or race) does not affect the way I treat you' because it denied the experiences of people with different identities.

The school also hold segregated RA 'support spaces' - one of which is designated for black, indigenous or people of color, while another is referred to as a 'general' support space.

DailyMail.com reached out to Western Carolina University for comment.

Resident Assistants at Western Carolina University have revealed to have undergone mandatory racial and gender sensitivity training courses

In one of the presentations, the RA's were taught phrases to avoid using to people of different races that could be deemed offensive

They were also briefed on the concepts of gender expression and identity using a 'Gender Unicorn' graphic

As part of the racial discussion in the presentation, one of the black presenters talked about her fear of stopping her car in northern Georgia because of her race.

That led to the topic of post traumatic slave disorder which ties in the concepts of a racial group's past experience with slavery and its relationship to their modern day oppression.

A presentation about gender expression and identity was also given using a 'Gender Unicorn' graphic.

The slide also presented the difference between sex and gender which a presenter claimed did not involve genitals.

The same presenter also made fun of a conservative part of North Carolina and claimed that members of the LGBTQ+ community should feel unsafe there.

Students who work at RAs at the school have since slammed the training courses, with one saying that the gender sensitivity course went against their personal beliefs.

'The Rainbow 101 class goes against my beliefs but I have to be in that class or I could possibly be fired,' the student also told the network. 'I'm not allowed to speak against that.'

This incident is not the first time the institution has received backlash for their 'woke' approach.

WCU students have since spoken out and criticized the 'woke' attitude of the school

In April, the RA's were previously told to avoid using 'Christmas' and 'Easter' in conversation with residents as not everyone celebrated those holidays.

They were also reminded of the 'inclusive' nature of the school throughout the presentation to avoid offending any of the students.

Despite praising them for the statements, WCU is said to have no religious terminology banned from campus.

'This was a conversation among RAs in training and a housing coordinator, who was merely suggesting that we should consider that not everyone observes the same religious holidays, so we need to be inclusive of everyone,' WCU spokesperson Marlon Morgan told Fox News.

'That was all. WCU hasn't banned any religious terminology, and we have no policies to that effect.'

WCU was also revealed to have tampon dispensers installed in the men's restrooms, to be used by transgender student, which were criticized for wasting money and resources.

A student recorded the presence of the dispenser in the restroom and posted it on social media in November.

'I, along with a majority of the student body, feel this is an absolute waste of our resources,' the student told Fox.

'The school shows no initiative in showing how much of our money has been spent on items like this and that bothers me greatly.'

'We feel like the forced need to be so inclusive on campus is getting in the way of real progress that can be made in other areas that can actually have positive change.'
A newly engaged woman was told to 'shut the f**k-up' by a New Yorker after she decided to shout out the good news from an apartment window last week, in a video that has now gone viral.

Bailey Kenworthy, a 24-year-old Texan who was visiting the Big Apple with her fiance, Miguel, 28, filmed herself as she gleefully shared her engagement with the city below.

'I'm engaged, New York!' Kenworthy yelled in the short TikTok clip posted to her account on December 27.

'Shut the f*** up!' a cyclist can be heard yelling below.

'I love it here,' she deadpans to the camera.

The video, which Kenworthy captioned 'The nicest city,' has already gained 2.1 million views and over 362k likes.

'I'm engaged, New York!' Bailey Kenworthy, pictured, yelled in the short TikTok clip posted to her account on December 27

'Shut the f*** up!' a cyclist can be heard yelling below. The 24-year-old Texan's engagement ring, pictured right, which she received while visiting the Big Apple with her fiance, Miguel

Kenworthy, pictured above right after announcing her engagement to the New York City streets below

'I love that my video is blowing up,' Kenworthy told the New York Post.

'I enjoy when others laugh at my jokes.'

Kenworthy, who works as a patient service specialist for the University of Texas Medical Branch's COVID Urgent Care, said her fiance surprised her with the engagement ring just before the New Yorker's candid response.

'He played it off by putting our camera on a bench and was like, "Let's record ourselves posing,"' she said.

'As we're posing, he then did it.'

Many commenters were quick to help the native Texan decipher the New Yorker's rude response.

'That translates to congrats sis,' the official Duolingo account wrote.

Miguel and Bailey, pictured above, after getting engaged in the Big Apple last week

'Recently engaged,' Kenworthy wrote in celebration of her engagement. The newly-engaged couple are already planning for the wedding, which they're targeting for November 2023

'Thats a New Yorker's way of saying congratulations,' another commenter quipped.

Other commenters noted the similarities of Kenworthy's engagement video to the television show 'Friends,' when the character Monica Geller similarly yells to the New York streets below, 'I'm engaged! I'm engaged!'

'Ok Monica,' someone wrote under Kenworthy's viral video.

'This is giving Monica vibes,' another commented.

'Friends is hilarious,' Kenworthy said in response to the similarities.

'I just love it here, it was my whole vibe the entire week we spent in NYC, no matter how non-friendly anyone acted.'

Meanwhile, the newly-engaged couple are already planning for the wedding, which they're targeting for November 2023, COVID-permitting.
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The United States has posted its second-highest daily total for new COVID-19 cases, as one expert predicts some 5 million Americans could call in sick in the coming week in a major disruption to the economy and essential services.

On Friday, the US recorded 900,832 new COVID cases, second only to the more than 1 million cases recorded on Monday. The nation's four highest caseload days since the start of the pandemic were all recorded in the past week.

The average daily case increase over the past seven days has been 664,732, a 64 percent increase from a week ago, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. Deaths ticked up on Friday to 2,615, a 22 percent increase from week-ago levels on a rolling-average basis, but still well below the peak a year ago.

Hospitalizations are rising quickly towards record highs, though new data from New York suggests that many hospital admissions with COVID are now incidental, with patients testing positive for the virus after hospitalization for unrelated complaints.

Most experts believe infections will continue to increase in the US for the next few weeks before the Omicron surge peaks in late January, with Dr. Anthony Fauci saying that the US will likely record more than 1 million cases daily on a regular basis in coming weeks.

'It's still surging upward... I would not be surprised at all if we go over a million cases per day,' Fauci told WNBC-TV on Friday. 'I would hope that by the time we get to the fourth week in January -- end of the third week, beginning of the fourth week  that we will start see this coming down.'

Though Omicron appears less likely to cause severe illness and death than prior strains, the widespread infections could force some five million Americans to stay home from work in the coming days, Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, told the Wall Street Journal.

Illness-related staff shortages have already hobbled a number of industries for weeks, driving more than 1,000 daily flight cancellations for 13 straight days, and the coming surge in COVID sick leave could further hammer businesses that don't allow for remote working.

In Britain, the number of daily cases fell for a third day in a row - a sign the worst of the Omicron wave may be over. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show there were 146,390 new positive tests over the last 24 hours, down 18.5 per cent on the previous week's figure of 179,637.

Experts hope nationwide numbers will continue to follow London's trajectory of rapidly falling cases and now hospitalisations. A similar trend was seen Omicron ground zero South Africa, which saw a sharp peak in cases before infections quickly dropped off.

It marked the biggest week-on-week fall since the start of November, well before the supermutant strain sent cases soaring across the country. But the number of people dying with the virus continued to increase today, with 313 fatalities recorded  up 103 per cent on last week's number.

The surge may be slightly overinflated due to less deaths being recorded on New Year's Day last weekend. Fatalities usually follow trends in case numbers around two weeks later due to the time it takes for the virus to take hold. Covid hospitalizations in Omicron hotspot London fell 31 per cent to 310 on January 6, the latest date regional data is available for.

New York hospitals admit nearly HALF of 'covid' patients were admitted for other reasons Under pressure from Governor Kathy Hochul, hospitals in New York have disclosed that nearly half of their so-called COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized were admitted for other reasons. Of the roughly 11,500 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in the state, COVID was not included as one of the reasons for admission for 43 percent, according to data Hochul released on Friday. In New York City, the rate was even higher, with 51 percent of current COVID patients classified as 'with' COVID, as opposed to 'for' the virus. In patients 'with' COVID, they were hospitalized for unrelated reasons, such as injuries in a car crash, but tested positive for the virus on the routine screening administered to all new patients and were subsequently reclassified as COVID admissions. Advertisement

As infections surge, the nation watches closely for signs of a peak, which still appears to be several weeks out.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecasts that infections will peak in the final days of January, when they predict some 38 million Americans will be actively infected with COVID.

In South Africa, where Omicron was first identified, infections have fallen sharply off their peak in mid-December. In the UK, which is a few weeks ahead of the US in the Omicron surge, infections are still rising despite hopes of a peak in London.

The number of people in the UK hospitalized with COVID-19 rose to 18,454 on Thursday, more than double the figure two weeks earlier.

Meanwhile in the US, the current explosion of Omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the U.S. is already causing a breakdown in basic functions and services.

In New York City, employee shortages are causing delays in trash and subway services, and diminishing the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers.

Airport officials shut have down security checkpoints at the biggest terminal in Phoenix and schools across the nation struggle to find teachers for their classrooms.

'This really does, I think, remind everyone of when COVID-19 first appeared and there were such major disruptions across every part of our normal life,' said Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at the global health nonprofit Project HOPE.

'And the unfortunate reality is, theres no way of predicting what will happen next until we get our vaccination numbers - globally - up.'

First responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have employed an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the public safe, but they are worried how much longer they can keep it up if infections keep rising.

New York City Sanitation Department front-end Loaders wait to to fill a salt spreaders on Friday. Employee shortages are causing delays in trash and subway services in New York, and diminishing the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers

In Kansas' Johnson County, paramedics are working 80 hours a week. Ambulances have frequently been forced to alter their course when the hospitals they're heading to tell them they're too overwhelmed to help, confusing the patients' already anxious family members driving behind them.

When the ambulances arrive at hospitals, some of their emergency patients end up in waiting rooms because there are no beds.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Hospital, said when the leader of a rural hospital had no place to send its dialysis patients this week, the hospital's staff consulted a textbook and 'tried to put in some catheters and figure out how to do it.'

Medical facilities have been hit by a 'double whammy' of rising hospitalizations and staffing shortages, he said.

The number of COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Hospital rose from 40 on December 1 to 139 on Friday. At the same time, more than 900 employees have been sickened with COVID-19 or are awaiting test results - 7 percent of the hospital's 13,500-person workforce.

'What my hope is and what we're going to cross our fingers around is that as it peaks ... maybe itll have the same rapid fall we saw in South Africa,' Stites said, referring to the swiftness with which the number of cases fell in that country. 'We don't know that. That's just hope.'

In downtown Boise, Idaho, customers were queued up outside a pharmacy before it opened Friday morning and before long, the line wound throughout the large drugstore. Pharmacies have been slammed by staffing shortages, either because employees are out sick or have left altogether.

Pharmacy technician Anecia Mascorro said that prior to the pandemic, the Sav-On Pharmacy where she works always had prescriptions ready for the next day. Now, it's taking a lot longer to fill the hundreds of orders that are pouring in.

'The demand is crazy - everybodys not getting their scripts fast enough so they keep transferring to us,' Mascorro said.

In Los Angeles, more than 800 police and fire personnel were sidelined because of the virus as of Thursday, causing slightly longer ambulance and fire response times.

In New York City, officials have had to delay or scale back trash and subway services because of a virus-fueled staffing hemorrhage.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said about one-fifth of subway operators and conductors - 1,300 people - have been absent in recent days. Almost one-fourth of the city sanitation department's workers were out sick Thursday, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson said.

'Everybody's working round the clock, 12-hour shifts,' Grayson said.

The city's fire department also has adjusted for higher absences. Officials said Thursday that 28% of EMS workers were out sick, compared with about 8% to 10% on a normal day. Twice as many firefighters as usual were also absent.

In contrast, the police department saw its sick rate fall over the past week, officials said.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two checkpoints at the airport's busiest terminal were shut down because not enough Transportation Security Administration agents showed up for work, according to statements from airport and TSA officials.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (seen last month), two checkpoints at the airport's busiest terminal were shut down because not enough Transportation Security Administration agents showed up for work

Meanwhile, schools from coast to coast tried to maintain in-person instruction despite massive teacher absences.

In Chicago, a tense standoff between the school district and teachers union over remote learning and COVID-19 safety protocols led to classes being canceled over the past three days.

In San Francisco, nearly 900 educators and aides called in sick Thursday.

In Hawaii, where public schools are under one statewide district, 1,600 teachers and staff were absent Wednesday because of illness or pre-arranged vacation or leave.

The state's teachers union criticized education officials for not better preparing for the ensuing void. Osa Tui Jr., head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said counselors and security guards were being pulled to go 'babysit a classroom.'

'That is very inappropriate,' Tui said at a news conference. 'To have this model where there are so many teachers out and for the department to say, `Send your kid to a classroom that doesnt have a teacher, whats the point of that?'

In New Haven, Connecticut, where hundreds of teachers have been out each day this week, administrators have helped to cover classrooms.

Some teachers say they appreciate that, but that it can be confusing for students, adding to the physical and mental stress they're already feeling because of the pandemic.

'We've already been tested so much. How much can the rubber band stretch here?' asked Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers.

Teacher Stuart Abram holds a sign in support of the Chicago Teachers Union walkout before a CTU caravan Wednesday, the first day that classes were canceled amid the union dispute over COVID-19 safety measures

On Friday, the Supreme Courts conservative majority appeared skeptical of the Biden administration's authority to impose a vaccine-or-testing requirement on the nation's large employers.

The court seemed more open to a separate vaccine mandate for most health care workers.

For the first time in the pandemic, seven Supreme Court justices decided to wear masks while hearing arguments, a nod to the soaring case levels in the Omicron surge.

An eighth justice, Sonia Sotomayor, a diabetic since childhood, didn't even appear in the courtroom, choosing to remain in her office at the court and take part remotely.

Two lawyers, representing Ohio and Louisiana, argued by telephone after recent positive COVID-19 tests, state officials said.

But the COVID circumstances did not appear to outweigh the views of the courts six conservatives that the administration overstepped its authority in its vaccine-or-testing requirement for businesses with at least 100 employees.

'This is something the federal government has never done before,' Chief Justice John Roberts said, casting doubt on the administration's argument that a half-century-established law, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, confers such broad authority.

Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett probably hold the key to the outcome in both cases, as they have been more receptive to state-level vaccine requirements than the other three conservative justices.

Barrett and Kavanaugh also had tough questions for Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer.
Footage captured the moment a police drone found an elderly man as he huddled in a bush for warmth after going missing from a hospital.

The pensioner had been missing for around six hours near Chestferfield on December 1 when police deployed a drone to find him, amid serious concerns for his welfare as temperatures plummeted.

He had been at Chesterfield Royal Hospital in Calow being treated for an infection when he left the site confused at around 11.10pm.

The man in his eighties was clad only in a thin jacket, jumper, and trousers in the 2C (35.6F) temperatures and was 'freezing' and 'unwell' when he was found in a ditch north of the hospital.

The drone footage showed the man cowering in a bush in Derbyshire after being missing for six hours

Medical staff later said he would have likely died from hypothermia if he had not been found by the drone.

After being called by the hospital at 11.30pm, the police launched a wide search, including the use of a drone, to find the man - acting on a tip which said he had been spotted in Birmington.

The police had all but given up hope of finding the missing man on their own when Sergeant Kev Harrell made the decision to fly the drone to the south of the hospital.

Sgt Harrell said: 'My heart skipped a beat when I located a heat source in a field -- a heat source of a person - in a ditch behind some houses.

The drone was on low battery when the man's heat signature was found to the south of the hospital

Sgt Harrell guided officers to find the man in his 80s in the nick of time as he was 'freezing'

Police attended the scene and rescued the man who 'would've died' of hypothermia if not found

'I guided local officers in with the aid of the floodlight on the drone and it was great news. The heat source was the missing man we had been looking for.

'It was a great effort from all involved and just goes to show the importance of having a drone readily available for deployment, and the fact that it saves lives.'

The man's relatives, were incredibly relieved and thankful to officers for their efforts, with his daughter noting adding: 'That night, officers did a brilliant job, working tirelessly to find my dad and ensure that he was safe.

'People need to know about this, as without the police and their ability to access a drone the outcome could have been so different.

'Offering my gratitude and sharing this story is the least I can do after you have saved his life, thank you so much.'

The man has now made a full recovery from his illness and is back at home.
Under pressure from Governor Kathy Hochul, hospitals in New York have disclosed that nearly half of their so-called COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized were admitted for other reasons.

Of the roughly 11,500 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in the state, COVID was not included as one of the reasons for admission for 43 percent, according to data Hochul released on Friday.

In New York City, the rate was even higher, with 51 percent of current COVID patients classified as 'with' COVID, as opposed to 'for' the virus.

In patients 'with' COVID, they were hospitalized for unrelated reasons, such as injuries in a car crash, but tested positive for the virus on the routine screening administered to all new patients and were subsequently reclassified as COVID admissions.

On Friday, for the second consecutive day, New York State saw its highest death toll from COVID-19 since the beginning of vaccinations and while things aren't as dire as during the pandemic's peak, cases continue to go up.

The state recorded 82,094 new cases of coronavirus and 155 new deaths due to COVID. New York City alone is responsible for 32,799 cases and 586 new hospitalizations. Cases are about six times as high among the unvaccinated as they are among those who've gotten the shot.

Researchers at Washington University modelling the next stage of the pandemic expect Omicron to kill up to 99 per cent fewer people than Delta, as scientists say that the variant is less deadlier than the flu.

Hospitals in New York have disclosed that nearly half of their so-called COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized were admitted for other reasons

New York Governor Kathy Hochul this week ordered hospitals to begin revealing the distinction, which earned her praise for the increased transparency

Hochul explained at a press conference on Friday that the state has seen a sharp increase in covid hospitalizations during the Omicron surge, but she wanted to know whether severe infections were actually driving the surge.

'This has troubled me, what do those numbers actually mean?,' she said. 'Who is being admitted for covid purposes that they're sick enough to have to be hospitalized for covid, it's that severe, versus people who are admitted to hospital...who are in there for other reasons?'

'Think of all the other reasons people end up in a hospital. It's an overdose, it's a car accident, it's a heart attack,' Hochul said.

Hochul issued her order to change the reporting methods for covid hospitalizations on Monday, but did not get the first breakdown until Friday.

The governor explained that she was prompted to investigate the issue after noticing that the number of people hospitalized for any reason had remained roughly steady since December 21, even while the share of new admissions testing positive for COVID surged from 16 to 42 percent.

Hospitalizations classified as COVID have been rising sharply in New York, but the new data sheds more light on how many are actually due to the virus

Hochul said she was prompted to investigate after noticing that total hospitalizations (above) were remaining fairly steady, even as a greater share were classified as COVID

Disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo never revealed this key distinction in the earlier phases of the pandemic, and Hochul, a Democrat, won praise even from conservatives for shedding light on the issue.

'The breakdown should go a long way to calming needless fears, since getting hit so hard by the virus that you need hospital care is the main worry for most of us,' wrote the New York Post editorial board.

'What a change from her predecessor, who actively concealed information at the height of the pandemic,' the editorial added.

Worth noting, the figures released on Friday only relate to current hospitalizations -- they are not a breakdown of reasons for admission throughout the pandemic.

It is possible that the Omicron variant, which is highly contagious but appears much milder than earlier strains, is more likely to cause a larger number of incidental hospitalizations 'with' COVID.

A regional breakdown shows that New York City has the greatest percentage of incidental COVID hospitalizations, but the reason for the regional difference is unclear

A patient is brought to a hospital emergency entrance, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Manhattan on January 5, 2022

An recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that in July and August, when the Delta strain was dominant, about 78 percent of children and adolescents hospitalized with COVID were admitted for acute symptoms of the disease.

Only 20 percent had 'incidental' infections on admission for other reasons, while the remaining 2 percent had had multisystem inflammatory syndrome", a rare COVID-related condition.

But New York City health officials have never revealed this distinction in their own data, and were forced to address the issue after Hochul issued her demand for the statistics earlier this week.

'As you would expect because there's so much community transmission, we've had people [in] car accidents COVID positive, coming to deliver a baby, COVID positive,' said Dr. Mitchell Katz, the CEO of the city's public hospital system, at a press conference on Thursday.

'Absolutely, there are people as part of those hospital statistics who are COVID cases.'
This is the moment a BBC journalist is hit in the face by a sudden snow drift as she tries to do a piece to camera.

Reporter Laura Trevelyan was caught by the swift blizzard as it blew across her in Washington DC on January 6.

The cameraman roared with laughter while the Beeb star was forced to duck out of view to cover her mouth and eyes.

The British-born journalist had been in the city to do a piece on the first anniversary of the Capitol riot.

The day marked a year since supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol building to try to overrule the 2020 election result.

Ms Trevelyan began the piece in Washington DC with the Capitol in the background before being slapped in the face by the icy blast

Ms Trevelyan started her piece with a background on the shocking events of a year ago - unaware of the snow drift sweeping in.

She makes it 20 seconds into her script before she is blow off course by a huge flurry of snow that smacks her in the face.

A cameraman can be heard laughing loudly while the journalist ducks away from the onslaught.



The thick flurry obscured the view of the Capitol and left Ms Trevelyan covered in snow

She says 'oh God' to her camera operator before leaving the shot in order to find cover.

The BBC reporter posted the footage to her 11,700 Twitter followers and poked fun at her misfortune.

The footage has been viewed over 100,000 times on the social media website.

Ms Trevelyan is one of BBC's foremost US reporters, having been the Corporation's United Nations correspondent between 2006 and 2009.

She became a US citizen in 2016, a day after the presidential race was called for Donald Trump.
Stephens and Thomas were found guilty after trial and Wedlock pleaded guilty

Judge described the way they treated their vulnerable victims as 'abhorrent'

They made 'callous' comments to residents at Gower Lodge in Swansea, Wales

Three care home workers have been jailed for a total of 34 months for ill-treating vulnerable residents by verbally abusing them and making 'crude' comments.

Douglas Stephens, Anthony Thomas and David Wedlake made 'callous' comments and were verbally abusive to the victims, who lived at Gower Lodge residential home in Swansea, south Wales.

A judge told the three men that the way they had treated their victims, all of whom had complex behavioural and emotional issues, was 'abhorrent'.

The abuse, which happened between 2015 and 2017, included residents being targeted by verbal abuse, 'crude' comments and racial slurs, Swansea Crown Court heard.

Their behaviour only came to light when a former member of staff raised concerns, with the judge saying there was a culture at the care home where a blind eye was effectively turned to the way residents were being ill-treated.

Stephens and Thomas were both found guilty after a trial, while Wedlake pleaded guilty to the offences.

Douglas Stephens (pictured), Anthony Thomas and David Wedlake have been jailed for a total of 34 months for ill-treating vulnerable residents by verbally abusing them

Gower Lodge, which was run by TracsCare - which has re-branded as Accomplish, was a residential home for adults with a range of learning difficulties, complex behavioural issues, and mental health conditions who needed one-to-one care.

The judge praised the courage of whistle-blowers who came forward with damning testimony about what was going on, after a former member of staff raised concerns about what she had seen and heard.

The three men were initially investigated by the care company before the police were alerted, the court was told.

Stephens and Thomas had previously been convicted of ill-treating a person, while Wedlake had previously pleaded guilty to the same offence when they appeared in the dock for sentencing.

Stephens, from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, was verbally abusive to residents and made 'crude' and sexual comments towards women, the court heard.

On one occasion, the 41-year-old dragged a woman off a sofa by her hair before kneeling on her stomach and banging her head on the floor a number of times, the court heard.

The abuse, which happened between 2015 and 2017, included residents being targeted by 'crude' comments, Swansea Crown Court heard. Pictured: Anthony Thomas

Thomas, 65, from Sketty, Swansea, was also verbally abusive towards the vulnerable residents and, on one occasion, dragged a woman out of the home's lounge area by her hair.

Meanwhile, Wedlake, 38, who was a shift leader at the home, made 'callous' comments to a distressed resident who was suicidal, the court was told.

Wedlake, from Manselton, Swansea, told the resident he would give her 'a f*****g rope' and when the victim accused him of not caring, he said: 'I don't get paid to care'.

His offending was recorded on a mobile phone by a colleague, who would later become a whistle-blower.

During the trial, it was acknowledged that residents' behaviour could be 'challenging' at times, and that staff used a system called Studio III.

The technique said residents should be managed through distraction and deescalation techniques, with physical intervention only being used as a last resort.

Nicola Powell, for Stephens, said a term of immediate custody would have an 'immense' impact on the members of his family.

She said that said while the defendant maintained the position he held at trial, he respected the trial process.

John Hipkin QC, for Thomas, said his client maintained the position he held at trial but had accepted the verdicts of the jury without complaint.

A judge told the three men that the way they had treated their victims, all of whom lived at Gower Lodge (pictured) residential home in Swansea, south Wales, was 'abhorrent'

He said that at the age of 65, Thomas's working life was over and his conviction had been a 'fall from grace' for a man who was the 'pillar' of his family.

James Hartson, for Wedlake, said the defendant described how he spoke to the resident as 'unacceptable, inexcusable, and unprofessional'.

Judge Geraint Walters told the defendants that the residents in their care had been among the most vulnerable in society, and the way they had been treated was 'abhorrent'.

After hearing evidence at trial, he said he had come to the view that there was a culture in the home at the time where staff could almost act with impunity while others who were part of the 'clique' effectively turned a blind eye.

The judge said it was credit to the home's owners that when the allegations came to light they conducted their own enquiries - suspending seven members of staff as part of the investigation - before handing the matter over to the police.

Judge Walters also commended the whistleblowers who came forward to give evidence for their courage, saying they had 'given voice to those who have no voice'.

Both Douglas and Thomas were each sentenced to 15 months in prison, while Wedlake was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison.

The defendants will serve up to half of their sentences in custody, before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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The French government has confirmed that some of the draconian restrictions imposed on British travellers are set to be eased as anti-lockdown protests erupt in Europe for another weekend.

Members of the French ministerial cabinet agreed to lift certain travel rules designed to prevent Brits from travelling into the country earlier this week as Omicron tightened its grip on France with over 330,000 new Covid cases recorded.

Gabriel Attal, spokesperson for the French Government, confirmed that the list of reasons for which UK travellers would be permitted entry into France would be expanded to now also allow in-person work to be completed in the country.

Attal admitted it would now be 'a bit easier' to enter France for essential work reasons, after the 'list of compelling reasons, notably professional,' was widened. It is not clear how this new announcement might affect trips for leisure or tourism.

Reports from French media suggest that while restrictions are only understood to be loosening for businesses at present, the easing of restrictions for travellers and tourists is expected to follow shortly after.

Despite some optimistic developments from the continent, fresh anti-lockdown protests occurred in countries across the EU on Saturday.

In Austria, riot police watched on as hundreds of furious demonstrators were pictured marching through the streets of Vienna in protest at the nation's Covid curbs.

Marches were also seen in Paris and Magdeburg, Germany, as thousands joined together in protest against what are perceived to be excessively strict restrictions and mandatory vaccinations.

FRANCE: Protestors also gathered in large crowds in Paris on Saturday, January 8, to demand an end to the nation's mandatory vaccine pass for social settings

FRANCE: Flares, flags and signs were all used by the maskless protestors in Paris on Saturday, January 8, as they marched against vaccines

AUSTRIA: Riot police watched on as large crowds, of largely unmasked protestors, gathered in Vienna on Saturday to demonstrate against Covid curbs

AUSTRIA: A column of anti-riot police grapple with protestors in Vienna as the crowd's demonstrations against Covid curbs turned ugly

GERMANY: Thousands of demonstrators gather in Magdeburg, central Germany to protest against new German government measures designed to curb the spread of Covid

GERMANY: Riot officers use spray to push back against an advancing line of protestors during a huge demonstration in Magdeburg, Germany on Saturday January 8

A masked protestor raises his fist alongside others as hundreds are seen marching against Covid restrictions in Vienna on Saturday, January 8

A furious woman shouts as she gestures at riot police in Vienna, Austria on Saturday, January 8

Thousands of Germans, baring banners and holding flags, gathered in Magdeburg, Germany on Saturday January 8

From December 18, British holidaymakers were subject to a raft of new restrictions that prevented them from making the trip across the English Channel.

The travel constraints, which barred all Brits from any non-essential travel into France, included stopping legal French residents at the border, as Macron's government singled out the UK amid claims the ban was designed to slow the arrival of the super-mutant Omicron variant.

And while England's Covid cases appear to be plateauing since the turn of the new year, France recorded more than 332,000 fresh infections in the country on Wednesday - a new high mark since the pandemic began.

The French President faced stinging criticism from travel experts when the ban was instigated, who immediately pointed out that Omicron was already prevalent in the country and made up a higher proportion of French cases according to data at that time.

In Austria, riot police watched on as hundreds of furious demonstrators were pictured marching through the streets of Vienna in protest at the nation's Covid curbs

People holding placards gathered at Heldenplatz to protest the government's Covid-19 measures in Vienna, Austria

One person held up a placard which read: 'No green pass'. Security forces intervened in some protesters during the demonstration

Thousands of people gathered in Vienna to protest against the Austrian government's Covid-19 measures

French President Emmanuel Macron faced stinging criticism from travel experts when the UK travel ban was instigated, who immediately pointed out that Omicron was already prevalent in the country and made up a higher proportion of French cases according to data at that time

Gabriel Attal, spokesperson for the French Government, confirmed that the list of reasons for which UK travellers would be permitted entry into France would be expanded. Pictured right: An empty freight and passenger departure area is pictured in Dover on December 30 after France's 'travel ban on Brits' came into force

While England's Covid cases appear to be plateauing since the turn of the new year, France recorded more than 332,000 fresh infections in the country on Wednesday - a new high mark since the pandemic began

German riot officers were pictured clashing with protestors in Magdeburg during a demonstration against new government measures to curb the spread of Covid

Demonstrators, in opposition to vaccine pass and vaccinations to protect against COVID-19 shout slogans during a rally in Paris, France, Saturday, January 8, 2022

Anti-vax protestors pictured in Paris wave flags, hold up placards and chant as they marched through the French capital on Saturday January 8

Italian State Police face demonstrators during a protest against the mandatory EU Digital COVID Certificate

Italian riot police stand in front of demonstrators, during a protest against mandatory vaccinations for people over 50 and stricter rules for the unvaccinated who, under the new regulations, will not be able to do a variety of activities including using public transport and sitting at restaurants, in Turin, Italy

A demonstrator holds a sign that reads 'Enough with the political persecution of health dissidents', during the protest in Turin

Senior industry figures across the Channel also warned that several holiday and ski resorts faced the prospect of economic 'catastrophe' this month unless the ban is lifted.

MailOnline understands the decision to came in the days leading up to France's recent Omicron surge, where cases now stand higher than those seen in Britain.

Currently, the sole reasons accepted for UK-based travel into France include for 'urgent' family matters or to travel back to main residence in Great Britain through the country.

Non-EU citizens are still banned from travelling for tourism or leisure, and proof of a negative Covid-19 pre-departure test is still required.

All travellers from the UK - including the fully vaccinated - are required to immediately quarantine upon their arrival into France, but their mandatory self-isolation period can end after two days if they provide a negative PCR test.

It comes as French President Emmanuel Macron admitted he planned to 'pi** off' unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting jabbed.

'By  and I'm sorry for putting it this way  by p***ing them off even more,' he said on Tuesday.

Macron, 44, made the cutting remark while responding to a nurse during a question and answer session with readers of Le Parisien on how the government will handle non-vaccinated people.

The phrase prompted howls of condemnation from rivals and forced parliament to suspend a debate on a Covid-19 bill today as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from Macron.

He added: 'I'm generally opposed to the French being p****d off. I complain all the time about administrative blockages.

'But when it comes to the non-vaccinated, I'm very keen to pi** them off. So we're going to do it, the end. That's our strategy.'

The French government has confirmed some of the draconian restrictions that barred British travellers from legally entering France are set to be eased later this month

Germany's new Health Minister Karl Lauterbach warned the country must revamp its vaccination strategy to tackle the Omicron variant and to ensure it can develop a new vaccine rapidly if it faces a more deadly coronavirus strain in future

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer tested positive for Covid-19 this week and vowed to do everything possible to prevent another nationwide lockdown

Meanwhile, Germans were warned the country must revamp its vaccination strategy to tackle the Omicron variant and to ensure it can develop a new vaccine rapidly if it faces a more deadly coronavirus variant in the future, Germany's new Health Minister warned.

Karl Lauterbach, who was appointed health minister last month, made his comments in an advanced release of an interview to be published in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.

'If we get a variant that is as contagious as Omicron, but significantly more deadly, we should be able to develop and produce a new vaccine in a very short time,' Lauterbach said.

The government is planning to put a permanent system in place to purchase and provide shots rapidly at any given time because there could be serious new outbreaks, he said.

'We must not fall into the naive assumption that it (the pandemic) will be over soon. It's not over,' he said.

Germany closed large vaccination centres in several states last summer when demand for COVID-19 shots briefly declined to a trickle before picking up again.

The Omicron variant now accounts for 44% of coronavirus infections in Germany, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious disease said.

On Saturday, the RKI counted 55,889 newly reported corona infections within 24 hours, more than double the number a week earlier.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and regional leaders tightened the rules for restaurant and bar visits on Friday as part of efforts to encourage more people to get a third vaccination, or booster shot, but shortened quarantine periods.

The Bundestag lower house of parliament will also soon discuss a draft bill for a general vaccination mandate.

On Saturday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer confirmed he was well and had no COVID-19 symptoms after testing positive for Covid this week, vowing to do everything possible to prevent another nationwide lockdown.

Nehammer, a conservative who has received three vaccine shots, has been conducting official business from home via video and telephone conferences since he tested positive.

'Thanks to the vaccine, thank goodness, I'm doing well,' he told Austrian radio in an interview. 'I don't have any symptoms.'

'The studies verify that with the Omicron variant, three vaccination doses give particular protection. That's been my experience too,' said Nehammer, who will not attend any public appointments in the next few days.

He was apparently infected on Wednesday following contact with a member of his security team who tested positive on Thursday, the chancellery said on Friday.

Nehammer, 49, announced new measures this week to curb the spread of the coronavirus and pressed on with plans to make vaccination mandatory from next month.

'The priority now is using the strongest possible protection measures for everyone to try to prevent a new lockdown. Because a lockdown is very burdensome for people,' he said on Saturday.

Austria's interior ministry registered 7,405 new coronavirus cases on Saturday. Since the start of the pandemic, 13,844 people have died in the country after contracting the virus.
The orphaned six-week-old baby boy whose sheriff's deputy parents killed themselves last week will be adopted by a 'close relative', a family member has said.

The family's heartbreaking chain of events began New Year's Eve, when Florida cop Clayton Osteen attempted suicide shortly before midnight. The 24-year-old died two days later in hospital.

His girlfriend Victoria Pacheco, 23, took her own life within days. The couple, both deputies at the St. Lucie Sheriff's office, left behind an infant son called Jayce, who was born on November 22.

The baby is now being cared for by Osteen's brother, however it is unclear whether he is the adoptive parent.

It's unclear what the motive behing the suicides is.

The organizer of a fundraising page, Kelly Ridle, a friend of Osteen, shared the news of the baby's adoption on the page.

'The families of Clayton and Victoria are so grateful for all prayers and support received,' Ridle said on the page. 'All donations will be used for enriching Jayces life experiences and securing a brighter future.'

Baby Jayce Osteen is being adopted by a 'close relative' after his parents took their lives earlier this week

The infant's parents Clayton Osteen (left) and Victoria Pacheco (right) killed themselves earlier this week as Osteen attempted suicide on December 31 and was taken off life support by his family two days later. Pacheco took her own life on January 4

A GoFundMe page was organized for the orphaned infant by Osteen's friend Kelly Ridle who announced the baby's adoption

Donations and tributes have since poured in from friends and family members as well as other members of the community to help support the newly orphaned baby.

Pacheco's granmother, Bernice Bartolini, likened the double tragedy to a 'Romeo and Juliet'-type story and said the couple is now 'together forever.'

'My heart is so sad I thought I was hurting before I lost my beautiful granddaughter,' Tragic Romeo and Juliet story. They are now together forever,' she wrote in a Facebook post.

'This loss is so painful ... Victoria and I were very close when I lived in Florida, she was there for me. I wish I could have been there for her. My insides are being torn apart, my heart hurts so bad.'

Sheriff Ken J. Mascara revealed the death of the baby's parents in a post on Tuesday and offered his condolences on behalf of the department.

'Today, the members of the St. Lucie County Sheriffs Office carry the burden of a very heavy heart as we share with you the tragic passing of two of our deputies: Deputy Clayton Osteen and Deputy Victoria Pacheco,' the statement read.

'Words cannot express the tremendous loss we all feel after losing these two members of our Sheriffs Office family,' he added.

In the statement, Mascara also noted the importance of mental health.

'While it is impossible for us to fully comprehend the private circumstances leading up to this devastating loss, we pray that this tragedy becomes a catalyst for change, a catalyst to help ease the stigma surrounding mental well-being and normalize the conversation about the challenges so many of us face on a regular basis.'

A statement from the St Lucie County Sheriff Department announced the couple's deaths

The pair had worked at the department for over a year together with Osteen starting in 2019 and Pacheco in 2020

Baby Jayce was born on November 22 and was only six weeks old at the time of his parent's death

Obituaries have since been released for the couple in memory of the pair who worked over a year together at the St. Lucie County Sheriffs Office.

Osteen was remembered as a 'father, partner, son, brother, and friend to so many' and was a member of the department since 2019 where he became a SWAT team member, Deputy of the Quarter, and was awarded Deputy of the Year in 2020.

He had also served as a non-commissioned officer during his service for the United States Marine Corp.

Pacheco was described as a 'mother, partner, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt and friend to so many' who had joined the department a year after her partner in 2020.

Besides her contributions to the department, she was also described as adventurous and artistic with interests such as horseback riding, surfing, sky diving as well as swimming with sharks.

The pair will be laid to rest at the Haisley Funeral Home on Saturday.

Osteen had served as a non-commissioned officer during his service for the United States Marine Corp
The family of Hollywood trailblazer Sidney Poitier paid tribute to the late star, calling him a 'guiding light' for their family as Denzel Washington and other actors also cited the Oscar winner as a source of inspiration.

In a statement about Poitier, who died on Thursday night in his Los Angeles home at age 94, his children said they were 'so grateful he was able to spend his last day surrounded by his family and friends.'

'To us Sidney Poitier was not only a brilliant actor, activist, and a man of incredible grace and moral fortitude, he was also a devoted and loving husband, a supportive and adoring father, and a man who always put family first,' the statement read.

'He is our guiding light who lit up our lives with infinite love and wonder. His smile was healing, his hugs the warmest refuge, and his laughter was infectious.'

The family of the late Sidney Poitier (pictured during his birthday in 2019) said they were mourning the loss of the Hollywood trailblazer who served as a 'guiding light'

In the last known photo of him, Poitier is seen left in February 2021 celebrating his 94th birthday with his daughter. Right, he is at his 92nd birthday in 2019

Poitier died at 94 inside his Los Angeles home on Thursday night. His pictured with daughters Anika and Sydney in 2016

Poitner, the first black man to win an Oscar for best actor, is picture with (L-R) daughter Anikia, wife Joanna Shimkus and daughters Sydney

Sidney Poitier was survived by his wife, six daughters, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He is pictured at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscars Party with one of his daughters

The family added that they were currently experiencing a 'deep sense of loss and sadness' over Poitier's passing, which was confirmed by the Bahama's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fred Mitchell, on Friday morning. The cause of death is not yet known.

Poitier is survived by his wife, Joanna Shimkus, six daughters, eight grand children and a handful of great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Gina, who died in 2018.

'Although he is no longer here with us in this realm, his beautiful soul will continue to guide and inspire us,' his family said.

'He will live on in us, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren  in every belly laugh, every curious inquiry, every act of compassion and kindness.

'His legacy will live on in the world, continuing to inspire not only with his incredible body of work, but even more so with his humanity.

'We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to every single one of you for the outpouring of love from around the world. So many have been touched by our dad's extraordinary life, his unwavering sense of decency and respect for his fellow man. His faith in humanity never faltered, so know that for all the love you've shown him, he loved you back,' the statement concludes.

Sidney Poitier was married to Joanna Shimkus, who he had six daughters with

Poitner is picture with (L-R) daughters Anikia and Sydney and wife Joanna Shimkus during the 12th annnual Carousel of Hope Ball in Beverley Hills in 2000

The family attended the event again in 2004 as Poitier stayed close with his children

His daughters said the late actor would remain as a constant source of inspiration for their family and others. Members of the Poitier family are pictured in 1982 at their NYC home

Sidney Poitier's daughter, Ainika, shared photos of her dad raising her and her sister, Sidney

Sidney Poitier and his six daughters in an undated photo from Arizona State University

Washington was also the latest in A-List stars to pay tribute to the late actor, who was the first black man to win a best actor Oscar in 1964, paving the way for Washington to nab his own Oscar in 2002.

'It was a privilege to call Sidney Poitier my friend. He was a gentle man and opened doors for all of us that had been closed for years. God bless him and his family.'

During his historic 2002 win, Washington dedicated the opening of his speech to Poitier, who he said guided his career as an actor.

'Forty years I've been chasing Sidney [Poitier], they finally give it to me, what'd they do? They give it to him the same night,' he joked.

'I'll always be chasing you, Sidney. I'll always be following in your footsteps. There's nothing I would rather do, sir. Nothing I would rather do. God bless you.'

Among the many awards and recognition Poitier received throughout his lifetime, he was granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in 2009.

Denzel Washington (left) paid tribute to Poitier, who paved the way for his 2002 Oscar win. Washington was second black man to win the award for best actor since Poitier in 1964

Poitier broke racial barriers in 1964 when he took home the best actor Oscar for his leading role in the 1964 film, Lillie's of the Field

Actor Sidney Poitier receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in 2009

Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, Anika Noni Rose and many more lead tributes on Friday.

Berry, 55, was the first black actress to win the best actress Oscar in 2002 as she posted a touching tribute to the star on Instagram with a snap of the talented thespians together.

She wrote: ''A tiny bit of myself is lost when my friends are gone,' Sidney Poitier wrote in his book LIFE BEYOND MEASURE. My dear Sidney, an enormous part of my soul weeps at your passing.

'In your ninety-four years on this planet, you left an indelible mark with your extraordinary talent, paving the way for Black people to be seen and heard in the fullness of who we are. You were an iconic trailblazer; yours was a life well lived.'

Berry continued by talking about growing up admiring him and what a thrill it was when they finally met.

'You are and always will be the true measure of a man': Berry, 55, was the first black actress to win the best actress Oscar in 2002 as she posted a touching tribute to the star on Instagram with a snap of the talented thespians together

She wrote: 'I grew up idolizing you and will always remember the day when I first met you. It is the only time in my life when I've been rendered speechless! There I sat, with my words glued together, and you were as gracious and charming then as you would be during our decades of friendship to follow.

'Rest in peace, beloved Sidney. You are and always will be the true measure of a man.'

Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Jeffrey Wright was one of the first stars to react, tweeting: 'Sidney Poitier. What a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man. RIP, Sir. With love.'

Oscar-winner Whoopi Goldberg tweeted a touching message, reciting the lyrics to the theme song from Poitier's 1967 film To Sir, with Love.

'If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters that would soar a thousand feet high.. To Sir with Love,' she wrote, adding: 'Sir Sidney Poitier R.I.P. He showed us how to reach for the stars.'
The 21-strong gang based in Derby ran drug smuggling ring from Dubai to Britain

A gang who masterminded the import of over 165 million worth of cocaine into the country have been jailed for a total of 167 years.

The 21-strong group was a complex network of well-rehearsed individuals shifting illegal drugs on an 'industrial scale'.

Leading members of the gang would travel out to Dubai to meet their cocaine contact who they bragged was on a 'mill a week.'

But the smooth-running operation fell apart when European Police broke into the Encrochat phone system - an encoded system used by criminals - giving British police evidence to arrest the gang.

An investigation by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit found the gang was being led by Paldip Mahngar, 45, out of his small terraced house in Derby.

A 21-strong gang led by Paldip Mahngar, 45, out of a house in Derby imported over 165 million worth of cocaine into the UK from Dubai using the encoded Encrochat phone system. They have now been jailed for a total of 167 years

Over the 408-day spree, the gang is estimated to have made a staggering 165,208,208 - at one point, they were thought to be raking in as much as 400,000 a day through their 'offices' in Derby and Luton

Mahngar was using an encrypted phone with the Encrochat system to order numerous kilograms of cocaine from contacts in Dubai - Jaswant Kajla was then responsible for distributing the drugs across the country.

Kajla, 41, of Coventry, organised the logistics of moving the drugs and arranged for the gang's earnings to be collected.

He ensured that the distributors were all rehearsed, acting as couriers to distribute their illicit drugs to buyers.

The gang's accountant, Manraj Johal, 32, dealt with the collected money, keeping spreadsheets logging the gang's financial situation.

Once the drugs were in the UK, Jaswant Kajla (left), 41, of Coventry, organised the logistics of moving the drugs and arranged for the gang's earnings to be collected. The gang's accountant, Manraj Johal (right), 32, dealt with the collected money, keeping spreadsheets logging the gang's financial situation

Johal, of Luton, then used another encrypted phone to relay his activity to his superiors.

Over the 408-day spree, the gang is estimated to have made a staggering 165,208,208 - at one point, they were thought to be raking in as much as 400,000 a day through their 'offices' in Derby and Luton.

When gang member Basharat Iqbal had his home searched, police found 20,000 in 1,000 bundles in a locked tin and 3kg of cocaine stuffed in a wardrobe

Police were already investigating the gang and their crimes when the Encrochat phone system - an encoded system used by criminals - was infiltrated by European Police.

From the seized messages, police were able to intercept a 7kg package of cocaine in Derby, April 2020.

When gang member Basharat Iqbal had his home searched, police found 20,000 in 1,000 bundles in a locked tin and 3kg of cocaine stuffed in a wardrobe.

In total, the gang was jailed for a total of 167 years, with the leaders receiving the most.

Paldip Mahgar receiving 18 years and three months, Jaswant Kajla 15 years and three months, Manraj Johal 15 years and eight months and Manvir Singh received 13 years.

DCI Tim Walters, who led the investigation, said: 'This was a massive undertaking by a very skilled and determined investigation team to dismantle a gang which was responsible for the industrial scale wholesale supply of cocaine across the country, along with the movement of millions of pounds in criminal cash each week.

From the seized messages on the Encrochat phone system, police were able to intercept a 7kg package of cocaine in Derby, April 2020

'While the gang's use of a "token" system to monitor their cash flow and the encrypted Encrochat handsets to coordinate their business showed a level of sophistication, they merely acted as a breadcrumb trail for us to see the scale of the 'business', and identify each member of the organised crime group, as well as every sale they had made.

'The hefty sentences given today are not only a testament to an impressive regional investigation, but also to the power of collaborative law enforcement on a national and international scale.

'And we've not finished yet.

'Through the Proceeds of Crime Act we will now seek to identify and seize any assets amounted from the running of this illicit enterprise, to ensure those responsible are not only stripped of their freedom, but also of any profits made through their criminal activities.'
Newly-elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is facing backlash after his office downplayed a shoplifting crime and had the charges reduced after prosecutors in his office failed to mention that the man was armed with a boxcutter.

Bragg, who has been criticized for his liberal policies, came under fire after an email from the NYPD'S Sergeant Benevolent Assocation in an email that surfaced on Friday night that claimed the DA's office is attempting to minimize the details of the shoplifting incident.

The email claims that an assistant district attorney from the office excluded information that a boxcutter was used during the crime, and reduced the charges to petit larceny - a misdemeanor.

The omission of this crucial detail as well as Bragg's decision not to impose 'carceral punishments' and downgrading felonies has been criticized as New York City's crim rate soars, with the number robberies increasing by 19.4 percent over the course of the last week.

This incident comes after Bragg was also slammed by the NYPD's first black female Commissioner Keechant Sewell for his woke policy of downgrading burglary, armed robbery and drug dealing crimes.

Newly elected Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been criticized after he downplayed a shoplifting incident which caused the charges to be reduced

This incident comes as crime continues to surge in NYC with a 19.4 percent increase in robberies reported

An email written by SBA President Vincent Vallelong detailed the incident and warned members to watch out for Bragg.

'It has come to our attention that during the processing of a Manhattan shoplifting arrest where the suspect threatened employees with a pair of cutting-shears, the ADA preparing the accusatory instrument intentionally omitted all facts related to the perp threatening the employees with a weapon,' the email obtained by the New York Post read. 'Fortunately, the arresting officer had the sense to refuse to sign.'

'We remind you to be hyper-vigilant when reviewing any accusatory instrument prepared by the Manhattan DA's office. Make sure that what you sign is exactly what happened.

'I don't think we have to tell you that if you sign something prepared by a Manhattan District Attorney that is inaccurate, they will blame you and prosecute you.'

Vallelong also added that if Bragg 'wants to re-write the penal law, make him own it.'

In response to the incident, former NYC prosecutor Eric Nelson said that the omission of details about the weapon is the difference between felony second-degree robbery and petit larceny which is considered a misdemeanor.

'It's a big difference. Huge. Especially if he (the suspect) has prior convictions,' he said.

Former NYPD sergeant Joseph Giacalone also said that the latter sentencing would see the suspect in prison for up to 10 years.

'The petit larceny would get a desk appearance ticket and fall under Bragg's 'no prosecution memo,' Giacalone said.

Bragg was previously criticized on Monday after he distributed a new policy to downgrade felony crimes such as burglary, armed robbery and drug dealing

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell slammed the new policy as she considered it a 'danger' to officers

NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's 'woke' crime policies A January 3 memo sent out by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was criticized by NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell as it elaborated on his 'woke' crime policy beliefs The memo detailed the idea of reducing sentencing for non-violent crimes such as burglary, armed robbery and drug dealing despite the recent growth in NYC crime Bragg said that he will 'not seek carceral' sentences for criminals, unless they were guilty of murder or a handful of other crimes he deemed serious enough to warrant prison Sewell sent an email detailing her concern over Bragg's ideas as she felt it could put officers as well as the public at risk 'I have studied these policies and I am very concerned about the implications to your safety as police officers, the safety of the public and justice for the victims,' Sewell wrote in the email obtained by the New York Post. Sewell also said Bragg's sweeping changes would cause harm to local businesses already reeling from the pandemic and would 'invite more open-air drug markets and drug use in Manhattan.' She added that the changes could lead to more gun violence as well as exacerbate quality of life concerns 'The new charging policies of the Manhattan District Attorney effectively decriminalizes much of the conduct that New Yorkers are asking the police to address,' she wrote. In addition, Sewell she agreed with Bragg's hopes for more criminal justice reform in the Big Apple, but argued that the NYPD was already making headway through its community based policing. Advertisement

Sewell previously voiced her concerns on Bragg's policies which she claims are putting officer's lives 'in danger.'

Bragg sent out a memo to his staff on Monday where he announced he did not want to hand out jail sentences for criminals unless they were deemed guilty of a serious crime or were repeat offenders.

In addition, he also raised concern after he sought to ditch felony armed robbery charges in favor of petty larceny even if a weapon is involved but does not 'create a genuine risk of physical harm.'

Burglaries will also no longer be prosecuted as such if the person steals from a storage unit or outdoor property that isn't connected to a 'living' dwelling, and quality-of-life crimes such as prostitution, turnstile jumping, weapons possession (of non-firearms) and marijuana possession won't be prosecuted at all.

The DA's office later clarified that it would still prosecute armed robberies involving a gun as a felony.

'I have studied these policies and I am very concerned about the implications to your safety as police officers, the safety of the public and justice for the victims,' Sewell wrote in the email obtained by the New York Post.

Sewell wrote that among her biggest concerns included Bragg's refusal to prosecute resisting arrest charges unless they part of a larger felony case.

She feared the decision would 'invite violence against police officers and will have deleterious effects on our relationship with the communities we protect.'

Sewell also said Bragg's sweeping changes would cause harm to local businesses already reeling from the pandemic and would 'invite more open-air drug markets and drug use in Manhattan.'

She added that it would also lead to more gun violence and exacerbate quality of life concerns, which have gone up by 59 per cent since 2019.

'The new charging policies of the Manhattan District Attorney effectively decriminalizes much of the conduct that New Yorkers are asking the police to address,' Sewell wrote.

Sewell said that while she agreed with Bragg's hopes for more criminal justice reform in the Big Apple, she argued that the NYPD was already making headway through its community based policing.

Bragg was endorsed by new NYC mayor Eric Adams despite making it his mission to reduce crime in the city

Despite the criticism, Bragg was endorsed by new NYC mayor Eric Adams who has made it his mission to reduce crime in the city.

Adams also said that his role as mayor would make Bragg's job 'boring' due to his mission to lessen NYC crime himself.

'Prosecution rates is [sic] tied to my educational failure rates, Adams said, according to NewsOne. 'If I do my job right, then he will have nothing to do in this office.'

Bragg added: 'The state has the power to take away someone's liberty. We are going to use that power judiciously and wisely. We're going to use that for fairness and for safety.'

The most recent crime stats put out by the NYPD show that crime continues to tick up in the new year.

Compared to last year major crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery, felony assault and others, have jumped 38 per cent for the week of December 27 to January 2.

There have been fewer murders in that period - five to last year's 10 during the same period - but grand larceny spiked 84 percent, rape is up 35 percent and robber climbed 21 percent.

Crime is only up about two percent compared to two years ago, but 15 percent higher than last decade.
British troops trained to drop behind enemy lines are trialling stealthy electric motorbikes for battlefield missions.

The near-silent vehicles were tested in November at a secret site in rural France, where rugged dirt tracks and hilly terrain became substitutes for desert and jungle combat zones.

The 4,495 electric dirt bikes, called Sur-Ron Fireflys, were ridden by troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade  the Armys rapid response force most recently deployed to evacuate Britons and support staff from Afghanistan - Motorcycle News reported.

It is the latest attempt by Army chiefs to find a modern successor to the legendary Royal Enfield Flying Flea motorbikes that were parachuted into battle in the Second World War.

The 4,495 electric dirt bikes, called Sur-Ron Fireflys, were ridden by troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade  the Armys rapid response force most recently deployed to evacuate Britons and support staff from Afghanistan

The Fireflys are light, weighing just over 7st (45kg) compared to a regular motorbikes 43st (272kg), and have a top speed of 45mph. They also leave only a tiny heat signature, making them far less likely to be detected by an enemys thermal sensors.

Powered by lithium batteries, which can be detached and carried separately when troops cross water, the bikes have a range of 60 miles and are fully charged in just over three hours.

The trials, which could see the bikes used in live operations this year, are being overseen by Captain Dan Lauder, a former Royal Marine commando who heads operations at 16 Air Assault Brigade.

Speaking to Motorcycle News, he said: `The good thing about such a small vehicle is that you can get it in the back of helicopters.'

You can get several in the back of a plane, and then also, potentially, youd be able to drop it from the back under a parachute. Theyre not noisy, they dont make much thermal signature and they can be used in a way where a petrol engine would just give your position away.

Capt Lauder and his colleagues believe the motorbikes could be ideal for reconnaissance missions and delivering crucial intelligence across conflict zones without being detected.

The Ministry of Defence said last night: Further trials will be required before any decision is made to progress procurement

Brigadier Nick Cowley, Commander of 16 Air Assault, said: As we need to be able to fight in battlefields where were going to have periods of denied communications, we need to have the maximum number of ways of getting messages around the battlefield to make sure we can still manoeuvre.

But the Fireflys may prove problematic in some conditions. The lithium batteries can lose their charge in cold weather and a 60-mile range could leave riders looking for charging points in a war zone.

Capt Lauder also discovered that when a battle-ready soldier with rifle, supplies and protective gear rides the vehicle hard, its range drops to a measly 25 miles.

Sur-Ron Fireflys are available to the public and in the past have been linked to collisions where pedestrians have been unable to hear the bikes approaching.

The Ministry of Defence said last night: Further trials will be required before any decision is made to progress procurement.
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Tensions are rising between the US and Russia, after the Kremlin on Saturday slammed a comment by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Kazakhstan might have a hard time getting rid of Russian troops now deployed there.

Blinken on Friday challenged Russia's justification for sending forces into Kazakhstan after days of violent unrest in the Central Asian country.

'One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,' Blinken said.

Russia's foreign ministry called Blinken's remark 'typically offensive' and accused him of joking about tragic events in Kazakhstan. It said Washington should analyze its own track record of interventions in countries such as Vietnam and Iraq.

'If Antony Blinken loves history lessons so much, then he should take the following into account: when Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive and not be robbed or raped,' the ministry said on its Telegram social media channel.

'We are taught this not only by the recent past but by all 300 years of American statehood.'

Tensions are rising between the US and Russia, after the Kremlin on Saturday slammed a comment by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) that Kazakhstan might have a hard time getting rid of Russian troops

Russian troops prepare to board a military flight on their way to take part in a 'CSTO peacekeeping operation' in Kazakhstan on Saturday, January 8

Kazakhstan's soldiers patrol the central square with the city hall building after clashes in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Friday. Kazakhstan's president authorized security forces on Friday to shoot to kill those participating in unrest

'Indians of the North America, Koreans, Vietnamese, Iraqis, Panamanians, Yugoslavs, Libyans, Syrians and many other unfortunate peoples who had the bad luck to see these uninvited guests at their doorstep have a lot to add,' the ministry added.

The Russian ministry said the deployment in Kazakhstan was a legitimate response to Kazakhstan's request for support from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance of ex-Soviet states that includes Russia.

The Kazakh intervention comes at a time of high tension in Moscow's relations with Washington as the two countries prepare for talks on the Ukraine crisis starting on Monday.

Moscow has deployed large numbers of troops near its border with Ukraine but denies Western suggestions it plans to invade.

Russias decision to send paratroopers into Kazakhstan, where a crackdown on violent anti-government protests has left dozens dead, injects additional uncertainty into upcoming talks over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The question is whether the unrest in Kazakhstan has changed the calculations of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he weighs his options in Ukraine.

Some say Putin may not want to engage in two conflicts at the same time, while others say Russia has the military capacity to do both and he will decide separately on whether to attack Ukraine.

People queue outside a bank office Saturday in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Protests sparked by rising fuel prices, started in the towns of Zhanaozen and Aktau in western Kazakhstan on January 2 and spread rapidly across the country

A long line of Kazakhs waits at a bank on Saturday. On January 5, President Tokayev dismissed the government and declared a 2 week state of emergency in the Mangistau and Almaty regions, as well as in the cities of Almaty and Nur-Sultan

Burned down cars are pictured in a street of Almaty on Friday in the aftermath of protests. The protests were sparked by rising fuel prices in the towns of Zhanaozen and Aktau in western Kazakhstan on January 2 and spread rapidly across the country

The instability in Kazakhstan may even add new urgency to Putin's desire to shore up Russia's power in the region.

Both Kazakhstan and Ukraine are former Soviet republics that Putin has sought to keep under Moscow's influence, but so far with vastly different results.

Ukraine, an aspiring democracy that has turned decisively toward the West, has been locked in deadly conflict with Russia since Putin seized Crimea in 2014 and backed an insurgency in the eastern Donbas region.

Kazakhstan, meanwhile, has been ruled in the three decades since the Soviet collapse by autocrats who have maintained close security and political ties with Russia.

Russian troops entered Kazakhstan on Thursday after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev invoked the help of a Russia-led military alliance.

The following day, with Russian troops helping to restore control over the airport and guarding government buildings, he ordered his forces to shoot to kill any protesters who don't surrender.

That led to Washington and Moscow exchanging new barbs on the eve of a week of meetings over Ukraine that begins with talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva on Monday.

Russian troops entered Kazakhstan on Thursday after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (left) invoked the help of a Russia-led military alliance

In this handout photo released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Belarusian soldiers ride an armored personnel carrier as they leave a Russian military plane at an airfield in Kazakhstan on Saturday

An armed riot police officer detains two protesters during a security anti-terrorists operation in a street after clashes in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Saturday

Asked about Kazakhstan and Ukraine on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would not 'conflate these situations.'

'There are very particular drivers of whats happening in Kazakhstan right now, as I said, that go to economic and political matters,' Blinken said. 'What's happening in there is different from whats happening on Ukraines borders.

'Having said that, I think one lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, its sometimes very difficult to get them to leave,' he added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry fired back with a statement that referenced past U.S. wars and interventions in other countries. 'If Antony Blinken is so into history lessons, here's one that comes to mind: When Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive, not being robbed or raped,' the statement said.

The U.S. has for weeks warned that Putin has stationed troops near Ukraine with the possible intent to stage a new invasion.

Putin is not believed to have moved significantly more troops toward Ukraine in the last several weeks, according to two people familiar with the latest assessments who were not authorized to speak publicly.

But at least 100,000 Russian troops remain in positions where they could possibly strike parts of Ukraine, the people said.

Russian military cargo planes at the airport of Ivanovo on Saturday. Kazakhstan's president has rejected calls for talks with protesters after days of unprecedented unrest, vowing to destroy "armed bandits" and authorising his forces to shoot to kill

Belarusian troops upon arrival at an airfield in Kazakhstan on Saturday. The collective peacekeeping forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)A have been sent 'for a limited time to stabilize and normalize the situation to Kazakhstan'

Armed riot police officers detain a protester during a security anti-terrorists operation in a street after clashes in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. Kazakhstan's president authorized security forces on Friday to shoot to kill

In response, Washington and Kyiv have ramped up their cooperation on intelligence and security matters, the people said.

In exchange for easing tensions with Ukraine, Putin wants NATO to halt membership plans for all countries, including Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO have rejected that demand.

Lawmakers and longtime observers of Russia disagree on how the Kazakhstan situation may affect Ukraine.

Fiona Hill, former senior director for Russia and Europe at the U.S. National Security Council, said she believed the violence in Kazakhstan 'is probably going to accelerate Putin's desire to do something' in Ukraine.

She said Putin may want to reassert dominance across the region by both shoring up the president in Kazakhstan and undermining Ukraine's democratically elected leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

'The Russian circle around Putin, they really do want to teach the Ukrainians a lesson,' Hill said. 'And they dont shy away from killing lots of people or seeing lots of people get killed.'

She noted that while Kazakhstan is in Central Asia, the northern part of the country was settled by Russians and Ukrainians in Soviet times as part of the Virgin Lands campaign, and Russians see it 'very much as part of their land and not just a kind of sphere of influence.'

A body of victim covered by a banner, right, lays near to a military truck, which was burned after clashes, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022

Vehicles queue outside a fuel filling station in Almaty on Friday amid widespread shortages. Protests sparked by rising fuel prices, started in the towns of Zhanaozen and Aktau in western Kazakhstan on January 2

'And so northern Kazakhstan, between Moscow and Almaty, is being seen as an extension of Russia, just like Ukraine, Donbas and Belarus and all that industrial and agricultural complex,' said Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

In recent years, Russia has entered conflicts in other neighboring former Soviet countries to seize territory or bolster Moscow-friendly governments.

In 2020, when protests broke out in Belarus over the reelection of longtime strongman Alexander Lukashenko, Russia stood by him during a brutal crackdown and offered to send troops. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and seized control of two separatist regions.

In Belarus and now Kazakhstan, Hill noted, there is growing frustration with Russian-backed elites and inequality, together with a growing sense of nationalism. Those factors are also present in Ukraine, while discontent is growing in Russia as well.

'This is deeply troubling for Putin because it shows that protests can get out of hand over social issues,' she said. 'And that even if you marginalize the opposition and you look like youre in charge, one day suddenly, youre not.'

Some see Kazakhstan as also presenting an opportunity for Russia to consolidate its power regionally.

Fyodor Lukyanov, a leading Moscow-based foreign policy expert, said by stepping in with military force Moscow has made itself the 'guarantor upon whose position further events depend.'

He said the situation was similar to Armenia in 2020, when Russia sent peacekeeping troops after a war with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

'This is not a final situation or a solution, but it provides an effective set of tools for the period ahead,' he wrote in a piece published Thursday.

With this happening on the eve of the talks with the U.S., 'Russia has sent a reminder of its ability to make quick and unconventional military-political decisions to influence what is happening in parts of the world that are important for it,' Lukyanov said.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican who serves on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, is among those who see the uprising in Kazakhstan as deterring Russia in Ukraine.

'I dont see Russia with the capability of handling two crises simultaneously,' Green said. 'I think it will deter their ability to wage a major conflict in Ukraine.'

A fierce critic of the Biden administration, Green said he supported Blinkens public statements in support of Ukraine and his push for a diplomatic solution.

'If Blinkens actions are matching his rhetoric, then theyre doing OK here,' he said.
Winston Churchill was in a maudlin mood during dinner with his Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden. 'I am ashamed,' he said. It was July 1942 and, despite his outward public confidence, the Prime Minister was in despair at Britain's humiliating lack of success.

That year, the Army had thrown in the towel against far smaller forces in the Far East and North Africa  defeats seen, quite fairly, as a national disgrace and which left two vitally important regions in danger of being lost entirely. 1942 had brought a series of military disasters for Britain  and a crisis. Public morale nearly collapsed.

There was a widespread feeling that Churchill was no longer the right man to lead the nation, and his popularity plummeted.

Despite his later heroic reputation, Churchill faced two motions of no confidence that year and, although he ultimately won both, the Labour MP Aneurin Bevan spoke for many when he commented: 'The Prime Minister wins debate after debate and loses battle after battle.'

Although his energy appeared boundless, Churchill had suffered a minor heart attack at the start of 1942. His physical and mental health would come under further immense strain.

Although his energy appeared boundless, Churchill had suffered a minor heart attack at the start of 1942. His physical and mental health would come under further immense strain

People think that 1940 was Churchill's toughest year, the time memorably described as his 'darkest hour'. But it was not. It was his finest hour.

Churchill's most difficult time came in 1942, when Britain came far closer to losing the war than most realise to this day.

The catastrophe of the Channel Dash in February was an inauspicious start. Two German battleships and a heavy cruiser, Prinz Eugen, were in dock for repairs at Brest on the French Atlantic coast when Hitler decided to recall them to home waters via a surprise break through the Channel.

Britain's codebreaking Enigma intercepts picked up suggestions of the plan, but the Royal Navy response, Operation Fuller, was a sorry story of blunder, inertia, failed communications and a pathetic lack of unified command.

It totally failed to prevent the German warships escaping through the Strait of Dover.

Worse was to come on the other side of the world. The fortress of Singapore, symbol of British power and prestige in the Far East, fell to the Japanese on February 15, 1942, the largest surrender of British-led troops  about 100,000  in history. Fifty-five thousand British and Australian troops then endured years of horror in Japanese prisoner-of-war and slave labour camps.

FORTRESS SURRENDER: Singapore's fall to the Japanese was seen as an imperial disgrace

Photographs of the defeat went around a stunned world: the British delegation marching to surrender with the Union Flag; Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, the commanding Allied officer, looking weak and puny at the negotiating table with an all-powerful General Yamashita.

For many Malays, Chinese and Indians there was a strong feeling that Britain had left them to the mercy of a brutal Japanese occupation. Across Asia, the defeat was viewed as an imperial disgrace. In India, British prestige was shattered. Resentment simmered in Australia for decades.

Meanwhile, Britain faced a mounting shipping crisis. German codebreakers had succeeded in breaking Britain's naval cipher and were now tracking convoys as they crossed the Atlantic.

In the first six months of 1942, U-boats sank 300 British ships in the Atlantic. Aside from the terrible loss of life, it meant that millions of tons of supplies including basic foodstuffs, fuel, chemicals and the material of war ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic.

On more than one occasion, the Prime Minister embarrassed General Sir Alan Brooke, head of the British Army, in Cabinet by demanding: 'Have you not got a single general who can win battles? Have none of them any ideas?'

There was further misery on Friday, April 24, 1942, when 40 Dornier bombers attacked Exeter, dropping at least 60 250kg high-explosive bombs and 2,000 incendiaries, killing 73 people and damaging 600 properties.

There was further misery on Friday, April 24, 1942, when 40 Dornier bombers attacked Exeter, dropping at least 60 250kg high-explosive bombs and 2,000 incendiaries, killing 73 people and damaging 600 properties. Pictured: The bombed Canterbury Cathedral

On more than one occasion, the Prime Minister embarrassed General Sir Alan Brooke (left), head of the British Army, in Cabinet by demanding: 'Have you not got a single general who can win battles? Have none of them any ideas?'

It was the first of what became known as the 'Baedeker Raids', which also hit Bath, Norwich and York over the next few weeks and culminated in early June with an attack on Canterbury.

All these towns, packed with buildings and churches that had helped to shape British history, had featured in the famous German Baedeker tourist guides.

In 1942, Britain's own bombing offensive against Germany did not start well.

An inquiry into the effectiveness of the operation had concluded that only about one in three bombers actually succeeded in getting their bombs within five miles of their target.

The Royal Air Force decided to redirect its bombing strategy away from attempted night-time precision raids on specific factories or bases and instead carry out indiscriminate 'carpet bombing' raids on whole cities.

Thanks to improved navigational aids, the arrival of a set of heavy bombers in large enough numbers to make a difference, and a new dynamic commander-in-chief at Bomber Command  Air Marshal Arthur 'Bomber' Harris  in 1942, the situation improved.

Thanks to improved navigational aids, the arrival of a set of heavy bombers in large enough numbers to make a difference, and a new dynamic commander-in-chief at Bomber Command  Air Marshal Arthur 'Bomber' Harris (pictured)  in 1942, the situation improved

The successes were occasional and relatively small, but for Churchill there was an additional purpose. This was the principal way he could show the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, that Britain was playing its part  piling pressure on Germany to cause fighters to be recalled from the Eastern Front.

Better news came in June, when the United States Navy triumphed over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway in the mid-Pacific. This huge victory was a turning point in the Pacific.

Yet what was perhaps Britain's most humiliating defeat of the war came only shortly afterwards.

Roughly midway between Benghazi in Libya and Cairo in Egypt, the Libyan port of Tobruk was of central strategic importance and had been the focal point of three major offensives since June 1940.

The heroic defence of 'Fortress Tobruk' during the eight-month siege by Axis powers from April to December 1941 meant its story had already become a legend.

The successes were occasional and relatively small, but for Churchill there was an additional purpose. This was the principal way he could show the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, that Britain was playing its part  piling pressure on Germany to cause fighters to be recalled from the Eastern Front

Churchill was in Washington with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June 1942 when the dreadful news arrived that the town had fallen to German and Italian forces in a mere weekend.

Churchill wrote: 'This was one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war.' At Singapore 85,000 men had surrendered to a smaller number of Japanese. Now 33,000 had laid down their arms to an Axis force of perhaps half their number.

The Prime Minister was overcome. 'I did not attempt to hide from the President the shock I had received,' Churchill recalled. 'It was a bitter moment. Defeat is one thing. Disgrace is another.'

In the aftermath, General Claude Auchinleck pulled the Allied Eighth Army back to El Alamein on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, 60 miles from Alexandria. Here they would stand and fight.

It's difficult to overstate how much depended on the engagement to come.

If Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps smashed the line at El Alamein  as they had smashed every line since January  then Alexandria and its naval base, along with Cairo and the Suez Canal with its supply depots, would be next. The fall of Tobruk would look like child's play.

Churchill was in Washington with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (pictured) in June 1942 when the dreadful news arrived that the town had fallen to German and Italian forces in a mere weekend

Rommel could then cross into Palestine and Syria. With Jerusalem and Damascus under his control, the Third Reich would dominate the Middle East with its vast oil reserves and, in addition, would control the Jewish national homeland with all the horror that would unleash.

Baghdad and Iraq would come next. Russia's southern flank would be opened up. British control of the Mediterranean would be lost. All the effort Britain had put into fighting the Axis armies would have been in vain.

The military pendulum was swinging once again, however. At El Alamein, the Eighth Army were only a few miles from their sources of supply.

By contrast, the Afrika Korps had been fighting continuously for six weeks and were utterly exhausted.

Now they were hundreds of miles from their supply bases, reliant upon food, ammunition and fuel being brought up in convoys of lorries. Rommel attacked the Allied line head on, but this time his troops were too tired to make headway.

By the evening of July 3, he had lost the first Battle of El Alamein and by the end of July, the desert war had fought itself to a standstill.

Rommel (pictured) could then cross into Palestine and Syria. With Jerusalem and Damascus under his control, the Third Reich would dominate the Middle East with its vast oil reserves and, in addition, would control the Jewish national homeland with all the horror that would unleash

Yet still the Allies had failed to dislodge the Axis troops from their advanced positions.

The reality was that the British Army remained a product of the 1930s. Although the Army had expanded dramatically, the weapons it fought with, the generals who led it, the middle-ranking officers who ran it and the culture that prevailed came from an era of cutbacks, complacency and conservatism.

Beyond that, Britain was proud of the fact that, unlike Germany and Japan, it did not have a tradition of militarism. The predominant view after the Great War had been 'never again'. The sad consequence was an army that was not fit for the purpose of fighting the German or the Japanese armies.

It's easy to sympathise with the verdict of the diplomat Sir Alexander Cadogan, who wrote that by 1942, 'our Army was the mockery of the world'.

When Churchill met Stalin in Moscow that year, the Russian leader threw this in his face.

It's easy to sympathise with the verdict of the diplomat Sir Alexander Cadogan, who wrote that by 1942, 'our Army was the mockery of the world'. When Churchill met Stalin in Moscow that year, the Russian leader threw this in his face

Pressing Churchill to open a second front in Europe, Stalin said: 'You British are afraid of fighting. You should not think the Germans are supermen.

'You will have to fight sooner or later. You cannot win a war without fighting.'

But a new general had taken command of the Eighth Army in the Egyptian desert: General Bernard Montgomery. 'Monty' brought rigour and a new determination to win.

At 9.40 pm on Friday, October 23, the Eighth Army recommenced battle at El Alamein with an immense artillery barrage.

And by the morning of Wednesday, November 4, Churchill received a message: 'After 12 days of heavy and violent fighting, Eighth Army has inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy's German and Italian forces under Rommel's command. The enemy's front has broken.'

There could have been no victory without assistance from the US in the form of 300 Sherman tanks sent by Roosevelt along with a hundred self-propelled 105mm guns.

In the scale of Second World War battles  and especially by comparison with those on the Eastern Front  the Second Battle of El Alamein was a relatively small affair. But it was a genuine turning point as far as British fortunes were concerned.

Pictured: A German soldier surrenders atop his tank at El Alamein on 25 October 1942

At last there was evidence that with the right weapons and equipment, and with good leadership, the British Army could defeat the Germans  the victory Churchill so desperately needed.

Four days after victory had been announced at Alamein, in the early hours of the morning of November 8, American troops began the landings in North-West Africa known as Operation Torch.

Some 125,000 men splashed ashore that morning in the first truly Anglo-American combined operation of the war.

The Royal Navy provided most of the escort. The United States provided most of the troops.

Churchill was quite willing to let the Americans run the show, writing submissively to Roosevelt: 'In the whole of 'Torch', military and political, I consider myself your lieutenant This is an American enterprise in which we are your helpmeets.'

Within a few days, Casablanca, Oran and Algiers were in American hands. On November 13 there was more good news when the Eighth Army re-entered Tobruk.

Churchill was quite willing to let the Americans run the show, writing submissively to Roosevelt: 'In the whole of 'Torch', military and political, I consider myself your lieutenant This is an American enterprise in which we are your helpmeets'

Not just one but two military victories in the first two weeks of November 1942 had helped rescue the Prime Minister after a torrid year and, finally, had turned the tide of the war.

In a speech at the Mansion House in London on November 10, broadcast on the BBC, Churchill said: 'I have never promised anything but blood, tears, toil and sweat. Now, however, we have a new experience.

'We have victory, a remarkable and definite victory. The bright gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers, and warmed and cheered all our hearts.'

Churchill summed it up with his famous words: 'Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.

'But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.'

How close we came to disaster has mostly been forgotten.

 Taylor Downing, 2022
The BBC put children at risk of sexual abuse for years after the crimes of Jimmy Savile were exposed, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A leaked report reveals that TV actors, presenters and production staff on some of the Corporation's biggest shows were allowed to work with children without first undergoing criminal records checks to discover if they had child abuse convictions.

The report, compiled by management consultancy firm KPMG in 2018, identified flaws in the way staff on soap operas and dramas were being vetted and warned that children could suffer 'emotional or physical harm'.

But a senior source claimed it was not until last year that BBC bosses finally introduced proper checks.

An inquiry into the Savile scandal in 2016 by judge Dame Janet Smith found at least 72 people were sexually abused by the paedophile in connection with his work at the BBC, which had been in 'awe' of its top stars and other 'talent' who were seen as 'untouchable'.

The BBC put children at risk of sexual abuse for years after the crimes of Jimmy Savile were exposed, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. A leaked report - compiled by management consultancy firm KPMG in 2018 - reveals that TV actors, presenters and production staff on some of the Corporation's biggest shows were allowed to work with children without first undergoing criminal records checks to discover if they had child abuse convictions

The BBC allegedly failed to carry out criminal records checks on staff working with children on EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City and Doctors for almost nine years after Savile's crimes came to light, the MoS investigation has found

Current director-general Tim Davie (above) was warned in a separate report last year that some of the Corporation's top stars were being allowed to 'circumnavigate all criminal records checks'

In response, Lord Hall, the BBC's director-general at the time, pledged a review of child protection policies and that the Corporation would 'learn the lessons of this dark period'.

But an MoS investigation can today reveal how:

The BBC allegedly failed to carry out criminal records checks on staff working with children on EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City and Doctors for almost nine years after Savile's crimes came to light;

Current director-general Tim Davie was warned in a separate report last year that some of the Corporation's top stars were being allowed to 'circumnavigate all criminal records checks';

BBC bosses discussed introducing background checks for all journalists after a reporter was able to work for the Corporation despite child sex convictions.

Anyone working with children is required to undergo an 'enhanced' criminal records check by the Government's Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

The checks examine an applicant's criminal history for cautions, warnings, reprimands and convictions.

Those caring for, supporting or supervising children should also be checked against a separate DBS list which names those banned from working with children.

Savile became a household name in the 1970s and 1980s with BBC favourites including Top Of The Pops and Jim'll Fix It, but was secretly one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders, abusing his victims in dressing rooms, hospitals and children's homes.

An inquiry into the Savile scandal in 2016 by judge Dame Janet Smith (above) found at least 72 people were sexually abused by the paedophile in connection with his work at the BBC, which had been in 'awe' of its top stars and other 'talent' who were seen as 'untouchable'

He died in 2011, aged 84, with his crimes emerging the following year.

A review of BBC child protection policies in 2015 recommended bosses ensure that background checks on staff were being 'consistently applied'.

Three years later, after re-examining the vetting system, KPMG found a series of 'weaknesses that could potentially result in significant exposure to the BBC', including a failure to carry out the enhanced checks in some areas.

The confidential report said managers at EastEnders 'do not carry out any DBS checks', while other 'continuing dramas' such as Holby, Casualty and Doctors also 'generally do not carry out DBS checks'.

Pointing out that a failure to properly check staff who care for or supervise children was a criminal offence, KPMG added: 'One of the biggest implications for the BBC in not performing DBS checks where required is the potential for children to suffer emotional or physical harm.

'Whilst an employee's suitability to work with children cannot be determined by carrying out a DBS check alone, failing to do so may put a child's safety at risk.'

The consultants urged the BBC to set out a clear policy on checking the backgrounds of its stars.

'EastEnders [bosses] advised they could "vouch" for each of their cast members,' the report added. 'We consider this to be a naive statement.'

KPMG also found that while a 'small proportion' of on-air talent on children's TV programmes had been DBS checked, bosses had only used press cuttings to check the backgrounds of other stars.

Despite Dame Janet's criticism of the deference shown to Savile by the BBC, KPMG found 'a culture within the BBC whereby individuals would fear approaching talent to ask them to be DBS checked'.

Despite Dame Janet's criticism of the deference shown to Savile by the BBC, KPMG found 'a culture within the BBC whereby individuals would fear approaching talent to ask them to be DBS checked'

Astonishingly, a senior whistleblower told the MoS that DBS checks on 'talent' working on BBC continuing dramas only began last May  almost three years after the KPMG report.

The source claimed retrospective checks were carried out on more than 100 actors, with bosses discovering around 20 had criminal histories, although none serious enough to stop them working with children.

'They failed to learn the child safeguarding requirements after the Jimmy Savile scandal,' the whistleblower said. 'It is a total lack of professionalism that potentially could have put kids at risk.'

A second leaked report submitted to the BBC Board, which includes Mr Davie, in December 2020 warned that criminal records checks for staff and freelancers 'are not applied consistently'.

It added: 'In some divisions BBC talent currently circumnavigate all criminal records checks, allowing them access to vulnerable groups with potential for undisclosed information to go unassessed.'

The whistleblower claimed decisions about which staff to check are still left to line managers and the MoS understands the BBC's entire child protection and safeguarding team was made redundant in recent months.

Another insider claimed the BBC's view on safeguarding children did not 'fundamentally change' after the Savile scandal adding: 'They were willing to tick boxes, but it was all about appearances more than anything.'

Last night a BBC spokesman said: 'Following the Dame Janet Smith review in 2016, we made a series of improvements. In line with the relevant legislation, anybody working with children or vulnerable adults is subject to the relevant safeguarding checks.

'Also, children are chaperoned and never left alone on set. All chaperones are subject to checks and licensed by a local authority and have to complete BBC training.'

'But we're never complacent, and if we can find ways to enhance what we do, we will.'

Child sex offender was able to continue working as a BBC journalist despite his conviction

By MARK HOOKHAM for the Mail on Sunday

A BBC journalist was able to continue working for the Corporation despite being convicted of sexually abusing a child.

His bosses were totally ignorant of his confession to three child sex offences and his crimes only came to light when he sent a threatening Snapchat message to a woman he had been asked to interview.

A relative alerted the BBC and, when the police were called in, officers discovered his convictions and told the Corporation.

The Mail on Sunday understands the case sent shockwaves through the Corporation with some bosses calling for every journalist to undergo a basic criminal records check with the Government's Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

A BBC journalist was able to continue working for the Corporation despite being convicted of sexually abusing a child. His bosses were totally ignorant of his confession to three child sex offences and his crimes only came to light when he sent a threatening Snapchat message to a woman he had been asked to interview

It is claimed the idea was fiercely opposed by other managers and has now been quietly shelved.

The journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is understood to have been contracted to work on a freelance basis for BBC West Midlands.

In May 2018, he was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child and two counts of attempting to incite a boy aged between 13 and 15 into sexual activity.

He received a community sentence, told to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for five years and served with an order banning him from activity likely to bring him into contact with under-16s.

A month later the journalist was convicted of racially or religiously aggravated harassment and an assault, but failed to disclose any of his convictions when he secured a new role working for the Corporation in London.

A BBC spokesman said the journalist did not work with children so did not need a DBS check, adding: 'The BBC has strict rules relating to disclosure of convictions and adheres to all legislation.

'In this case, the convictions were not declared by the individual, but we immediately terminated the contract when we became aware of the facts. They will never work with us again.'
A convicted rapist has avoided deportation back to Afghanistan because the Taliban take a dim view of sex offenders.

Ibrahim Ahmadi was stripped of his refugee status when he was jailed for preying on a sleeping woman in Glasgow. But he has now won the right to remain in the UK after judges decided he might incur the anger of the hardline Taliban regime if he were returned.

The 29-year-old successfully claimed he would be persecuted in his homeland for being a member of the minority Hazaras ethnic group, even though two members of the sect have been appointed to the new Afghan government.

The judges also decided that it was reasonably likely that the Taliban would take a dim view of an individual who had committed a violent sexual offence in a Western country.

Ibrahim Ahmadi (pictured) was stripped of his refugee status when he was jailed for preying on a sleeping woman in Glasgow

The ruling has sparked fury. Russell Findlay, the Shadow Community Safety Minister in Scotland, said: This judgment is extremely concerning and suggests the human rights of a rapist are deemed more important than the safety of the public.

Most people couldnt care less about his sob story on how the Taliban treat sex offenders. They would rather see him removed from our streets and put on the next available flight to Kabul.

Ahmadi arrived in the UK in 2007 as a 15-year-old, claiming he had been held hostage by the Taliban but had escaped. He was refused asylum but won an appeal and was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2014. That same year, he was arrested for threatening a woman in Lanarkshire and was given addiction counselling.

But just months later, he carried out a vile sex attack on a 25-year-old woman as she slept in her flat.

He was convicted of rape and jailed for seven years. The sentence was later reduced to five years on appeal, although reports by social workers said he continued to pose a high risk to women.

The Home Office ordered Ahmadis deportation in 2019 but he used taxpayers money to fund a legal challenge that was given a boost when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last August  just days before the hearing. In their judgment, Upper Tribunal judges Hugo Norton-Taylor and Tom Wilding accepted that Ahmadi represents a danger to the community of the United Kingdom [and] there remains a very strong public interest in deportation but ruled that recent events in Afghanistan meant sending him back would breach his human rights.

Despite efforts by the Taliban to assimilate Afghanistans six million Hazaras into their regime, for example by including them in the countrys new government, the judges concluded that Ahmadi would be placed directly into the hands of an extremist Sunni organisation with a history of persecutory treatment of Hazaras and/or Shias.

Ahmadi received 13,562 in legal aid to fight his rape case and appeal, and has had a further 1,330 to support his deportation challenge with the ruling made in November.

The case has echoes of previous deportation sagas, including that of Iraqi paedophile Howri Hamad Garib, 47, who indecently assaulted three 14-year-old girls in a swimming pool in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, in 2004.

HARDLINE REGIME: Armed members of the Taliban in Kabul

He contested a deportation order issued by the Home Office in 2008 and, following an eight-year legal battle, was allowed to remain in the UK because his crimes were not deemed technically serious enough to warrant expulsion.

In another controversial case, Mr Norton-Taylor was one of two judges who last year granted Kosovan drug-dealer Shaban Binaku leave to remain in the UK.

The 41-year-old had already been deported once but re-entered Britain and set up a car-wash business in London before he was arrested in 2018. The Upper Tribunal ruled it would be unreasonable for the two children he fathered while in the UK illegally to relocate to Kosovo.

The Home Office last night said it may try again to deport Ahmadi if circumstances changed in Afghanistan. We always try to remove heinous foreign criminals from this country, but we can be prevented from doing so by the European Convention on Human Rights and Human Rights Act, it added.

This individual no longer has refugee protection and we will continue to explore all options to remove him from the UK. Ahmadis lawyer was approached for comment.
A muslim sect which built Britains biggest mosque has been rocked by rape allegations involving its members and claims that its spiritual leader warned the alleged victim against involving police.

The 36-year-old complainant belongs to the Ahmadi sect, which has 30,000 followers in Britain under the leadership of Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who has been feted by senior politicians, including Boris Johnson and Theresa May.

But Imam Ahmad  dubbed the caliph of suburbia for basing the sect at the 13,000-capacity Baitul Futuh mosque in Morden, South-West London  has been accused of trying to suppress the allegations after a recording of a 44-minute telephone call with the alleged victim was posted on the internet.

The 36-year-old complainant belongs to the Ahmadi sect, which has 30,000 followers in Britain under the leadership of Mirza Masroor Ahmad (pictured), who has been feted by senior politicians, including Boris Johnson and Theresa May

In it, the cleric appears to suggest that the woman drop allegations that she was raped and sexually assaulted by her father and three other sect members at addresses in London, Surrey, Dorset and the Pakistani city of Rabwah, the groups spiritual headquarters.

During the call, made in July, Imam Ahmad, 71, urged the woman not to report her claims to police and wrongly says she will need four witnesses to prove a rape claim.

The alleged victim responds: You are not the supreme head of the British Government, no British court will accept your stance.

But she is told: My advice to you is that you drop this case, even if something happened Even if it has, I am sure those involved would have asked for forgiveness already.

Pictured: The 13,000-capacity Baitul Futuh mosque in Morden, South-West London, where the sect is based

The woman later wrote on Twitter: Instead of silencing victims, allegations of abuse should be properly investigated, and perpetrators punished, not protected. A spokesman for the imam said: The allegation has been and continues to be taken extremely seriously.

After his conversation with the complainant, His Holiness [Ahmad] referred the matter to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK for immediate action. In turn, AMA UK promptly informed the Metropolitan Police, whose investigation is ongoing. In light of the police involvement, we are unable to comment further.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it was investigating allegations of sexual assault between 1987 and 2012 and that a man had been interviewed under caution.
A BBC journalist was able to continue working for the Corporation despite being convicted of sexually abusing a child.

His bosses were totally ignorant of his confession to three child sex offences and his crimes only came to light when he sent a threatening Snapchat message to a woman he had been asked to interview.

A relative alerted the BBC and, when the police were called in, officers discovered his convictions and told the Corporation.

The Mail on Sunday understands the case sent shockwaves through the Corporation with some bosses calling for every journalist to undergo a basic criminal records check with the Government's Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

A BBC journalist was able to continue working for the Corporation despite being convicted of sexually abusing a child

It is claimed the idea was fiercely opposed by other managers and has now been quietly shelved.

The journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is understood to have been contracted to work on a freelance basis for BBC West Midlands.

In May 2018, he was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child and two counts of attempting to incite a boy aged between 13 and 15 into sexual activity.

He received a community sentence, told to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for five years and served with an order banning him from activity likely to bring him into contact with under-16s.

The journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is understood to have been contracted to work on a freelance basis for BBC West Midlands. In May 2018, he was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court (file image) after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a child and two counts of attempting to incite a boy aged between 13 and 15 into sexual activity

A month later the journalist was convicted of racially or religiously aggravated harassment and an assault, but failed to disclose any of his convictions when he secured a new role working for the Corporation in London.

A BBC spokesman said the journalist did not work with children so did not need a DBS check, adding: 'The BBC has strict rules relating to disclosure of convictions and adheres to all legislation.

'In this case, the convictions were not declared by the individual, but we immediately terminated the contract when we became aware of the facts. They will never work with us again.'
The number two Senate GOP leader John Thune has announced he is running for reelection this year.

The South Dakota senator - and likely successor to Republican leader Mitch McConnell - announced his run for reelection on Twitter on Saturday, putting an end an end to recent speculation over his political future.

'I've always promised that I would do the work, even when it was hard, uncomfortable, or unpopular,' Thune said in a statement posted on Twitter.

'That work continues, which is why after careful consideration and prayer, and with the support of my family, I'm asking South Dakotans for the opportunity to continue serving them in the US Senate.'

The 61-year-old has remained undecided for the last several months as to whether or not he would run for a fourth term, after first being elected to the House of Representatives in 1996 where he served three terms.

The number two Senate GOP leader John Thune has announced he is running for reelection this year

In a statement posted to Twitter on Saturday, Thune said: 'I've always promised that I would do the work, even when it was hard, uncomfortable, or unpopular. That work continues, which is why after careful consideration and prayer... I'm asking South Dakotans for the opportunity to continue serving them in the US Senate,' Thune tweeted

The South Dakota senator - and likely successor to Republican leader Mitch McConnell - announced his run for reelection on Twitter on Saturday, putting an end an end to recent speculation over his political future

Thune had previously expressed doubt over his efforts for reelection, telling his local newspaper that the long commutes and time away from home have taken a toll on his family, however he ultimately had decided to move forward with the campaign.

In 2004, Thune defeated then-top Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle after losing in an unsuccessful Senate bid in 2002.

Since then, he has held multiple leadership posts while quickly rising through the ranks in the senate chamber.

However, Thune eventually butted heads with former President Donald Trump following the 2020 election, when the senator speculated Trump would go down like 'a shot dog' after challenging the results of the election in Congress.

Thune, left eventually butted heads with former President Donald Trump, right, following the 2020 election, while Trump would go on to call Thune a 'RINO,' or a Republican in name only

In response, Trump would go on to call Thune a 'RINO,' otherwise known as a Republican in name only, go so far as to ask South Dakota GOP Governor Kristi Noem to launch a primary challenge against Thune to remove him from his senate post.

Shortly after, Noem would go on to tweet that she would not be running against Thune, despite Trump's pleas.

'John Thune is a friend of mine, and I will not be challenging him,' Noem tweeted back in December 2020.

'I'm honored to be Governor of South Dakota and will ask the people to give me an opportunity to continue serving them as Governor in 2022.'

Pictured: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who declined to run against Thune at former President Donald Trump's request

'John Thune is a friend of mine, and I will not be challenging him,' Noem tweeted back in December 2020

McConnell, center, lobbied for Thune to run for reelection in South Dakota, where the GOP leader's top deputy has earned widespread support in the dependably red state

Meanwhile, McConnell lobbied for Thune to run for reelection in South Dakota, where the GOP leader's top deputy has earned widespread support in the dependably red state.

In a late December a radio interview, he called Thune an 'outstanding senator,' before adding it 'would be real setback for the party and for the country if he retired and I certainly hope he won't.'

Although Thune typically supports GOP leadership, he did break party lines when he voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill in the fall.

A handful of GOP senators have opted out of running for reelection this year, including Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Richard Burr of North Carolina.
Former talent manager Melanie Blake tells all about some of Britain's biggest divas, including the Duchess of York, whose first words to the PR were: 'Do you not own an iron?': Once I was contacted by someone working with Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, who was looking for a new PR. I had an impressive roster of high-profile clients at the time and a meeting was arranged at celebrity-catnip restaurant The Ivy. It was a hot day so I wore linen. When I approached the table where Fergie was sitting, she scanned me up and down and said with disdain, 'Do you not own an iron?' The smooth-talking agent in me thought, 'Let it go, she's a royal'. But the human being in me replied, 'Darling, of course I own one. But there isn't enough steam in the world to iron out the creases in your reputation.' Her jaw hit the floor and I walked away with a smirk on my face that matched the crease in my dress. This may sound like a storyline from Ten Percent, the new Amazon Prime drama about a London celebrity agency, but it's totally true. The show, a remake of French lockdown hit Call My Agent!, takes us behind the scenes of the British showbiz industry, portraying a group of long-suffering agents hell-bent on keeping their clients' careers alive.
They have been celebrated as classics of English literature for more than 150 years, enjoyed by generations of children as young as eight.

But university students have now been given a 'trigger warning' that Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Charles Dickens's Great Expectations both contain passages they might find 'distressing'.

Critics last night described the cautions given to students at Salford University as 'absurd'. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said it was ridiculous that adults 'have to be protected from the stories that generations of children have been able to cope with without being damaged'.

And actor Simon Callow, who has appeared in several Dickens adaptations, joked: 'I don't think the university authorities have gone far enough.

'A more helpful alert would be: 'Warning  this book may make you think. In extreme cases, it may even make you feel.

FAMILY FRIENDLY: TV's Jane Eyre is rated PG

'If you seem to be thinking or feeling, call our helpline, 24-hour service. Do not delay, thinking and feeling can rapidly become consensus-threatening.' '

Published in 1861, Great Expectations describes orphan Pip's adventures with characters including the fugitive Abel Magwitch, the eccentric Miss Havisham and the beautiful but cruel Estella  and includes vivid imagery of poverty, prison ships and fights to the death.

Meanwhile Jane Eyre, written in 1847, charts the romance between Bronte's titular heroine and the troubled Mr Rochester, but also describes her unhappy childhood as an abandoned orphan.

Mr Bridgen added: 'Victorian readers could cope with tales of workhouses and children being groomed into criminal gangs. But we are in danger of creating a dystopian future far darker than any Victorian novel.'

The warnings accompany a reading list given to students on Salford's BA English literature course, and have been revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The university warns undergraduates: 'There are scenes and discussions of violence and sexual violence in several of the primary texts studied on this module. Some students may find the content of the following texts distressing.'

Pictured: 1946's Great Expectations

Other titles on the list include Christina Rossetti's 1862 fantasy poem Goblin Market, and Robert Browning's 1836 poem Porphyria's Lover, in which a man strangles his partner.

Salford's warnings come despite film and TV adaptations of both Great Expectations and Jane Eyre being aimed at family audiences.

Sir David Lean's 1946 film adaptation of the Dickens novel has a PG rating, which means it 'should not unsettle a child aged eight or older'. The 2012 version with Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter was given a 12A certificate. And all TV and movie versions of Jane Eyre have also been rated PG.

A spokesman for Salford University said: 'We never issue trigger warnings for literature, only content notes. The wellbeing of our students is important to us. Some texts contain sensitive issues so we give students the opportunity to have a discussion with their lecturer in advance if they wish to.'
The US Navy said it was expanding it's eight-week boot camp program to include two more weeks of classes focusing on suicide prevention, sexual assault, hazing and racism.

The change, the first major overhaul in nearly 20 years, comes as the Navy grapples with major shipboard issues over the years that include failures to address sexual assaults, fires and deadly collisions and the rise of extremism within the ranks.

Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture, who heads the Naval Service Training Command, told the Associated Press that the two extra weeks of classes would reinforce the behavior desired in a US naval officer.

'We're telling our recruits ... here are all of the things that we expect you to do, and here's how we expect you to behave and act,' she said, adding that it involves treating people with respect and holding peers accountable.

'We believe very strongly that those types of behaviors are directly impacting our fighting readiness and the performance of our sailors.'

The US Navy is adding two weeks of boot camp to teach recruits about suicide prevention, sexual assault, hazing and racism

It's the first major change to the Navy curriculum in nearly 20 years. Much of the focus will be placed on mental health and sexual assault prevention

The additional two weeks will be devoted to the 'Sailor for Life' course phase where recruits would take in mentorship classes focused on avoiding bad behavior.

It would also train sailors on how to keep levelheaded and respond to life-threatening situations such as fires and collisions.

Couture said the changes came after Navy leaders realized they needed to reinforce training and character development skills following problems in recent years.

The changes were first proposed in 2017 after two ships collided in the Pacific, killing 17 sailors. Years prior, the Navy reported that lack of sleep and preparedness had been causing several crashes out at sea.

Then in 2020, Navy officials found that sweeping failures prevented the saving of the $1.2 billion USS Bonhomme Richard, which burned for five days off the shore of San Diego in July.

Although the fire was allegedly started by sailor Ryan Sawyer Mays, who faces charges for the crime, Navy investigators said the crew was 'inadequately prepared' to battle the blaze due to lapses in training.

The Navy hopes the changes could help address the problems that allowed the USS Bonhomme Richard to burn for five days in July 2020

The Navy found that the fire that claimed the $1.2 billion vessel could have been extinguished, but the crew were ill-prepared and lacked the necessary training

The Navy also wants to curb suicide among its officers as well as prevent sexual assaults and the mishandling of sexual harassments cases.

The Navy lost 66 active-duty sailors to suicide in 2020, with a suicide rate of 19.3 deaths per 100,000 service members.

The US military as a whole reported more than 20,000 instances of 'unwanted sexual contact' in 2018, a 38 percent increase from a the last report in 2016.

Last week, the navy relieved Cmdr. Richard Zamberlan and Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Lundberg of the Littoral Combat Ship USS Montgomery of duty 'due to a loss of confidence in their ability to command.'

While the Navy declined to release any more detail, a source told the San Diego Tribune they were let go in connection with the mishandling of a sexual harassment complaint on board.

The US Navy investigated Navy contactor Timothy Hale-Cusanelli- who took a photo of himself as Adolf Hitler at a naval base

The Navy confirmed an investigation is underway into the harassment complaint.

The military has also been trying to route out extremism after a number of former and current service members were found taking part in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.

The Navy had investigated Army reservist Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who was employed as a security contractor at the Naval Weapons Station Earle in Colts Neck, New Jersey when he allegedly breached the Capitol on January 6.

The Naval Criminal Investigation Service interviewed 44 of Hale-Cusanelli's Navy base coworkers and 34 of them told investigators they believed he had 'extremist or radical views pertaining to the Jewish people, minorities and women'.

Cusanelli was seen taking part in the January 6 Capitol riot. Part of the Navy's course involves tackling the extremism in the ranks

Investigators also recovered photos from Hale-Cusanelli's cellphone of him in April 2020 after growing a Hitler mustache, prosecutors say.

The photos were allegedly taken while he was on duty at the Navy base, according to court documents.

Wes Koshoffer, Fleet Master Chief of Naval Personnel, said in a statement that eight weeks was not enough for the navy to address these problems.

'Identity transformation in eight weeks is a lot to ask for,' Koshoffer said.

'Developing toughness, resilience, forging character are processes that take time. And so, adding this time, it doesn't sounds like a lot, but that two weeks really makes a difference.'
Although he describes himself as a bespectacled nerd who is rubbish with girls, Stephen Merchants modest charms are clearly enough to capture the heart of this Hollywood beauty.

As millions of TV viewers were gripped by his portrayal of serial killer Stephen Port in the BBC1 drama Four Lives last week, the lofty actor and comedian enjoyed a romantic stroll in London with girlfriend Mircea Monroe.

The American model and actress is not only a beauty, but brainy, too, having completed a postgraduate course last year at Cambridge University following her degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in the US.

The lofty actor and comedian Stephen Merchant enjoyed a romantic stroll in London with girlfriend Mircea Monroe

St Louis-born Ms Monroe began dating the comedian, who is reportedly worth 35million, after he shot to fame for creating hit TV comedy series The Office with Ricky Gervais

Dressed warmly against the winter chill, the black-clad couple walked hand in hand after a trip to the shops.

But despite their low-key clothing, they couldnt help but stand out from the crowd, for Merchant, at 6ft 7in, is more than a foot taller than 39-year-old Ms Monroe, even in her beanie hat  which bore the logo of independent music shop Longwell Records in Bristol, her boyfriends home city.

St Louis-born Ms Monroe began dating the comedian, who is reportedly worth 35million, after he shot to fame for creating hit TV comedy series The Office with Ricky Gervais.

Stephen Merchant as Stephen Port, the Grindr Killer, in the BBC drama Four Lives. The actor, 47, portrays the serial killer who drugged and raped four men before dumping their bodies near his home in Barking, east London

The couple met in 2017 in Los Angeles, where they now live in chat-show host Ellen DeGeneress old home in Nichols Canyon, a celebrity enclave in the Hollywood Hills.

Ms Monroe regularly promotes her 47-year-old boyfriends work on social media.

Speaking of their relationship in 2019, Merchant said: Aside from the fact that shes great theres something very pleasing about not having the endless concern about filling that part of your life.

Thats a very lonely life, the life of a single person.
A top Iranian military official has vowed to take 'hard revenge' on the US for the drone strike killing General Qassem Soleimani two years ago.

Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, the overseas arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards, was killed in Iraq in a drone strike on January 3, 2020, ordered by then-President Donald Trump.

'We will prepare ground for the hard revenge against the US from within their homes,' said Soleimani's replacement, Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, at a memorial service in Mashhad this week, according to Tasnim News.

'We do not need to be present as supervisors everywhere, wherever is necessary we take revenge against Americans by the help of people on their side and within their own homes without our presence,' he added.

Soleimani's replacement, Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani (seen at his 2020 funeral) this week vowed to take 'hard revenge' on the US for the drone strike killing him

Soleimani (center), the commander of Iran's Quds Force, the overseas arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards, was killed in Iraq in a drone strike on January 3, 2020

Trump ordered the drone strike that obliterated Soleimani's convoy as he made a secret visit to Baghdad

Ghaani called on the US to deal internally with the 'criminals' who carried out the strike on Solemani, whom the Trump administration called a major financier and mastermind of terrorism throughout the Middle East.

Otherwise, he vowed, 'the children of the Resistance Front' would take matters into their own hands in what he said would be a costlier manner.

On Friday, Iran displayed three ballistic missiles at an outdoor prayer esplanade in central Tehran as talks in Vienna aimed at reviving Tehrans nuclear deal with world powers floundered.

The missiles - known as Dezful, Qiam and Zolfaghar - have official ranges of up to 620 miles and are already-known models, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said.

Diplomats from countries that remain in the 2015 nuclear deal - Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - are working with Tehran to revive the accord, which had sought to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for lifting of economic sanctions.

A cleric walks past Zolfaghar, top, and Dezful missiles displayed in a missile capabilities exhibition by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Tehran on Friday

The same type of ballistic missiles fired at al-Asad Air Base where the US soldiers are located in the Anbar province of Iraq two years ago are displayed in Tehran on Friday

Iran displayed the missiles in a blustering show of force in central Tehran on Friday

American diplomats are present at the nuclear talks in Vienna but they are not in direct talks with Iranians.

The accord collapsed in 2018 when then-President Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the deal and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

Iran on Saturday imposed largely symbolic sanctions on dozens more Americans, many of them from the U.S. military, over killing of Soleimani.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said the 51 Americans had been targeted for what it called 'terrorism' and human rights violations. The step lets Iranian authorities seize any assets they hold in Iran, but the apparent absence of such assets means it will likely be symbolic.

The ministry said in a statement carried by local media that the 51 had been targeted for 'their role in the terrorist crime by the United States against the martyred General Qassem Soleimani and his companions and the promotion of terrorism and violations of fundamental human rights'.

Representatives attend a meeting of the joint commission on negotiations aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal in Vienna, Austria on December 27

Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, the overseas arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards, was killed in Iraq in a drone strike on January 3, 2020, ordered by then President Donald Trump.

Those added to Iran's sanctions list included U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien.

In a similar move announced a year ago, Iran imposed sanctions on Trump and several senior U.S. officials over what it called 'terrorist and anti-human rights' acts.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, speaking on the second anniversary of Soleimani's assassination, said this week Trump must face trial for the killing or Tehran would take revenge.

On Wednesday morning, a statue to honour Qassem Soleimani (pictured) was unveiled in Hazrat Qamarbani Hashem Square in the southwestern Iranian city of Shahrekord

A statue of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani has been torched hours after it was unveiled by officials in Shahrekord, central Iran, to mark the second anniversary of his assassination

Earlier this week, a statue of Soleimani was torched hours after it was unveiled by officials to mark the second anniversary of his assassination.

On Wednesday morning, a statue to honour him was unveiled in Hazrat Qamarbani Hashem Square in the southwestern Iranian city of Shahrekord.

But by the evening it had been set on fire, ISNA news agency reported, calling it a 'shameful act by unknown individuals'.

'This treacherous crime was carried out in darkness, just like the other crime committed at night at Baghdad airport,' when Soleimani was killed, senior Muslim cleric Mohammad Ali Nekounam said in a statement carried by the Iranian state media.
A Labour MP is a director of a controversial website that has been accused of publishing antisemitic attacks and conspiracy theories, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Grahame Morris, MP for the Red Wall constituency of Easington in County Durham, is a director of Palestine Deep Dive (PDD) which has been accused of providing a platform for antisemitism.

The revelation comes days after Keir Starmer declared that Labour was deeply patriotic and sought to distance himself from his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, whose term as leader was dogged by an antisemitism row.

Grahame Morris, MP for the Red Wall constituency of Easington in County Durham, is a director of Palestine Deep Dive (PDD) which has been accused of providing a platform for antisemitism

Mr Morris last night confirmed he was a trustee of Palestine Deep Dive and admitted that he had failed to declare his directorship to parliamentary authorities. Research by Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) revealed the Left-wing MP is a founding director of PDD.

The news site contains content that appears to have broken guidelines on antisemitism laid out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and adopted by the Government in 2016.

Last May, PDD published a blog post by former South African politician Ronnie Kasrils claiming Israels racism has let loose the pogroms so reminiscent of Czarist times and Kristallnacht in Germany, 1938.

In November, Pink Floyds Roger Waters, a staunch supporter and contributor to PDD, blamed all Israelis voting in elections for supporting genocide against Palestinians. PDD was forced to apologise last month over a separate interview in which Mr Waters attacked BBC Panorama for helping to run a smear campaign against Labour with its 2019 investigation into antisemitism in the party.

Launched in 2019, PDD describes itself as an education company publishing media reports on Israel and Palestine. It was registered as a company last July, with Corbynista Mr Morris listed as one of its directors.

LAAS spokesman Alex Hearn said: It is difficult to see how Mr Morris can justify his involvement with this website, and we expect the parliamentary whip to be withdrawn while his expulsion is processed.

We continue to believe that Keir Starmers statement in September that Labour had closed the door on antisemitism was premature. The Labour leader must get a grip on this extreme but vocal minority if he wants to demonstrate to the electorate his party is finally fit for government.

Mr Morris said that, while a director of PDDs board of trustees, he had no involvement in the editorial decisions. He also issued an apology for not registering his directorship in the Commons. A PDD spokesman said the site has not knowingly published material that may be considered antisemitic, nor has it been challenged as such. If this would ever be the case, it would be removed.
A history professorship named after Cecil Rhodes has been axed by a university following a row over its imperial heritage and links to racism and slavery.

King's College London has removed the 100-year-old Rhodes Professorship of Imperial History after lobbying by the current post holder, Professor Richard Drayton.

The academic, who was born in Guyana and is a former Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, said of King's that 'the blood of enslaved Caribbean people is mixed into the mortar of its foundations'.

But critics have called the move 'footling virtue signalling' and said such actions risk erasing history.

In a letter to the provost of King's, released following a Freedom of Information request, Prof Drayton said the institution was built with donations from individuals made rich by the enslavement and exploitation of people in the West Indies.

He highlighted plantation owner Charles Pallmer, who gave today's equivalent of 40,000 to the university in 1828  the year before it was established  but who once received the equivalent of 400,000 for the 300 slaves he owned in Jamaica.

Prof Drayton argues in the letter, sent in 2020, that the Rhodes Professorship should be changed and the institution needed to make reparations to the Caribbean and African diaspora.

King's College London has removed the 100-year-old Rhodes Professorship of Imperial History after lobbying by the current post holder, Professor Richard Drayton (pictured)

He said such moves would 'begin a process of repair  repair of the world, repair of ourselves  to make a future world in which everyone can live as equals'.

In response, the university said that because the Professorship was not connected to any funding from the Rhodes Trust, reference to the controversial imperialist could be dropped.

It also proposed a number of scholarships for black PhD students, named after Dr Harold Moody, a Jamaican-born medic and anti-racism campaigner who attended King's.

Professor Jeremy Black, author and emeritus professor of history at Exeter University, described the dropping of the Rhodes name as 'footling virtue signalling'.

Frank Furedi, author and emeritus professor of sociology at Kent University, said: 'Perhaps they could change the name to Professorship of Decolonisation Studies or of Grievance Studies.'

The decision will be seen as a victory by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, which wants to see the statue of Rhodes taken down from Oriel College, Oxford. Oxford has agreed to scrap its Rhodes Professorship of Race Relations but the move has yet to be passed by the Privy Council.

A King's spokesman said: 'As we have not received funding from the Rhodes Trust for almost 100 years, the name of the chair was updated.'
irefighters called to Clapton, East London on the afternoon of New Year's Eve

Police were appealing for information last night after the death of a 35-year-old man trapped in a fire at a cannabis farm in a lock-up garage.

Ermal Qose, an Albanian national with no known address in the UK, was discovered by firefighters in Clapton, East London, on the afternoon of New Year's Eve.

He was taken to hospital but died two days later.

A 33-year-old man was arrested on New Year's Eve on suspicion of false imprisonment and cannabis cultivation, and has been released under investigation.

Police were appealing for information last night after the death of a 35-year-old man trapped in a fire at a cannabis farm in a lock-up garage

A 26-year-old man was arrested on Friday on suspicion of manslaughter, false imprisonment and cannabis cultivation. He remains in custody.

Detectives are appealing for information from the public.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, of the Metropolitan Police, said: 'Ermal tragically lost his life having been trapped inside the locked garage which was being used for the cultivation of cannabis when the fire broke out.

'This is now a manslaughter investigation and although officers have spoken with a number of local people, I want to hear from members of the public who were in the area on New Year's Eve or who have seen people coming and going from the garage.'

Anyone with any information is asked to call 020 8345 4128 or 101 quoting Operation Woodford. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
His departure comes after aide Michael Fawcett left over an honours scandal

A second executive has left Prince Charles's troubled charity, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Chris Martin, who was executive director of development at The Prince's Foundation, has followed the Prince's most trusted aide, Michael Fawcett, out the door after quitting his role.

The MoS published a damning letter last September from Mr Fawcett to billionaire Saudi donor Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz.

Chris Martin, who was executive director of development at The Prince's Foundation, has left Prince Charles's troubled charity, The Mail on Sunday can reveal

Mr Martin has followed the Prince's most trusted aide, Michael Fawcett (pictured), out the door. Mr Fawcett left his role after the Mail on Sunday published a damning letter last year showing he had offered to support an upgrade to a Saudi billionaire's honour in acknowledgement of his 'generous' donations to the charity

Written in 2017, Mr Fawcett offered to support an upgrade to Dr Bin Mahfouz's honour from a CBE to a knighthood and to help with his application for British citizenship in acknowledgement of his 'generous' donations to the charity.

An independent probe ordered by the Foundation, which runs Dumfries House  a Palladian country house in Ayrshire saved for the nation by Prince Charles  found Mr Fawcett had worked with 'fixers' to secure honours for a wealthy donor.

Scotland Yard is believed to be investigating the 'cash for favours' scandal. But Dr Bin Mahfouz denies wrongdoing and Clarence House insists Charles had 'no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities'.

An insider said: 'A few people have let the Foundation down for their own purposes.'

To rehabilitate its tarnished reputation, the Foundation has recruited four 'superwomen' with proven track records. Rosemary Hilary (left), a senior auditor, arrived in June, along with Ann Limb (right), the first female chairwoman of the Scout Association.

In October, the trust took on high-flying lawyer Sarah de Gay (left), a member of the Government Advisory Committee on Business Appointments. At the end of last year, the charity's chief operating officer, Emily Cherrington (right), was made chief executive

Mr Martin, meanwhile, stepped aside temporarily around the time the probe began. A source has confirmed he has now resigned after three years with the Foundation, although it is not known why he quit.

To rehabilitate its tarnished reputation, the Foundation has recruited four 'superwomen' with proven track records.

Rosemary Hilary, a senior auditor, arrived in June, along with Ann Limb, the first female chairwoman of the Scout Association.

In October, the trust took on high-flying lawyer Sarah de Gay, a member of the Government Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.

At the end of last year, the charity's chief operating officer, Emily Cherrington, was made chief executive with the insider describing her as a 'safe pair of hands'.

The Foundation and Clarence House did not comment last night.
A university funded by millions in Chinese cash has refused to remove its honour for Hong Kong's hardline justice secretary despite a desperate appeal from its own academics.

King's College London has repeatedly refused to remove its prestigious college fellowship for Teresa Cheng who is behind the arrests of journalists and pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong.

More than 20 academics from King's College law school wrote to Lord Geidt, in his role as chair of the university's governing council, to call for Ms Cheng's fellowship to be revoked.

But after more than a year, leaders at King's wrote back to the academics refusing to remove the honour, claiming Ms Cheng's 'considerable work' supporting former students warranted the award.

Last week Ms Cheng, who has been sanctioned by the US government for her role in suppressing democratic rights in Hong Kong, launched into a tirade against 'appalling' foreign politicians and organisations who had called for the release of journalists in the region.

King's College London has repeatedly refused to remove its prestigious college fellowship for Teresa Cheng (pictured) who is behind the arrests of journalists and pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong

King's refusal to remove Ms Cheng's honour comes despite bosses apologising last April to staff who complained at the university's picture tribute commemorating the death of Prince Philip because of his 'history of racist and sexist comments'.

And in 2019 the university removed an honorary doctorate from the Sultan of Brunei after his country made homosexuality punishable by stoning to death.

Eva Pils, professor of law at King's who was one of those calling for Ms Cheng's honour to be revoked, said the university's response was 'not convincing'.

She added: 'It makes me feel very uncomfortable personally, and I find it an absolute embarrassment she is still being honoured in this way. 'I teach students from Hong Kong and am aware of what they've just been through.

She obviously bears responsibility. The campaign to revoke Ms Cheng's honour began in 2019 when she was a leading figure in drafting the extradition bill which sparked protests in Hong Kong.

King's is thought to have thousands of Chinese students paying millions in cash while it has received 660,874 from controversial telecoms giant Huawei since 2019.

Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith (pictured) said: 'The fact King's cannot in any way condemn someone like Teresa Cheng for her role in the crackdown on peaceful democracy campaigners is totally hypocritical'

Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'The fact King's cannot in any way condemn someone like Teresa Cheng for her role in the crackdown on peaceful democracy campaigners is totally hypocritical.

'When it comes to a serious issue of great importance, because they are so completely in hock to China, they daren't say a word.'

Luke de Pulford, a human rights activist who launched the campaign, said: 'It is a crying shame to see a once great institution scramble for flimsy excuses to celebrate a notorious tyrant just to keep China happy.'

A King's College spokeswoman said: 'After careful consideration and while recognising the strength of feeling to the political situation in Hong Kong, the governing Council of King's College London has decided not to remove the FKC received by Mrs Cheng, as the contributions for which she received the award remain a matter of fact.'
It is known for sending its luxury food around the world and even into the trenches during the First World War  but Fortnum & Mason has been forced to stop deliveries to the EU due to border chaos.

The upmarket London food store, known as the Queens grocer, has told shoppers that it has had to temporarily pause shipments of its wares  including its signature hampers stuffed with champagne, Royal Blend tea and traditional Dundee fruitcake  to EU countries.

Fortnum said it had made the decision not to make deliveries over the holiday period due to further regulatory changes around deliveries to the EU and said it hoped to resume deliveries at the earliest opportunity this year.

The company said it has also suspended delivery to some non-EU countries such as Albania, Georgia and Iceland while it examines the implications of delivery restrictions to the EU.

Fortnum & Maso hampers range from 75 to a 750 Monarch Hamper and typically incur a 19.50 charge for deliveries to the EU

Its hampers range from 75 to a 750 Monarch Hamper and typically incur a 19.50 charge for deliveries to the EU.

British businesses attempting to export their goods to the EU have faced a string of headaches since Britains exit from the trading bloc.

Companies have bemoaned torrents of extra paperwork, increased costs and repeated rejected deliveries as they have attempted to reach European customers.

Food and drink exporters have particularly struggled with new requirements for expensive animal and plant health certificates.

Marks & Spencer blamed supply chain problems linked to Brexit for the closure of 11 stores in France last year.

Fortnums difficulties underline the problems facing UK businesses. The retailer boasts more than 300 years of experience in delivering to countries across the globe.

Fortnums difficulties underline the problems facing UK businesses. The retailer boasts more than 300 years of experience in delivering to countries across the globe

During the Great War, it sent boiled sweets, tinned fruit cake and chocolates to thousands of men and women serving overseas, including in France.

It delivered 500 plum puddings to one regiment for their Christmas dinner in 1915.

The store set up a service providing food parcels to the Western Front in 1914, and sent hampers designed to straddle a camel to North Africa, at the request of Earl Haig.

Fortnums decision caused dismay across the Channel. Jeremy Gee of Bertric-Buree in the Dordogne, south-western France, joked: To my chagrin, living in France, I found over Christmas that Fortnum & Mason, who were able to send their wares to the trenches during the First World War, are no longer able to send items to Europe.

I think even the most ardent Leave voters may have reconsidered had they realised such serious implications.

British exports to the EU were subject to full post-Brexit customs checks last year, while imports to the UK from the EU are now subject to the same rigorous checks since the start of this year.
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At least seven people have died and nine were seriously injured after part of a canyon collapsed on top of two boats carrying tourists at a popular sightseeing spot in southeast Brazil.

Authorities said three people were still missing after others feared lost were located by telephone.

The collapse took place near a picturesque waterfall in a canyon located near the popular tourist village of Capitolio, in the southeast of Brazil, on Saturday.

Dramatic footage captured the moment a huge slice of the rock wall broke off from the canyon and began to slowly fall forward on top of two tourist boats.

Passengers can be heard screaming as the cliffside crashed directly on one of the boats, engulfing the other nearby ship and sending waves and debris flying to the other vessels touring the area.

Authorities said at least 32 people have been taken to hospital and nine are still recovering from serious injuries.

The people hospitalized in the accident had broken bones and one was in serious condition in hospital with head and facial injuries.

Shocking video captured the moment the cliffside fell on two tourist boats

The crash engulfed the two tourist ships and sent debris flying to the other nearby boats

Video from other boats revealed that that the tourist ships had been worried about the cliffside and were urging the other boats to get away moments before the tragedy.

The passengers could be heard screaming out to the others to move away, with their pleas growing as rocks began chipping and falling away from the cliffside.

Rovilson Teixeira, an experienced boat operator, told the local press he expects more victims to be found. He added that he had never seen anything like this before in the area.

'We are all stunned, nobody knows how many victims, but I can already say that it wasn't just one or two deaths, but many deaths. There are a lot of injured people.

'The place is full of ambulances from all over the region that came to deal with the victims, but nobody can yet process the scale of this tragedy.'

The collapse, described as 'like a domino', is thought to have been caused by excessive rain. Authorities had warned locals earlier that day to avoid waterfalls in the area, which may have been vulnerable to large volumes of water.

The region has been under heavy rainfall for two weeks, which could have loosened the rock face. On Saturday, a dike overflowed at an iron ore mine about 180 miles to the east, cutting off a major federal highway.

The tourists boats were heard warning each other about the dangers at the cliff as rocks began falling off. Two ships were still close to the cliffside when it came down

Minas Gerais Fire Department road out to help with the rescue effort on Saturday

The collapse took place near a picturesque waterfall as tourist boats made their way through

Lieutenant Pedro Aihara, spokesperson for the local fire department, said rock collapses in the region are normal - but not on this scale or trajectory.

'Normally the piece of rock slides down from where it is,' he told news portal UOL. 'This time, the structure fell down like a domino and what hit people was the upper part, in a perpendicular trajectory.'

According to local reports, of the victims still in hospital two have exposed fractures, four have light injuries and three are in a grave condition.

The Brazilian Navy has opened an investigation into the cause of the tragedy.
A record 16 NSW residents have died with Covid as new cases drop 33 per cent to 30,062 with far fewer tests conducted.

Victoria, which passed NSW with a massive spike to 51,356 on Saturday, dropped 13 per cent to 44,155 on Sunday with four deaths.

While cases appear to have significantly dropped in both states, true numbers are likely far higher than what is being reported, particularly in NSW where the results of rapid antigen tests are not yet included in tallies.

In NSW, just 98,986 people got tested on Saturday with 83,993 in Victoria, compared to 116,915 and 89,513 a day earlier.

Cases in Victoria more than doubled this weekend after residents were given the ability to lodge the positive results they received on the at-home testing kits.

NSW will have a similar experience from Wednesday, when residents are encouraged to upload their positive at-home result to Service NSW.

Chief health officer Kerry Chant said on Friday even then, cases are likely to remain 'underestimates'.

Premier Dominic Perrottet doubled his order of urgent rapid antigen tests to 100 million to stop PCR lines from blowing out and make up for chronic shortages.

The tests - some of which will arrive this week - will be distributed to essential workers and vulnerable communities.

A Chemist Warehouse in Sydney is sold out of rapid antigen tests as they become increasingly necessary for navigating the pandemic for Australians

'This will ensure supplies are provided to the most vulnerable in our community, and ensure they have immediate access to support and health advice as needed,' the premier told Sunday Telegraph.

'It will also provide greater confidence to businesses and the community.'

Further details of the deal are expected to be shared later on Sunday.

As of Sunday, there are 1,927 people being treated in NSW hospitals for Covid across the state, with 151 in ICU.

Daily new cases dropped 33 per cent overnight, but testing rates are also dropping amid clinic closures and hours-long wait times.

Meanwhile in Victoria, 752 Covid patients are in hospital with 104 in intensive care, 23 of whom require ventilation. Four people died overnight with the virus.

There were 14 per cent less cases recorded on Sunday than a day earlier, when cases peaked at 51,356.

Of the 44,155 new cases in Victoria on Sunday, 22,051 were identified via at-home rapid antigen kits, offering a sense of what to expect for the government of NSW when RATs are counted in official figures in NSW from Wednesday.

Covid is now so widespread doctors in at least three hospitals in NSW are reportedly treating every patient as if they have the virus even if they have tested negative.

Liverpool, Nepean, and St George Hospitals in Sydney's south-west, west and south will no longer treat Covid-positive patients any differently to those without the virus.

Covid is now so widespread doctors in at least three hospitals are reportedly treating every patient as if they have the virus even if they have tested negative

Nepean Hospital professor of surgery Professor Mohamed Khadra warned staff negative rapid test results could not be relied upon and instructed staff to treat all patients as though they likely have the virus.

It's understood similar instructions were given to healthcare workers at St George and Liverpool hospitals.

'Our approach is make sure people don't get lulled into false sense of security because someone has a negative rapid antigen test,' Professor Khadra told Daily Mail Australia.

'We're saying you have to assume everyone has it, whether you're on bus or in the street or in theatre, you have to protect yourselves and patients.'

Up to 5,000 healthcare workers are believed to be in isolation after either testing positive or coming into close contact with a Covid case.

Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant on Friday clarified daily case numbers are almost certainly an 'underestimate'

For many young people across the nation, it's been 'business as usual' as they enjoy the holiday period

There are mounting concerns staff shortages will begin to impact the ability to give medical treatment, though Premier Dominic Perrottet hopes pausing elective surgery will ease the burden on the healthcare system.

Mr Perrottet reassured the public the healthcare system was under pressure but not at risk of collapsing.

'Even in a worst case scenario (based on new modelling) we have the capacity within our health system right now,' he said on Friday.

'We have invested significantly... We have the best health system in the country if not around the world.'

Case numbers are expected to at least double at that point.

People queue for a Covid-19 PCR test in Melbourne. Some of the pressures on the pathology system have eased now that residents can use their rapid antigen test kits at home to confirm their diagnosis

Retailers across Australia have been inundated with customers seeking rapid antigen tests, and 100million more are en route to NSW

It's becoming increasingly unlikely primary school students will return to face-to-face learning after the summer break ends.

No student under 12 will be vaccinated by the time term one rolls around at the end of January, because jabs for 5-11 year olds become available on Monday and require an eight week gap between doses.

Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe told the Sunday Herald students and teachers may have to work from home for the foreseeable future.

'If you can't provide supervision and duty of care, governments will have to consider how particular schools pivot to remote learning,' she said.

'Schools have the potential to be super spreader environments. If teachers feel they need to do a rapid antigen test every day then they should be able to.'

While Mr Perrottet is 'incredibly confident' students will return to classrooms on the first day of term one, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has already indicated she is prepared to delay the end of holidays by one to two weeks.

Adviser to the federal health ministry, Troy Billsborough, said Australia could see more than one million positive cases within days.

'That's more people than cancer, that's more people than lung disease and kidney disease,' he said.

He predicted the huge case load and the likelihood of new variants could even affect the upcoming Australian Federal Election.

While Mr Perrottet is 'incredibly confident' students will return to classrooms on the first day of term one, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has already indicated she's prepared to delay the end of holidays by one to two weeks

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant also acknowledged true case numbers may not ever be known given there would be people not reporting their rapid antigen tests

The Australian Medical Association issued new warnings that anyone going into a hospital could contract the virus.

'Many people who go to hospital without Covid will be unfortunate to contract it while they are in hospital,' AMA federal councillor Michael Bonning said.

Mr Bonning said it was 'infuriating' to hear continual claims that the health system was 'coping'.

'It is infuriating to continue to hear that when we know that this is the biggest challenge we have ever faced,' he said.

Customers wait outside a cafe at Bondi Beach amid soaring case numbers right across Sydney
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A racecar with nobody at the wheel snaked around another to snatch the lead on an oval track at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday in a first-of-its-kind high-speed match between self-driving vehicles.

Members of Italian-American team PoliMOVE cheered as their open wheel, Formula 1-style racecar, nicknamed 'Minerva,' repeatedly passed a rival entered by South Korean team Kaist.

Minerva was doing nearly 115 miles per hour when it blew past the Kaist car, easily beating the top speed hoped for by race organizers and winning the $150,000 top prize. Organizers say the fastest speed reached on Friday was 173 mph.

But every racer was deemed a winner by organizers who saw the real victory as the fact that self-driving algorithms could handle the high-speed competition.

The TII EuroRacing autonomous race car passes the TUM Autonomous Motorsport car during the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 7

A racecar with nobody at the wheel snaked around another to snatch the lead on an oval track at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday in a first-of-its-kind high-speed match between self-driving vehicles

The TUM Autonomous Motorsport race car from the Technische Universitat Munchen (Germany) drives during the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 7

Attendees watch the Indy Autonomous Challenge as a fighter jet flies overhead during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 7, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada

'It's a success,' Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) co-organizer Paul Mitchell said to AFP before the checkered flag was waved.

The race pitted teams of students from around the world against one another to rev up the capabilities of self-driving cars, improving the technology for use anywhere.

In October, the IAC put the brakes on self-driving F1 cars racing together to allow more time to ready technology for the challenge, opting instead to let them do laps individually to see which had the best time.

'This almost holds the world record for speed of an autonomous car,' PoliMOVE engineer Davide Rigamonti boasted as he gazed lovingly at the white-and-black beauty.

The single seat usually reserved for a driver was during this race instead packed with electronics.

Davide Rigamonti speaks about the PoliMOVE autonomous race car from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and University of Alabama in pit row during the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

A crew member looks at cameras and LiDAR sensors on top of TUM Autonomous Motorsport race car from the Technische Universitat Munchen (Germany) drives during the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

Crew members of Team TUM Autonomous Motorsport move their team car at the pit during the Indy Autonomous Challenge head-to-head, high speed autonomous racecar passing competition, hosted by Energy Systems Network

Cars from Team KAIST, upper, and Team PoliMOVE, lower, compete in the Indy Autonomous Challenge head-to-head, high speed autonomous racecar passing competition, hosted by Energy Systems Network, on the final day of CES 2022

PoliMOVE had a shot at victory at another race in October in Indianapolis, clocking some 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour) before skidding out on a curve, according to Rigamonti.

Friday, it was the South Korean entry that spun out after overtaking a car fielded by a team from the University of Auburn in the southern US state of Alabama.

'The students who program these cars are not mechanics; most of them knew nothing about racing,' said IndyCar specialist Lee Anne Patterson.

'We taught them about racing.'

The students program the software that pilots the car by quickly analyzing data from sophisticated sensors.

Phillip Karle (C) and Dr. Markus Lienkamp (R) of TUM Autonomous Motorsport take pictures with the team's autonomous race car before the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

The MIT-PITT-RW, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo (Canada) autonomous race car enters pit row during the Indy Autonomous Challenge

The PoliMOVE autonomous race car from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and University of Alabama drives during the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 7

An autonomous race car drives during the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 7, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada

The car from Team KAIST competes in the Indy Autonomous Challenge head-to-head, high speed autonomous racecar passing competition, hosted by Energy Systems Network, on the final day of CES 2022 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Paul Mitchell, race organizer and president of Energy Systems Network, stands for a portrait during the Indy Autonomous Challenge during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on January 7

The software piloting the cars has to anticipate how other vehicles on the course will behave, then maneuver accordingly, according to Markus Lienkamp, a professor at Munich, TUM, which won the October competition.

Nearby, Lienkamp's students are glued to screens.

'It plays out in milliseconds,' said Mitchell.

'The computer has to make the same decisions as a human driver, despite the speed.'

The IAC plans to organize other races on the model of Friday's -- pitting two cars against each other, with the hope of reaching a level sufficient to one day launch all the vehicles together.
Like so many people, Ive been appalled by the behaviour of anti-vaccination fanatics, whove been causing senseless disruption in recent weeks, at schools, testing centres and even a childrens pantomime.

I saw for myself how dangerous they could be when protesters arrived at my house last weekend, telling my young daughter that her father was a murderer.

We know that these radicals are a small minority of a small minority. Most people who have not yet been vaccinated have genuine concerns and are not extreme anti-vaxxers like those who targeted me.

But we need to call out the dangerous nonsense pushed around by some, because the case for getting the jab has only become more overwhelming.

Its been disappointing to see Novak Djokovic, with a huge global following, fuelling scepticism about vaccines. But we cant rely on public figures alone to show leadership, writes Health Secretary Sajid Javid

Billions of people across the world have now had a Covid vaccine, and over a year since they started going into arms here in the UK, the impact is clear.

Recent data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that people who have not been vaccinated are up to eight times more likely to be hospitalised with Covid.

We also know that in England as many as 90 per cent of Covid patients admitted to intensive care last month hadnt had a booster and more than 60 per cent hadnt had any vaccination at all.

Weve heard tragic stories from those working on the frontline that intensive care units are full of patients who wish they could go back in time and get vaccinated, but that its sadly too late.

Like so many people, Ive been appalled by the behaviour of anti-vaccination fanatics, whove been causing senseless disruption in recent weeks, at schools, testing centres and even a childrens pantomime

However, people who dont get the jab are not only putting themselves at risk, theyre putting this nations recovery at risk too, leaving us exposed to the powerful force of this Omicron wave and future potential variants.

On Friday I visited Kings College Hospital in London, where I heard from clinicians on the front line about the intense pressures they are facing this winter.

This pressure will only intensify over the next few weeks, and every person we keep out of hospital through a simple jab means a bed for another patient, whether its for Covid or for non-Covid care.

Please, do your bit to help us keep this country safe and free

One consultant told me his team estimated a shocking 70 per cent of Covid patients taking up beds in intensive care were unvaccinated.

Their choice not to get vaccinated has clearly taken a toll not just on them as individuals but on wider society. And yet that same consultant later told me that he still hadnt had a vaccine.

This shows how much we still have to do to make the case for everyone making that positive decision to get the jab.

I am a passionate believer in individual liberty and peoples ability to make choices about whats best for them.

So although weve seen plans for universal mandatory vaccinations in some countries, I would never support them here; and it was important to me that the Covid Pass should have a testing route to proving eligibility, not just vaccination.

That belief in freedom goes hand in hand with a belief we all have a duty to use our freedoms responsibly, so as not to threaten the safety or freedoms of others.

Choices have consequences  so now is a time for choosing. The unvaccinated must acknowledge that the reason they could have a Christmas without last years curbs is because so many made a different choice.

A fan of Serbia's Novak Djokovic waves a flag in the arrivals hall at Melbourne Airport ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday

If we allow the protective wall weve built through the vaccination programme to weaken, well all be at risk.

Weve reached the milestone of nine in ten eligible over-50s getting boosted in England, but for as long as there are people unprotected, theres more work to do.

This isnt just a job for Government. Every one of us has a part to play, and those in the public eye have a particular responsibility to show leadership and use their influence for good. Its been disappointing to see Novak Djokovic, with a huge global following, fuelling scepticism about vaccines.

But we cant rely on public figures alone to show leadership. Most of us know someone who hasnt got the jab and everyone can do their bit by helping address concerns they may have  whether a family member or a friend.

Tackling disparities between communities is something I care about deeply and although weve seen some monumental progress, we cannot deny there are worrying disparities in vaccine uptake.

Im proud to be the first Health Secretary from an ethnic minority, and Id say to anyone whos unsure about getting the jab: lets make sure that the devastating and disproportionate impact this pandemic has had on our communities doesnt become greater.

Please get the jab if youre eligible, and if youve had it, persuade your loved ones to do the same. It might not be an easy conversation, but it could save their life.

Vaccination is one of the most important choices we will make. So please do your bit to help us withstand the Omicron wave, and keep this country safe and free.
The mother of one of the first British soldiers killed in the Iraq War last night called for Tony Blair to be stripped of his knighthood.

Marion Chapman, 73, said it was 'outrageous' that the former Prime Minister had been knighted, having sent hundreds of troops to war in 2003 without vital equipment.

Her son, Sergeant Steve Roberts, was shot in a friendly-fire incident at a checkpoint on March 24, 2003  four days after British troops invaded southern Iraq.

It later emerged the 33-year-old tank commander had been ordered to hand over his body armour to another unit just three days earlier due to shortages. He was one of 2,000 British soldiers who went into battle without the armoured vests, which cost 167 each.

'Tony Blair should never have got a knighthood,' Mrs Chapman said. 'Why should he?

'He sent all those lads to war without their equipment. I lost Steve through a lack of equipment.

'He should be stripped of it. I just think he is arrogant.'

BITTER: Marion Chapman with her son, Steve Roberts

Her comments came as more than a million people have signed a petition to have the knighthood rescinded. An inquiry into the Iraq War by Sir John Chilcot was told by senior officers that the Government's rush to war meant the military 'didn't have enough time' to source all the necessary kit.

Sgt Roberts, who was born in Cornwall and lived in Shipley, West Yorkshire, was mistakenly shot by a comrade near the southern city of Zubayr. After his death, his widow Samantha, along with his brother, Tristan Tancock, and Mrs Chapman, campaigned for all service personnel to be given the crucial life-saving equipment.

In December 2004 they scored a victory when the then Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon pledged their target would be achieved within two years.

But despite their campaign saving the lives of countless British soldiers, they  unlike Sir Tony  have never been formally recognised. 'Taking on the Government was quite a daunting task,' Mrs Chapman said.

'We fought for Steve. We went through hell and back but at least Steve's legacy is that those boys all have body armour as standard equipment. I lost a very precious son but maybe we saved a lot of other people's sons' lives.'

Mrs Chapman moved to Spain after her son was killed but plans to visit the UK next year to mark the 20th anniversary of his death.

Furious relatives of fallen British troops last week vowed to hand back Elizabeth Crosses, which are given to the next of kin of those killed in action, in disgust at Sir Tony's knighthood.

But Mrs Chapman said her family were not planning to hand back Steve's medals.

Instead, they will be given to his brother's teenage children.

'They are like a gift from Steve  a legacy from Steve.'
Boris Johnson's Government is on high alert for potential defections to Labour by 'Red Wall' Tory MPs worried about losing their seats at the next election.

Last week a bombshell Mail on Sunday poll showed there had been a mid-term crash in support in the 57 former Labour and marginal seats gained by the Tories in 2019.

The news that the Prime Minister had entered the New Year 16 points behind Labour saw 'Red Wallers' scrambling for ideas to keep constituents onside.

Talk immediately turned to submitting letters of no-confidence in the Prime Minister amid fears he is becoming a drag on their fortunes.

Now party whips are concerned that some of them might attempt a 'chicken run' to a safe Labour seat  or switch sides in the same seat.

Boris Johnson's Government is on high alert for potential defections to Labour by 'Red Wall' Tory MPs worried about losing their seats at the next election. Last week a bombshell Mail on Sunday poll showed there had been a mid-term crash in support in the 57 former Labour and marginal seats gained by the Tories in 2019

Voting records show that in this parliamentary session, 15 Tory MPs representing former Labour strongholds or marginals have voted against the Conservatives on five or more occasions. Among them are Dehenna Davison (left), MP for Bishop Auckland; Lee Anderson (right), MP for Ashfield; Mark Jenkinson, MP for Workington; and Imran Ahmad Khan, the suspended MP for Wakefield

The Red Wall MPs, who were elected on a tide of support for Mr Johnson's push to 'get Brexit done', fear for their futures as voters increasingly question No 10's approach.

It comes as new analysis by this newspaper reveals a concerted pushback by a small core of Tory MPs against No 10.

Voting records show that in this parliamentary session, 15 Tory MPs representing former Labour strongholds or marginals have voted against the Conservatives on five or more occasions.

Among them are Dehenna Davison, MP for Bishop Auckland; Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield; Mark Jenkinson, MP for Workington; and Imran Ahmad Khan, the suspended MP for Wakefield.

Last night, one MP told The Mail on Sunday that 'dividing lines' appeared to be emerging between the actions of the leadership and the concerns of their voters.

Analysis of latest voting behaviour shows that Mr Jenkinson  whose Workington seat had been held by the Labour party for 40 years before the Tories took it two years ago  has voted seven times against the Tory majority since May.

He has fervently opposed stringent Covid regulations, as has Ms Davison.

Last week's MoS poll of the Red Wall and marginal seats put Labour on 49 per cent and the Conservatives on just 33 per cent in the event of a General Election. The poll also put Sir Keir Starmer's party ahead in national voting intention, with Labour on 40 per cent and the Tories on 35 per cent



Last week, Mr Anderson said his constituents were more concerned about the rising cost of living, rather than No 10's green agenda, a sentiment echoed by Lord Frost in today's MoS exclusive interview.

Although the rebels insist there have been no discussions about possible defections, No 10 is on alert, as the Tory policy chasm appears to deepen.

Last week's MoS poll of the Red Wall and marginal seats put Labour on 49 per cent and the Conservatives on just 33 per cent in the event of a General Election.

The poll also put Sir Keir Starmer's party ahead in national voting intention, with Labour on 40 per cent and the Tories on 35 per cent.
Furniture giant Ikea has slashed sick pay entitlement for some unvaccinated staff forced to self-isolate after close contact with someone infected with Covid, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The move means unvaccinated workers, who are required by the Government to isolate for 10 days after close contact, could receive as little as 96.35 a week under Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) obligations, a legal minimum.

That compares with the average pay for Ikea shopfloor staff of 10.10 an hour outside London and 11.30 in the capital  the equivalent of 404 and 452 for an average working week.

Ikea slashed sick pay entitlement for some unvaccinated staff forced to self-isolate after Covid close contact

In an effort to tackle the impact of the pingdemic hitting businesses, from last August people in England who were double jabbed were no longer legally required to self-isolate if they were identified as a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case  but unvaccinated workers contacted by NHS Test and Trace are required to isolate.

Ikea, which has 21 large stores and more than 10,000 staff in the UK, said mitigating circumstances would be taken into consideration.

We appreciate that this is an emotive topic and all circumstances will be considered on a case by case basis, therefore anyone in doubt or concerned about their situation is encouraged to speak to their manager, said a spokeswoman.

Ikea later clarified that the policy only affects unvaccinated workers with high levels of absence.

The retailer is among a string of companies such as Santander and Asda which encouraged employees to receive a coronavirus jab, offering paid time off for vaccinations.

From tomorrow, staff at utilities firm Wessex Water who have not received at least one Covid vaccination or have no appointment to be vaccinated will only receive SSP if they are required to self-isolate as a close contact of a Covid case.

Average pay for Ikea shopfloor staff 404 for an average working week outside London and 452 for one in the capital

Absences had doubled in the past week, it said.

We need everyone to be available so we can continue to provide uninterrupted essential water and sewerage services.

The legal position of employers treating vaccinated and unvaccinated staff differently is untested.

Richard Fox, of law firm Kingsley Napley, said: With the Government telling everybody to get the vaccine and care workers forced to get it, it could be difficult for an employee to mount a claim.
Atletico Madrid are interested in a loan deal for Arsenal right-back Cedric Soares.

The Spanish club are keen on striking an initial loan deal for Soares with a view to a permanent deal in the summer.

It is likely that Arsenal will be reluctant to let Soares leave without a replacement owing to a lack of cover at right-back.

Atletico Madrid are interested in signing Cedric Soares from Arsenal on a loan deal

Takehiro Tomiyasu is currently first choice, but without Soares the Gunners would be short on cover after Ainsley Maitland-Niles joined Roma on loan.

Diego Simeone's side meanwhile are a right-back short following the sale of Kieran Trippier.

It was announced on Friday that the England international had joined Newcastle for 12m following two-and-a-half-seasons at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Arsenal have already loaned out Ainsley Maitland-Niles to Roma during the January window

Soares has struggled for game-time this season making just four Premier League appearances - only one since the middle of September.

The 30-year-old originally arrived at the Emirates on a six-month loan deal in January 2020.

Despite making just five appearances for them that season, he then signed for them on a permanent transfer at the end of his contract at Southampton.
Newcastle United have made improved offers for Lille defender Sven Botman and Sevilla's Diego Carlos as they look to deliver new centre-backs for Eddie Howe.

Both defenders have indicated they would like to join but the deals could end up costing close to 70m in total with their respective clubs asking premium prices as they need to find replacements.

Lille, who are eighth in the top-flight in France, are understandably keen to keep hold of the impressive young stalwart, but may be tempted into selling up.

Newcastle have made an improved offer for Lille centre-back Sven Botman

The Magpies are also understood to be chasing Sevilla's Brazilian defender Diego Carlos

It is also said that Botman himself would be keen on moving to the Premier League.

With such a short timeframe to work within, Newcastle are running parallel discussions over other targets in case any deal falters.

Monaco's Benoit Badiashile is another they have held talks over.

Newcastle would be willing to offer around 25m for the 20-year old who has attracted enquiries from Wolves and Manchester United.

Newcastle sealed a 12m move for Kieran Trippier on Friday and are keen to add more players

Newcastle are also monitoring Monaco's 20-year-old centre-back Benoit Badiashile

But Monaco value the France U21 international at around 35m.

Newcastle have also held further talks over a 15m move for Marseille's Senegalese forward Bamba Dieng.

However, a deal for Liverpool's Divock Origi is unlikely.

With hopes dwindling over the prospect of attracting Lucas Digne from Everton, Newcastle have also considered Ajax left back Nicolas Tagliafico whom they made enquiries about early in December.

The club are also looking at options in attack and have spoken to Marseille about Bamba Dieng
Dusan Vlahovic would turn Arsenal into top-four contenders into genuine title challengers, according to Paul Merson.

The Gunners legend has urged his former club to sign Vlahovic, who has scored a stunning 16 goals in 19 Serie A games this season.

Arsenal are flying high in the Premier League at the moment and with a great chance of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 2016.

Arsenal should pull out all the stops to sign Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic, says Paul Merson

Merson said Vlahovic, 21, would turn Arsenal into contenders for the Premier League title

But the team are going to be seriously short of striking options next season.

Alexandre Lacazette is due to leave for free in June after running down his contract while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's time at the club looks to be nearing an end after he fell out with Mikel Arteta.

Eddie Nketiah is also set to leave after failing to negotiate a new deal, forcing Arsenal into making a move into the transfer market in the summer.

'Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is finished at Arsenal. He won't be coming back from the Africa Cup of Nations,' Merson wrote in his column for The Daily Star.

'They should be breaking the bank to get Dusan Vlahovic in from Fiorentina in the summer - because he would make them title contenders.'

According to reports, Vlahovic, 21, is holding out for an offer from one of Europe's biggest clubs and is not immediately tempted by a move to London. But Merson believes he could be swayed if Arsenal clinch Champions League qualification and offer him a considerable hike in salary.

Vlahovic has scored a remarkable 16 goals in Serie A this season in 19 appearances

Arsenal need to sign a striker as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has fallen out with Mikel Arteta

'I've heard he's not interested in Arsenal right now and I can understand that. But he might change his mind if they finish in the top four and offer him a lorryload of money,' Merson added.

'Arsenal would be able to play him every week because Aubameyang will be gone. Alexandre Lacazette will probably be gone. And so will Eddie Nketiah.

They will need a goalscorer, and Vlahovic scores goals. He's also still young so he should get better and you're not wasting money paying a 29-year-old on the way down.'

Merson, who came through Arsenal's academy and spent 12 years at the club, lifting five trophies, also heaped praise on Arteta.

The Spaniard oversaw Arsenal's worst ever start to a season as they lost their opening three games but quickly inspired a revival, taking the team into the top four and the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

And he believes adding Vlahovic to the side would help them challenge for next season's title along with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Alexandre Lacazette is also set to depart after running down his contract at the Emirates

Merson, who enjoyed a trophy-laden 12 years with Arsenal, praised Arteta's work this season

'I think there are good things happening at Arsenal. Mikel Arteta has got them playing well. But they need a proven striker next season,' added Merson.

'He's signed a keeper, defenders, full backs, midfielders and a No 10, promoted kids on the wings - a proper centre forward could be the missing piece.

'I'm not saying they'll win the league if they get Vlahovic. But they'll have a chance to make it a four-horse race at least.'
She ended 2021 as Mrs Mabbott-to-be.

And it is fair to say that newly-engaged Lucie Donlan looks set to have an equally incredible 2022 as she focuses on her future with 'amazing' fiance Luke Mabbott, who popped the question back in December under Finland's Northern Lights.

During an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the 23-year-old blonde bombshell, who has just launched her sultry KBX collection with Ann Summers, confessed that Luke's proposal was 'definitely a surprise' before detailing the progress on her recently-bought Cornwall cottage.

EXCLUSIVE 'He's amazing - I'm really lucky': Lucie Donlan gushed over fiance Luke Mabbott's 'very emotional' proposal and detailed renovating her new cottage together - as she modelled her new lingerie range for Ann Summers

Recalling the moment Luke, 26, put a ring on it, she said: 'It was very emotional. It's going to be an amazing year because we've got our little dog - it's like we've got our own little family. We're focusing on doing up the house.'

Getting on the property ladder has been a dream of the surfer's since her Love Island stint back in 2019 and she admitted she 'couldn't imagine' living anywhere but the Cornish coast.

Although Luke, who also rose to fame on Love Island but as a contestant in 2020, has bought his own house in Redcar, his plumbing expertise has been coming in handy while the pair renovate Lucie's place.

Milestone moment: During an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the 23-year-old blonde bombshell confessed that Luke's proposal was 'definitely a surprise' before detailing the progress on her recently-bought Cornwall cottage

Where it began: Getting on the property ladder has been a dream of the surfer's since her Love Island stint back in 2019 (right). Luke also rose to fame on Love Island but as a contestant in 2020

'We'll do a month down in Cornwall, a month down at his house. We never have any time apart. We have the odd week here and there but we end up missing each other too much! We actually hate being apart, we don't like doing anything without each other.

'Luke used to be a plumber and he's got a couple of properties himself so he's the best to have around while doing up a house! He's literally done most of that stuff in the house already for me. He's amazing. I'm really lucky,' the bride-to-be explained.

The influencer has not let her future husband take all the reins though as she divulged that she is a dab hand at woodwork and has been getting a kick out of ripping up wallpaper.

Project: Of her cottage renovations, she regaled: 'I'm glammed up on Instagram but behind the scenes, I'm in my joggers with a baggy tee on - with my goggles and screwdriver! It's quite funny really'

'I'm glammed up on Instagram but behind the scenes, I'm in my joggers with a baggy tee on - with my goggles and screwdriver! It's quite funny really,' she regaled.

Lucie's big project comes amid another exciting one, as she fronts Ann Summers' KBX collection, which incorporates beautiful and sustainable styles.

The model is a keen advocate of all things nature and sustainability which is what made a further collaboration with the brand so appealing to her.

Beauty: Lucie's big project comes amid another exciting one, as she fronts Ann Summers' KBX collection, which incorporates beautiful and sustainable styles

'I just stand for everything [Ann Summers] stand for. I love being passionate about the environment, I really try to push that on my platform.

'Just doing little bits for the planet can do big things for everybody. For example, picking a sustainable and recycled collection as their underwear can help that little bit.

'There's no influencers that I know of that really push this message. I've got a lot of younger followers as well and I want that message to get out there,' she said.

Go girl: Body positivity is a concept Lucie believes the lingerie range aims to embody, especially as her latest photoshoot was 'even more natural and stripped back'

Body positivity is a concept Lucie believes the lingerie range aims to embody, especially as her latest photoshoot was 'even more natural and stripped back.'

'I'm really passionate about embracing who we are and what we look like,' she said, adding that she believes there is no longer a notion of what comprises an 'ideal model.'

It's obvious that the reality star strives to use her platform in positive ways and she admitted it's the gym, as well as immersing herself into projects, that boosts her own mood.

Looking ahead: Lucie looks set to have an equally incredible 2022 as she focuses on her future with 'amazing' fiance Luke

'I've just been on holiday to the Maldives. I was so worried about looking a certain way to be in a bikini and after literally three gym sessions the week before, it changed my mindset. I felt so much confident to put a bikini on,' she said candidly.

And that's why she feels so strongly about her latest campaign - because it encourages woman empowerment.

'I did go through a stage where I was conscious of my stretch marks and things like that. Obviously being a model before Love Island, I was always conscious of [them]. I feel like this collection is so much about women empowerment, we just embrace who we are,' she enthused.

The new KBX collection is launching on 8 January 2022.
Sunny Hostin added a new animal friend to her household with the help of a well-known star.

The View co-star, 53, announced the news via an Instagram post welcoming the little one to Hostin's Animal House, an Instagram account showcasing all of the star's pets.

The photo showed a small, shaggy brown and white dog with large eyes and ears that stood straight up.

A new home: Sunny Hostin took to Instagram to introduce her followers to her new dog Koko Chanel

The ABC News journalist wore a black long-sleeve shirt and wore her curly hair up. She smiled large for the snap.

She captioned the photo, 'Welcome Koko Chanel to @hostinsanimalhouse!'

Hostin said she received a bit of help in the adoption from American Horror Story star Sarah Paulson.

Help from a famous friend: Hostin said that Sarah Paulson helped her to adopt the animal (pictured 2021)

Opening up on The View: Hostin talked about the new dog on her show The View and explained how she saw Koko Chanel on an Instagram page after being hit by a car (pictured 2020)

'I have my children, I adore my children as everyone knows but I love my pets,' the host said on her show The View. 'And I will say, there has been a new addition to the Hostin household. Her name is Koko Chanel now, it used to be Gidget.'

She continued, 'I follow a wonderful page on Instagram called Faces of Devore and Big Bear Shelter. I saw that Gidget had been hit by a car and left for dead. I called over to the shelter and Sarah Paulson apparently also saw Gidget. [She] pulled her with the help of Sally's Rescue, which is run by Sally Cicchetti, who is just so amazing.'

The lawyer also revealed that The Ratched star paid for her new pup's surgery which the animal shelter, Sally's Rescue confirmed in their own social media post.

Double surgery: Hostin, seen 2020, took in the dog who had had multiple surgeries and needed a lot of help to recover (pictured 2020)

The shelter said that Gidget, now Koko Chanel's journey toward a home all began when Paulson agreed to pay for the necessary surgeries after the accident.

'The stars truly aligned for this adoption to happen [star emojis]. Look who adopted tiny Gidget!' Sally's Rescue started the caption. 'Sunny is a true animal lover, rescuer and of course she is a star on The View. What a beautiful person.'

The organization included some of more medical details in the caption, writing, 'Gidget had double surgery @simonvetsurg and she recovered with my friends who took amazing care of her @bedbathbarks, she was also seen by my own vet @krista.schnabel @vcaardenanimalhospital.'

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Alex Jones caught the the eye in a striking red dress as she stepped out after hosting The One Show in London on Friday.

The presenter, 44, returned to the show on Tuesday after taking four months maternity leave.

Alex looked chic in the eye-catching ensemble, which she paired with black pointy boots.

Looking good: Alex Jones, 44, caught the the eye in a striking red dress as she stepped out after hosting The One Show in London on Friday

The star held her phone in her hand as she stepped out of the BBC studios in the capital.

She walked with her other hand in her pocked and smiled as she left the building.

Alex had styled her brunette locks in waves which sat neatly on her shoulders.

Stylish: The presenter returned to the show on Tuesday after taking four months maternity leave

Wow: Alex looked chic in the eye-catching ensemble, which she paired with black pointy boots

Stunning: The star held her phone in her hand as she stepped out of the BBC studios in the capital

She had her make up done up perfectly as she wore a glowing layer of foundation, winged eyeliner and neutral coloured lip gloss.

Alex recently shared a beaming selfie with her rarely-photographed husband Charlie Thomson as she admitted to her followers she was making the most of shared parental leave after welcoming their third child, Annie, in August 2021.

Last week, it was reported that Alex Jones developed a fear of dance after appearing on Strictly in 2011, a phobia she has never managed to overcome.

On the way! She walked with her other hand in her pocked and smiled as she left the building

Stunner: Alex had styled her brunette locks in waves which sat neatly on her shoulders

Dapper: Martin Clunes cut a suave figure in a black cool coat and jeans as he emerged from BBC Broadcasting House

Trendy: Strictly pro Johannes Radebe looked ever-stylish in a burgundy polo neck sweater which he teamed up with a matching pair of trousers

Happy: He certainly appeared to be in high spirits, beaming from ear-to-ear for onlookers

Alex admitted she found competing in the BBC ballroom dance contest so 'terrifying' that she no longer enjoys busting some moves in public.

She said in an interview with Radio Wales: 'Its so terrifying. For me it stopped me dancing for ever more. But I did love the experience.'

However, Robert Rinder, 43, who took part in the show in 2016, spoke of having a completely different experience during the same chat.

The criminal barrister has since joined a dance group and is now putting his twinkle-toed skills to the test in pantomime, starring in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Bristol Hippodrome.

Robert said of dancing: 'Its about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on.'
They recently took part in a loved-up photo shoot.

But Kanye West can't seem to get enough of his new love interest Julia Fox.

The rapper, 44, shared footage of the actress taking an evening stroll to his Instagram Stories on Friday.

Walk this way! Kanye West shared video of his new love interest Julia Fox taking a walk at night on Friday

In video, Julia, 31, walked down a quiet street with a determined strut wearing a black coat, trousers, and heels.

Not once did she look at the camera or speak during the video.

Kanye did not say anything either and merely posted video to his account with no explanation.

But fans didn't need to be told twice the woman in the video was Julia with their whirlwind relationship making headlines in recent days.

City slicker: In video, Julia, 31, walked down a quiet street with a determined strut wearing a black coat, trousers, and heels

Silent treatment: Not once did she look at the camera or speak during the video

The couple have been enjoying a whirlwind relationship full of restaurant photoshoots and hotel suites full of clothing this past weekend.

Recently a source told People Kanye sees the actress 'kind of like her muse.'

'He loves her smile and attitude,' the insider said.

Julia, meanwhile, 'is intrigued' by the rapper, according to the source. 'She is flattered by the attention and goes along with his ideas. This is why he likes her.'

Inspiration: Recently a source told People Kanye sees the actress 'kind of like her muse'

But Kanye isn't 'looking for anything serious' as he is 'much into work projects right now. He has big visions for this year,' the source said.

Yesterday, Julia penned a 217 word account on her first two dates with the rapper, which included a trip to New York City.

Detailing their 'instant connection' after meeting in Miami on New Year's Eve to Interview Magazine, the actress described the Grammy winner's generosity and 'fun' energy.

Loved-up! The couple have been enjoying a whirlwind relationship full of restaurant photoshoots and hotel suites full of clothing this past weekend; pictured in New York

XOXO: The article also contained a slew of images documenting their epic night out, from the many kisses they shared to the hotel suite full of clothing Kanye had surprised Julia with

The article also contained a slew of images documenting their epic night out, from the many kisses they shared to the hotel suite full of clothing Kanye had surprised Julia with.

'He had me and my friends laughing, dancing, and smiling all night. We decided to keep the energy going and fly back to New York City to see Slave Play,' she gushed.

The Uncut Gems star continued: 'Ye's flight landed at six and the play was at seven and he was there ON TIME. I was impressed. After the play we chose to do dinner at Carbone which is one of my favorite restaurants.'

All about you: The couple shared a kiss as they curled up on the couch

'At the restaurant, Ye directed an entire photo shoot for me while people dined,' she added. 'After dinner Ye had a surprise for me. I mean, I'm still in shock. Ye had an entire hotel suite full of clothes.'

She said the move was 'every girl's dream come true' and 'felt like a real Cinderella moment.'

'I don't know how he did it, or how he got all of it there in time. But I was so surprised. Like, who does things like this on a second date? Or any date!' she marveled.

Fox concluded her piece by writing: 'Everything with us has been so organic. I don't know where things are headed but if this is any indication of the future I'm loving the ride.'

Meanwhile, Kanye's estranged wife Kim Kardashian, whom he shares four children with, has recently returned from a getaway to the Bahamas with her new boyfriend Pete Davidson.
Jillian Michaels has responded to claims that she used to 'spit on people' at restaurants.

The 47-year-old personal trainer took to her Instagram on Friday to address the allegations made by ex Jackie Warner.

Warner, 53, made the comments about her ex Michaels on a recent episode of the Hot Takes & Deep Dives podcast as she said: 'We'd get thrown out of nice restaurants because she was screaming loud, cursing, and I couldnt take it.

'I just was not the same. I mean, she used to spit on people.'

Not pleased Jillian Michaels has responded to claims that she used to 'spit on people' at restaurants as she posted a video on Instagram Friday

'We'd get thrown out of nice restaurants because she was screaming loud, cursing, and I couldnt take it': The 47-year-old personal trainer took to her Instagram on Friday to address the allegations made by ex Jackie Warner on the Hot Takes & Deep Dives podcast, as they are seen together in 2004

Warner said that eventually did not want to be around with her so she broke up with her.

She said: 'I couldnt live with her. I couldnt stand to hear her breathe in bed. I mean, it got so bad when she got on my nerves so much that I could not do day-to-day with her.'

Michaels was not pleased with a Page Six report about the comments as she responded with an Instagram video telling her side of the story.

She said: 'I cant believe Im actually making this video right now considering everything going on in the world that is actually worthy of peoples attention.

'I cant believe Im actually making this video right now considering everything going on in the world that is actually worthy of peoples attention': Michaels was not pleased with a Page Six report about the comments as she responded with a video telling her side of the story

'Yes, my kids know that I dont spit on people in restaurants': After going in on the publication the fitness star said that her kids - 12-year-old Lukensia and nine-year-old Phoenix - know she doesn't spit on people but shared the horror of their schoolmates talking to them about it.

'You lie, though, that you reached out to my people for comment, which is completely untrue because the comment wouldve been that your article is untrue. And Im pretty sure if I had spit on many people in restaurants, or even one person for that matter, it wouldve already made your paper.

'I do believe you have a responsibility to tell the truth. You did not reach out to me. My rep did not not get back to you.'

After going in on the publication the fitness star said that her kids - 12-year-old Lukensia and nine-year-old Phoenix - know she doesn't spit on people but shared the horror of their schoolmates talking to them about it.

'Youve got to do better': Michaels then asked the New York based newspaper to 'have a modicum of decency' before her conclusion

She explained: 'Yes, my kids know that I dont spit on people in restaurants, but it certainly isnt fun for them if they have to go to school and one of their friends says, "I heard your mom spits on people in restaurants."'

Michaels then asked the New York based newspaper to 'have a modicum of decency' before her conclusion.

She said: 'Are you really that hard out for B.S. stories that you would lie to this degree and claim that you reached out to my reps before you printed this story? You gotta do better, man. Youve got to do better.'

Blessed: Regardless of the past, Michaels has recently found love as back in November she became engaged to longtime love DeShanna Marie Minuto

Bride-to-be: DeShanna, 36, held up her hand to show off the incredible sparkler for a black-and-white snap shared to her own account in a photo simply captioned 'YES!'

Michaels and Warner began dating around 25 years ago and had a relationship which lasted six years.

Regardless of the past, Michaels has recently found love as back in November she became engaged to longtime love DeShanna Marie Minuto.

The popular personal trainer proposed with a stunning seven-carat diamond engagement ring, and shared a few loved-up snaps to Instagram on Sunday morning.

'1153 days... here's to thousands more. She said "yes,"' Michaels captioned a sweet selfie with her new fiancee.

DeShanna, 36, held up her hand to show off the incredible sparkler for a black-and-white snap shared to her own account in a photo simply captioned 'YES!'
Jessica Marais enjoys an active lifestyle, often spotted going for a run or a swim.

And on Thursday, she was seen walking barefoot after a visit to Coogee Beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The actress, 36, appeared to have finished up a rejuvenating swim at the popular beach and was believed to be on her way back home.

Barefoot Babe! Jessica Marais ditched her shoes while on her stroll back home after a visit to Coogee Beach on Thursday

She flaunted her fit figure in a black tank top and maroon shorts over her swimwear and slicked her drenched brunette tresses up in a messy bun.

The Packed to the Rafters star carried her blue towel as she carried a black tote over her shoulder and a pink backpack.

Jessica seemed to be chatting to someone on her phone via loudspeaker as she went about her business.

She didn't seem concerned with stepping on any debris as she made her way on foot paths and across the road.

Trim and toned: The actress, 36, flaunted her fit figure in a black tank top and maroon shorts over her swimwear and slicked her drenched brunette tresses up in a messy bun

Jessica pulled out of the Packed to the Rafters reboot for mental health reasons last year.

Her former co-star Angus McLaren updated Daily Mail Australia about Jessica's status.

The Melbourne-based actor said: 'Jessica is doing well... it was good to see her in Sydney.'

Not worried: She didn't seem concerned with stepping on any debris as she made her way on foot paths and across the road

Jessica was initially set to reprise her role of Rachel Rafter, after previously starring on the beloved Channel Seven drama from 2008 until 2013.

While she wasn't technically on set, Angus, 32, said she was a stone's throw away from him during filming.

'Yeah we definitely missed her on set, but the good thing about Jess is she lived quite close to me when I was in Sydney.

On screen family: Jessica was initially set to reprise her role of Rachel Rafter, after previously starring on the beloved Channel Seven drama from 2008 until 2013. Pictured with Rafters co-stars Erik Thompson, Rebecca Gibney, Angus McLaren, Jessica and Michael Caton (right)

Drama: Jessica is also known for her role as Joan Millar on Channel Nine's Love Child from 2014 to 2017, alongside Jonathan LaPaglia

'So I actually got to see her, I really have a lot of love for Jess,' he added.

'It would've been great to work with her, she's certainly one of those people who brings a good vibe to the set.'

Jessica is best known for her roles on Packed to the Rafters, Love Child and The Wrong Girl.
Tamworth Country Music Festival has been postponed for a second year in a row.

Organisers put a halt on the annual event on the very same day New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet announced new restrictions for the state.

'The decision to postpone the Festival, just a week out from the event, was a difficult, yet necessary, decision to make,' festival manager Barry Harley said in a statement.

Postponed: Tamworth Country Music Festival has been postponed for a second year in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic

'Given the current state of COVID transmission in our communities, and the impact the changed COVID safety measures have on our venues, it is the best decision for the health and safety of everyone involved, particularly the Tamworth and country music community.'

Ticket holders can get their country music later in the year as organisers have confirmed upcoming shows will run between April 18 and 24.

This year's event was set to be held from January 14 - 23 and the line up included the likes of Kasey Chambers, Lee Kernaghan and Troy Cassar-Daley.

'There's still a lot to celebrate and we will be able to do so in April this year,' Mr Harley added.

This is the second year in a row that the live-music event has been affected by the pandemic.

Line-up: This year's event was set to be held from January 14 - 23 and the line-up included the likes of Kasey Chambers (pictured), Lee Kernaghan and Troy Cassar-Daley

New dates announced: Ticket holders can get their country music later in the year as organisers have confirmed upcoming shows will run between April 18 and 24. (pictured: attendees laugh among the crowd of Cold Chisel at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January 2020)

In 2021, the show which attracts 50,000 visitors, was cancelled after NSW's Tamworth Regional Council voted to suspend all the events it oversees as part of the festival, including street stages, busking and the cavalcade.

At the time, public health orders including the prohibition of music festivals and mass gatherings, plus travel restrictions, had cast doubt over the January event.

Without council support, major venues couldn't viably proceed, festival manager Barry Harley told AAP.

Canned in 2021: Australia's famous Tamworth Country Music Festival was not held in 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns. Pictured, festival goers on the Slim Dusty float in 2014

'We have remained as optimistic as we could and continued with our planning in the hope that conditions would ease,' he said.

'Unfortunately, like so many others in our situation, we have had to surrender to the challenges COVID has placed on us and make the difficult decision to suspend.'

While the festival was canned at the time, the associated Golden Guitar Awards was held virtually.

This year will mark the iconic Australian music event's 50th year running.
The estranged wife of Anchorman star David Koechner has now asked a Los Angeles court to suspend his visitation rights with their five children following his DUI bust.

Leigh Morgan Koechner filed the request on January 7, and also petitioned for 'safeguards be put in place to ensure (Koechner's) sobriety,' per TMZ.

The 59-year-old actor however is fighting the visitation request, stating that none of the former couple's kids were in the car at the time of his drunk driving arrest on December 31.

Laying down the law: One week after David Koechner, 59, was arrested and booked for a DUI, his estranged wife Leigh Morgan Koechner has now asked a Los Angeles court to suspend his visitation rights with their five children; former couple are pictured in 2018

Of the safeguards requested by Leigh in her filing she asked that Koechner submit to drug testing as well as a Soberlink device to monitor his alcohol consumption.

The actor (who is also known for comedic performances in The Goldbergs and The Office) is fighting the visitation request, stating that none of the couple's kids were in the car at the time of the arrest.

Furthermore he claims that he's driven their five kids with her knowledge, since the December 31 drunk driving incident.

He is also says in his dispute that he is working on his sobriety with professional help.

Family: The former pair share five children together, Charlie, Sargent, Audrey, Margot and Eve; pictured June 2021

Leigh and David were married in 1998 and share five children: sons Charlie and Sargent and daughters Audrey, Margot and Eve.

After 22 years of marriage, David filed to divorce Leigh in 2020 and in his filing, asked for joint legal and physical custody of their three minor kids at the time.

At around 3PM on December 31 police in Simi Valley, California were called about an 'erratic driver,' as first reported by TMZ.

Koechner was asked to perform field sobriety tests which he failed after allegedly hitting a street sign with his car. His vehicle was towed shortly afterwards.

Fighting back: The Anchorman star is fighting his estranged wife's child visitation suspension stating that none of the couple's kids were in the car at the time of the arrest and that he's driven their five kids with her knowledge, since the December 31 drunk driving incident; pictured September 21

Booked: He was booked into Ventura County Jail, pictured, at 5:15pm and stayed there until the following morning when he was released just before 6am, after reportedly having blown a .13 in the field and .12 back at the station

According to Law enforcement he had two flat tires when he was pulled over and blew a .13 in the field and .12 back at the station.

Records detail how he was booked into Ventura County Jail at 5:15pm that day to be released the following morning on New Year's Day, just before 6am.

He now has a court date scheduled for March 30 at the Ventura County Superior Court. It appears to be the actor's first DUI in the state of California.

One day after he was released from jail, DailyMail.com obtained exclusive photos of the actor filling up a badly dented car at a Shell gas station, though it is not known if the car was the one involved in December 31 crash.
Elyse Knowles and fiance Josh Barker have made Byron Bay their home for the past few years after moving from Melbourne.

And on Thursday, the couple were back in the trendy coastal town after a brief holiday and were spotted on their way to a local cafe.

The model, 29, looked chic in a chic black jumpsuit, teamed with Birkenstock sandals and trendy sunglasses.

Back in the Bay! Elyse Knowles and fiance Josh Barker cut casual figures on their way to a local Byron cafe with son Sunny and their dogs after their holiday on Thursday

She walked their two pet dogs as the carpenter, 31, pushed their adorable 11-month-old son Sunny in his stroller.

He opted for a baggy green T-shirt with yellow shorts, a white cap and went bare foot as they made their way to the eatery.

The couple appeared to enjoy a lively conversation as they strolled down the street.

Laid back: The model, 29, looked chic in a chic black jumpsuit, teamed with Birkenstock sandals and trendy sunglasses. The carpenter, 31, pushed their adorable 11-month-old son Sunny in his stroller and went bare foot as they made their way to the eatery

Chit chat: The couple appeared to enjoy a lively conversation as they strolled down the street

This comes after Elyse gave her fans a glimpse of her family's recently getaway to the New South Wales Central Coast in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

She started with a photo of herself in an orange bikini, along with an image of her adorable 11-month-old son Sunny at the front of their beachside rental.

The blonde beauty followed that with a photo of herself playing with Sunny and soaking up the sun by the pool in a black two-piece.

Bikini babe: This comes after Elyse gave her fans a glimpse of her family's recently getaway to the New South Wales Central Coast in an Instagram post on Tuesday. Elyse flaunted her sensational bikini body as she soaked up the sun at their holiday rental

Mum and bub time: The blonde beauty followed that with a photo of herself playing with 11-month-old son Sunny

The glamourous mother of one also posted a photo coupled up with her fiance Josh Barker on a boat.

Elyse wrote in the caption: 'Summer break wasn't too shabby.'

Her family holiday comes after shared a heartfelt goodbye to her Myer ambassadorship after five years.

On the love boat! The glamourous mother of one also posted a photo coupled up with her fiance Josh Barker on a boat

Goals: Elyse's family holiday comes after shared a heartfelt goodbye to her Myer ambassadorship after five years. She said: 'What a blast the last five years has been, becoming an ambassador for the iconic Myer was always a goal of mine since being a little girl'

She shared a photo of herself on the runway as she looked back fondly on her time in the role.

'What a blast the last five years has been, becoming an ambassador for the iconic Myer was always a goal of mine since being a little girl,' she said.

'But it's time for me to say goodbye. It's time for me to follow a different path that's calling my name.'

'It's been an incredible adventure': She said, 'But it's time for me to say goodbye. It's time for me to follow a different path that's calling my name'

Elyse went on to say she was thrilled with the experience and all the friendship she has made as part of her time with the department store.

'Despite choosing to step away from my treasured friends and amazing colleagues at Myer, I am left with lasting memories & love for the brand,' she said.

'Thank you for having me on board Myer, it's been an incredible adventure.'

Elyse and fiance Josh Barker welcomed their son Sunny in February 2021. The couple moved to Byron Bay in 2019 after buying a $2.3million beach house.
She's spent much of January joined at the hip of her Hollywood actress friend, Rebel Wilson.

But on Saturday morning, former The Bachelor Australia's Brittany Hockley enjoyed some down time, by taking her pet pooch for a walk at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach.

For her stroll, the 33-year-old brunette beauty donned a pair of brown bike shorts which showed off her toned pins.

Beach babe! On Saturday morning, former The Bachelor Australia's Brittany Hockley (pictured) enjoyed some down time by taking her pet pooch for a walk at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach

Brittany paired the tights with a figure-hugging grey T-shirt.

She accessorised with a pair of all-white trainers, an assortment of layered necklaces and classic RayBan sunglasses.

Her make-up was minimal for the low-key exercise, while she pinned back her dark locks into a messy bun.

Brittany was all smiles during her walk, holding her dog's leash close by her on the famous walk way.

At one stage, the popular podcast host stopped for a breather in the wind, taking a seat at a nearby bench.

All smiles: Brittany was all smiles during her walk, holding her dog's leash close by her on the famous walk way

Resting face? At one stage, the popular podcast host stopped for a breather, taking a seat at a nearby bench

Earlier this week, Brittany enjoyed a long lunch with her Pitch Perfect star pal Rebel.

The two stepped out with a friend to upmarket Japanese restaurant Nobu at Crown Sydney on Wednesday.

'Let us feast!' ex-Bachelor star Brittany captioned a video of her famous friend.

Fancy feasting! On Wednesday, Rebel Wilson (pictured) and Brittany Hockley enjoyed a long lunch at the upmarket Japanese restaurant Nobu at Crown Sydney

At the time, the two women posted several Boomerang clips of themselves feasting on the finest sashimi and sipping cocktails.

After their main meals, the duo ordered sorbet and Japanese sweets for dessert.

Brittany wore a khaki gown with sexy cut-outs, while Rebel opted for black top that showcased her recent 35kg weight loss.

Lunch date: At the time, the two women, who were accompanied by a male friend (centre) posted several Boomerang clips of themselves feasting on the finest sashimi and sipping cocktails

Pals: 'Let us feast!' ex-Bachelor star Brittany (pictured) captioned a video of her famous friend

The two also proved they were firm friends after they attended a lavish NYE party, at a mansion on Sydney Harbour, where Rebel has been staying while in Australia.

To mark the festive occasion, they posed together in photos shared to Instagram.

The pals cuddled up as fireworks exploded overhead, with Brittany captioning the image: 'Isn't it romantic. Sydney does it best.'
Kanye West is reportedly still hurting over his breakup with Kim Kardashian, and is using his new romance with Julia Fox to get under his ex wife's skin.

A source who spoke to Page Six revealed: 'It's a desperate play for attention. There's no other explanation when he chooses  [Fox] to go public with.'

The insider also added that West, 44, is 'clearly hurting' and his public outings with the actress are 'a ploy to get under ex Kim Kardashian's skin.'

Desperate: According to sources Kanye West, 44, is still hurting over his breakup with Kim Kardashian, 41, and using romance with Julia Fox, 31, as 'a ploy to get under Kim's skin'; Pictured Nov 7, 2019 in New York City

Another source remarked that it's obvious the rapper is still in pain since the breakup.

'He publicly fights for his family back, and then he's linked to all these different girls. It's very strange,' the insider said.

The source added that Ye's public romance with the actress started because of Kardashian's relationship with comedian and Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson.

Calculated: The source added, 'It's a desperate play for attention. There's no other explanation when he chooses  [Fox] to go public with'; West and Fox Pictured Jan 4, 2022 in New York

The hip-hop star's confusing behavior comes after many public pleas to reunite with the KUWTK star.

During a visit to Skid Row on Thanksgiving he stated that God would bring him and Kim back together and inspire 'millions of families'.

Then in December, the musician publicly addressed Kardashian as he performed at the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert, singing, 'run right back to me.'

Mad she's moving on: The source added that Ye's public romance with Fox started because of Kardashian's relationship with Pete Davidson; Kardashian pictured Nov 3, 2021 in New York

The devoted husband had a special message for Kim during a performance of his hit song Runaway.

'I need you to run right back to me,' he rapped, then added a new verse to the song, 'More specifically, Kimberly.'

That same month he also spoke about wanting to stay together with the reality TV star while on an episode of the podcast Drink Champs.

A ploy? The musician and the actress have been enjoying a fast-moving romance; The couple seen departing the Slave Play on January 04, 2022 in New York City

'I ain't never even seen the papers, we're not even divorced,' he said, adding, 'My kids want their parents to stay together. I want ... us to be together.'

Whether it's a ploy or the real deal, West has certainly enjoyed a fast-moving romance with Fox and can't seem to get enough of her.

The rapper shared footage of the actress taking an evening stroll to his Instagram Stories on Friday.

Walk this way! West shared video of his new love interest taking a walk at night on Friday

In video, Julia walked down a quiet street with a determined strut wearing a black coat, trousers, and heels.

Not once did she look at the camera or speak during the video.

Kanye did not say anything either and merely posted video to his account with no explanation.

But fans didn't need to be told twice the woman in the video was Julia with their whirlwind relationship making headlines in recent days.

City slicker: In video, Julia walked down a quiet street with a determined strut wearing a black coat, trousers, and heels

Silent treatment: Not once did she look at the camera or speak during the video

The couple have been enjoying a whirlwind relationship full of restaurant photoshoots and hotel suites full of clothing this past weekend.

Recently a source told People Kanye sees the actress 'kind of like her muse.'

'He loves her smile and attitude,' the insider said.

Julia, meanwhile, 'is intrigued' by the rapper, according to the source. 'She is flattered by the attention and goes along with his ideas. This is why he likes her.'

Inspiration: Recently a source told People Kanye sees the actress 'kind of like her muse'

But Kanye isn't 'looking for anything serious' as he is 'much into work projects right now. He has big visions for this year,' the source said.

Yesterday, Julia penned a 217 word account on her first two dates with the rapper, which included a trip to New York City.

Detailing their 'instant connection' after meeting in Miami on New Year's Eve to Interview Magazine, the actress described the Grammy winner's generosity and 'fun' energy.

Loved-up! The couple have been enjoying a whirlwind relationship full of restaurant photoshoots and hotel suites full of clothing this past weekend; pictured in New York

XOXO: The article also contained a slew of images documenting their epic night out, from the many kisses they shared to the hotel suite full of clothing Kanye had surprised Julia with

The article also contained a slew of images documenting their epic night out, from the many kisses they shared to the hotel suite full of clothing Kanye had surprised Julia with.

'He had me and my friends laughing, dancing, and smiling all night. We decided to keep the energy going and fly back to New York City to see Slave Play,' she gushed.

The Uncut Gems star continued: 'Ye's flight landed at six and the play was at seven and he was there ON TIME. I was impressed. After the play we chose to do dinner at Carbone which is one of my favorite restaurants.'

All about you: The couple shared a kiss as they curled up on the couch

'At the restaurant, Ye directed an entire photo shoot for me while people dined,' she added. 'After dinner Ye had a surprise for me. I mean, I'm still in shock. Ye had an entire hotel suite full of clothes.'

She said the move was 'every girl's dream come true' and 'felt like a real Cinderella moment.'

'I don't know how he did it, or how he got all of it there in time. But I was so surprised. Like, who does things like this on a second date? Or any date!' she marveled.

Fox concluded her piece by writing: 'Everything with us has been so organic. I don't know where things are headed but if this is any indication of the future I'm loving the ride.'

Meanwhile, Kanye's estranged wife Kim Kardashian, whom he shares four children with, has recently returned from a getaway to the Bahamas with her new boyfriend Pete Davidson.
Sofia Vergara looked marvelous in monochrome as she went shopping on Friday in Beverly Hills.

The actress, 49, looked ultra cozy in a stylish beige shearling coat and a pair of nude flared pants.

A matching Chanel purse was slung across her body and she strolled the sidewalk in a pair of tall gold and white sneakers.

Marvelous in monochrome: Sofia Vergara looked marvelous in monochrome as she went shopping on Friday in Beverly Hills

To protect herself from COVID-19, Vergara donned a white N95 mask.

Her dark brunette hair, which was slightly lighter at the ends fell past her shoulders and to the middle of her back.

She walked behind a man in a leather jacket who held a black bag from Chanel.

While she was able to shop on Friday, the America's Got Talent judge has been quite busy over the past few months.

Perfect pairing: The actress, 49, looked ultra cozy in a stylish beige shearling coat and a pair of nude flared pants

Designer darling: A matching Chanel purse was slung across her body and she strolled the sidewalk in a pair of tall gold and white sneakers

Last Thursday, December 30, Sofia was hard at work with PA Leslie Merlin on the set of Netflix's six-episode series Griselda, which she's executive producing and starring as Colombian cartel leader Griselda Blanco.

'Griselda Blanco was a larger-than-life character whose ruthless but ingenious tactics allowed her to rule a billion dollar empire years before many of the most notorious male kingpins we know so much about,' Vergara told Deadline last month.

'We are thrilled to have found the perfect partners in Eric [Newman], Andres [Baiz] and Netflix to help us bring this story of her life to the screen.'

The first-ever billionaire female criminal was known as the Cocaine Grandmother, the Black Widow, and the Queen of Narco-Trafficking before being gunned down, age 69, in 2012.

1985 mugshot: The first-ever billionaire female criminal was known as the Cocaine Grandmother, the Black Widow, and the Queen of Narco-Trafficking before being gunned down, age 69, in 2012

Vergara also dedicates quite a bit of time to her husband, actor Joe Manganiello.

The Koati actors - who began dating in 2014 - celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary on November 22.

They first met at the White House Correspondent's Dinner in 2014. Vergara was still with her now ex-fiance Nick Loeb at the time
Married At First Sight's first ever lesbian bride Tash Herz recently got engaged to Canadian screenwriter Stephanie Fabrizi.

And after ditching Australia to live with her famous fiancee in Ontario, Tash has claimed that the Canadian city is 'way more progressive' than Australia.

Speaking to her followers on Instagram, the 33-year-old called Ontario 'incredibly queer-friendly' and said it was filled with 'pride flags everywhere'.

'There's pride flags everywhere!' Married At First Sight's Tash Herz says that Canada is more progressive than Australia and 'less racist'

'It's a lot more queer-friendly, less racist, and just generally better governed than Australia, so it's actually a delight to be here,' she added.

Despite preferring the liberal wonderland of snowy Canada to the backwards outback of Australia, Tash admitted that she was keen to take her lady love Stephanie Down Under later this year.

'I'm so excited to show her Adelaide,' she gushed, before saying that she wants the screenwriter to meet her parents soon.

Fresh start: 'It's a lot more queer-friendly, less racist, and just generally better governed than Australia, so it's actually a delight to be here,' Tash said of her new home in Ontario

Last month, Tash revealed that Stephanie had popped the question during a candlelit date in the bathtub.

Alongside a series of photos of herself and Stephanie cuddling naked in the tub, Tash wrote: 'Hello fiance.'

She also flaunted her engagement ring - an emerald cut diamond with a gold band.

Happy ending: Tash, who was Married At First Sight's first ever lesbian bride, recently got engaged to Canadian screenwriter Stephanie Fabrizi (pictured together)

Written on the wall next to the bath was a romantic poem, which was scrawled in red across the tiles.

Canadian-born Stephanie is a screenwriter who is best known for penning the erotic lesbian film Below Her Mouth.

The steamy flick is one of Tash's favourites, with the former reality star sharing clips of herself watching it on Instagram last year.

Talented: Canadian-born Stephanie is a screenwriter who is best known for penning the erotic lesbian film Below Her Mouth

According to Stephanie, they met online last year and spent nine months conversing long-distance due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Tash and Amanda Micallef were the first ever lesbian brides on Married At First Sight, but their union was a disaster and they were one of the first couples to exit the series.

Since their split, Amanda has gone on to become a podcaster and an OnlyFans performer.
Emma Watkins has shared her grief over the loss of her good friend, Koady Chaisson.

It was revealed on Friday that the musician, who was a member of the Canadian band The East Pointers, died at the age of 37.

The former member of children's group The Wiggles posted a photo of herself alongside Koady and his bandmates to Instagram.

Loss: Emma Watkins (centre) has shared her grief over the loss of her good friend, Koady Chaisson (far right). The musician, who was a member of the Canadian band The East Pointers, has died at the age of 37. Pictured with his bandmates Tim Chaisson and Jake Charron

The 32-year-old wrote: 'Just heartbreaking to hear about the loss of our dear friend Koady Chaisson.

'Koady, you inspired us all, shared your musical talents and always supported others. We miss you. Just devastated.

'Sending so much love to dear Chloe, Jake, Tim and to your whole family. #weloveyou'.

The 32-year-old wrote: 'Just heartbreaking to hear about the loss of our dear friend Koady Chaisson. Koady, you inspired us all, shared your musical talents and always supported others. We miss you. Just devastated'

Tragic: Koady is survived by his two bandmates, Tim Chaisson and Jake Charron, as well as his wife, Chloe Goodyear. No cause of death has yet been revealed

Koady is survived by his two bandmates, Tim Chaisson and Jake Charron, as well as his wife, Chloe Goodyear.

No cause of death has yet been revealed.

The East Pointers released their most recent album, Yours to Break, in 2019, and were about to embark on a world tour.

Talented: The musician played banjo in the alternative folk group, who were formed in 2014 in Ontario, Canada

Tour: The East Pointers released their most recent album, Yours to Break, in 2019, and were about to embark on a world tour

The musician played banjo in the alternative folk group, who were formed in 2014 in Ontario, Canada.

Emma, who is best known as the Yellow Wiggle, recently hung up her skivvy and bow after 11 years with The Wiggles.

She took part in her final performance with the band at Sydney's Carols in the Domain in December.
Gregory Peck never shared a screen with Sean Connery, but the Hollywood legends' grandchildren have discovered they're the perfect match.

I hear that Natasha Connery, the granddaughter of former James Bond star Sir Sean, is enjoying a passionate romance with Harper Peck, whose grandfather starred in To Kill A Mockingbird, the big-screen version of Harper Lee's novel.

'It's a great Hollywood romance,' jokes one of their friends.

I hear that Natasha Connery, the granddaughter of former James Bond star Sir Sean, is enjoying a passionate romance with Harper Peck, whose grandfather starred in To Kill A Mockingbird, the big-screen version of Harper Lee's novel

Connery posted these adorable pictures onto her Instagram as she went public with her new beau for the first time

The couple, who are both in their 20s, started the year riding hand-in-hand on horses into the sunset at an 'eco' resort in Mexico.

Harper is the son of Peck's actress daughter Cecilia, while socialite Natasha is the granddaughter of Connery's widow, Micheline.

During the getaway, the pair could be seen riding horses in the Mexican heat in picturesque vacation photos

Natasha Connery also posted this heartwarming picture of her new beau with a dog

Harper is the son of Gregory Peck's actress daughter Cecilia, while socialite Natasha is the granddaughter of Sean Connery's widow, Micheline

Connery was known to be very close with his grandchildren before his death in 2020.

His other granddaughter Saskia paid tribute to the late actor on the first anniversary of his death in November 2021.

Admitting she missed her 'best friend' everyday, the influencer, 25, posted up a series of unseen personal photos of herself with him.

Saskia, whose dad Stephane is the James Bond star's stepson, wrote poignantly: 'One year without my best friend. Love you forever and miss you every day.'

Loving: Sean Connery's granddaughter Saskia paid tribute to the late actor on the first year anniversary of his passing in a Instagram post in November 2021

Sir Sean, whose movie career spans five decades, is best known for being the first to portray the role of British fictional spy 007 who he played between 19621971.

He was suffering from 'respiratory failure' when he died in his sleep at the age of 90 last October, his death certificate revealed.

Last year, Natasha and Samara Connery even unveiled a new tartan in tribute to the late James Bond actor at the Dressed to Kilt fashion show in New York.

The pair modelled the tartan at the fashion show which had become a favourite of their iconic grandfather.
Hugh Hefner's legendary parties led to a friend's dog becoming addicted to cocaine after the pooch would try to lick guests' noses, according to his ex-girlfriend.

The late magazine editor, who passed away in 2017 from sepsis at the age of 91, locked away the poodle for its own protection during his parties at the Playboy Mansion, in claims made by his ex partner Sondra Theodore.

The love of the A-Class drug in his crowds caused movie director John Dante's pooch to leap across the room whenever he could smell it nearby.

The new documentary, Secrets of Playboy, is a 10-hour series featuring interviews with Sondra and Lisa Loving Barrett, a former employee.

Party time! Hugh Hefner's legendary parties led to a friend's dog becoming addicted to cocaine after the pooch would try to lick guests' noses, according to his ex-girlfriend

Sondra - Hugh's ex - claims during the Secrets of Playboy documentary that 'huge vials' of the white powder were dotted around the home.

She says: 'There were drugs everywhere. John Dante was Hef's best friend. He had a dog Louis  and this tiny poodle got hooked on cocaine.

'The dog could smell it from across the room. He had to lock that dog up when people were around.

'A very famous person walked into the house one night and that dog jumped off the couch and was licking her up the nose.

Woah! Sondra Theodore - Hugh's ex - claims during the upcoming Secrets of Playboy documentary that 'huge vials' of the white powder were dotted around the home (the couple pictured in 1979)

'She goes: "He just loves me." We knew why that dog was on her.'

Having worked for Hugh from 1977 to 1989, Lisa Loving Barrett, adds: 'Cocaine was a big deal,' adding that it was even stored under a toilet paper holder.

It comes after Holly Madison detailed her 'traumatic' first night with Hugh at the mansion and how he snapped 'sexually explicit' images of intoxicated women.

During an appearance on the Power: Hugh Hefner podcast, the model, 41, who dated the late Playboy founder from 2001 to 2008, spoke in detail about her time living at the infamous estate.

Having a blast: The love of the A-Class drug in his crowds caused movie director John Dante's pooch to leap across the room whenever he could smell it nearby (stock image)

The Oregon-born beauty said on the podcast that she initially had hoped to be invited to move into the Playboy Mansion and 'didn't really know what went on with them sexually', yet he was then 'pushed on top' of her.

She said: 'I knew there must be something and I was prepared for that. I wasn't prepared for what would eventually happen.'

The Girls Next Door alum said that after an evening at a club, she and Hugh went back to the mansion with a group of women.

She said: 'I wasn't necessarily expecting to have sex that night, I thought it would be more of a first date - even though obviously it's not a very traditional first date...

Ladies' man: The late magazine editor, who passed away in 2017 from sepsis at the age of 91, locked away the poodle for its own protection during his parties at the Playboy Mansion, in claims made by his ex partner Sondra Theodore (pictured right in 2002)

'I thought it would be more the type of thing where I saw what happened, saw what was going on.

'If I wasn't comfortable with it, I wouldn't have to do anything and I could make my decision on whether I wanted to come back for date number two or not.'

Holly said she 'definitely was not expecting to be the first one to go that night but was wasted' when she and Hefner had sex, which she described as a 'traumatic experience.'

She added: 'He was literally pushed on top of me. And after it happened, I was just mortified and embarrassed and it had way more of an emotional impact on me than I thought it would.'

Shocking: 'A very famous person walked into the house one night and that dog jumped off the couch and was licking her up the nose'

Madison said her initial perception of Hefner was that she had 'always admired' him and that 'he was really smart,' but that she was 'horrified' that their sex life was evident to all others at the mansion.

'It wasn't that the idea of possibly having sex with him repelled me so much - I know that's not relatable to a lot of people because they're like, "Oh he's an old man, gross,"' she told the podcast.

'It was more the group aspect that was really out of my comfort zone and just the feeling of "Wow, okay, that happened. Everybody knows it happened."

Tragic: It comes after Holly Madison (pictured) detailed her 'traumatic' first night with Hugh at the mansion and how he snapped 'sexually explicit' images of intoxicated women (pictured in 2021)

'I kind of all of a sudden felt like everybody was going to know about me, and I was horrified by it.'

Madison said that the following day, she asked Hefner if she could move into the mansion as she 'felt like, "There's no taking that back so I might as well get what I came for."'

Madison said that moving into the mansion felt like she was getting 'respect in a way,' and that if she didn't, she would have just been 'haunted by this experience.'

In the interview, Madison said that Hefner frequently snapped 'sexually explicit' images of intoxicated women without their consent.

'When girls would go out with Hef, in the limo, in the nightclub and come back to his room after, he was constantly taking photos of these women on his disposable camera,' she said on the podcast. 'And these women were almost always intoxicated. I know I was, heavily intoxicated.'

The reality star said the women she's talking about weren't 'his regular girlfriends,' but rather 'new girls who were joining him for a night for the first time, or women who had flown out from across the country to test for a centerfold in allegedly professional conditions.'

She said the women would 'be invited out and oftentimes would be pressured, not necessarily directly by him, he would have some of his girlfriends do it too, pressure them to come upstairs.'

Opening up: The model and reality star, 41, who dated the late Playboy founder from 2001 to 2008, spoke in detail about her time living at the infamous estate

The sex magnate would subsequently copy the images and 'hand them out to everyone who had gone out that night,' Holly said.

'So if you were messed up and if you were in his bathtub with your top off and some other girl is doing some sexually explicit pose on you and he took a picture of that on his disposable camera, he'd make a copy and give it to everyone that night and put it in a scrapbook.'

She likened the practice to revenge porn, saying the photos were 'not consensual' because the women in the photos were 'wasted' at the time they were taken.

'I don't know if he just assumed that was okay because all these women want to be in the magazine so bad so they must be okay with getting naked,' Madison said, 'so I'm going to take pictures while they're wasted and just hand those pictures out.'

Holly said that she confronted Hefner about the images about a year later when some were posted online.

'I went to Hef and said, "Can you stop handing out our naked pictures to everybody, because one of the girls is putting it on the internet,"' Madison said. 'I was kind of afraid to speak up to him but that was the extreme measure it took for me to say to him, "Hey, can you stop handing these photos out.'''

She said that Hefner went to the woman who posted them and told her 'Holly narced you out,' which led to a confrontation between the women, which Hefner 'loved.'

Holly confessed she was relieved that the behavior 'would never be accepted today,' and that she is 'grateful people are more aware and they know what revenge porn is and they know a little bit more about what consent is.'

Secrets Of Playboy will premiere Monday January 25 at 9pm on A&E in the US.
All Creatures Great And Small has been renewed for a third and fourth series by Channel 5, it was announced on Saturday.

Based on James Herriot's iconic collection of stories, the celebrated adaptation will return for six episodes over each season, as well as two Christmas Specials.

The upcoming episode will see the Skeldale House family in the Spring of 1939 as the prospect of another World War looms large over the Dales.

Hooray: All Creatures Great And Small has been renewed for a third and fourth series by Channel 5, it was announced on Saturday. (Front L-R: Samuel West, Nicholas Ralph, Callum Woodhouse, back L-R Rachel Shenton and Anna Madeley pictured in-character)

Change is afoot for the Darrowby residents, especially James and Helen, who are embarking on the next chapter of their lives as the wider world around them heads toward a period of great uncertainty.

Returning to shoot in Yorkshire in the spring, returning for the third series is Nicholas Ralph as young vet James Herriot, and Samuel West as his mercurial mentor Siegfried Farnon.

Anna Madeley will join them as the matriarch of Skeldale House, Mrs Hall, whilst Callum Woodhouse is Siegfried's slowly maturing brother Tristan and Rachel Shenton is local farmer Helen Alderson.

A characterful ensemble of farmers, animals and townsfolk living in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s will also return, including Patricia Hodge as the wonderfully sophisticated Mrs Pumphrey, and her adored pampered Pekingese Tricki Woo.

Cheers: Based on James Herriot's iconic collection of stories, the celebrated adaptation will return for six episodes over each season, as well as two Christmas Specials

All Creatures Great And Small made a triumphant return earlier this year with an average of 4.1 million viewers tuning in across the series run.

On the double series order, Sebastian Cardwell, Channel 5 said: 'It is clear that our viewers adore James Herriot's adventures in Darrowby and so do we at Channel 5.

'I am looking forward to us all being reunited with the Skeldale House family when series three arrives on our screens this year.'

Executive Producer Louise Pedersen, CEO of All3Media International, commented: 'All Creatures Great and Small has proven to be a perfect tonic for audiences around the world seeking a top quality production with a warm and positive view of the world.

Spellbinding: The upcoming episode will see the Skeldale House family in the Spring of 1939 as the prospect of another World War looms large over the Dales

'We are pleased to be able to offer these further series to build the brand globally.'

Author James Alfred Wight OBE FRCVS was a veterinary surgeon who graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College at the age of 23.

He headed to a veterinary practice in Thirsk, Yorkshire, in 1940 where he fell in love with the Dales and the woman he would marry, Joan Danbury.

Wight later wrote stories based on his own adventures as a young country vet, under the pen name James Herriot, quickly becoming one of Britain's best-loved authors.

What a pair! A characterful ensemble of farmers, animals and townsfolk living in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s will return, including Patricia Hodge (left) as the wonderfully sophisticated Mrs Pumphrey, and her adored pampered Pekingese Tricki Woo

On the announcement of a third and fourth series, Jim Wight and Rosie Page, Wight's children said: 'For many years the books of James Herriot have provided a source of comfort to tens of thousands of people worldwide at difficult times in their lives.

'With this recent adaptation of his books, a new generation has been introduced to the joys of the Herriot stories.

'We are delighted that there are to be at least two more series of All Creatures Great and Small, and we are especially pleased that the same excellent actors and producers are to be involved.'

Captivating: Returning to shoot in Yorkshire in the spring, returning for the third series is Nicholas Ralph as young vet James Herriot

Never out of print, the books have become a global cultural phenomenon with devoted fans around the world.

With a sharp focus on the importance of community, James' world and spirit is a very much needed antidote to the challenges of our modern times, transporting viewers to a gentle past, populated with wonderfully observed characters.

The recent Christmas special saw the return to Darrowby for an extended festive episode after the success of the series two in the autumn.

Spectacular: All Creatures Great And Small made a triumphant return earlier this year with an average of 4.1 million viewers tuning in across the series run

A newly engaged Helen and James realised they havent agreed on where theyre spending Christmas Day.

Mrs Hall had been expecting them at Skeldale and Jenny at Heston Grange, and the pair were reluctant to disappoint either of them.

Elsewhere in the festive installment, a beloved local pet was taken seriously ill, so Siegfried brought them into the practice for emergency treatment.

In the face of such an emergency, Helen ended up feeling like a spare part at the Skeldale Christmas Party, but fellow farmer Dave Kitson ended up being the solution to Helen finding her place at Skeldale and the key to the animals survival.

It was also a challenging time for Tristan, as he learned that it might be time to take himself more seriously and reveals some important news.

Meanwhile, a card from James father asking him to phone them on Christmas Day left him on tenterhooks about whether he could make amends with his family.

All Creatures Great And Small will return to Channel 5 in the UK and PBS' Masterpiece streaming service in the US soon.
Larsa Pippen certainly caught the attention of onlookers as she departed from Craig's restaurant in LA on Friday night.

The Real Housewives Of Miami star, 47, showed off her hourglass figure in a tight black bodysuit which she layered beneath a matching pair of trousers.

Adding inches to her jaw-dropping frame with a pair of onyx heels, she clutched a red jacket while accessorising her look with a silver necklace.

Emerging: Larsa Pippen certainly caught the attention of onlookers as she departed from Craig's restaurant in LA on Friday night

She was joined by Chanda Wallace, also 47, who exhibited her ample assets through a lace black top, which she teamed up with a pair of charcoal hot pants.

Flashing her toned legs through a pair of tights featuring the Gucci monogram, she carried a green handbag and a camouflage jacket.

It comes after the divorce between Larsa and her ex-husband Scottie Pippen was finalised, which the reality star initially filed for in November of 2018.

Attorneys for both parties took part in a virtual hearing on Wednesday in order to put the finishing touches on the split.

Incredible: Adding inches to her jaw-dropping frame with a pair of onyx heels, she clutched a red jacket while accessorising her look with a silver necklace

Wow! Larsa posed up a storm for photographers on the streets of the city

Lawyer David J. Glass told Us Weekly in a statement: 'I can confirm that Scottie and Larsa Pippen are now divorced, and that the divorce was finalized on December 15, 2021.'

He continued: 'All issues were resolved amicably. The parties are now focusing [on] successfully co-parenting their remaining minor children.

David added to Hollywood Life: 'Larsa is relieved to have the entire process behind her and is happy that she and Scottie managed to keep their private lives largely private.'

Stunning: She accentuated her natural beauty with a full face of make-up

Last August, Larsa and the Chicago Bulls icon, 56, came to an accord on terms of the split, at which point a judge needed to authorize it.

The former couple initially exchanged vows in 1997 and are parents to four children: Scotty Jr., 21, Preston, 20, Justin, 17, and Sophia, 14.

Having announced they were separating in 2016, the pair back together briefly until Larsa's filing in November of 2018.

Larsa in December of 2019 told Us Weekly that she and Scottie remained focused on co-parenting in the wake of their split, describing their relationship as 'best friends.'

What a pair! She was joined by Chanda Wallace, also 47, who exhibited her ample assets through a lace black top, which she teamed up with a pair of charcoal hot pants

'Our kids are amazing, and I feel like we both parent the same way,' she told the outlet. 'Were really traditional in the way we raise our children. Thats really important.

'We are obsessed with our kids. Scottie and I are both the same in a lot of ways. Family always comes first.'

According to The Blast, details of the financial settlement the former couple made were kept confidential.
Bojana Novakovic has made a name for herself in Hollywood, starring alongside superstar Margot Robbie in the hit feature films I, Tonya and Birds Of Prey.

And the Australian actress, 40, has revealed that she would never appear in a soap opera - despite working with former Neighbours star Margot, 31, twice.

'She also did Neighbours with my sister [Valentina Novakovic] but my whole thing was like, I'm not touching soap operas; I am a trained NIDA actor,' Bojana told Stellar Magazine on Saturday.

Star: Bojana Novakovic (pictured) has made a name for herself in Hollywood, starring alongside superstar Margot Robbie in the hit feature films I, Tonya and Birds Of Prey

'And then you look at all their careers and they're all flourishing superstars around the world. But I was a real theatre snob when I was younger' she added.

Bojana will next be seen in new Australian drama series Love Me, which will stream on Binge, as Clara.

She added that she feels many Australian stars have to go to America to forge careers before they can find work back home.

Nope! And the Australian actress, 40, has revealed that she would never appear in a soap - despite working with the likes of Margot, 31, a former Neighbours star, twice. Margot is pictured in I, Tonya

'She also did Neighbours with my sister [Valentina Novakovic] but my whole thing was like, I'm not touching soap operas; I am a trained NIDA actor,' Bojana told Stellar Magazine on Saturday. Margot (left) is pictured in Neighbours

'This is why we go to the States  so then we can come back and be taken seriously. It's a shame that that has to happen. But this show is why I went to the US: so that I could develop a name for myself,' she said.

Bojana appeared in 2017's I, Tonya as Dody Teachman and Erika in 2020's Birds of Prey.

Additionally, she has starred in the TV series' Westworld and MacGyver, and hit horror feature film Drag Me to Hell.

Humble beginnings: Margot (centre) played Donna Freedman on the Australian soap opera between 2008 and 2011

In 2015, she was linked to Keanu Reeves when the pair, who co-starred in 2012's Generation Um, were spotted having a cosy dinner date.

In 2013, it was revealed the stunner was dating How I Met Your Mother actor Jason Segel.

After less than a year together, however, the couple ended their relationship, according to Us Weekly.
Married At First Sight star Mishel Karen has sent shockwaves through the Aussie porn industry after coming down with Covid.

The 51-year-old, who now works as an adult performer on OnlyFans, has been in agonising pain for the last week after catching the virus.

The diagnosis comes several weeks after the mum of two participated in a raunchy 'content shoot' with other porn stars in a warehouse on the Gold Coast.

Mishel does Covid: Married At First Sight star Mishel Karen has sent shockwaves through the Aussie porn industry after coming down with Covid one month after an adult film shoot

Mishel shared her horrifying experience with Covid on Saturday night in a lengthy Instagram post.

In a short video, the former reality star is lying down on her side and mumbling that her entire body 'aches' from the effects of the virus.

'Every part of my body aches,' she says. 'My fingers ache, my back aches, my legs ache... I can feel my organs aching.'

She went on to describe the symptoms as 'not pleasant' but said that she was able to make it through without having to go to hospital.

'Every part of my body aches': Mishel shared her horrifying experience with Covid on Saturday night in a lengthy Instagram post

Mishel, who has been a naturopath for thirty years, used 'natural and homemade therapies' to mitigate her symptoms.

'I am not claiming to be an expert. Even though I have been a naturopath for nearly 30 years and was raised using natural therapies,' she wrote.

'There is nothing that replaces your own beliefs and knowing of what is right for you, ultimately we already know what we need. Or you can speak to your doctor for their advice.'

More the merrier? Mishel's Covid case comes less than a month after she spent the day in a Gold Coast warehouse shooting content with other porn stars (all pictured)

After sharing the various methods and treatments she used to overcome Covid, Mishel admitted that she had no choice but to reach for the Panadol when the pain became too severe.

'I will tell you that this was not a pleasant experience. I have not been unwell for some time and dont remember hurting so much from a virus before,' she wrote.

'Even though I dont like using pharmaceuticals, I did cave & used some paracetamol as I found the pain incredibly strong. I really couldnt suppress the pain without it.'

Homegrown: The women, which included Australia's biggest OnlyFans star Renee Gracie, spent the day taking racy photos and filming footage for their accounts

Mishel's Covid case comes less than a month after she spent the day in a Gold Coast warehouse shooting content with other porn stars for an Australian version of OnlyFans called AussieFans.

The women, which included Australia's biggest OnlyFans star Renee Gracie, spent the day taking racy photos and filming footage for their accounts.

Mishel regularly performs hardcore sex acts on her OnlyFans account, some of which include other participants.

X-rated: Mishel regularly performs hardcore sex acts on her OnlyFans account, some of which include other participants

The mum of two recently revealed that she's been raking in between $5000-$7000 per month as an adult entertainer.

She told The Daily Telegraph that her main motivation for the X-rated career move is to ensure her family is financially secure.

'Being a single mum, I have never really had extra cash to do much with or to live an extravagant life, but I just don't want my children to have to struggle to pay bills or be in debt,' she said.

Lucrative: The mum of two recently revealed that she's been raking in between $5000-$7000 per month as an adult entertainer

'Whatever I must do so they can get a deposit or loan, so they can move forward, I will do that,' she added.

Mishel, who used to work as a policy trainer in the police force, recently became a grandmother after her son Sam welcomed a baby boy with his girlfriend.

She's also a doting mum to daughter Eva, who featured on a few episodes of Married At First Sight and now works as a curve model in Brisbane.
Holly Willoughby has revealed she had a secret career in Switzerland as an au pair prior to shooting to fame.

The star, 40, made the revelation during an appearance on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen, while also setting tongues wagging when revealing her enthusiasm for Swiss food.

After declaring her love of pork scratching wrapped in a slice of cheese, she certainly divided viewers as they flooded Twitter with their opinions.

Wow! Holly Willoughby has fessed up to having a secret career in Switzerland as an au pair during an appearance on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen

She told host Matt Tebbutt: 'I love Swiss food. I love a cheese fondue. I was an au pair in Switzerland for a season and when I was there, I just ate cheese.

'It was my favourite. It was all I did. So, any opportunity that someone wants to melt some cheese. But my least favourite food in the world is tinned tuna.'

Revealing her rather unusual pork scratching and cheese recipe, the Dancing On Ice presenter caused viewers to flood the social media platform with their thoughts.

Throwback: The star, 40, made the revelation during an appearance on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen, while also setting tongues wagging when revealing her enthusiasm for Swiss food (pictured in 1998)

One approving fan wrote: 'Pork scratching wrapped in Dairylea. As recommended by @hollywills on @SaturdayKitchen. OMG a food sensation!

Others chimed in with: '@hollywills has just wrapped a pork scratching in a slice of cheese on @SaturdayKitchen and I just feel like I have failed at life because I have never tried this before. #foodtips #lifehacks.'

'So according to Holly Willoughby, a pork scratching wrapped in a cheese slice, is really delicious! What odd foody combos do you love? I like a packet of salt & vinegar crisps tipped into a bowl of Heinz tomato soup!'

Controversial: After declaring her love of pork scratching wrapped in a slice of cheese, she certainly divided viewers as they flooded Twitter with their opinions

Sharing their disgust, others contrasted with: 'I cannot find any fault with Holly Willoughby except that she likes pork scratchings. She is most peoples dream woman.'

'holly willoughby wrote a self help book last year and now shes on saturday kitchen eating pork scratchings wrapped in cheese slices [sic].

During the installment, Holly revealed her favourite food of all time is Chicken Kiev, while reminiscing on the bite-sized types.

Interesting: She told host Matt Tebbutt: 'I love Swiss food. I love a cheese fondue. I was an au pair in Switzerland for a season and when I was there, I just ate cheese'

She said: 'My favourite food of all time is Chicken Kiev. I love it. I remember when the mini ones were created.

'You would go round a friend's house for a play date for them. They were never as good, they were molten lava. Chicken Kiev is the best.'

Holly went on to confess she will only eat mussels in the dark since she prefers not to look down at seafood while eating it, which caused Matt to roar with laughter.
Craig Rowe has confessed he was once a pole dancer, claiming he pursued the raunchy career while attempting to get on the property ladder in his youth.

The A Place In The Sun presenter, who revealed he is desperate to compete in Strictly Come Dancing, added that the secret job took him across the world.

He told the Daily Star: 'For a long time, I was in a dance company in London, and we used to put on shows. I've danced on stage at concerts all over the place, and for a while I also did male pole dancing.

Wow! Craig Rowe has confessed he was once a pole dancer, claiming he pursued the raunchy career while attempting to get on the property ladder in his youth

'When I was 25, I bought my first property in London with my sister. Neither of us could afford to buy [somewhere] ourselves at the time.'

Craig added: 'I would probably give my right kidney to be on Strictly'... although fans of the BBC ballroom show may be in for a shock if he brings out the silver pole.

The proud owner of a 450K South London apartment near Borough Market, having splashed 100K on renovations, he told MyLondon: 'Everyone was really surprised because I'd done renovations before and said to everyone I'm not doing any more.

Surprising: The A Place In The Sun presenter, who revealed he is desperate to compete in Strictly Come Dancing, added that the secret job took him across the world

'I was done sleeping next to a bag of cement. Done dealing with builders. Done with mess being absolutely everywhere. I needed to move somewhere that was already finished.

'But when I saw this place, as soon as I walked in, I just knew. And I can see when other people have the same reaction on A Place in the Sun.'

In December, an elated Craig announced his new hosting job on Twitter, along with a slew of beach-side snaps of himself beaming from ear-to-ear.

Reminiscing: He said: 'For a long time, I was in a dance company in London, and we used to put on shows. I've danced on stage at concerts all over the place, and for a while I also did male pole dancing'

The Bristol native penned: A new month & I have exciting news.

'After months of secret filming in Spain, France & Barbados Im thrilled to announce I'm the newest presenter to join the team of experts of @aplaceinthesun.

'My debut appearance is January 2022, cant wait to share the sunshine with you.'

A Place in the Sun will be shown daily on Channel 4 at 3pm throughout January.
Kaya Scodelario has given birth to her second child.

The Skins star, 29, shared the happy news with her fans on Instagram on Saturday and posted a sweet snap cradling her newborn.

Kaya and Benjamin also share a five-year-old son though they never publicly announced his name.

Yay! Kaya Scodelario has given birth to her second child

In Kaya's birth announcement post she penned: 'You made it here little one! Starting the new year with so much love in our hearts & in our home. Plus poop and puke, lots of that too.'

She looked radiant in the snap as she held her new arrival in the hospital bed and Benjamin looked into the camera wearing his scrubs.

The post was flooded with well-wishes from fans and friends who congratulated her on the news.

Exciting! Last September Kaya revealed she was expecting another bundle of joy with husband Benjamin after the pair welcomed a son five years ago

Stunning: She showed off her bump at the Fashion Awards 2021 in November where she wore a silver dress

Last September Kaya revealed she was expecting another bundle of joy with husband Benjamin after the pair welcomed a son five years ago.

Kaya looked radiant as she showed off her blossoming baby bump while attending Henley Festival 2021 with her beau shortly before sharing the news.

The beauty wowed in a flowing floral print dress with a rope halterneck as she posed next to her dapper husband who wore a black suit.

She also announced the news on Instagram shortly after making her public appearance.

News to share: She also announced the news on Instagram with a sweet bump selfie

Posing to show off her blossoming bump in a sweet selfie, she wrote: 'I tried to set up one of those beautiful pregnancy reveal pictures with the meadow and the golden sunset and the hay and the puppy's and the perfectly put together BoHo outfit & flowing natural hair with baby chicks nesting in it but then I realised that IM WAY TOO tired, achey and lazy right now.

'So here's me pulling an awkward face in the mirror whilst wearing makeup for the first time in 6 months instead. We are very happy obviously. But mostly super tired.'

The congratulatory messages quickly came rolling in with Love Island's Dani Dyer writing: 'Congratulations,' alongside a string of heart-eye emojis.

'Great reveal,' another told her.

Kind: The congratulatory messages quickly came rolling in with Love Island's Dani Dyer writing: 'Congratulations,' alongside a string of heart-eye emojis

The actress has become a huge Hollywood star since rising to fame as Effy in Skins, starring in the like of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and The Maze Runner.

Kaya has previously opened up about how becoming a mother changed the way she approaches her career.

She once told the Evening Standard: 'When I first started out I was just looking for employment, I just wanted to work.

Sweet: Kaya and Benjamin met will filming the movie The Kings Daughter back in 2014 and got married a year later (pictured in 2019)

'But now I think being a mum I have to be pickier if I'm going to be away for six months on the other side of the world.'

The couple never announced the name of their son publicly.

Kaya and Benjamin met will filming the movie The Moon And The Sun back in 2014 and got married a year later.

Famous faces: The actress has become a huge Hollywood star since rising to fame as Effy in Skins (pictured second right with the cast)

Kaya announced in low-key fashion in January 2016 that she was now a married woman when she shared an image of bride and a groom wedding cake toppers.

'Happy New Year everyone,' she captioned the Instagram snap. 'Here's to 2016 being filled with love, laughter and cake for everyone!'

Prior to dating Benjamin, Kaya was in a long-term romance with Shameless actor Eliott Tittensor, before splitting in late 2013.

Meanwhile, Benjamin's two year marriage to Mamie Gummer - daughter of Meryl Streep - ended in early 2013.

Romance: The pair got married in 2015 and shared snaps of their day to social media
Pete Davidson took to the stage with Jack Harlow for a shared performance at The Novo in Los Angeles on Friday evening.

The 28-year-old comedian and the rapper, 23, performed the latter's 2021 track SUVs (Black on Black), and the actor danced around the stage for much of the song's length.

The Saturday Night Live cast member's appearance comes just after he took a romantic getaway to the Bahamas with his girlfriend, Kim Kardashian.

Pete kept it casual in a graphic-printed long-sleeve t-shirt and jeans during his time on stage.

The King of Staten Island star also accessorized with a pair of sunglasses by eyewear brand Johann Wolff, and several necklaces at the show.

Harlow opted for a similarly dressed-down outfit, as he sported a black tank top and matching jeans.

The pair appeared to be savoring the spotlight and the adoration of their fans in a video that was shared to a concertgoer's Twitter account on Friday evening.

Taking it easy: Pete kept it casual in a graphic-printed long-sleeve t-shirt and jeans during his time on stage

Making the most of it: The pair appeared to be savoring the spotlight and the adoration of their fans in a video that was shared to a concertgoer's Twitter account on Friday evening

Davidson and Kardashian, 41, were first spotted making their way off of a boat while arriving in the Bahamas by TMZ this past Wednesday.

The happy couple appeared to be enjoying each other's company as they enjoyed the sunny tropical weather in gorgeous snaps.

The social media powerhouse later shared a selfie to her Instagram account in which she was seen placing her stunning beach body on near-full display.

She also wrote a short message in her caption reading: 'Sweet sweet fantasy baby.'

Scenic views: The social media powerhouse later shared a selfie to her Instagram account, where she was seen placing her gorgeous beach body on near-full display

Davidson and Kardashian were first romantically linked when they were spotted holding hands during a trip to Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California this past October, when they also kissed during a Saturday Night Live skit.

A source spoke to People at the time and attempted to diffuse any rumors about a potential relationship between the two.

The insider remarked that the pair 'hang in the same circles so they will be together from time to time.'

They also added that the two were 'just friends hanging out,' and representatives for the couple did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Starting off strong: Davidson and Kardashian were first romantically linked when they were spotted holding hands during a trip to Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California this past October, when they also kissed during a Saturday Night Live skit

Davidson and Kardashian were later seen together at various locations around the country, although they did not attempt to make their relationship public.

The social media powerhouse previously threw a birthday party for her partner at the Palm Springs residence of her mother, Kris Jenner, this past November.

A source also spoke to People that month and expressed that the two 'have chemistry' and were enjoying having 'fun' with each other.

They did not spend this past Christmas together, although the comedian spent time with his girlfriend right up until the holiday.
On Friday Chantel Jeffries was seen on a beach in Mexico with Diplo by her side.

The 29-year-old DJ and the 43-year-old electronic music producer soaked up the sun with friends in Tulum before attending a live music event at night.

The model stunned in a white two-piece shorts set that showed off her flat midriff.

Enjoying the heat: On Friday Chantel Jeffries, 29, was seen on a beach in Mexico with Diplo, 43, by her side

Chantel put her slim figure on display in her very short shorts and a matching long-sleeve top that had an eyelet pattern throughout.

Her thick dark hair was textured in a tousle of curls that she let flow freely. She wore a pair of small dangling earrings.

The music maker went barefoot as she relaxed near the shore with a small group of pals.

She was seen sitting on a daybed with a shirtless Diplo nearby. He wore black shorts and draped a grey towel over his shoulders at one point.

Beach style: Jeffries put her slim figure on display in her very short shorts and a matching long-sleeve top that had an eyelet pattern throughout

Handsy: In one instance the shirtless music producer clutched Chantel's thigh with both hands as she stood in front of him

The friends were spotted with food and drinks in front of them while lounging in the shade.

At one point, Diplo could be seen clutching Chantel's thigh with both hands as she stood in front of him.

In another moment they both busied themselves with their phones.

Social media appearance: Also on Friday, Chantel took to Instagram to share a trio of photos with her 4.7 million followers

Also on Friday, Chantel took to Instagram to share a trio of photos with her 4.7 million followers.

She snapped a sweltering selfie in a tiny bikini top that showed off a generous amount of cleavage.

Her voluminous hair fell around her face as she leaned over her phone to take the image inside a hut-like room.

In another shot the beauty posed on a set of outdoor stairs with her back to the camera. She put on a cheeky display in her shrunken shorts and bikini top.

Different perspective: The beauty posed on a set of outdoor stairs with her back to the camera as she put on a cheeky display

Tuned in: In one picture she took a closeup selfie with a pair of silver headphones over her ears

The California-born bombshell also took to Instagram Stories to share more outtakes from her fun-filled time in Mexico.

In one picture she took a closeup selfie with a pair of silver headphones over her ears.

She gave her admirers a magnified view of her big, green eyes and added a red '100' emoji.

Designer accessory: Although the sun had set, Chantel put fashion first and donned a rectangular-shaped pair of Chanel sunglasses

Night party: In an even earlier post shared on social media Chantel offered her followers a slideshow from a night on the beach

In an earlier post shared on social media Chantel offered her followers a slideshow from a night on the beach.

The YouTuber looked amazing in a matching pink top and mini skirt with an abstract design.

She styled her raven locks in a diagonal side part and two low braids.

Although the sun had set, Chantel put fashion first and donned a rectangular-shaped pair of sunglasses.

Group hang: Diplo appeared with her again in a group photo with friends, in which they all stood in a circle with their heads hovering over the camera

The influencer added a small white purse that she wore around her hips attached to a chain.

Diplo appeared with her again in a group photo with friends, in which they all stood in a circle with their heads hovering over the camera.

Jeffries also showed a view of the gathering with palm trees and a roaring flame of fire.
Hugh Jackman has paid tribute to legendary Hollywood director and actor Sidney Poitier, following his death aged 94.

Poitier was the first black man to win a best actor Oscar, and is recognised for leading a distinguished film career at a time when segregation still plagued America.

Posting to Instagram on Sunday, Jackman, 53, honoured the late film legend by sharing a rare throwback photo of the pair posing at a star-studded Hollywood party.

Star-studded: Hugh Jackman paid tribute to late director Sidney Poitier following his death by sharing this rare, star-studded photo featuring the likes of Oprah Winfrey, John Travolta and Barbra Streisand on Sunday

'It was here, with this amazing group of friends, that [my wife] Deb and I met the exceptionally kind hearted, smart, cheeky Sidney Poitier,' he wrote next to a group photo featuring the likes of Oprah Winfrey, John Travolta and Barbra Streisand.

'A life well lived. A man well loved,' the Australian star added.

Quincy Jones, James Brolin, Gayle King, Donna Karan and Hugh's wife Deborra-Lee Furness were also pictured in the group photo.

Memories: 'It was here, with this amazing group of friends, that [my wife] Deb and I met the exceptionally kind hearted, smart, cheeky Sidney Poitier,' Jackman wrote in the caption. Pictured is Poitier holding his Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Lilies Of The Field

Poitier's death was confirmed by the Bahamas's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fred Mitchell, on Friday morning. His cause of death is not yet known.

The film icon left behind a trailblazing career which many A-List stars celebrated in their messages of condolences.

It was no surprise to see such a huge outpouring of tributes for the Bahamian-American star from fellow actors.

Paying respects: Poitier's death was confirmed by the Bahamas's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fred Mitchell, on Friday morning. His cause of death is not yet known. Mourners laying flowers by Poitier's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 7 2022

Poitier's groundbreaking acting career saw win an Oscar in 1964 for his role in Lilies of the Field him and earn two further Academy Award nominations, ten Golden Globes nominations, two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, six BAFTA nominations, eight Laurel nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination.

Twice-married, he had four daughters with his first wife Juanita Hardy and two with his second wife Joanna Shimkus.

Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, Anika Noni Rose and many more lead tributes on Friday.

'You are and always will be the true measure of a man': Halle Berry, 55, was the first black actress to win the best actress Oscar in 2002 as she posted a touching tribute to the star on Instagram with a snap of the talented thespians together

Berry, 55, was the first black actress to win the best actress Oscar in 2002 as she posted a touching tribute to the star on Instagram with a snap of the talented thespians together.

She wrote: ''A tiny bit of myself is lost when my friends are gone,' Sidney Poitier wrote in his book LIFE BEYOND MEASURE. My dear Sidney, an enormous part of my soul weeps at your passing.

'In your ninety-four years on this planet, you left an indelible mark with your extraordinary talent, paving the way for Black people to be seen and heard in the fullness of who we are. You were an iconic trailblazer; yours was a life well lived.'

Berry continued by talking about growing up admiring him and what a thrill it was when they finally met.

Outpouring: Tributes poured in Friday morning following the death of legendary Hollywood actor Sidney Poitier at age 94

She wrote: 'I grew up idolizing you and will always remember the day when I first met you. It is the only time in my life when I've been rendered speechless! There I sat, with my words glued together, and you were as gracious and charming then as you would be during our decades of friendship to follow.

'Rest in peace, beloved Sidney. You are and always will be the true measure of a man.'

Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Jeffrey Wright was one of the first stars to react, tweeting: 'Sidney Poitier. What a landmark actor. One of a kind. What a beautiful, gracious, warm, genuinely regal man. RIP, Sir. With love.'

Oscar-winner Whoopi Goldberg tweeted a touching message, reciting the lyrics to the theme song from Poitier's 1967 film To Sir, with Love.

'If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky in letters that would soar a thousand feet high.. To Sir with Love,' she wrote, adding: 'Sir Sidney Poitier R.I.P. He showed us how to reach for the stars.

Oprah Winfrey wrote on her social media platforms: 'For me, the greatest of the 'Great Trees' has fallen: Sidney Poitier. My honor to have loved him as a mentor. Friend. Brother. Confidant. Wisdom teacher.'

To Sir With Love: Oscar winner Viola Davis posted a tribute on Instagram

Star of Dreamgirls and Tony winner Anika Noni Rose tweeted: 'RIP Sidney Poitier. Thank you for being so kind, for every door you broke down and every slap you gave in return.'

'This is a big one,' said Oscar-winner Viola Davis. 'No words can describe how your work radically shifted my life.'

'The dignity, normalcy, strength, excellence and sheer electricity you brought to your roles showed us that we, as Black folks, mattered!!! It was an honor for my husband and I to share lunch with you at Spagos.'

'You told us,'If your dreams do not scare you, they're not big enough'! I put this quote on my daughter's wall. Rest well Mr. Poitier.Thank you! Thank you for leaving a legacy. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.'

Star-studded tribute: The actor began trending on social media Friday

Mariah Carey called him a 'true King': 'Beyond his unparalleled talent and devotion to change the world, to me, he was also a celestial, pure soul who took the time to care, talk, help and heal others so selflessly.

'I am blessed with the memories of our conversations that will be forever emblazoned in my mind. Condolences and love to the Poitier family. Rest in Power and Peace Sir Sidney Poitier.'

Alicia Keys wrote: 'Legendary GREATNESS! Thank you for all the doors you opened, for all the ceilings you broke through! Thank for showing us what GREATNESS looks like! You are never to be forgotten.'

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote: 'Sidney Poitier. An absolute legend. One of the greats' while Katie Holmes shared an image of him with the words 'Rest In Peace.'

'A true King': Mariah Carey called him a 'true King' and remarked that he was 'a celestial, pure soul who took the time to care, talk, help and heal others so selflessly'

Legends never die: 'Legendary GREATNESS! Thank you for all the doors you opened, for all the ceilings you broke through!' Alicia Keys wrote in her tribute
Laura Hamilton reportedly split from husband Alex Goward after reaching 'breaking point' during lockdown when they were forced to spend more time together.

The A Place In The Sun' presenter, 39, first shared the news of their separation with her followers on Instagram on Saturday - admitting it 'wasn't something she ever thought she'd be saying'.

Laura's job means she is accustomed to frequent work trips abroad yet this came to a halt amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which according to The Sun On Sunday, was a of their marriage breakdown.

Oh no: Laura Hamilton reportedly split from husband Alex Goward after reaching 'breaking point' during lockdown when they were forced to spend more time together (pictured last June)

A friend told the publication: 'Laura is often away abroad travelling with her work on A Place In The Sun, so the couple werent used to spending so much time together under one roof.

'She really wanted to make the marriage work for the sake of the family. She threw her all into saving the relationship, but in lockdown they reached crisis point.

'The pressure of being stuck at home and working under one roof put too much strain on the relationship. It seemed easier in the end just to go their separate ways.'

It was also reported that the pair are 'moving on with their lives' and Laura has been throwing herself into work while friends rally round to support her.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Laura for comment.

Sad news:The A Place In The Sun' presenter, 39, first shared the news of their separation with her followers on Instagram on Saturday - admitting it 'wasn't something she ever thought she'd be saying'

Laura married insurance broker Alex in 2012 three years after they started dating and they share two children, eight-year-old son Rocco and a daughter Tahlia, six.

The blonde beauty penned in her statement: 'This isn't something I ever thought I'd be saying but, after 13 years of being together Alex and I have separated.

'Our children are and always will be our number one priority and we would respect privacy for our family at this time.'

Alongside her message to fans, Laura shared an image which read: 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.'

Difficult: Laura's job means she is accustomed to frequent work trips abroad yet this came to a halt amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, a factor, according to The Sun On Sunday, of their marriage breakdown

Upset: The presenter, 39, shared the sad news with her followers on Instagram on Saturday, admitting it 'wasn't something she ever thought she'd be saying'

The TV star turned off comments on her Instagram post, stopping followers from leaving messages underneath.

It comes a day after Laura told fans she was leaving the family home they had shared for nine years.

She posted a video to show how the couple had transformed the property where they brought up their children.

Family: Laura married insurance broker Alex in 2012 three years after they started dating and they share two children, eight-year-old Rocco and a daughter Tahlia, six

Laura explained they had made 'incredible memories' there and admitted 'change can be scary' as she closed the chapter.

'I wish I could say I look like this photo right now but I don't because, since the start of the new year we have been packing up our home ready to move

'Today we close the door and say goodbye to a home that we have loved and enjoyed for the last 9 years -the longest I have lived anywhere in my entire adult life!

'It was a home that we transformed (as you can see in the photos), but MORE importantly it was a home where we created some incredible memories that we will cherish forever

'Change can be scary but you know what is scarier? Allowing fear to stop you from growing, evolving and progressing.

'When it feels scary to jump that's exactly when you jump, otherwise you just end up staying in the same place your whole life, and that I can't do.'

Moving on: It comes a day after Laura told fans she was leaving the family home they had shared for nine years. She posted a video to show how the couple had transformed the property where they brought up their children

The former couple wed in a romantic Surrey ceremony.

Among the guests were Denise Welch, Jayne Torvill, Jeff Brazier, Elen Rivas and Sam Attwater.

The pair are also business partners, running a cafe called Lord Roberts on The Green in Purley together.

The pair: The pair's wedding took place in Surrey surrounded by their celebrity pals including, Amanda Lamb, Michelle Heaton and Jeff Brazier

The split comes after last month Laura revealed she was left feeling suicidal after being bullied during her school years, in an interview alongside her mum Lynn.

The star, who was educated at Kent's Dartford Grammar School For Girls, said she was targeted due to her academic nature and love of school plays.

She told the Things I Told My Daughter podcast: 'I remember being really sad, really really sad. I remember saying, "I don't want to live anymore," which is horrible.

'I remember getting called into the office at school and them saying if I didn't want to come in, I could do it at home.'

Going onto dub her alma mater 'a tough school', she claimed that 'only about four people in the whole year' wanted to work.

Laura's mum Lynn, 67, added: 'She got top of the class again and the teacher called us in and said, "I'm really sorry, I'm not going to be able to put Laura at the top of the class because she's been top of the class for the last however many weeks."'

The property show host went on to admit that the ordeal during the time of her GCSEs 'made her the person she is now' and helped her 'deal with negativity'.

It came after Laura detailed the reality of living with the rare autoimmune disease Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP).

'I didn't want to live anymore!' The split comes after last month Laura revealed she was left feeling suicidal after being bullied during her school years, in an interview alongside her mum Lynn

The disease can cause easy or excessive bleeding or bruising with many experiencing purple bruises, as well as tiny reddish-purple dots that look like a rash.

Laura posted the picture of herself showing the bruising by holding her arm up in the mirror before heading out to film in France.

She wrote in the caption of the tell-all post: 'This week I might have posted a few photos in pretty dresses, but this is the reality of what is underneath and what you cant see

'I have had bruising on my arms and my gums have been bleeding. This is ITP.'

Continuing on: 'Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an auto immune disorder that can lead to easy or excessive bruising and bleeding. The bleeding results from unusually low levels of platelets  the cells that help blood clot.'

Giving a message to her followers: 'If you are an ITP sufferer my thoughts are with you. Dont let it get you down. Follow your dreams. Anything is possible. There is no need to let it hold you back '

If you have been affected by this story, you can contact Samaritans on 116 123, or visit samaritans.org.
David M. Shribman is the former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter @ShribmanPG
Nacogdoches, TX (75965)

Today

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
After partaking in an entire spring of practices with the Washington football team, sophomore cornerback Jacobe Covington has entered the transfer portal. He made the decision just ahead of the May 1 deadline, providing him eligibility to play for another school in the fall.
The year 2021 was a busy period in Dancehall, as with less touring and stage shows numbering almost zero in Jamaica, artists buckled down and took to the studio. While the women held their own, they continue to be outnumbered by their male counterparts. There were hits, and there were misses in songwriting, and, several new stars emerged, among them Nation Boss, thanks to the power of social media.

Low sales aside, the youth, in particular, did well, proving that Dancehall continues to thrive, with some ditching their rude-boy personas and showing their softer sides. The introspective nature of many of the songs point to the fact that the genre remains a reflection of Jamaican life and culture, be it good or not so good, as opposed to only about guns, scamming, and girls as some erroneously believe.

Lets take a look at what our writers picked as the top 50 Dancehall songs of 2021. Just want the music? Find our playlist on Spotify.

After making his big comeback in 2017, Shane O has been churning out hit after hit. In this 2021 effort, in which he showed off his never-before-seen skills as a director, Shane O tells the tale of a persistent boy who has to walk a dark, lonely road to success, after being put out by his dad with nothing but the piece of sponge he calls a bed.

49. Nvasion, Shaneil Muir  Wicked

After a clip from a performance with him singing the original track went viral on social media, upcoming Dancehall act Nvasion has been riding high on a wave of success for Wicked, which he later remixed with Yamabella hitmaker Shaneil Muir. The battle of the sexes context gives the remix a new dimension from the one-sided original, which has been well received by fans.

48. Stalk Ashley  Summer 16

Stalk Ashley was in her bag on Summer 16, which completely immersed listeners in the ultimate breakup anthem. The track appears on her Excuses Pt. I EP.

Borrowing the famous earth a run red line from Richie Spice, Blvk H3ro summarizes some of the harsh realities faced by Jamaicans on a daily basis. He cleverly provides social commentary by referencing several chilling news stories over the past few months in the video, such as the murder of 21-year-old- Khanice Jackson.

46. Bling Dawg, Christopher Martin  YO!

Bling Dawg and Christopher Martin teamed up to give Dancehall fans a little music for the soul with the single Yo in September. The track, which was Blings first single off the album Elev8, summarizes his elevation with a mental state of positivity, health journey with some lyrical gems to life for all listeners to take heed.

45. Prettii Prettii  Sad Eeh

Dancer-turn-deejay, Prettii Prettii proved shes a tier above the rest when she deejayed AND laid down some slick rap bars on Sad Eeh last July. Produced by Herah Music Production, the track resonated an urban in-the-streets vibe with a confident and gritty message to sad delusional girls who think they could ever step in Prettiis dolly-sized shoes gyal life sad eeh.

44. Jada Kingdom  Jungle

After a very public break up with her former management company and even a statement to fans to not expect any new music in 2021, Dancehall songbird Jada Kingdom eventually came through with her first single under her new label Republic Records in October titled Jungle. The song arrived on an easy head-bobbing, mid-tempo Reggae rhythm with a melancholic narrative written by Kingdom to share her experiences of the dark, harrowing paths in the jungle-like streets. Jungle is an up-close and personal look into what growing up in Jamaica was for me. Most of the things I speak about in the song lyrics and that you see in the video are actually real-life situations that Ive seen and or been a victim of, Kingdom revealed about the song.

43. Jahshii, Navaz  Cream Of The Crop

Fast-rising star Jashii took 2021 yet again with the release of Cream Of The Crop with fellow newcomer Navaz. The fans couldnt get enough of the deejays candid tales of poverty and hardships. Released last August, the Active Music produced track cruised over a million streams in the first few weeks and wrapped up the year with 6.4 million YouTube views. I am not surprised about di reaction from di fans an how people have been gravitating to my music. Mi put mi heart inna di music because mi nuh sing bout nuttin weh mi naw see or do. Di people are gravitating to di work an I am appreciative, the Grants Pen native said.

42. Vybz Kartel  Chip Glock

Though he has taken a more enlightened path, for the most part, these days, every dancehall fan knows that di teacher gives his most advanced lessons in songs about irreprehensible violence. He excites the minds of his quick-witted students in this killer thriller, and once again proves why there will never be another Adidja Palmer.

41. Mr Eazi, Dre Skull ft Popcaan  Sekkle & Bop

Nigerian singer Mr. Eazi excites women to show their best moves in the chorus of the easy-going bubbler by Mixpak record label CEO Dre Skull. Popcaan turns up the tempo a bit in his verse with his distinct unruly bars and unique vocal cords.

40. Masicka, Popcaan  Pain

Having gone through Pain in all shapes, sizes and forms, Masicka not only coils these adversities in one song but also seeks assistance from a living conqueror, Popcaan, to deliver this profound track. The single is featured on Masickas 438 album and since its December 3rd release has gained more than 1.4 million views on YouTube.

39. Popcaan  Relevant

In the same vein as Win, Poppy kicked off this year with Relevant, which reminded listeners to not only pursue their dreams relentlessly, but to watch out for disingenuous people on the journey.

38. 450  Journey

For Dancehall newcomer 450, his Journey chronicles a raw yet relatable rocky past and gritty come-up. It is songs like this that have launched him into the limelight as favorite new act in 2021. My uniqueness, my style of music, my lyrical content. Those are some of the stuff that mek me standout apart from the crowd. Thats what the people love and appreciate my music for, the 21-year-old told DancehallMag. The music video for Journey  released last September, now stands at 5.4 million YouTube views.

Dem say fi be yourself but when you be yourself them quick fi judge yuh, is a lyric that clearly resonated with fans of both artists, as this meditative song has remained a staple on the airwaves and charts since it was released last January. With the lyric video so far amassing over 8.6 million views on YouTube, TeeJay is on the launchpad for a successful release of his Rags to Riches album. Meanwhile, Sparta is serving a three-year prison sentence.

36. Alkaline  Top Prize

As the title track of his 2021 album, Top Prize has a special place in the heart of the Vendetta Boss. Top Prize is whatever goal you want to achieve, Alkaline said in an interview. Its rising and exceeding expectations. And just enjoy the whole process, the whole journey.

There is a line in this song for everyone with a goal, and that is perhaps why it hasnt come off our wake-up playlists since it was dropped at the start of the year. Not to be confused with his 2016 hit We Still A Win, which was more of a flashy party anthem, Win is one of the Unruly Boss latest motivational tracks.

34. Squash  Rate Who Rate You

Featured on the My Letter To You riddim was Squashs Rate Who Rate You  a thoughtful reminder to extend respect only to those who return the same courtesy. The 6ix Bosss words certainly hit home for many who could relate and the Dynasty Records and Attomatic Records produced song made its way on Dancehall music playlists far and wide, exceeding streams of 8.5 million on YouTube after its May release.

New wave Dancehall lyricist I Waata has had an excellent year so far, and his growing catalog of hit songs is proof. In Clip Tall, he warns from yuh diss one, try know yuh diss all. Fkni clip tall. Nuh K nuh response.

32. Vybz Kartel  African Summer

The Worl Boss threw his hat in the ring for a playful summer song with this one, and as usual, he didnt disappoint. While the unsuspecting scroller might assume the song is about a trip to Africa during the summer, the title is just a metaphor for the heat of the lewd, detailed experience that the entertainer promises. African Summer has almost 16 million views on YouTube.

31. Skeng  Brrrp

Skengs carefree laid-back flow has proven to be just what the current Dancehall scene likes, and this technique has allowed him to shoot to prominence in less than a year. In addition to Brrrp  whose chorus, by the way, is just that sound  the young musician has two other tracks on this 2021 list.

30. Masicka  Different Type

Masicka delivers some different type of lyrics in this hard-hitting jam.

On one of the top songs on his Grammy-nominated ROYAL album, Jesse invites the lyrically impeccable Worl Boss to add explosive bars to this anthem of resistance and gratitude. The video also features cameo appearances by Like Royalty singers Popcaan and Protoje.

Loyalty  thats the glue that holds this solid ode to friendship and unity together. With Rileys soothing vocals on the chorus, Masicka reminds his friends and family that he will be there with them through thick and thin. Produced by Dunw3ll, the groovy track proved to be comforting and timely as the world continues to grapple with the social and economic fall-out that plagued the last year.

27. Skillibeng  Hot

Closing out 2020 with the biggest song of the year (Crocodile Teeth), Skillibeng dropped Hot with the RD Studios  directed music video to portray the scorching levels of his new stardom.

26. Demarco, Stephen Marley  Dance My Stress Away

Demarco struck up favors with the fans again on his summer banger Dance My Stress Away  a single from his long-awaited debut album Melody. The track featured vocals from Stephen Marley and took viewers on a night out on the town with Demarco as he danced his stresses away.

25. Jahshii  25/8

Even through the pandemic, Jahshii managed to make significant strides thanks to songs like 25/8. I think I have grown tremendously over di past year. I have grown with di fans an right now, wi a give di people what they want to hear, the young talent said. 25/8, which was produced by Dynasty Records, DJ Mac Productions, and Attomatic Records, arrived on the Bleed Riddim, where Jahshii details his drive to not only elevate himself out of poverty but take his family as well. The aptly titled track shows his proven tenacity to go hard for his goals, running a 25/8 shift rather than 24/7 to denote his non-stop efforts.

Dexta connects with his female fans like a strong broadband connection on this one. Best known for his smoothly expressed content, the Dappadon also impressed fans with a futuristic video featuring a sultry vixen and his well-oiled waistline that had Shenseea affirming his prowess on Instagram.

23. Dyani ft. Jada Kingdom  Feelings

As a creative way around a musical embargo due to conflict with her previous management team, the Esyde Queen started remixing a number of songs by up-and-coming artists, including this one by DownSounds Dyani, which was released in May. With the lyric videos viewership trending in the millions, enamored fans clamored for an official music video, which eventually came in July to rack up over 6.2 million views at the close of 2021.

22. Silk Boss  Mankind

Silk Boss Mankind was another big hit from a newcomer in 2021 following its release in August. Flexing some smooth flows to express his experiences with heartless people, the Terro Chop City Records and Silverbirds Records produced track has garnered over 5 million YouTube views and a score of raving comments from fans and industry colleagues such as Rytikal and Intence who both openly hailed Silk Bosss talent.

Its not often that you hear a young Dancehall artist baring his soul and confessing his deepest insecurities and regrets on a song, but rising talent 450 does just that with lyrical and rhythmic precision. The video, which shows the artist in a vulnerable state of inner turmoil, has racked up almost 6 million views on YouTube since its release last June.

20. Koffee  West Indies

Koffees West Indies, and its matching visuals which were directed by Meji Alabi, captured the essence of the West Indian culture, showcasing picturesque island views, family time, the local cuisine and party life that are all synonymous with Jamaica. The song is the first single from her upcoming debut album.

The Odd Ras keeps his foot on the neck of corrupt politicians and capitalists in Safe N Sound, in which he calls for more love and unity in inner-city communities. Chronixx takes no prisoners as the lyrical onslaught also raps the citizens of Jamaica who have been also contributing to moral decay on the island.

E-Syde topman Skilli had the last laugh back in May, after impatient fans and defensive Barbs dragged him for announcing a collab with Nicki Minaj that did not seem to be materializing. But they all had to eat their words when the Trinidad-born rapper dropped the remix on her Beam Me Up Scotty Mixtape, and it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 100.

17. Masicka  Suicide Note

Suicide Note  the third track off Masickas 438 album  received an RD-Studios-directed video, which found the deejay at a graveyard dishing a solemn, heavy-hearted narrative of a lifelong struggle overridden by determination and resilience even against all the odds.

16. Skeng, Tommy Lee Sparta  Protocol

Skeng linked up with incarcerated Spartan Soldier deejay, Tommy Lee for the release of Protocol, whichlike Gvnman Shift and Brrrp before itdetailed their expert gunmanship. The widely successful music video, which has racked up over 10 million YouTube views since its release on November 12, was shot by Trueyez Films in the heavily NYPD patrolled streets of New York City to find Skeng parring with his crew and switching his lyrical flow at will.

15. Mavado  Not Perfect

Penned and released while his son Dantay Brooks was awaiting judgment in a murder case, The Gully Gad reminded us that he, too, is human. Things do happen, its not like I planned it the entertainer pleaded. The younger Brooks was found guilty a few weeks after the songs release.

14. Alkaline  Hostage

Also on the Top Prize album are several hit tracks, as expected after the entertainers hiatus from the scene. Hostage is one such song, and even without a video, the official audio has garnered 7.6 million YouTube plays.

13. Shenseea  Run Run

After a 7-month hiatus, Dancehall star Shenseea returned in the summer of 2021 with the release of the first single from her long-awaited debut album. Produced by the Grammy-winning Stephen Di Genius McGregor, Run Run took inspiration from late 80s fares like the Pirate Riddim and Gussie Clarks Rumors riddim. The Christian Breslauer-directed music video picked up 6.9 million views at the close of the year.

12. Laa Lee  Tip Inna It

Laa Lees Tip Inna It went viral as tens of thousands of TikTok users dirt bounced to the song. The viral challenge has over 24 million views on the platform, compared to YouTube where the David Island and Everton Gentles music video has 6 million views. Laa Lee has since followed up with the Dirt Bounce single, which features the creator of the dance, Tyreke Pennicott.

11. Rytikal  Chosen

Chosen, produced by Dynasty Records on the My Letter to You riddim, allows the fast-rising singer to be vulnerable and vent some of the frustration from his spiritual battle. People ah go through whole heap a tings so I know this can help them to overcome as well, the artist told DancehallMag when asked about the creative process that went into the song. Chosen currently has over 13 million views on YouTube.

10. Nation Boss  Humans

The next new artist hoping to deliver a respectable debut single will have a high standard to aim for, after newbie Nation Boss released one of the top songs of the year in Humans. The minimalist video shows the young artist walking a long distance to find a safe, secluded spot to bury his heart, after being hurt multiple times. We a speak things that people a go through now, in their everyday life, he told DancehallMag in an interview. We a work on some singles right now. The same energy, nothing different. The fire just a go get hotter from here. We just a kick the ball off on a positive note.

Not even Popcaans strict Christian mother, Miss Rhona, could resist falling in love with this one. Youthful exuberance met with the wisdom taught by experience in this rare cross-generational smash hit, and it sent chills through the spines of fans around the world. This modern classic is the collab fans didnt know they needed.

If parties were a thing when this song was released, it would have been the recipient of at least 5 money pull-ups per session before it could be allowed to play out. In a musical climate that currently glorifies braffing, and scamming and violence as a means of income, newcomer Yaksta quenched the aural thirst of ambitious youth with this farming, investing, and thrifting anthem. Asked whether he knew Ambition would be his breakout song, Yaksta told DancehallMag in an interview well, not in particular, regarding the track. But I have been working for this day. Its just that sometimes a sudden flight, causes a universal impact. Yuh undastan? So everything just crash down pon mi one time and I wasnt fully ready. But nonetheless, I have to be ready because now is the moment.

7. 10Tik  Roll Deep

10Tiks smooth and deadly delivery is his greatest asset, and he puts it to good use in this effort. Almost 14 million YouTube users agree that there is definitely something addictive about this melodious cruise-worthy jam about loyalty to the end and self-defense. The former firefighter told DancehallMag in an interview that I talk about the ones who are unspoken, the ones who are marginalized and forgotten. When people listen to my music, its going to be personal to them.

6. Masicka  Update

Produced by TJ Records and Genahsyde Records, Update came in October as a dispatch to inform Masickas fans of his then-upcoming albums arrival on December 3. Directed by Rizzy of Rosh Studios, Karizma Visuals Media and RD Studios, the music video has accumulated just over 5 million views on YouTube. At the close of the year, Masicka was listed as the 7th most-streamed Jamaican artist on YouTube.

5. Skillibeng  Coke

The emergency crash landing of a small private plane in Rocky Point, Clarendon last year was all the inspiration Skillibeng needed to not only compose this song declaring that The plane just crash with the coke!, but also to brazenly film the music video for the song at the site that was still under investigation. It was worth the risk though, as the video hit three million views in three days and is now edging towards the 15 million mark.

Former Gaza empire member Jah Vinci caught a powerful second wind in the steamy baby-making Virgin. Released as part of his The World Singer EP with producer NotNice, the visuals for the sexy tune alone have amassed over 14.5 million views so far.

Spices legendary triple S collab with Shaggy and Sean Paul had an undeniable chokehold on summer 2021. Go Down Dehs chant-like chorus and infectious beat were just the right formula to have the song spending several weeks atop the Reggae/Dancehall iTunes charts. The official video has racked up almost 40 million views on YouTube.

Go Down Deh also made NPRs 100 Best Songs of 2021, and former US President Obamas Favorite Music Of 2021.

The fact that I was able to bring this together for dancehall is a big moment for me, the Queen of Dancehall told DancehallMag in an April interview. Its a great energy for all three of us as hitmakers to come together and believe in this song.

2. Intence  Yahoo Boyz

After its release on July 5, Intences Yahoo Boyz was the most streamed song on YouTube in Jamaica for five consecutive weeks according to the platforms Music Charts And Insights. It currently has 9.5 million views on YouTube.

Produced by Country Hype and Cryshy, the uptempo-sounding track is arguably responsible for the popular Rifle Bounce dance. The streets agree that Yahoo Boyz was one of the years most resonating singles. Later on, as the year came to a close, the song was revealed to be the most-streamed Dancehall track on Spotify in Jamaica. Intence ended the year as the No. 5 most-streamed artist on YouTube in Jamaica.

1. Skeng  Gvnman Shift

Intellectual, murda people edition And thats all it took to get Skengs extremely potent Gvnman Shift playing in your head. Produced by Chemist Records and Raheef Music Group, the track debuted on the 1Matik riddim last August. The KD Visuals-directed video, which takes us through a day in the life of the deejay on his stomping ground, has since raised over 15.2 million YouTube views.

The Spanish Town native checks all the boxes on this gunplay anthem: Mass murder (dozen man affi dead a weh yuh feel), travelling to eliminate your enemies (Every guns up, killa mask up/Travel pon dem endz), the amassing of firearms (And a buy bey gun fi anything start up) and finally, the usual direct glorification of criminal elements (Fully dark, fully charge and fully crawb up). It even shouts out a high crime area as a bonus (Spanish Town, Bobby Lane, Craig Town), and, as the cherry on top, it shouts out an actual gang (Ratty Gang).

Its potency is not even lost on actual cops.
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Veteran producer Vashu Bhagnani, who had paid a bomb to Akshay Kumar for the film Bellbottom, has now paid him an increased amount of Rs 160 crore for his upcoming film Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan (BMCM). The film, which will be directed Ali Abbas Zafar, also stars Tiger Shroff in it.

While the original 1998-film was a comedy starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda in lead roles  the redux will be an action comedy, keeping in mind the images of both the actors.

Incidentally, Tiger Shroff who is being paid Rs 50 crore for the two parts of Ganapath, also being bankrolled by Bhagnani, is being paid Rs 40 crore for this film. Director Ali is being paid a handsome amount of Rs 25 crore to direct the venture, say sources.

The trend of upping the money to get dates at the earliest has been used for many years, and the total amount paid to the two actors and the directors is now Rs 225 crore. The film will be made at a cost of Rs 75 crore more, making BMCM the costliest Hindi film till date. Whats more, the two lead stars have already been paid 2/3rds of the total budget of the film.

Veteran film analyst Atul Mohan explains that a part of the recovery for films like Bellbottom, Mission Cinderella (another Akshay film) and BMCM will be taken care of by the UK governments subsidies.

The subsidies and VAT relief offered by the UK government is around one third of the budget of the film, which takes care of a lot more than the additional monies being shelled out to the talent. This is a model that many filmmakers use by shooting in Indian states of MP and UP as well. Also Vashus recent record of shooting all his films in the UK will help him set the project a lot better, says our source.

Incidentally, S.S. Rajamouli had said recently that RRR cost Rs 450 crore in the making while pan-India films like the Baahubali series and Radhe Shyam have also been made at huge budgets.
All hail Asha Devi, Indias youngest prime minister, and heir of one of Indias grand national political dynasties. Her older half-brother, Karan Pratap Singh, really should have been prime minister, but a key coalition partner put a spoke in his wheel: Meet Sukanya Sarkar, West Bengal chief minister, chief tantrum thrower, and leader of the Poribortan Party. The notoriously fickle Ms Sarkar is more of a burden than an ally, something anyone who joins hands with her has to remember, or else. Oh, and her political heir is her beloved nephewsounds familiar?

Asha Devi has a rough road ahead of her. Her main aim is to hunt down the former defence minister who ordered the assassination of her father and fled the country without a trace. His nephew, an arms dealer (ha ha) must be extradited from France (ha ha again), and must be made to sing like Tweety Bird. Terrorists, however, have other plans to keep Asha Devi busy. A popular mall in Delhi is attacked, hundreds of people are taken hostage, and its not pretty at all. Will Asha Devi release the terrorists they want in exchange for these women and children? Botched operations follow botched operations. With mercurial Sukanya Sarkar constantly nipping at her heels and dropping sly comments to the media about Asha Devi being young and inexperienced (the very reason why the devious woman wanted this 29-year-old as prime minister in the first place), Asha Devi has to work extremely hard to improve her image. Surgical strikes alone wont cut it.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when you need to spin shitstorms, call the media in. Asha Devi eventually realises that The first thing she needed to do was build relationships with the editors and anchors who decided how stories were covered in newspapers and on television. Theres an interplay between two news anchors from rival news channels who once had a torrid affair that went so sour, even cottage cheese could not be made of the mess. Meet Manisha Patel and Gaurav Agnihotri: Both are vying to get Asha Devis first interview as prime minister. While Manisha appears to be from the NDTV school of journalism, hyper-nationalist war-monger Gaurav is terrifyingly familiar. He surrounds himself with the most rabid retired army generals ever. Enough said. Fortunately, this is a post-Modi India, so bigotry does not stain the pages.

Madam Prime Minister is a racy novel with political games, scandals, and a bit of romance thrown in. Imagine a certain hot ex-RBI governor who is younger and, omigod, single  not easy to resist! As you hastily turn the pages to discover if Asha Devi finds her fathers assassin, gets dumped by Sukanya Sarkar, or survives the onslaughts of the Opposition, you are bound to giggle as you realise whom the main characters are loosely based on. However, if youre the sort who studiously avoids those raucous and ridiculous debates on news channels, be warned: Chunks of the book may make you gag.

Madam Prime Minister

By Seema Goswami

Penguin

pp. 300, Rs.399
While the Water Board digs the roads, it also damages the sewer and stormwater drainage network. When the GHMC re-lays roads, the HMWS&SB digs them diagonally. In the process, both the nodal agencies have been damaging each other's infrastructure, and this is only benefiting the contractors. (DC file photo)

HYDERABAD: Two major civic bodies in the megalopolis  the GHMC and the HMWS&SB  seem to be functioning without coordination, thus depriving lakhs of road users in the capital of a hassle-free commute.

Motorists have to put up with damaged roads and sewerage overflowing in every nook and corner of the city. While the Water Board digs the roads, it also damages the sewer and stormwater drainage network. When the GHMC re-lays roads, the HMWS&SB digs them diagonally. In the process, both the nodal agencies have been damaging each other's infrastructure, and this is only benefiting the contractors.

For instance, a King Koti resident complained about road damage near St Joseph School. The corporation authorities, in a knee-jerk reaction, laid a cement concrete road in the stretch after milling it. While laying the road on the right-hand side, the contractor damaged the drinking water pipeline.

The HMWS&SB got it repaired as there was a massive leakage. Then, the GHMC, while laying the road on the left-hand side, damaged the sewerage network resulting in massive leakage in front of the school.

The HMWS&SB officials said that they did not have the budget to repair the sewerage network. Officials said their revenues were badly hit due to the 20K-litre free drinking water scheme and they did not have Rs 2 lakh to replace the 75-metre stretch drain.

The authorities said it was not a good idea to repair the existing 6 mm diameter pipeline, and said that it needed to be upgraded to an 8 mm to 10 mm diameter line to meet future needs. The authorities said the issue was even taken to the notice of Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender, yet could not be resolved.

While the sewerage has been overflowing continuously in front of the school, where thousands of students come for their education, Sankranti holidays came as their saviour. This is just the tip of an iceberg and such scenes can be witnessed across the city.

Complaints about dusty roads are quite common, while a few stretches have become non-commutable owing to complete erosion of BT. High amounts of dust have been causing severe inconvenience to commuters at Bandlaguda, Uppal, Narayanguda, Boduppal, Mylardevpally, Falaknuma, Purana Pul, Nampally and other areas of the city.

Though the GHMC has been spending crores of rupees for the development of roads, nothing has happened to the by-lanes in residential colonies and bastis.

Officials said the corporation had not been informing other nodal agencies while laying roads so that they could shift utilities. The GHMC staff, at their will, has allegedly been damaging drinking water pipelines and sewerage pipelines in the process.

The Water Board officials claimed that they had been depending on the state government for salaries, since the board was already bankrupt with no revenue and more expenditure. They said the HMWSSB was not in a financial position to even take up minor sewerage network repairs.
The LIDCAP chairman said the corporation will set up training centres across the state to create employment opportunities for tanners. (Representational Image/ AP)

Vijayawada: Leather Industries Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (LIDCAP) chairman Kakumanu Rajasekhar announced that an International Leather Park will be established over 500 acres in Prakasam district.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, he said establishment of the international park will create employment opportunities for more than 10,000 people.

Rajasekhar maintained that corrupt policies of previous TDP government had weakened LIDCAP. However, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government is implementing a number of welfare schemes and development programmes for tanners belonging to the Madiga community.

The LIDCAP chairman said the corporation will set up training centres across the state to create employment opportunities for tanners. He disclosed that central government has released  20.58 crore for setting up permanent training centres. These will be established at Yadavalli in Prakasam district, G. Kondur in Krishna, Tirupati in Chittoor and Addapusala in Vizianagaram district.

In addition, Rajasekhar said a permanent LIDCAP building with all amenities will be constructed over one-acre of land at Auto Nagar near Vijayawada. Permission for the same is awaited from state government.
TRS leadership feels that if the BJP wins UP Assembly polls, it will further step up activities in Telangana with a focus on the 2023 Assembly elections. The TRS leadership strongly feels that only Samajwadi Party has the strength to dethrone the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.  By arrangement

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is planning to campaign in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in support of the Samajwadi Party (SP).

There is a buzz in party circles that the Chief Minister has discussed the issue with a few senior leaders and obtained their feedback.

Party sources said the Chief Minister wants to seek the support of Telugu-speaking voters and those from the southern states who are settled in UP, for the Samajwadi Party. If campaigning is not allowed due to Covid restrictions, then the Chief Minister wants to write open letters to voters and make statements through the media.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has been maintaining good relations with the Samajwadi Party whose chief Akhilesh Yadav met Chandrashekar Rao in Pragathi Bhavan in May 2018 to discuss the proposed Federal Front against the NDA and the UPA.

The political war between the TRS and the BJP has intensified after the Huzurabad bypoll in November which the ruling party lost. The row over paddy procurement led to a political slugfest between the parties. The row over teacher and employee transfers took the battle between the two to a new high.

Since then BJP's national leaders and Union ministers are visiting Telangana frequently and attacking the TRS government and the Chief Minister. TRS leadership feels that if the BJP wins UP Assembly polls, it will further step up activities in Telangana with a focus on the 2023 Assembly elections. The TRS leadership strongly feels that only Samajwadi Party has the strength to dethrone the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

After the Dubbak and Huzurabad bypoll victories, and its showing in the GHMC polls, the BJP is projecting itself as the alternative to the TRS.

Already, BJP president J.P. Nadda and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh, former CM of Chhattisgarh, have visited Hyderabad over the past four days to extend support to BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar who was arrested for undertaking a deeksha against the TRS government on employees transfers. The visit of BJP's top leaders boosted the morale of the BJP Telangana unit. The top BJP leaders are giving a call to the Telangana unit to intensify agitations until the TRS government is pulled down in 2023 Assembly polls.

Against this backdrop, the Chief Minister is keenly watching the Assembly polls in UP, Punjab and other states and devising strategies on what could be done from the TRS side to contain the BJP in these elections.
Is Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar deliberately delaying the election of a new Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly? At least, Congress leaders believe it to be true. Mr Pawars party colleague Narhari Zirwal Sitaram has been conducting the Assembly proceedings in his capacity as deputy Speaker in the absence of a Speaker and the NCP chief would prefer this arrangement to continue. The Speakers post, allocated to the Congress, has been lying vacant for nearly a year after the last incumbent Congress leader Nana Patole resigned. Both the Shiv Sena and the NCP opposed the election of a new Speaker in the last Budget and Monsoon Sessions on some pretext or the other as the two parties were upset with their coalition partner Congress for pulling out Mr Patole without informing them. The NCP and Sena finally agreed to the Congress request for the Speakers election in the Winter Session but Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari did not give his consent for the election on technical grounds. The government initially said it would challenge the governors action but eventually decided against it. The Congress is convinced that its allies are not playing straight with it.

BJPs firebrand Lok Sabha member Tejasvi Surya, who is also the president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, has acquired a love for the camera, not very different from his party leaders. While planning a BJYM programme to be held at the Vivekananda Rock, Kanya Kumari, later this month, Mr Surya made two basic requests: he wanted a good photographer for coverage and a good driver for the trip. The young MP dwelt at length on how it was imperative that the photographs of the proposed function were of top quality with perfect colour resolution and asked his colleagues to scout around for a suitable candidate for this job. Similarly, Mr Surya said, he wanted a reliable driver for his car since he had a poor experience on an earlier occasion. Here, he cited the example of a good pilot who knows how to land a plane smoothly, saying he wanted someone similar who could be trusted to do the same with a car. Neha Joshi, BJYM president, volunteered for the job.

Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra and poll strategist Prashant Kishor were known to be West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees top favourites. While Mr Kishor was brought back to aid the Trinamul Congress expansion plans, Ms Moitra was rewarded with the charge of poll-bound Goa. But the two appear to have fallen from grace. Mr Kishor, it is learned, has been asked not to give too many interviews as Mamata Banerjee has not taken kindly to statements by recent entrants to the Trinamul Congress that they were approached by Mr Kishor to join the party. Ms Moitra was pulled up by Mamata Banerjee at a public meeting last month and removed as the partys Nadia district president for encouraging factionalism in the area. Similarly, there have been innumerable complaints from Trinamul Congress leaders from Goa about Ms Moitras overbearing behavior. Her position has now been undermined as the party has appointed Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev and former MLA Sourav Chakraborty as co-in-charges in Goa.

The factional battle in the Haryana unit of the Congress has got progressively worse over the past few months. Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been on the warpath ever since his bete noire Selja was appointed president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee. But there has been no holding him back ever since he joined the ranks of Congress rebels who dashed off a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi pressing for an organisational overhaul and a full-time president. Mr Hooda essentially wants his son Deependra Hooda or his loyalist to replace Ms Selja as Haryana Congress chief.

Like the other senior party rebel Ghulam Nabi Azad who has been demonstrating his strength in his home state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Hooda is doing the same in Haryana to press home his point. He has launched a public outreach programme titled vipaksh aapke samaksh across the state along with his party loyalists, including a large number of legislators. While Mr Hooda is busy addressing public meetings, the Congress has distanced itself from his programme, saying there is nothing official about it.

Urban development minister Hardeep Puri is under tremendous pressure these days for it is his responsibility to ensure that the ongoing construction work on the iconic Rajpath is completed in time for the Republic Day parade on January 26. The Rajpath, which currently resembles a war zone, has been ripped apart for Prime Minister Narendra Modis pet Central Vista project. Mr Puri is stated to be so tense that he visits the site several times during the day to oversee the work. Very often he even goes up to the terrace of Nirman Bhavan, housing his ministry offices, and uses a set of binoculars to survey the progress. With the deadline for the project fast approaching, Mr Puri has reason to be nervous as he can ill-afford to fail.
When Ola Electric first revealed its plans to cut out the middleman and deliver its e-scooters directly to customers, industry watchers took notice.

After all, it was the first time an electric vehicle maker in India had decided to borrow a page from Teslas playbook to get rid of the dealership culture.

That was a bold move in the worlds second-most populous country where people visit multiple showrooms and test-drive many models before deciding on a vehicle rather than buying it online, and expecting customer service every step of the way after placing the order.

Also Read | Ola Electric to set up its Hyperchargers at BPCL pumps and residential complexes

Fast forward to January 2022, and Ola Electrics ambitious plan to deliver scooters directly to customers (D2C) seems to be plagued with botched execution, irking customers and exposing the electric vehicle makers inexperience in distribution.

Ola Electric, which counts Temasek, SoftBank, Tiger Global and Matrix Partners India as its investors, was originally supposed to start delivering its vehicles in October 2021. It started doing so only in mid-December.

To make things worse, many customers faced additional issues due to delayed vehicle registration, lack of proper communication from the company and missing features in the e-scooters they received, according to many customers interviewed by DH.

Also Read | Ola drivers will see drop location, payment mode before accepting ride

Nikhil Chaudhari, 35, and Ratan Mehta, 48, had their deliveries scheduled for December 2021. Both of them have still not received their e-scooters.

My delivery window was December 15-31, 2021. However, there has been no update after I submitted my documents for registration on December 29, Chaudhari said.

Anthony de Ruijter, a Senior Associate at Third Bridge Group and expert in Indias e-scooter industry, said that a major reason for the delays in deliveries could be the difficulties tied to developing the products promised by the producers within the tight timeline.

Also Read | Olas dream of worlds biggest e-scooter factory hits a hurdle

Another broader factor is the supply chain. Whilst India has major domestic manufacturing capabilities from frames to power trains, access to battery cells and rare earth is going to be a challenge and could be what's constraining current supply, explained DeRuijter, whose company advises private equity firms, hedge funds and others on investment opportunities.

Ola Electric appears to be experiencing initial struggles, but ultimately the e-scooter focused startups will experience less complexity in the longer term, he said.

We acknowledge that setting up the D2C infrastructure is going to be a struggle for Ola Electric and not something that gets done in 1-2 years, DeRuijter said, adding that the company will need local channel partners of some kind pan-India that can handle the registration process.

Waiting and waiting

Arun Sirdeshmukh, Chief Business Officer, Ola Electric, said in a statement that 4,000 e-scooters have been shipped in December.

Also read | Moody's assigns first-time 'B3' ratings to Ola, outlook stable

However, many of the customers whose delivery window was December 15-31, 2021, still havent received their e-scooters.

As of January 7, the total Ola scooters registered on the Vahan portal stands at 456, about 10% of its claim of having shipped 4,000 scooters in December 2021.

Some customers have been receiving emails from the company pushing their delivery to January 10 due to the unavailability of the Liquid Silver colour variant or giving them an option to choose another colour if they wanted an expedited delivery, they told DH.

Also Read | Ola raises Rs 3,803 crore ahead of market debut

Sandeep Gowda, 36, who is awaiting the delivery of the Ola S1 Pro Liquid Silver variant, said, After receiving an email on December 29, 2021, I opted for a colour change but they havent despatched my e-scooter yet.

Until January 4, his app continued to show December 15-31, 2021 as the delivery window and the status still showed the scooter yet to be dispatched. On January 4, he received an email from the company asking him for documents to proceed with the registration process.

A few other customers, whose scooters have been dispatched, said the vehicles were stuck at the registration stage, delaying the deliveries further.

Missing features

Besides the delivery hassles, customers DH spoke with complained about some common issues in the scooters, echoing the ways of other buyers on social media.

Also read: Ola Electric expands test rides of e-scooters pan India

"I found preliminary issues like panel gaps, software bugs, missing features and a faulty seat & grab rail design that affects the riding experience," Rahul Prasadh, 34, a private sector employee, told DH. After repeated tweets and emails, the company has assured to replace the scooter, but the issues haven't been resolved as of now.

Rizwan Khan, 29, an Amazon delivery executive, rated the overall riding experience as a good one but for the panel gaps, which was later fixed, and the left-side grab rail brushing and damaging the seat.

Some customers also complained about missing features in the scooter. These features include the navigation, voice control and digital key, most of which will be passed on as OTA (over-the-air) updates as late as June 2022.

OTA updates is a very well accepted practice globally in EV. As we had communicated earlier, we will also be releasing several features over OTA in the coming weeks and months. This way our scooter stays current and new in the hands of the customer, Ola Electric told DH in an email.

Also Read | Ola announces pre-owned car festival

Some interviewed by DH urged the company to promise only what it can deliver.

They should advertise only what they can deliver, said Pradeep Kumar M, 46, an IT employee who took delivery of his Midnight Blue S1 Pro on December 31, 2021, adding that the missing features might be a dampener for some of the millennials since most of these are fancy features which I dont need.

Some customers, who are still awaiting their deliveries, also complained about a lack of clear communication from Ola Electrics team and long delays in the registration and financing process.

Ola Electric could consider partnering with garage aggregators and service stations in key hubs to improve aftermarket services, Anthony de Ruijter said.

Watch the latest DH Videos here:
Competition Commission of India on Friday ordered an investigation into Alphabet Inc's Google following allegations from news publishers, saying its initial view was that the tech giant had broken some antitrust laws.

In its order, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said Google dominates certain online search services in the country and may have imposed unfair conditions on news publishers.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complainant, Digital News Publishers Association, which comprises the digital arms of some of India's biggest media companies, said Google denied fair advertising revenue to its members.

"In a well-functioning democracy, the critical role played by news media cannot be undermined," the CCI order said. "It appears that Google is using its dominant position in the relevant markets to enter/protect its position in the market for news aggregation service."

News organisations, which have been losing advertising revenue to online aggregators such as Google, have complained for years about tech companies using stories in search results or other features without payment.

The CCI order also mentioned new rules in France and Australia - fuelled by media lobbying and public pressure - that have led to licensing deals around the world collectively worth billions of dollars.

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The head of communications at Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc, John Pinette, is leaving the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing a post he made to employees.

"Today will be my last day at Meta," the newspaper quoted Pinette as saying. "I know the team will continue to thrive as you do some of the most importantand most difficultwork in Communications."

The report did not mention the reason for his exit.

Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment outside US business hours.

Pinette was appointed vice president of global communications in April 2019, according to its blog post at that time.

Before joining the social media company, he led communications for Gates Ventures, the private office and innovation lab of Bill Gates, for five years, was head of Asia Pacific communications for Google and held a number of product and corporate communications leadership positions at Microsoft Corp, the post said.

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Come February, India will begin exporting mangoes to the US after a gap of two years and also start shipping pomegranates two months after. In turn, Washington will send cherries and alfalfa hay following an agreement with New Delhi on increased agriculture market access.

The move could see India's popular varieties such as 'Alphanso' 'Dussehri' and 'Langda' find space in US stores once again. In the past two years, exports of mangoes to the US have not taken place due to the absence of physical inspection by American inspectors, who could not travel due to the Covid pandemic.

Fruits meant for export to the US have to undergo irradiation under which fruits are exposed to rays of a weak radioactive element. US phytosanitary inspectors fly down to India to monitor the process after which clearance is given for exports.

In the case of mangoes, the export to the US started only in 2007 and picked up pace after 2011. Major exporting states to the US are Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

Read | 'Banarasi' mangoes travel to London, Dubai

Nearly 50,000 metric tonnes of mangoes are exported from India to the globe each year. Out of this, about 1,300 tonnes reach the USA.

"Department of Agriculture and farmers welfare (DAC&FW) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have signed a framework agreement for implementing the 2 Vs 2 Agri market access issues i.e inspection/oversight transfer for Indian mangoes & pomegranate and market access for pomegranate arils from India and market access for US cherries and US Alfalfa hay," the commerce and industry ministry said.

Mango and pomegranate exports will start from January- February 2022 and pomegranate aril exports from Apr 2022. Exports of Alfalfa hay and cherries from the USA will begin in April 2022.

In addition, based on the ministerial discussions, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) also conveyed its readiness to provide market access for US pork and requested the US side to share a signed copy of a final sanitary certificate for finalising the same.

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The surge in Covid cases has prompted the BBMP to reserve 10,000 private hospital beds by January 16 to ensure free treatment for patients. The civic body has also streamlined the bed-blocking system.

According to the new system, a mobile triaging unit (MTU) will visit the residence of a patient seeking the bed facility to assess if he or she actually requires hospitalisation. The arrangement has been made to prevent patients from swamping hospitals.

Patients must first call 1533 or zonal helpline numbers. After tele-triaging, the BBMP will decide about sending the MTU to their house to determine if they can be treated at home or at step-down hospitals. Each ward has two MTUs with staff and an ambulance.

Officials said the toll-free number 1533 will be activated in two or three days.

Even if we record about 10,000 cases a day, patients actually requiring hospitalisation maybe 300 or 400. Our MTUs are capable of handling this load.

In case of the number surges, we will introduce physical triaging, said a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) official.

In the BBMP limits, officials carry out 60,000 Covid tests a day. BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said the daily hospital admission rate has jumped from 20 to 60.

Most cases are asymptomatic and they can recover at home, Gupta told reporters.

Besides private facilities, four large government hospitals like CV Raman Nagar General, KC General, Jayanagar, and Bowring have also been declared Covid hospitals. Gupta said the BBMP will ask hospitals with more than 100 beds to open a helpdesk.

The state governments order said private hospitals and private medical colleges have been asked to reserve 30% in ICU, ICU with ventilators, oxygenated and general beds for Covid-19 treatment.

Accessing bed facility

~ Patients should call 1533 and give details

~ Mobile triaging units will be despatched to patients residence

~ Bed to be allotted based on the triaging teams assessment

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A construction worker was buried alive after the earth caved in on him at an underground drainage site in southwestern Bengaluru on Friday, police said.

Dhanaraj, 31, a native of Kollegal, Chamarajanagar district, was levelling drainage pipes in a large pit dug up near the East West College junction in BEL Layout Phase 2, Magadi Road, when he came under an avalanche of soil around 1 pm.

Rescue workers pulled out a grievously injured Dhanaraj and rushed him to hospital but he died on the way.

In a police complaint, Dhanarajs wife blamed the project contractor, engineer and supervisor among others for the tragedy. Police have opened a case under IPC section 304 A (death caused by negligence) and are likely to take action against those named in the complaint, a senior officer said.

The UGD project had been contracted to infrastructure company L&T which had provided accommodation to the workers.

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China unveils 5-year plan to advance civil aviation development

Xinhua) 10:29, January 08, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have issued a plan on the development of the country's civil aviation industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

By the end of 2025, China will have over 270 civil transport airports, which will handle 17 million takeoffs and landings a year, according to the plan released by Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

The civil aviation sector will handle 930 million passenger trips and 9.5 million tonnes of cargo and parcels annually by 2025.

According to the plan, countries and regions linked to China via flight routes will exceed 70 by 2025. More than 50 of them will be partners under the Belt and Road Initiative.

China's civil aviation sector operated safely during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), with total flight hours hitting 52.7 million, according to CAAC officials.

By the end of 2020, China had a total of 241 certified transport airports, covering 91.7 percent of prefecture-level cities, the officials said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
Noted actor Trisha on Friday said she has tested positive for Covid-19 and added that she is recovering.

The 96 star, in a Twitter post, said she had contracted the virus despite taking all precautions and safety measures.

"...I tested positive just a little before the New Year. You name the symptoms, I had it! Even tho(ugh) it was one of my harrowing weeks, I am recovering and feel better today thanks to my vaccinaations," she said and urged people to get vaccinated and mask up," read the post.
Actor Prabhas' upcoming movie Radhe Shyam was slated to hit the screens on January 14 but that did not happen as the makers postponed it due to an increase in Covid-19 cases in the country.

According to the latest reports, the film might release on OTT under the Pay-per-view (PPV) model if the situation does not improve. That said, the producers are yet to issue an official statement about the same. Moreover, the announcement made while pushing back the release date said 'we will see you in cinemas soon'. Based on what is known so far, it appears that one will receive clarity on its status only once the Covid situation improves.

Also read: In Pics | Big budget films postponed due to Covid-19: Jersey, RRR, Radhe Shyam & more

The PPV model is still in its nascent stages in India. Radhe, starring Salman Khan, was the first major Hindi movie to take that route. It opened to a thunderous response last Eid, garnering nearly 4.2 million views on the opening day. The biggie, however, fell prey to piracy, which affected its performance. Radhe Shyam can't afford such as thing as it will be Prabhas' first release in nearly three years.

The Radha Krishna Kumar film is touted to be a romantic drama, which revolves around a heartthrob's search for 'flirtationship'. It stars Pooja Hegde, who made her Bollywood debut with Mohenjo Daro, as the female protagonist and marks her first collaboration with 'Darling'. She once revealed that the film's romantic scenes will cater to a class audience. While the plot has been kept under wraps, the trailer suggests that it will have a period setting and emotional scenes. The cast includes Sathyaraj, Bhagyashree and Sachin Khedekar.

Radhe Shyam has been shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu. The makers have separate composers for both versions. The perception is that they took the decision as Saaho's songs failed to click with the Telugu audience as they had a distinct Bollywood flavour.
China on Saturday ordered an investigation into the blast in a canteen building in Wulong District on Friday, which killed 16 people and injured 10 others as they were having lunch.

The explosion which occurred on Friday at noon was suspected to have been triggered by a gas leakage leading to the building's collapse, trapping 26 people inside the Sub-District Office in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Sixteen people were killed and 10 injured, one critically, the report said.

By midnight on Friday, all the trapped were pulled out of the debris. The injured are receiving treatment in a hospital.

According to witnesses, people were having lunch in the canteen when the blast took place.

The Work Safety Committee of China's Central Cabinet, also called the State Council, will supervise the investigation into the canteen building collapse, the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) said on Saturday.

A work team was dispatched by the ministry to the site to guide rescue and investigation efforts, with more than 600 people participating in the rescue work, the report said.

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On the evening of Dec 21, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared from 10 Downing St to tell anxious Britons they could go ahead with their Christmas plans, despite a surge in new coronavirus cases. At nearly the same moment, President Joe Biden took to a White House lectern to give Americans a similar green light.

It was a striking, if unintended, display of synchronicity from two leaders who began with very different approaches to the pandemic, to say nothing of politics. Their convergence on how to handle the Omicron variant says a lot about how countries are confronting the virus, two years after it first threatened the world.

For Johnson and Biden, analysts said, the politics and science of Covid have nudged them toward a policy of trying to live with the virus rather than putting their countries back on war footing. It is a highly risky strategy: Hospitals across Britain and parts of the United States are already close to overrun with patients. But for now, it is better than the alternative: shutting down their economies again.

Also Read | Rapid Antigen tests may not detect Omicron quickly, say experts

A Conservative prime minister trying to deal in a responsible way with Covid is very different than a Democratic president trying to deal responsibly with Covid, said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster in Washington. And yet, he said, their options are no longer all that different.

From both a medical perspective and a political perspective, Garin said, theres not as strong an imperative for people to hunker down in the way they were hunkering down a year ago.

Some analysts say the two leaders had little choice. Both are dealing with lockdown-weary populations. Both have made headway in vaccinating their citizens, although Britain remains ahead of the United States. And both have seen their popularity erode as their early promises to vanquish the virus wilted.

Several of Bidens former scientific advisers this week publicly urged him to overhaul his strategy to shift the focus from banishing the virus to a new normal of coexisting with it. That echoes Johnsons words when he lifted restrictions in July. We must ask ourselves, he said, When will we be able to return to normal?

Devi Sridhar, an American scientist who heads the global health program at the University of Edinburgh, said, The scientific community has broad consensus now that we have to use the tools we have to stay open and avoid the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. But its not easy at all, as we are seeing.

The alignment of Johnson and Biden is significant because Britain has often served as a Covid test case for the United States  a few weeks ahead in seeing the impacts of a new wave and a model, for good or ill, in how to respond to it.

It was the first country to approve a vaccine and the fastest major economy to roll it out. Its frightening projections, from Imperial College London, about how many people could die in an uncontrolled pandemic helped push a reluctant Johnson and an equally reluctant President Donald Trump to call for social distancing restrictions in their countries.

That Johnson and Trump initially resisted such measures was hardly a surprise, given their ideological kinship as populist politicians. When Johnson locked down Britain, several days after his European neighbors, he promised to send the virus packing in 12 weeks. Trump likewise vowed that Covid, like a miracle, would soon disappear. Both later suffered through bouts with the disease.

Also Read | Covid-recovered 3-5 times 'more prone' to Omicron infection than Delta

Biden, taking office, promised a different approach, one that paid greater heed to scientific advice and embraced difficult measures such as expanded masking, testing and social distancing. Although Johnson never flouted scientific advice like Trump, he was sunnier than Biden, continuing to promise that the crisis would soon pass.

But both he and Biden have languished politically as new variants have made Covid far more stubborn than they had hoped. On July 4, with new cases dropping and vaccination rates rising, Biden claimed the United States had gained the upper hand on the virus. Weeks later, the delta variant was sweeping through the country.

In England, with nearly 70% of adults having had two doses of a vaccine, Johnson lifted virtually all social distancing rules on July 19, a bold  some said reckless  move that the London tabloids nicknamed Freedom Day. After a midsummer lull in cases that appeared to vindicate Johnsons gamble, the Omicron variant has now driven new cases in Britain to more than 150,000 a day.

Biden and Johnson have different powers in dealing with the pandemic. As prime minister, Johnson can order lockdowns in England, a step he has taken twice since his first lockdown, in March 2020. In the United States, those restrictions are in the hands of governors, a few of whom, such as Florida Republican Ron DeSantis, have become vocal critics of Bidens approach.

For Johnson, the major obstacle is not defiant regional leaders or the opposition but members of his own Conservative Party, who fiercely oppose further lockdowns and have rebelled against even modest moves in that direction.

Johnson has kept open the possibility of further restrictions. But analysts say that given his eroding popularity, he no longer has the political capital to persuade his party to go along with an economically damaging lockdown, even if scientists recommended it.

Johnson is essentially now a prisoner of his more hawkish cabinet colleagues and the 100 or so MPs who seem to be allergic to any kind of public health restrictions, said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London. They just feel that the state has grown too big in trying to combat Covid and that they really dont want the government to grow any bigger, Bale said.

Also Read | World surpasses 300 million known coronavirus cases

Some British analysts draw a comparison between red-state governors such as DeSantis and Conservative lawmakers from the red wall, former Labour strongholds in the Midlands and the north of England that Johnsons Tories swept in the 2019 election with his promise to Get Brexit done.

These are not low-tax, small-government conservatives in the tradition of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, but right-leaning populists who model themselves on Trump and the Johnson who championed the Brexit vote  voters the prime minister would need to win reelection.

Some critics argue that Biden and Johnson are both out of step with their countries. Britons have proved far more tolerant of lockdowns than the lawmakers in the prime ministers party. In parts of the United States, by contrast, popular resistance to lockdowns is widespread and deeply entrenched.

Biden suffers from seeming to do too much and Boris suffers from seeming to do too little, said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist who was a classmate of Johnsons at Oxford University. Biden would have done a better job if he had led Britain, and Boris would have done a better job if he led the US

Biden, unlike Johnson, does not face an internal party rebellion on his Covid policy. But the continued grip of the pandemic has sapped Bidens poll ratings, stoking fears of a Republican landslide in the midterm elections. The calls for change from members of Bidens former scientific brain-trust, some said, reflected concerns that his Covid messaging was lagging reality.

Others pointed out that Bidens determination to keep schools and businesses open, despite the soaring number of cases, signaled that a change in thinking was underway in the White House  if a few months later than that at Downing Street.

When Biden says we ought to be concerned but not panicked, hes meeting Americans where they are, said Garin, the Democratic pollster. Hes also meeting the science where it is.

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Ambulances in Kansas speed toward hospitals then suddenly change direction because hospitals are full.

Employee shortages in New York City cause delays in trash and subway services and diminish the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers.

Airport officials shut down security checkpoints at the biggest terminal in Phoenix and schools across the nation struggle to find teachers for their classrooms.

The current explosion of omicron-fuelled coronavirus infections in the US is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services  the latest illustration of how Covid-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic.

This really does, I think, remind everyone of when Covid-19 first appeared and there were such major disruptions across every part of our normal life, said Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at the global health nonprofit Project HOPE.

Also read: Data shows Omicron variant driving third wave of Covid-19 pandemic across states

And the unfortunate reality is, there's no way of predicting what will happen next until we get our vaccination numbers  globally  up.

First responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have employed an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the public safe, but they are worried how much longer they can keep it up.

In Kansas' Johnson County, paramedics are working 80 hours a week.

Ambulances have frequently been forced to alter their course when the hospitals they're heading to tell them they're too overwhelmed to help, confusing the patients' already anxious family members driving behind them.

When the ambulances arrive at hospitals, some of their emergency patients end up in waiting rooms because there are no beds.

Dr Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Hospital, said when the leader of a rural hospital had no place to send its dialysis patients this week, the hospital's staff consulted a textbook and tried to put in some catheters and figure out how to do it.

Medical facilities have been hit by a double whammy, he said.

The number of Covid-19 patients at the University of Kansas Hospital rose from 40 on December 1 to 139 on Friday.

At the same time, more than 900 employees have been sickened with Covid-19 or are awaiting test results  7% of the hospital's 13,500-person workforce.

"What my hope is and what we're going to cross our fingers around is that as it peaks ... maybe it'll have the same rapid fall we saw in South Africa," Stites said, referring to the swiftness with which the number of cases fell in that country.

We don't know that. That's just hope.

Also read: Booster dose gives high levels of protection against infections from Omicron in older adults: UK study

The omicron variant spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains, and has already become dominant in many countries.

It also more readily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus.

However, early studies show omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, and vaccination and a booster still offer strong protection from serious illness, hospitalisation and death.

Still, its easy transmissibility has led to skyrocketing cases in the US, which is affecting businesses, government offices and public services alike.

In downtown Boise, Idaho, customers were queued up outside a pharmacy before it opened Friday morning and before long, the line wound throughout the large drugstore.

Pharmacies have been slammed by staffing shortages, either because employees are out sick or have left altogether.

Pharmacy technician Anecia Mascorro said that prior to the pandemic, the Sav-On Pharmacy where she works always had prescriptions ready for the next day. Now, it's taking a lot longer to fill the hundreds of orders that are pouring in.

The demand is crazy  everybody's not getting their scripts fast enough so they keep transferring to us, Mascorro said.

In Los Angeles, more than 800 police and fire personnel were sidelined because of the virus as of Thursday, causing slightly longer ambulance and fire response times.

In New York City, officials have had to delay or scale back trash and subway services because of a virus-fueled staffing hemorrhage.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said about one-fifth of subway operators and conductors  1,300 people  have been absent in recent days.

Almost one-fourth of the city sanitation department's workers were out sick Thursday, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson said.

Everybody's working 'round the clock, 12-hour shifts, Grayson said.

The city's fire department also has adjusted for higher absences.

Also Read: UK govt advisers recommended against 4th vaccine dose

Officials said Thursday that 28% of EMS workers were out sick, compared with about 8% to 10% on a normal day. Twice as many firefighters as usual were also absent.

In contrast, the police department saw its sick rate fall over the past week, officials said.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two checkpoints at the airport's busiest terminal were shut down because not enough Transportation Security Administration agents showed up for work, according to statements from airport and TSA officials.

Meanwhile, schools from coast to coast tried to maintain in-person instruction despite massive teacher absences.

In Chicago, a tense standoff between the school district and teachers union over remote learning and Covid-19 safety protocols led to classes being cancelled over the past three days.

In San Francisco, nearly 900 educators and aides called in sick Thursday.

In Hawaii, where public schools are under one statewide district, 1,600 teachers and staff were absent Wednesday because of illness or pre-arranged vacation or leave.

The state's teachers union criticised education officials for not better preparing for the ensuing void.

Osa Tui Jr., head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said counsellors and security guards were being pulled to go babysit a classroom.

That is very inappropriate, Tui said at a news conference.

To have this model where there are so many teachers out and for the department to say, Send your kid' to a classroom that doesn't have a teacher, what's the point of that?

In New Haven, Connecticut, where hundreds of teachers have been out each day this week, administrators have helped to cover classrooms.

Some teachers say they appreciate that, but that it can be confusing for students, adding to the physical and mental stress they're already feeling because of the pandemic.

We've already been tested so much. How much can the rubber band stretch here? asked Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers.

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The country was put on election mode on Saturday, one of the crucial sets before the next Lok Sabha polls, with the Election Commission on Saturday announcing the voting schedule for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa between February 10 and March 7.

Uttar Pradesh will have seven-phase polls  February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and 7, while Manipur will have two phases  February 27 and March 3. Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will have a single-phase poll on February 14.

The counting of votes all the 690 Assembly seats in five states will be held on March 10, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra told a press conference.

This is the third set of elections to be held during the Covid-19 pandemic for which the Election Commission has made restrictions, which includes limiting five persons for door-to-door campaigning. Physical rallies, padayatras and roadshows have been banned till January 15 while a campaign curfew will be in place between 8 pm and 8 am.

According to the EC, 18.34 crore voters are eligible to vote in the five states out of which 8.55 crore are women. There are 24.98 lakh first-time voters, including 11.4 lakh women

For strengthening democracy, 50-60% voting is not sufficient. The EC will have targeted intervention. Polling booths where voting is less compared to average identified and EC to take steps to find out the reasons and increase voting there, Chandra said.

The polls will have an impact on the destiny of the Opposition, especially the Congress, ahead of the 2024 elections while the BJP would be hoping to cement its confidence with an overwhelming victory in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur where it now rules and possibly help in overthrowing its principal national opponent in Punjab if not winning it.

The results could also have an impact on the Presidential and Vice Presidential elections in July-August this year as a decrease in numbers could make it difficult for the ruling BJP. It will also have an impact in Rajya Sabha as 15 MPs from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are retiring in July.

The BJP is hoping to retain the four states it is ruling  two of which were managed through engineering large-scale defections from Congress in Goa and Manipur despite it emerging as the single largest party in the 2017 edition of Assembly polls.

For the BJP, a victory in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly will be crucial though surveys in the previous months had shown that the BJP was sliding from the 312 seats it won in the 2017 elections though it was ahead of the halfway mark. Samajwadi Party, which has stitched alliances with smaller parties, has emerged as the main challenger while Congress is banking on Priyanka Gandhis women-centric campaign to improve its tally.

Punjab is where the Congress is pinning its hope where it hopes to retain power after shunting out Amarinder Singh, who the party felt was growing unpopular, and replacing with Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi. AAP is emerging as a major challenger while Akali Dal is working hard to regain its lost glory even as BJP has joined hands with Amarinder to restrict Congress.

Uttarakhand too is on Congress radar with its veteran leader Harish Rawat, who was sulking over the leadership role, has taken charge of the campaign to oust the BJP, which had changed three Chief Ministers in five states. Congress expects Goa, where 15 of its 17 MLAs defected to BJP and other parties, would also land in its kitty with growing anti-incumbency against the Pramod Sawant-led BJP government but the entry of Trinamool Congress has queered the pitch for the Opposition.

The BJP is growing in confidence in Manipur where it rules after engineering defections in Congress after the 2017 polls. Congress is yet to gather its act together in the north-eastern state.

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Niraj Bishnoi, the alleged mastermind and creator of the 'Bulli Bai' application, has revealed that he had the habit of hacking into and defacing the websites of schools and universities of both India and Pakistan, police officials said on Saturday.

They also said that Bishnoi has disclosed during interrogation that he was also in touch with the person behind the Twitter handle @sullideals, the alleged creator of the 'Sulli Deals' app that was hosted on GitHub in July last year.

The Delhi police had arrested 21-year-old Bishnoi from Assam and claimed that it has solved the case which relates to hundreds of Muslim women being listed for "auction" on the "Bulli Bai" app on the Github platform.

Also read: 'Bulli Bai' app creator Neeraj Bishnoi sent to 7-day police custody

A resident of Jorhat who studies computer science engineering in Bhopal, Bishnoi is the fourth person to be arrested for their alleged involvement in the app. The other three, nabbed by Mumbai Police, include a 19-year-old woman from Uttarakhand, also alleged to be a prime accused in the case.

The claim of Bishnoi being in touch with the creator of the 'Sulli Deals' app is being verified. Further technical analysis is being done and forensic examination of devices is underway, police said.

"During interrogation, Bishnoi has revealed that he has the habit of hacking and defacing websites. He has been learning it since he was 15-year-old. He had hacked or defaced various websites of schools and universities of India as well as of Pakistan. His claims of hacking websites," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) K P S Malhotra said.

Bishnoi has an inclination towards the Japanese animated gaming character 'GIYU'. He had created various Twitter handles using the word and used one such account to challenge the law enforcement agencies to nab him, police said.

He had earlier created various Twitter handles-- @giyu2002, @giyu007, @giyuu84, @giyu94 and @giyu44.

Also Read: VIT-Bhopal suspends 'Bulli Bai' accused for 'bringing disrepute to institution'

The account @giyu44 was created by the accused on January 3 to discredit the arrests made by the Mumbai Police in the case and to throw an open challenge to law enforcement agencies to nab him.

A day before his arrest, he had tweeted, "You have arrested the wrong person, slumbai police."

"Lmao only one guy was ever involved and that's me. You pajeets arrested a follower of that acc with sikh dp, who had nothing to do with the app and didn't tweet anything wrong. Do you have even the slightest bit of shame slumbai pulis?" Bishnoi had said.

You have arrested the wrong person, slumbai police I am the creator of #BulliBaiApp Got nothing to do with the two innocents whom u arrested, release them asap mf https://t.co/QJA078wSnH pic.twitter.com/ycbDuc7cNS  . (@giyu44) January 5, 2022

Police said Bishnoi has further disclosed that he was in touch with the persons arrested by the Mumbai Police and used to chat through Twitter.

He had never met those persons and even did not have their contact numbers. He also disclosed that he was using the Twitter account of Shweta, arrested by the Mumbai Police, they said.

Bishnoi is trying to delay the investigation and not cooperating. He had also tried to harm himself twice and also threatened suicide, police claimed.

Due care is being taken care of him in custody. His medical examination has been conducted and he is stable and unharmed. This may be due to his mental condition or maybe he wants to delay the investigation, police officials said.

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The Centre has opposed before the Delhi High Court a plea for framing Uniform Civil Code, saying the Law Commission was examining the matter and the government would look into the issue after receiving a report.

It, however, maintained, "Citizens belonging to different religious denominations follow different property and matrimonial laws, which is an affront to the nation's unity."

In a reply to a PIL filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the Ministry of Law and Justice said Parliament exercised sovereign power to enact laws and no outside power or authority can issue a direction to enact a particular piece of legislation.

"A writ of Mandamus cannot be issued to the legislature to enact a particular legislation. This is a matter of policy for the elected representatives of the people to decide and no direction can be issued in this regard by the court. It is for the legislature to enact or not to enact a particular piece of legislation," the reply said.

In his plea, Upadhyay sought a direction from the High Court to the central government to constitute a judicial commission or a high level expert committee to draft a Uniform Civil Code within three months.

He claimed that Article 44 of the Constitution under the Directive Principles of State Policy called upon the government to draft a UCC.

In its response, the government, however, said that the purpose behind Article 44 is to strengthen the object of "secular democratic republic" as enshrined in the preamble of the Constitution.

"This provision is provided to effect integration of India by bringing communities on the common platform on matters which are at present governed by diverse personal laws. Article 44 divests religion from social relations and personal law," the affidavit said.

It had, therefore, asked the Law Commission to undertake such a study and make recommendations.

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Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced the dates for the Legislative Assembly elections for the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur

The ECI also said that with this announcement, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect. It is necessary for all political parties to heed the MCC. Let us take a look at what it is and its constituents.

Follow latest updates on the ECI presser here

The MCC is a set of rules put in force by the Election Commission of India to guarantee free and fair elections. It is a set of norms that have evolved with political parties consenting to abide by the principles embodied in the said code. It also binds them to respect and observe it in its letter and spirit.

When and where is the MCC applicable?

The MCC is valid from the date of announcement of an election, either to the Parliament, State Assembly or Districts, and continues through the election in question.

In the case of Assembly elections, the MCC is valid throughout the poll-bound state. In the case of Parliamentary or General Elections, the MCC is valid throughout the country.

In the case of by-elections to districts, the MCC is valid throughout the district where the election is to take place.

Where does the Election Commission come into the equation?

The Election Commission ensures the code's observance by political parties including ruling parties at the Centre and in the states. The EC ensures free, fair and peaceful elections to the Parliament and the State Legislatures.

It also ensures that official machinery for electoral purposes is not misused. Further, it ensures that electoral offences, malpractices and corrupt practices such as impersonation, bribing and inducement of voters, threat and intimidation to the voters are prevented.

What restrictions do the governments have during the enforcement of the MCC?

1. Ministers cannot combine their official visit with electioneering work. They can also not make use of official machinery or personnel during electioneering.

2. No transport including official aircraft, vehicles, etc. can be used for the furtherance of the interest of any party or a candidate.

3. A total ban on transfer and posting of all officers/officials directly or indirectly connected with the conduct of the election is put in effect. If any transfer or posting of an officer is considered necessary, prior approval of the Commission must be obtained.

4. No Minister, whether of Union or state, can summon any election-related officer of the constituency or the state for any official discussions anywhere.

5. If a Union Minister is travelling out of Delhi on purely official business, which cannot be avoided in the public interest, then a letter certifying to this effect must be sent from the concerned Secretary of the Ministry/Department to the Chief Secretary of the concerned state, along with a copy to the Election Commission.

6. Advertisements regarding the achievements of the party at the cost of public exchequer in print and electronic media and the misuse of official mass media are prohibited.

7. If an order has been issued by the state or the Union government with respect to any scheme but no work has begun till the MCC is in force, then no work shall be started in that respect. However, if work has actually started in the field, that can be continued.

8. No fresh release of funds under MPs/MLAs/MLCs Local Area Development Fund of any scheme can be made in any area where the election is in progress, till the completion of the election.

9. Financial institutions funded, partially or wholly by the Governments shall not take recourse to write off loans advanced to any individual, company, firm, etc. Also, the financial limits of such institutions, while granting or extending loans, should not be enhanced by issuing of loans indiscriminately to beneficiaries.

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A 33-year-old member of the Gogi gang was arrested from south Delhi's Sultanpur area, police said on Saturday.

The accused has been identified as Karamvir, a resident of Jhajjar district in Haryana, they said.

Karamvir was earlier associated with Kartar Mandothi gang and is currently with the Gogi gang.

Police got information on Friday that Karamvir was staying in a farm house in Saltanpur, following which they conducted a raid and apprehended Karamvir while he was trying to flee in his car, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Dheeraj Kumar said.

During interrogation, Karamvir disclosed that he started working for Babloo and Dheeraj in 2016. He killed one Anil on instruction of Dheeraj and a case was registered at KN Katju Marg, police said.

He was arrested in the case. He got parole in October 2020 for one month, but did not surrender after the period ended, police said.

On September 23, 2021, he killed one Krishan at Bahadurgarh in Haryana as he suspected that Krishan was behind his arrest in the murder case in Delhi. On October 15, he was chased by Bahadurgarh police, but he opened fire at the team and managed to escape, they said.

He came in contact with Deepak Boxer, a sharp shooter of the Gogi gang. He, along with Boxer, planned to get Rohit Moi (now head of Gogi gang after the death of Jitender Gogi) released from the police custody while he was being taken to a Haryana court for hearing, police said.

They had also planned to kill Tillu Tajpuriya during his production in court in the same way as Tillu killed Gogi in the Rohini court, police said.

Jitendra Gogi, the leader of the Gogi gang, was shot dead inside a Rohini courtroom on September 24 by two assailants at the behest of Tajpuriya.

A foreign-made sophisticated Zigana pistol with 20 live cartridges, a car, three mobile phones and two dongles were recovered from Karamvir's possession, police added.

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As the Omicron-triggered third Covid wave enters a key phase, a new projection by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Statistical Institute (IISc-ISI) claims that the country is likely to witness over 10 lakh Covid cases a day at January-end/beginning of February when the third wave meets its peak.

The Omicron 'Projections January-March 2022 IISc-ISI Model' by Professor Siva Athreya, Professor Rajesh Sundaresan and the team from the Centre for Networked Intelligence at IISc-ISI in Bengaluru predicts that the third Covid wave may peak in January-end and early-February, with daily cases touching 10 lakh.

The peak of the third wave will vary for different states and the Covid-19 curve for India could start flattening by March-beginning.

Also Read | Karnataka mulling issuing green passes for Covid-19 vaccinated people

"Past infection, vaccination affected by immunity waning makes a certain fraction of the population susceptible to the new variant," said the IISc-ISI model.

The model offers data on three levels of susceptibility -- 30 per cent, 60 per cent and 100 per cent.

Under the 30 per cent susceptibility criteria, India could see 3 lakh cases per day, 6 lakh cases per day under 60 per cent susceptibility, and 10 lakh cases at 100 per cent susceptibility.

Maharashtra could be the worst hit, likely to experience over 175,000 daily cases at its peak (at 100 per cent susceptibility).

Also Read | Gujarat records over 5,000 Covid cases; schools shut for classes 1 to 9

Maharashtra's single-day Covid-19 caseload shot above the 40,000-mark on Friday. For the 11th consecutive day, the state reported a massive spike in Covid-19 infections and suspect cases whose samples have been sent for genome sequencing.

According to the model, Kerala and Tamil Nadu may witness one lakh and over 80,000 daily cases respectively, around the beginning of February.

Delhi is likely to see almost 70,000 daily cases by the end of January, according to the IISc-ISI model.

Last month, researchers from IIT Kanpur (IIT-K) also predicted that a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic may peak in India by February 3.

Also Read | Covid: Odisha closes colleges, varsities from Jan 10

A report, published in the online preprint health server MedRxiv, said, "Following the trends around the world, this project report forecasts India's third wave may start around mid-December and peak at the beginning of February."

The research report used the data of the first and second waves in India, and the current rise in cases triggered by Omicron in various countries, to predict a possible third wave in the country.

India's daily number of cases crossed the one-lakh mark as the country registered 1,17,100 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.

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The military commanders of India and China are likely to meet on January 12 to restart negotiations to resolve the 21-month-long stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

The two sides agreed to restart negotiations, even as China on Friday defended the construction of the bridge over Pangong Tso (lake) near its LAC with India as its sovereign rights.

I want to stress that Chinas infrastructure construction on its territory entirely falls within its sovereignty and is aimed at safeguarding Chinas territorial sovereignty and security as well as peace and stability in the China-India border area, Wang Wenbin, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government, told journalists in Beijing.

Also Read | PLA to give out stones taken from Galwan Valley on Chinese social media

He was reacting to Indias statement that Chinas new bridge over Pangong Tso near the LAC between the two nations was being built on its territory illegally occupied by the neighbouring communist country. New Delhi had pointed out on Thursday that India had never accepted the illegal occupation of its territory by China.

The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) is apparently building the bridge to link the northern and the southern banks of Pangong Tso in order to quickly respond to any future move by the Indian Army to gain a strategic edge.

Meanwhile, New Delhi and Beijing agreed that the military commanders of the two nations will hold the 14th round of negotiations to resolve the ongoing stand-off along the LAC on January 12. The 13th round of negotiation on October 10 last had ended in a stalemate.

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The confidence of the ruling BJP that usually does not squander a chance to proclaim having foreseen electoral victory seems to have faltered slightly with the presidential and Rajya Sabha polls approaching.

As Ram Nath Kovind finishes his term as President of India by July of this year, an electoral college of MPs and MLAs will gear up to elect a new President.

It is not just the presidential polls, but also elections to replace 75 soon-outgoing Rajya Sabha members (26 of these seats are BJP-held presently) that has the saffron party biting their nails. Also set in an electoral college system, the upper house polls will involve MLAs from particular state assemblies casting their vote.

Read more: 'Farq Saaf Hai' war goes beyond social media in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh

The increasing aggression with which regional parties are gaining ground in states is posing a challenge to the BJP, a senior leader admitted in an interaction with The Indian Express.

While some opposition parties continue to bear clear-cut motives to topple the BJPs presence, some allied parties have been seen forging a new distance.

Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur are headed to polls soon and regional parties are proving to be a force to reckon with.

With elections coming up, there is a greater mobilisation to occupy the anti-BJP space. There is also more dynamism in the regional parties opposition to the BJP...We cannot predict how it is going to be, but the party is conscious of this, the BJP leader was quoted telling the publication.

As many as 11 of 75 Rajya Sabha seats are from the countrys most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Partys strength in the new assembly would be of much importance in this scenario.

Punjab is represented by 7 seats. The very state where Prime Minister Narendra Modis convoy was stopped earlier by protesters, leading him to eventually return to the airport. The Congress-rules state has been marred with its own internal factionalism too, something the BJP has tried hard to capitalise on, but without much fruition. The BJP, therefore, are trying to ally with small parties alongside this.

Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are both represented by 6 seats each in the upper house. What is a common denominator for the BJP in these two states are rival parties having their numbers. Andhra Pradesh has 4 seats.

While the BJP enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha, such is not the case in the Rajya Sabha. In order to make gains in the upper house, they have to try being on the good side of regional parties who make up the strength.

However, if the numerous interruptions in the Rajya Sabha during the Parliaments Winter Session were an indicator, it was to the Modi-Shah led camp being shown they do not enjoy the favour of most regional parties such as the TRS or BJD.

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Political parties fielding candidates with criminal cases will have to mandatorily upload on their website details of such persons as also reasons for selecting them to contest the polls, the Election Commission said on Saturday.

The poll panel on Saturday announced assembly election schedule for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. The polls will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases, with counting of votes on March 10.

Also Read | How technology is facilitating upcoming Assembly elections

The political party concerned will then submit a compliance report with the poll panel within 72 hours of the selection of the candidate.

If a political party fails to submit such compliance report with the Election Commission (EC), the poll panel will bring "such non-compliance by the political party concerned to the notice of the Supreme Court as being in contempt of its directions".

Following the directions of the Supreme Court in March, 2020, in successive polls, the Commission had been asking parties to furnish such information.

It is mandatory for political parties (at the central and state election level) to upload on their website detailed information regarding individuals with pending criminal cases, including the nature of the offences and details such as whether charges have been framed who have been selected as candidates.

Also Read | Assembly Elections 2022: Full list of Covid-19 protocols

The parties will also have to provide the reasons for such selection, "as also as to why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates," the Commission's statement on the five assembly elections said.

"The reasons as to selection shall be with reference to the qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate concerned, and not mere 'winnability' at the polls," the EC said.

The information will also be published in one local vernacular newspaper and one national newspaper, and has to be uploaded on the official social media platforms of the political party, including Facebook and Twitter.

These details will have to be published within 48 hours of the selection of the candidate and not prior to two weeks before the first date of filing of nominations.

Candidates with criminal antecedents are also required to publish information in this regard in newspapers and through television channels on three occasions during the campaign period so that electors have sufficient time to know about the background of such candidates.

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The announcement of assembly polls in five states was welcomed by major parties, with the BJP expressing confidence of emerging victorious while its rivals like the Congress claimed the people were waiting to bid farewell to the saffron party and urged the Election Commission to ensure a level playing field in view of the Covid-19 curbs on campaigning.

The BJP is in power in four of the five poll-bound states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur -- while in Punjab it is fighting in an alliance with former chief minister Amarinder Singh and an Akali faction to take on the ruling Congress, AAP and SAD-BSP.

Election fever has already gripped these states, with parties holding election rallies and other events to woo voters over the last few months. However, the Election Commission on Saturday banned all public meetings till January 15 due to the Covid-19 surge and urged political parties to shift to the digital mode of campaigning.

Also Read | Tough road ahead for BJP in poll-bound states as demands yet to be met: Farmer leaders

People will again bless the BJP, which will return to power with big majority and take development works to new heights, BJP president J P Nadda said and urged party workers to adhere to Covid-related and other guidelines laid down by the election body.

Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party will fight strongly and will again win in Punjab and oust the BJP from power in the remaining four states.

"We urge the EC to ensure a level-playing field in these elections," he said.

Surjewala said these elections offer a golden opportunity for defeating the rising unemployment, crimes against women and atrocities against Dalits and those who have an anti-farmer mindset.

"This is a chance to defeat the BJP," he said, claiming "the double-engine governments in UP, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand have proved a double failure."

On the EC disallowing the holding of poll rallies, he said the poll body should allow 'nukkad' meetings.

Also Read | EC mandates parties to publish why candidates with criminal record selected for polls

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the people of Uttar Pradesh are waiting to bid goodbye to the BJP government on March 10 when votes will be counted.

Yadav said that his party would abide by all the conditions laid down by the Election Commission.

He, however, appealed to the EC to ensure that regional parties also get proper space on digital platforms on which he claimed the BJP was dominating.

He urged the poll panel to assist resource-scared smaller parties infrastructurally to hold virtual rallies during the seven-phase of polling in the state.

"We welcome the announcement of dates for the UP polls. People of the state have been waiting for March 10 to say goodbye to the BJP," Akhilesh said after the declaration of seven-phase polls starting from February 10 and ending on March 7 in UP.

BSP chief Mayawati urged the Election Commission to check the "tendency" in the ruling BJP of "violating" the model code of conduct.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, she welcomed the announcement and expressed faith that the poll panel will ensure smooth, free and fair elections.

"The tendency of the ruling party to violate the model code of conduct by adopting new tactics in every election is becoming fatally common, which needs to be given due attention and prompt action is taken in this election. It is the special appeal to the Election Commission," she said.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal said his party is ready to contest the assembly polls.

The dates for the elections have been announced. The Aam Aadmi Party is ready, Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

The AAP has decided to contest in all the states barring Manipur.

The Trinamool Congress, however, felt that the assembly polls will adversely impact the Budget Session of Parliament.

Parliament's Budget Session usually begins in the last week of January every year.

"The Winter Session of Parliament was washed out by the BJP. With elections in full swing, the Budget session will be out of focus. This is Modi's gameplan: Make Parliament irrelevant so he is accountable to no one," said TMC Rajya Sabha MP and its national spokesperson Derek O' Brien.

The Trinamool Congress has ventured into Goa a few months back.

"We welcome the announcement of Vidhan Sabha polls in Punjab on Feb 14. This signals end of anarchy, chaos, confusion & misgovernance in the state. Punjab is are eagerly looking forward to a strong, stable & 'development-oriented' SAD-BSP govt, committed to peace & communal harmony," Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said.

The assembly elections in these five states will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases, as announced by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra at a press conference.

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RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is busy preparing for the 'Berojgari Hatao Yatra (March to Remove Unemployment) in the state.

Sources close to Tejashwi Yadav said that he is holding meetings daily with district-level officials of the RJD in Patna, making plans to woo the unemployed youth of Bihar.

"He (Tejashwi) is taking feedback about the moods of the people, especially the youth, from district presidents of RJD and accordingly making plans to counter the Nitish Kumar government. The leaders and policymakers are discussing each and every point before making the strategy for a particular district or Assembly constituency," a source said requested anonymity.

Also Read | Tejashwi Yadav slams Bihar CM for undertaking 'Samaj Sudhar Abhiyan'

The source further said that Tejashwi Yadav is looking for an appropriate time to announce the date of the Berojgari Hatao Yatra. It has been delayed due to the third wave of Coronavirus.

"Tejashwi Yadav is playing it smartly. He doesn't want the Yatra to become a super spreader event," the source said.

Tejashwi Yadav had announced for the Yatra to counter Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's 'Samaj Sudhar Abhiyan'. However, Nitish Kumar had postponed the 'Samaj Sudhar Abhiyan' keeping in view the alarming Covid situation. The Chief Minister has postponed his 'Janta Darbar' as well.

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Posters asking non-Hindus to stay away from the ghats of the Ganga and the temples along the river came up in Varanasi, prompting the police to launch a probe.

Police said the posters, allegedly put up by right-wing outfits, are being removed.

"The ghats and temples along Maa Ganga in Kashi are symbols of the Sanatan Dharma, Indian culture, faith and belief. Those who have faith and belief in Sanatan Dharma are welcome. Otherwise, this is not a picnic spot," read one of the posters written in Hindi.

The poster had "Entry Prohibited - Non-Hindus" written on top and concluded saying "this is not a request, but a warning".

Pictures and videos of such posters, allegedly put up by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its youth wing, Bajrang Dal, also surfaced on social media platforms.

The Varanasi police has taken note of the matter and launched a probe, officials said.

"The matter is being probed by the local Bhelupur police station. The people who were seen in the videos and pictures are being identified," a police official told PTI.

"So far, no written complaint has been made with the police. However, the police took note of the episode after some local groups highlighted it. The posters are being removed with their help," he added.

The holy city in eastern Uttar Pradesh attracts tourists from across the world.

Considered among the oldest cities in the world, Varanasi is also the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Non-Hindus violate the purity of the ghats. That is why this warning has been issued to them," Bajrang Dal's Kashi mahanagar coordinator Nikhil Tripathi "Rudra" told PTI.

He said the warning to stay away from the ghats is for those who do not have faith in the Sanatan Dharma and alleged that such people consume liquor and non-vegetarian food at the ghats.

"Recently, pictures of girls consuming beer at a ghat had surfaced. The ghats and the temples are symbols of the Sanatan Dharma. These are not picnic spots. If any such person is seen at the ghats, we will catch hold of them and hand them over to the police," Tripathi added.

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Union minister Giriraj Singh on Friday described the breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security in Punjab as a conspiracy to trap him in a "well of death" and alleged that he could have been assassinated with a drone or a telescopic gun.

An appropriate high-level inquiry into this will reveal that the conspiracy behind the incident is not merely linked to the Punjab chief minister's office but beyond it, Singh said in a tweet.

"Trapping the prime minister in the well of death was no coincidence but a conspiracy. He survived due to the blessings of Lord Shiva... It appears that he could have been killed with a drone or telescopic gun," Singh said.

Singh also posted pictures and video of Modi's carcade being stranded. There should be a proper probe and no conspirator should be spared, he said.

In a major security lapse, the prime minister's convoy was stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur on Wednesday after which he returned from poll-bound Punjab without attending any event, including a rally.

Also read: PM security breach: MHA panel at Ferozepur; Punjab submits report to Centre, says FIR filed

The incident triggered a major political row with the BJP alleging that the ruling Congress in Punjab "tried to physically harm" the prime minister, while other parties too attacked the state government over the law and order issue.

The Centre also set up a three-member panel on Thursday to investigate the security breach.

Punjab Chief Secretary Anirudh Tewari has submitted a report to the Centre regarding the security breach, informing it that an FIR has been lodged in the incident and the state government has formed a two-member panel to investigate lapses

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Covid-19 deaths in Kerala are nearing the 50,000-mark with around 19,000 deaths being added to the state's tally over the last three months.

The state that once boasted of low Covid-19 death toll is now only second to Maharashtra, which has recorded 1.41 lakh deaths, in the country. As of Saturday, the total number of deaths in the state was 49,547. Further increase in the death tally is expected as over 10,000 appeals for considering non-Covid deaths as Covid fatalities are still pending.

The death rate of Kerala has also increased to 0.93 per cent, while the national average is 1.37 percent. However, around 25 states have a higher death rate than Kerala.

Clearing the backlog of the Covid-19 deaths and the changes in the norms for considering Covid-19 deaths are the reasons for the steep hike in the fatalities in Kerala. Of the 35,164 appeals received for considering non-Covid deaths as Covid deaths, only 25,022 were processed so far. Hence the number could go up further.

Also read: Omicron can be more lethal for children than Delta, say experts

Kerala health minister Veena George had stated that around 7,000 Covid deaths went unreported in the state, thus substantiating the claims of health experts and opposition parties that there were flaws in Kerala's death-reporting system.

Sources in the Kerala health department said that compared to other states, Kerala was maintaining a much transparent online system for considering the appeals. Hence the state's Covid death figures were going up.

Meanwhile, the test positivity rate of the state went up on Saturday too. A total of 5,944 fresh Covid-19 cases were reported during the day with a test positivity rate of 9.8 per cent. The total active cases also reached 31,098.

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The ruling CPI(M) and the opposition Congress in Kerala seem to be making open calls for battle over the proposed semi-high-speed rail project amidst concerns that the state was heading for a Nandigram-type stir.

While the Congress, which already launched protests against the rail project, announced that the survey stones being laid for the project would be uprooted, a senior CPI(M) leader cautioned that those who turn up to uproot the stones should mind their teeth.

The Left Front government is also sending signals of its tough stand against the protests against the rail project by registering a case against a Youth Congress activist who shared pictures of a survey stone of the project found uprooted in Kannur district the other day. The case was registered on charges of making call for riots. Youth Congress staged a protest against it on Saturday.

Read | Kerala govt defends work on K-Rail project without nods

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K Sudhakaran recently stated that the survey stones being laid as part of the project would be uprooted. Congress-led United Democratic Front's convenor M M Hassan also clarified that the stones would be literally pulled out by those opposing the project. Incidentally, the very next morning, one stone was found uprooted at Madayipara in Kannur district.

While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reacted that such protests would not derail the government's efforts to bring in the development initiative, CPI(M) senior leader M V Jayarajan cautioned that those turning up to uproot the survey stones should be careful about their teeth. It is widely considered as an open warning that the CPI(M) would even deal with the violent stirs against the rail project using muscle power.

The CPI(M) leader's statement is assuming significance as Kerala had witnessed the CPI(M) suppressing stirs against the Left Front government using muscle power. The latest instance was a popular stir against acquiring paddy field at Keezhattur village in Kannur district. Even as a section in the CPI(M) was initially backed the stir by farmers, later the local party workers were allegedly involved in setting fire to the shed of the agitators.
The allegations that Kerala University rejected a proposal of the Governor, who is also the chancellor of the university, to award honorary D.Litt to President Ram Nath Kovind became stronger on Saturday with a letter said to be written by the university vice-chancellor to the governor surfacing.

It allegedly confirmed that Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had recommended conferring an honorary D.Litt degree on President Ram Nath Kovind.

The letter also revealed that the VC, instead of convening a Syndicate meeting to decide on the matter, had merely "discussed" it with some Syndicate members and informed the Governor that the University Syndicate had turned down the proposal.

"... After returning, I have discussed with several members of Syndicate about the matter of conferring D.Litt Degree to his excellency the President of India. The members of the Syndicate turn (sic) it down," the handwritten letter dated December 7, 2021, read, according to news agency PTI.

The fresh allegation had surfaced as part of the ongoing row between Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala over alleged political pressure on the Governor for postings.

Also read: Proposal for D.Litt to President by Kerala University allegedly rejected

Congress senior leader and former opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala had alleged that the Governor's recommendation to award honorary D.Litt to the President was rejected by the university.

The government and the university authorities have been maintaining a silence over the issue. The Governor also did not make any direct comments in this regard but had stated that the issues between him and the government even involved matters affecting the nation's integrity and nation's prestige.

The Government and university authorities are silent on the matter.

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Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) C Sylendra Babu has asked police personnel to be polite with the public during night curfew and the lockdown on Sunday.

In a statement on Friday, the DGP said that the police personnel must wear gloves and sanitise their hands regularly during checking and behave courteously with the public.

In a set of guidelines for police personnel across the state, Sylendra Babu said that the night checks must be conducted at places that are properly lit. He also directed the force to erect night barricades and to wear reflector jackets.

Also Read  Assam to impose 'curfew like' curbs for unvaccinated persons from Jan 15; advances night curfew timing

Candidates appearing for competitive examinations are allowed to travel by showing their admission cards. Food delivery is allowed from 7 am to 10 pm on lockdown day also, but the identity of the delivery persons should be checked.

Suppliers of milk, gas and other essential items should be allowed to travel after checking identity. Movement of government employees, bank staffers, public transport, and local bodies should be allowed, he said.

People on way to airports, railway stations, and bus stations in their vehicles or taxis will be allowed to travel on showing the tickets, the police chief said.

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Major political parties namely the BJP and the Congress are ready to to battle on Valentine's Day, February 14, when the state's 11,56,464 eligible voters will cast their franchise for the state assembly polls.

Soon after the Election Commission of India announced its poll schedule for elections to five states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa, state Bharatiya Janata Party president Sadnanand Shet Tanavade welcomed the decision.

"I welcome the decision of the ECI. They have prescribed guidelines, which say that no road shows and public meetings should be held till January 15. BJP had already postponed public meetings from January 5. We have already taken the decision in view of Covid," Tanavade told a press conference in Panaji, expressing confidence that the ruling party would win a full majority.

Also Read | Will retain Punjab, capture Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, play decisive role in UP: Congress

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant also said that the BJP would win more than 22 seats in the 40-member state legislative assembly.

According to Goa's Chief Electoral Officer, Goa has 11,56,464 eligible voters, which includes 5,62,500 male voters, 5,93,960 females voters, apart from four from the third gender, who can cast ballot across 1,722 polling stations across the state.

"We are fully prepared. Two flying squads have been constituted in every constituency. Police teams monitoring law and order and central teams doing combing operations," he said, adding that all directives of the ECI would be followed.

Around 20,000 officials will be involved in the polling process, he added.

The Congress has also welcomed the ECI decision on Saturday.

We will abide by the law. The pandemic situation is a worrying situation. But we will observe the rules and conduct our election campaign in accordance with the rules. We appeal to the people to follow Covid restrictions, former Union Finance Minister and the Congress' senior observer for the Goa polls P. Chidambaram.

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December 2021 saw a clearer manifestation of the BJPs relentless efforts at parivartan  of transforming our society, promised in their election manifesto. The Karnataka Assembly passed the anti-conversion bill, a Dharma Sansad in Haridwar called for genocide of Muslims, and our own promising young MP from Bengaluru exhorted all of Pakistan, too, to be converted to Hinduism through ghar wapsi, in what can only be described as Munna Bajrangi style.

There was one obvious underlying thread in all these acts or words  pure, unadulterated hatred and malice toward Muslims and Christians. There was also an unseen thread, an invisible hand, a ringmaster telling the BJP ministers and MPs when to introduce a legislation, to act or speak on a particular subject and then withdraw, apologise or repeal Acts or words upon his signal. They were certainly not acting at the behest of those who voted them to power but someone far more powerful  one who controlled and coordinated all the diverse acts in different BJP-ruled states. Is he an elected authority or an extra-constitutional one?

Anti-conversion bill

Its almost a truism that whenever the BJP comes to power, Hinduism is in danger. Not because Hindus are dying of poverty, unemployment, destitution, or even Covid. Its because 14 per cent Muslims and 2 per cent Christians in our land are aggressively converting Hindus to their religion. The foundational premise of the anti-conversion bill is that Hindu population, and thus Hindu religion, is in imminent danger of dying or disappearing from its homeland.

This bogey of the diminishing Hindu race has been around for more than a century. A 1909 pamphlet published by one U N Mukherji was titled Hindus, a dying race, in which he asserted, allegedly based on the Census, that within 420 years, all Hindus would have disappeared from the face of the earth.

It is now over 111 years since that prognosis, and the Hindu population has trebled from 305 million in the 1950s to 966 million by the time of the 2011 Census. Besides, the share of population of Hindus, Muslims and Christians has remained fairly stable in the last 60 years. Whats more, the fertility gap between Muslim and Hindu women has shrunk from 1.1 to 0.5 children. Obviously, there is no prospect of the Hindu race dying, but the BJP has to keep the pot boiling.

A majority of those who do convert are Dalits and tribal folk. They convert not because they are offered salvation in the next world but because of schools, colleges and hospitals provided here and now by the missionaries. What they seek by converting is social empowerment, equality with fellow human beings, and dignity that is so brazenly denied by the Hindu caste hierarchy of injustice and oppression. What have they got by remaining within the Hindu fold, but disowned by it? And, pray, who is the District Magistrate to judge my faith in any god or son of god or prophet? My faith is my business, not the governments, not the District Magistrates, and certainly not that of hate-spewing sadhus.

Adharma Sansad

Much has been written about the Dharma Sansad in Haridwar and the venom spewed by so many sadhus and sants, whose links with the Sangh Parivar and BJP too were on display. Among the prominent attendees were the BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, a past offender on hate-speech, Swami Prabhodanand Giri who called for ethnic cleansing of Muslims, Yati Narsinghanand, who wants a Hindu Prabhakaran to do the job, and Pooja Shakun Pandey, aka Sadhvi Annapurna, who thinks Hindu victory lies in killing 20 lakh Muslims.

Around the same time as the Dharma Sansad, a gathering of Hindu Yuva Vahini, founded by Yogi Adityanath, met in Delhi to take an oath. Raising their hands in a Nazi-style salute, hundreds of participants chanted We resolve to make India a Hindu nation and keep it a Hindu-only nation. We will fight and die if required, we will kill as well.

It must be noted that the hate-speeches of Haridwar were followed up by an action-oriented pledge in Delhi right under the nose of the central government. This is no hush-hush conspiracy. It is an open and manifest intent to commit genocide. The police force, refusing to act, can only be regarded as being complicit.

There is, of course, a political sub-text to all this. Firstly, Yogi Adityanath is nervous about losing the coming UP elections. If the situation gets any worse, communal riots could erupt, as happened in Muzaffarnagar in 2013. Secondly, Yogi is positioning himself, or is being positioned, as the real protector and defender of Hindutva over Modi and is hoping to emerge as a powerful contender for the top job after the 2024 general elections. For that, he has to win the UP Assembly election decisively, and must be seen to have achieved it without help from Modi. Some analysts have speculated that Modi and Shah have set themselves a challenging task  to ensure BJPs victory, but not a decisive win for Yogi.

Either way, the double-engine government seems well disposed to letting the sadhus and sants blow the winds for a communal blaze. The Delhi riots of February 2020 were preceded by a BJP ministers call for Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maro saalon ko against anti-CAA protesters. Imagine what the Haridwar and Delhi calls for genocide of Muslims could lead to.

The MP for ghar wapsi

As if on cue, the young MP from Bengaluru Tejasvi Surya, too, launched forth on this urgent existential question of the Hindu race and its survival. His cheeks red with rage, he asked Hindu seers to fix targets to bring Hindus back into the fold through ghar wapsi programmes. Carried away by his own eloquence, he exhorted them to convert even the Muslims of Pakistan to the Hindu fold. Probably, this was the portion he sought to withdraw the next day. Perhaps, the Gambinos in the Parivar got worried over what to do with the likes of Hafiz Sayed and Masood Azhar if they became Hindus!

In any case, dear MP sir, where would you put all those reconverted Muslims, Indian or Pakistani, in our Chatur Varna system? Which caste would you fit them in? You may be in a hurry to please your master and become a minister in the Union Cabinet, hence all this venom and posturing. But rabble-rousers are dime a dozen in the party and Parivar now. You have to be and do worse to get what you want. You have a long way to go.

(The writer is a former Cabinet Secretariat official)
The head of a comet often glows green; the tail mostly does not. That includes Comet Leonard, which made its closest pass to the sun on Monday and is heading away again.

A team of scientists have now come up with a detailed explanation for this multi-chromatic behaviour: The molecule responsible for the emerald hue gets blown apart by sunlight within a couple of days of being created near the comets core, leaving almost nothing to glow green in the tail.

We showed exactly how that happens in the lab by using UV lasers, measuring exactly how the molecule blows apart, said Timothy W. Schmidt, a professor of chemistry at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Also Read  NASA's latest launch lets you asteroid-watch from home

As a comet  a clump of ices and dust  approaches the sun, it heats up and its ices turn to gas, producing a fuzzy atmosphere known as the coma. The atmosphere includes carbon-based molecules that are in turn bombarded with ultraviolet light from the sun, breaking it apart and stripping off outer pieces. That generates a simple but fragile molecule known as dicarbon, or C in chemical notation. It is two carbon atoms bonded together.

Scientists have known for the better part of a century that photons can knock dicarbon molecules into an excited state. Because of the quantum nature of the universe, an excited molecule reverts to its ground state by emitting a photon. For dicarbon, the photon is commonly one of green light. This explained the green colour of comet comas. But the apparent dearth of dicarbon in the comet tails was something of a mystery.

So Schmidt re-created the phenomenon in their laboratory. To produce dicarbon, researchers started with molecules consisting of two carbon atoms and four chlorine atoms and used a laser to strip off the chlorines, leaving only dicarbon. Then they used another laser to break up the dicarbon, measuring exactly how much energy that required.

From that, they showed how the dicarbon molecules had to absorb two photons to be blown apart, and the lifetime of a dicarbon molecule bathed in sunlight is about 44 hours. In that time, the molecules might travel 80,000 miles or so  quite far. But comet tails can stretch millions of miles. Thus, there would be little or no dicarbon, and no green glow, there.

That largely fits with what has been observed in comets.

Also Read  Astronomers thrill at giant comet flying into our solar system

Schmidts team reported its findings last month in a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

What theyre doing is the groundwork that is fundamental to explaining the observations, said Anita Cochran, assistant director of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, who was not involved with the research. Understanding carbon in the universe is pretty important since it is such a common species.

William Jackson, an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of California, Davis, lauded the work but said there was likely more to the story. He noted that a photograph of a comet included in the paper shows not only a green coma but also a slight tinge of green in the tail. I think this is a great example of the importance of doing laboratory measurements and combining with astronomical observations, and trying to understand what you see, Jackson said.

But the bombarding sunlight likely produces additional dicarbon in the comet tails and knocks the molecules into a variety of excited states. Its a little too simple to say that you dont see C in the tail, Jackson said.

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Standing on the shores of Kirinda, Sri Lanka, the faint outlines of a large rock lay ten miles out in the Indian Ocean. The waves were turbulent here and the Great Basses coral reefs below were treacherous, snaring countless ships along the busy trade routes rounding the southeast coast of Sri Lanka, until a lighthouse was built in 1873.

Arthur C Clarke boarded a motorboat before dawn one day in April 1963 for the bumpy ride to the lighthouse. He was joined by fellow diver Mike Wilson, and Peter Throckmorton, an underwater archaeologist, along with tools, rope and other equipment. Two years earlier, they had discovered a shipwreck here and they finally had the money and equipment to begin excavations.

After unloading everything at the lighthouse into a dinghy, the men dived into the sea. But Arthur stayed in the rubber boat. He was still recovering from the almost total paralysis of post-polio syndrome and felt his body was not strong enough to support an oxygen tank for a dive. Instead, he slipped on flippers, face mask and snorkel and lay floating on the surface to watch as the men began their work.

I had quite forgotten how pure and transparent this ocean water could be, and its crystal depths looked very attractive, Clarke wrote in his book The Treasure of the Great Reef. As soon as the dinghy came to a halt, I could see the divers at work, though they were still fifty feet away and thirty feet down  I swam over to them and had a perfect bird's eye view of operations.

Small cannon were half buried in the coral and unearthed. Tapping through lumps of coral dislodged part of a lady's earring. Large anchors were scattered at the site. They made dozens of trips to the dinghy delivering the remnants of the shipwreck.

It was only in the middle of the afternoon that, Arthur writes, the whole situation altered. Around 2 pm, Peter came rowing back, and I am never likely to forget his first words to me: I've found the mother lode. There's at least a ton there. There was no need for explanations; I knew exactly what he meant.

To find out what treasure was discovered at the bottom of the sea, listen to Episode 7 of the Scrolls & Leaves podcast. This episode is presented in immersive sound and you can place yourself in the scene if you listen with headphones.


The Dakshina Kannada Automobile and Tyre Dealers Association has urged the Karnataka government to classify automobile trade as an essential service in the event of a general lockdown.

In a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, the Association submitted that automobiles are extensively used for the transport of essential goods, ambulance service, government vehicles and personal transport of other essential service providers like bank employees, doctors and frontline workers.

These vehicles will be rendered useless in case of breakdown. Non-servicing of vehicles on time can also result in safety concerns, said Vilas Kumar, Secretary of Dakshina Kannada Automobile and Tyre Dealers Association.

He said as a third wave of Covid-19 pandemic seems to be inevitable, and if the government is forced to impose a total lockdown, then automobile and related trades should be classified under essential services and be allowed to function under strict guidelines and restricted working hours. This will ensure smooth flow of essential services and reduce the hardship to the public. This will also help the auto traders, who are financially devastated due to the previous two lockdowns, to meet their basic survival needs like payment of salaries, rent and tax commitments.

The memorandum further assured that this will not have any adverse effect on the pandemic as the automobile trade is geographically scattered, requiring minimum manpower or in-person contact.

The memorandum was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada under the aegis of Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Vilas Kumar.

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A groom and his friends who arrived at the house of a bride mimicking the Koragajja ritual have landed themselves in trouble.

Vittal police filed a complaint against the groom, Umarulla Bashith, from Uppala in Kerala, for reportedly projecting Koragajja in poor light and hurting the sentiments of Hindus in Salethur in Bantwal taluk.

Chethan from Vitlapadnoor in his complaint alleged that Bashith had arrived at the brides house wearing the costume of Koragajja.

Indecent dance

The indecent dance by his friends had hurt the sentiments of Hindus, he said.

By uploading the video on social media, an attempt was made to disrupt peace in the society, he charged in his complaint. Chethan urged the police to take action against the families of the bride, groom and his friends. The police, based on the complaint, registered a case under section 153 A (offence of promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different) and 295 (intent to insult the religion) of IPC.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad demanded strict action for disrespecting Hindu god Koragajja.

VHP district secretary Shivanand Mendon condemned the incident and urged police to initiate stringent action against all those who were part of the incident.

Members of VHP and Bajrang Dal also had attempted to gherao the house of the bride in Salethur. As they shouted slogans near the house, Vittal police took them into custody.

Bantwal MLA Rajesh Naik also condemned the incident and urged the police to take strict action against wrongdoers.

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The Adani foundation has granted Rs 78.18 lakh from its CSR fund to the Udupi district administration to establish paediatric ICU ventilator beds and allied medical equipment at the government hospital at Karkala in the district.

In view of the emergence of new Covid variant Omicron, Adani-owned Udupi power corporation ltd, which is operating a thermal power plant in the district, has granted the funds in association with Adani foundation, the CSR wing of Adani group, a release here said.

The grant is to equip Udupi district to treat affected children during third wave of the pandemic. In August last year, the foundation had granted Rs 40 lakh to the district administration to combat Covid, which was utilised at the Udupi district hospital.

Kishore Alva, president and executive director of Adani group, Karnataka, handed over the demand draft of Rs 78,18,500 to Udupi deputy commissioner M Kurma Rao, the release said.

The district administration and the health department will establish 10 paediatric ICU ventilator beds and allied medical equipment at the Karkala government hospital using the fund.

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Covid-19 cases in Karnataka may be doubling at an alarming rate, but only 831 (4.75%) of the total 17,414 active cases are in hospitals, according to data from the health and family welfare department.

The statistic is a silver lining amid an explosive surge of Covid-19 cases that has prompted the Bommai government to impose weekend curfew and mull the introduction of a 'green pass' for citizens to access public spaces.

"Out of the 17,414 active cases (as of January 5), only 831 Covid patients are in hospitals across Karnataka (4.75%), said Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar, after holding a meeting on the third wave with officials.

Also read: Centre mandates 7-day home quarantine for all international arrivals

"Out of these patients, as many as 700 are being treated in general beds and don't require oxygen. This means that 90% of the hospitalised patients don't need any oxygen support. Only those who did not undergo vaccination are being treated at ICUs."

But Sudhakar also cautioned against taking Omicron lightly.

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) has cautioned against describing the Omicron variant as 'mild' even though it is less virulent than the Delta variant," Sudhakar told reporters.

"Luckily, there has been no serious infection and deaths among the fully vaccinated, suggesting that the first-generation vaccine currently in use is successful against the infection."

Green Pass/Universal Pass

Sudhakar also said that the government is mulling a 'Green Pass' or 'Universal Pass' for citizens to enter public places such as markets, malls, metro, public transport and theatres.

"Currently, it is being implemented in government offices. However, we are still in talks with the Technical Advisory Committee and IT solutions companies on how to take this forward," he said.

Also read: Karnataka Minister R Ashoka tests positive for Covid-19

The meeting also discussed making negative RT-PCR reports mandatory for railway passengers coming to Karnataka.

"We will brief the chief minister on this. The CM will apprise the Union railway minister and push for guidelines in that direction," Sudhakar said.

The health minister also spoke on vaccination and other Covid matters such as testing.

On kids' vaccination, Sudhakar said that 42% of the 31.75 lakh kids in the 15-17 age group in Karnataka had received the first dose.

All primary contacts to be tested

The government has also decided to test all primary contacts of Covid patients irrespective of whether he/she is symptomatic.

Misinformation on WhatsApp groups will also be monitored and curbed at the source, he said, adding that rumour-mongers will be punished under the Disaster Management Act.

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Derry writer and author, Susan McKay, has criticised Kate Hoey for reverting to a sectarian model of society following the former Labour MP's claims of nationalist activism within the legal profession and the media.

Ms McKay, who authored the acclaimed book published last year, Northern Protestants On Shifting Ground, said Ms Hoey's words were comments she would have heard as a child growing up in Derry in the 1960s.

Hoey, who was the Minister of Sport in Tony Blair's government and now sits in the House of Lords as an Independent peer, wrote a forward in a 'report' released by a fringe Loyalist group.

In it she wrote: I... support the ongoing work to encourage those, especially from working class loyalist communities, to engage in education and to seek entry to professional vocations such as journalism, law, and public service.

There are very justified concerns that many professional vocations have become dominated by those of a nationalist persuasion, and this positioning of activists is then used to exert influence on those in power.

Ms Hoey's comments have drawn widespread criticism across the political board with the exception of DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson who posted on Twitter that he welcomed Hoey's contribution.

Susan McKay has refuted Hoey's claims as baseless and that if there is evidence of Protestants under-achieving in education, then that is for unionism itself to look at and address.

She said: I found it really depressing to see Kate making comments that I would have heard in my own childhood back in the 1960s.

When I was a child, I would have heard adults in the community that I was growing up in saying things like 'oh the post office is rotten with them'  meaning that jobs that were traditionally held by Protestants in the Post Office were now being obtained by Catholics.

The notion that somehow or the other, Catholics getting jobs was something that was disgusting and to be avoided is very obviously sectarian and I think that Kate Hoey's comments, unfortunately, fit that model.

There isn't any evidence whatsoever of any of the things that she's claiming. We do have fair equality legislation. There used to be ways of excluding Catholics by finding out people's names before you're offered jobs but there isn't any more.

Nor is there any mechanism to exclude Protestants. People have the same educational opportunities and I think the thing is that if there is evidence of unionist under-achievement in education, then that's a matter that unionism should be looking at and addressing.

Kate Hoey's comments are very much reverting to a sectarian model of society but I think that most people would recoil from this. I don't think that's the way most people see society anymore.

Unfortunately, the worst aspect of it in a way is the fact that Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the DUP, has stepped in and welcomed the both the report and Kate Hoey's comments.

That's the unfortunate part of it that someone like Jeffrey could have responsibly said, 'of course we encourage equality in all of the professions and we believe that all of our young people should have the same educational opportunities'.

But instead he is supporting this sectarian approach which makes it seem as if Protestants aren't succeeding because of Catholics.

Hoey's citing of the legal and media professions have led to concerns of the former MP's comments could inadvertently 'paint a target' on people's backs.

Journalist, Martin O'Hagan was killed by Loyalist paramilitaries in Lurgan back in 2001 and in 1989, lawyer Pat Finucane was murdered in his own home by UDA terrorists.

Pat's son John, now the Sinn Fein MP for North Belfast, condemned Hoey's comments and Susan McKay said that Catholics who had scaled the social ladder were often seen as getting ideas above their station.

She added: We know of John Finucane's father, Pat, who was a Catholic lawyer who was murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries.

There has been a lot of evidence over the years of a pattern of sectarian killings during The Troubles of Catholics who had  to use a Northern sectarian phrase  'got above themselves'.

It used to be a common enough phrase in Northern Ireland when I was growing up.

This notion goes right back to the foundation of the state with Lord Brookeborough's infamous 'ninety-nine per cent of them are disloyal' comment when he was urging employers to go for Protestants lads and lassies as he called them.

McKay also said that unionists such as Hoey should maybe look instead at how unionism has stunted working-class growth in the Protestant community instead of seeking to place blame on aspirational working-class Catholics who have attained white-collar jobs such as lawyers and journalists.

She continued: My parents would have been working-class Protestants who had been able to avail themselves of the 1947 Education Act. So it lifted Protestants as well as Catholics because unionism has never looked after its working-classes.

The whole Orange system was meant to be that you knew your place and if you were working-class, you stayed working-class and you did what you were told by your betters.

It was a very rigid system and it didn't encourage people to aspire to better themselves. In some ways, what we're seeing now is a playing-out of that.

There is a passivity still within the Protestant community that doesn't serve young working-class people well.

Hoey's comments and Donaldson's endorsement of them have been regarded as unionism whipping up support from its core voting base ahead of this years Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

However, McKay reckons that if this is part of their strategy, it could backfire on them.

She said: It's a dangerous and irresponsible game to start invoking those old sectarian ghosts.

The Good Friday Agreement was supposed to have moved us on from all of this. This is just an attempt to throw us back to the old days when everything was defined in terms of 'them and us'.

It's just so counter-productive for unionism to talk like this at this time. It's so obvious that if unionism wants to keep the union, they need to make it attractive to Catholics and nationalists as well as to unionists.

But that kind of talk, now being endorsed by Jeffrey Donaldson, is far more likely to turn more young unionist people away from unionism than anything else. You're not going to attract any nationalists because it's really insulting to everybody's intelligence to be spoken to in that way.

People may well just feel, 'roll on the referendum on unity', as we can't go back and this crowd don't seem to want to go forward. I think that's how it will work. It will just make people think, 'if this is the way unionism is going to talk, then there is no future for this state'.

It's like the 'crocodile' moment with Arlene Foster where a lot of nationalist people who were not particularly politicised were politicised by that remark as they recognised it as being really demeaning.
Duncan, OK (73533)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms, some strong this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 46F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms, some strong this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 46F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
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Good hares make a good meeting  great hares make a great meeting. The 2021 renewal of Dundalk & Dowdallshill coursing clubs two-day gathering on St Stephens Day and the day after, the first in two years, was in the latter category.

The Commons on Dromiskins Green Road was the venue, as always since 1971, and in conditions that were nigh perfect something of a miracle given the weather there on the two previous days  the sport was of the highest order.

The finals day attendance was a reminder of the crowds that used to flock there in the 1970s, and even the most discerning of the patrons, coming from many parts of the country, couldnt have been but satisfied with what was on offer.

Well-trained hares gave a tremendous account of themselves, the vast majority saying goodbye to their pursuers having been turned just once.

Sixteen went to slips for the feature event, the Corn Cuchullain, and having run a succession of good trials, Lark Lane Me, a tidily-built bitch owned and trained by Pat and Geraldine Barrett from Derry, proved too good for Cracking Steel, who might have created history by becoming the first to reach this prestigious competitions final having come in as a reserve.

This was a double triumph for Lark Lane Me. As the bitch to go the furthest in the competition, she also earned connections the Paddy Carroll Cup, which commemorates one of the promoting clubs stalwarts of a number of years ago.

A local winner is always popular, and, therefore, there were many rooting for Dice Lady when she went to slips for the final of one of the two Oaks Trial Stakes on the card.

Unfortunately, the white-and- blue brindle, owned by Knockbridges Caoimhe Hoey, who shared the role of meetings announcer with Dundalk girl, Amy Rose OConnor, met one too good for her in the Co Tipperary runner, Good Woman.

The same fate befell the Laurence Jones Carrickmacross kennels Coal Oil Hope in the final of the Derby Trial Stake. Successful in this final went to the Co Westmeath entrant, Killucan Pat.

There was better luck for the Crossmaglen runner, Urker Duke. Running for the fourth generation of family owners, Masters Ethan and John Gregorys dog was the clear-cut winner of the Johnny and Gerard Heeney Workers Stake, beating Fane Gezhou, owned by the Kilkerley-based father and son combination of Martin and Paul Sharkey.

This was the fourth stake winner for the Gregory kennel at the venue.
From toothpaste tubes to bleach bottles, one woman has been brightening up January by wearing outfits inspired by everyday items.

Taryn de Vere, a writer and designer from County Donegal, Ireland, set herself a style challenge to dress up as a different household product every day to make January more joyful.

Self-described as possibly the most colourful woman in Ireland, the mother-of-five is no stranger to eccentric outfits.

Being colourful is an integral part of how I view myself she said.

Colour makes me feel alive and joyful, dull colours make me feel sad and depressed, its that simple.

Facing the prospect of being house-bound in a bid to stay safe during the Covid pandemic, Ms de Vere decided to set herself a new year challenge using only objects and clothing that she already owned.

She said: At the time I came up with the idea I was sitting on my bed and my eye alighted on a bottle of sink unblocker in the en suite, and that became the inspiration for the first outfit.

My one rule for this project is I have to use things I already own  I love the sustainability aspect of this challenge.

Its completely transformed how I view my clothes and unleashed a creative styling freedom in me, making me put colours and shapes together that I never would have before.

Ms de Vere posts daily photos of her outfits to her Instagram and Twitter profiles, alongside a photo of the product that inspired her.

She said she has been completely overwhelmed by the positive reaction on social media and has even gained fans as far away as Australia.

My style challenge for Jan is to dress inspired by something in my house each day. Today it's sink unblocker. pic.twitter.com/yzyKtCxufi  Taryn de Vere (@TarynDeVere) January 1, 2022

Ive had messages and comments from people telling me they wake up in the morning and check my Instagram first thing to see what new outfit I have on that day, she said.

People from all over the world have been getting in touch to say how much joy theyre getting from this project.

Its really heartwarming to think that my creative project is bringing a bit of light-hearted fun and joy to peoples lives.

However, Ms de Vere admitted the level of attention has taken her by surprise.

Had I known how big this would get and how many people would be seeing my pics I probably would have ironed my clothes before photographing them, she said.

Closer to home, Ms de Veres neighbours have been less surprised by her colourful creations, due to her well-established eccentric dressing credentials, but she said she has still received compliments on trips into town.

I remain open to the possibility that there is someone more colourful than me out there, and if so I want to meet them and be their new best friend, she said.
Claremont, NH (03743)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 44F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.
In this June 25, 2019, photo, a FedEx delivery truck is loaded by an employee on the street in downtown Cincinnati.
Confined to a wheelchair by a progressively debilitating disease, William Reed still cares for his wife of 55 years, who is stricken with dementia.
Passport printing machine in Cork would take the pressure off

THE Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has been urged to give consideration to purchasing a passport printing machine for Cork.

Sean Sherlock, Cork East Labour TD, said a Cork-based passport printing machine would alleviate waiting times.

There is huge pressure on the passport office at the moment, with long delays with first-time passports for children, Deputy Sherlock said.

Another machine, based in the Cork Passport Office, would take the pressure off Dublin and service the wider Munster area.

Mr Sherlock had asked Minister Coveney in a recent parliamentary question whether consideration might be given to the purchase of a Cork-based machine, and was told the Passport Services equipment was sufficient to meet demand.

Complaints about long delays

Despite the Ministers response, Deputy Sherlock said, his office had dealt with constituents complaining of lengthy delays for passports and he felt that a Cork printer would reduce waiting times and allow urgent passport collections to recommence in the Cork office.

A cost/benefit analysis of such a printer should be initiated as soon as possible, Mr Sherlock said.

The Passport Service is composed of three constituent offices located in Lower Mount Street and Balbriggan in Dublin and South Mall in Cork

It currently has three passport printing machines, all based in Dublin.

Each passport printer has a printing capacity of 250 passports per hour.

According to a 2019 parliamentary reply, a new machine would cost approximately 2 million.

In his Dail reply to Deputy Sherlock, Minister Coveney said the Passport Service issued over half a million passports in 2021, with simple adult renewals averaging 10 working days.

However, he said, it was experiencing a high volume of first-time passport demands, which take 40 working days.
What Is Climate Change? Is It Different From Global Warming?



Climate change is actually not a new phenomenon. Scientists have been studying the connection between human activity and the effect on the climate since the 1800s, although it took until the 1950s to find evidence suggesting a link.

Since then, the amount of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases) in the atmosphere have steadily increased, taking a sharp jump in the late 1980s when the summer of 1988 became the warmest on record. (There have been many records broken since then.) But climate change is not a synonym for global warming.

The term global warming entered the lexicon in the 1950s, but didnt become a common buzzword until a few decades later when more people started taking notice of a warming climate. Except climate change encompasses a greater realm than just rising temperatures. Trapped gases also affect sea-level rise, animal habitats, biodiversity and weather patterns. For example, Texas severe winter storms in February 2021 demonstrate how the climate isnt merely warming.

Why Is Climate Change Important? Why Does It Matter?





Marc Guitard / Moment / Getty Images

Despite efforts from forward thinkers such as SpaceX Founder Elon Musk to colonize Mars, Earth remains our home for the foreseeable future, and the more human activity negatively impacts the climate, the less habitable it will become. Its estimated that Earth has already warmed about one degree Celsius, or two degrees Fahrenheit, since the start of the Industrial Revolution around the 1750s, although climate change tracking didnt start until the late 1800s. That warming number may not sound like much, but this increase has already resulted in more frequent and severe wildfires, hurricanes, floods, droughts and winter storms, to name some examples.

Environmental Impacts

Then theres biodiversity loss, another fallout of climate change thats threatening rainforests and coral reefs and accelerating species extinction. Take rainforests, which act as natural carbon sinks by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But as rampant deforestation is occurring everywhere from Brazils Amazon to Borneo, fewer trees mean that rainforests are becoming carbon sources, emitting more carbon than theyre absorbing. Meanwhile, coral reefs are dying as warming ocean temperatures trigger bleaching events, which cause corals to reject algae, their main food and life source. Fewer trees, coral reefs and other habitats also equate to fewer species. Known as the sixth mass extinction, a 2019 UN report revealed that up to a million plant and animal species could become extinct within decades.

Human Impact

It can be easy to overlook climate change in day-to-day life, or even realize that climate change is behind it. Notice theres yet another romaine lettuce recall due to E. Coli? Research suggests that E. Coli bacteria are becoming more common in our food sources as it adapts to climate change. Cant find your favorite brand of coffee beans anymore? Or that the price has doubled? Climate change is affecting that too. Climate change is also worsening air quality and seasonal allergies, along with polluting tap water. Not least, many preliminary studies have also drawn a line between climate change and the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that is still gripping much of the world. Future pandemics are likely to happen more frequently until the root causes, such as deforestation, are addressed.

Speaking of larger-scale issues, global water scarcity is already happening more frequently. The Caribbean is facing water shortages due to rising temperatures and decreased rainfall; Australias dams may run dry by 2022 as severe wildfires increase and Cape Town, South Africa has already faced running out of water.

As touched upon earlier, its one thing to be inconvenienced by a lack of romaine lettuce for a couple of weeks or higher coffee bean prices, but reports warn how climate change will continue to threaten global food security, to the point of triggering a worldwide food crisis if temperatures surpass two degrees Celsius.

Many of these factors are already contributing to climate migration, forcing large numbers of people to relocate to other parts of the world in search of better living conditions.

Unless more immediate, drastic action is taken to combat climate change, future generations will have to contend with worst-case scenario projections by the end of the 21st century, not limited to coastal cities going underwater, including Miami; lethal heat levels from South Asia to Central Africa; and more frequent extreme weather events involving hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis, droughts, floods, blizzards and more.

Whats Happening and Why?

Fiddlers Ferry power station in Warrington, UK. Chris Conway / Moment / Getty Images

The Earths temperature has largely remained stable until industrial times and the introduction of greenhouse gases. These gases have forced the atmosphere to retain heat, as evidenced by rising global temperatures. As the planet grows warmer, glaciers melt faster, sea levels rise, severe flooding increases and droughts and extreme weather events become more deadly.

The Greenhouse Effect

In the late 1800s, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius studied the connection between the amount of atmospheric carbon and its ability to warm and cool the Earth, and while his initial calculations suggested extreme warming as carbon increased, researchers didnt start to take human-induced climate change seriously until the late 20th century.

But proof of human-led climate change can be traced to the 1850s, and satellites are among the ways that scientists have been tracking increased greenhouse gases and their climate impact in more recent years. Climate researchers have also documented warmer oceans, ocean acidification, shrinking ice sheets, decreased snow amounts and extreme weather as among the events resulting from greenhouse gases heating the planet.

Numerous factors contribute to the production of greenhouse gases, known as the greenhouse effect. One of the biggest causes involve burning fossil fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, to power everything from cars to daily energy needs (electricity, heat). From 1970-2011, fossil fuels have comprised 78 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Big Ag is another greenhouse contributor, particularly beef production, with the industry adding 10 percent in 2019. This is attributed to clearing land for crops and grazing and growing feed, along with methane produced by cows themselves. In the U.S. alone, Americans consumed 27.3 billion pounds of beef in 2019.

Then theres rampant deforestation occurring everywhere from the Amazon to Borneo. A 2021 study from Rainforest Foundation Norway found that two-thirds of the worlds rainforests have already been destroyed or degraded. In Brazil, deforestation reached a 12-year-high in 2020 under right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. As it stands, reports predict that the Amazon rainforest will collapse by 2064. Rainforests are important carbon sinks, meaning the trees capture and remove carbon from the atmosphere. As rainforests collapse, the remaining trees will begin emitting more greenhouse gases than theyre absorbing.

Meanwhile, a recent study revealed that abandoned oil and gas wells are leaking more methane than previously believed, with U.S. wells contributing up to 20 percent of annual methane emissions.

Not least is the cement industry. Cement is heavily used throughout the global construction industry, and accounts for around eight percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

Natural Climate Change

Granted, natural climate change exists as well, and can be traced throughout history, from solar radiation triggering the Ice Ages to the asteroid strike that rapidly raised global temperatures and eliminated dinosaurs and many other species in the process. Other sources of natural climate change impacts include volcano eruptions, ocean currents and orbital changes, but these sources generally have smaller and shorter-term environmental impacts.

How We Can Combat Climate Change

Participant holding a sign at the climate march on Sept. 20, 2020, in Manhattan. A coalition of climate, Indigenous and racial justice groups gathered at Columbus Circle to kick off Climate Week with the Climate Justice Through Racial Justice march. Erik McGregor / LightRocket / Getty Images

While the latest studies and numbers can often feel discouraging about societys ability to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening, theres still time to take action.

As a Society

In 2015 at COP 21 in Paris, 197 countries came together to sign the Paris Agreement, an international climate change treaty agreeing to limit global warming in this century to two degrees Celsius, and ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels; its believed that the planet has warmed one degree Celsius since 1750. Studies show that staying within the two-degree range will prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening. Achieving this goal requires participating parties to drastically slash greenhouse gas emissions sooner rather than later. However, there have already been numerous setbacks since then, from former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement in 2020 to world leaders, such as China, the worlds biggest polluter, failing to enact aggressive climate action plans. Yet many of the treaty participants have been slow to implement changes, putting the world on track to hit 3.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century even if the initial goals are met. However, its worth noting that U.S. President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement in 2021, and pledged to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2030.

Then theres the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 global agreement to phase out ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals that were commonly used in air-conditioning, refrigeration and aerosols. Recent studies show that parts of the ozone are recovering, proving that a unified commitment to combatting climate change issues does make a difference.

On a smaller scale, carbon offset initiatives allow companies and individuals to invest in environmental programs that offset the amount of carbon thats produced through work or lifestyle. For example, major companies (and carbon emitters) such as United Airlines and Shell have pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in part by participating in carbon offset programs that remove carbon from the atmosphere. The problem is that these companies are still producing high levels of fossil fuel emissions.

While individuals can make a small impact through carbon offsets, the greater responsibility lies with carbon-emitting corporations to find and implement greener energy alternatives. This translates to car companies producing electric instead of gas vehicles or airlines exploring alternative fuel sources. It also requires major companies to rely more on solar and wind energy for their energy needs.

In Our Own Lives

While its up to corporations to do the heavy lifting of carbon reduction, that doesnt mean individuals cant make a difference. Adopting a vegan lifestyle, using public transportation, switching to an electric car and becoming a more conscious consumer are all ways to help combat climate change.

Veganism

Consuming meat relies on clearing land for crops and animals, while raising and killing livestock contributes to about 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UNs Food and Agricultural Organization. By comparison, choosing a plant-based diet could reduce greenhouse gas footprints by as much as 70 percent, especially when choosing local produce and products.

Public Transportation

Riding public trains, subways, buses, trams, ferries and other types of public transportation is another easy way to lower your carbon footprint, considering that gas-powered vehicles contribute 95 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Electric Vehicles

Electric cars and trucks have come down in price as more manufacturers enter the field, and these produce far lower emissions than their gas counterparts. Hybrid vehicles are another good alternative for lowering individual emission contributions.

Conscious Consumption

Buying locally produced food and items is another way to maintain a lower carbon footprint, as the products arent shipped or driven long distances. Supporting small companies that are committed to sustainability is another option, especially when it comes to clothes. Fast fashion has become a popular option thanks to its price point, but often comes at the expense of the environment and can involve unethical overseas labor practices. Not least, plastic saturates every corner of the consumer market, but its possible to find non-plastic alternatives with a little research, from reusable produce bags to baby bottles.

Climate Activism

Those interested in becoming even more involved can join local climate action organizations. Popular groups include the Sunrise Movement, Fridays for Future, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, to name a few. Voting, volunteering, calling local representatives and participating in climate marches are additional ways to raise your voice.

Takeaway

Its taken centuries to reach a climate tipping point, with just a matter of decades left to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios from happening. But theres still hope of controlling a warming climate as long as individuals, companies and nations make an immediate concerted effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions. As the world already experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid unified response can make all the difference.

Meredith Rosenberg is a senior editor at EcoWatch. She holds a Masters from the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in NYC and a B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia.
Yesterday was World Oceans Day, and this year National Geographic made the celebration extra special  by recognizing a whole new ocean.

Since National Geographic began making maps in 1915, it has officially acknowledged four oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian and Arctic. Now, it is adding the Southern Ocean, the body of water that surrounds Antarctica.

The Southern Ocean has long been recognized by scientists, but because there was never agreement internationally, we never officially recognized it, National Geographic Society Geographer Alex Tait explained in the announcement.

The swift current circling Antarctica keeps the waters there distinct and worthy of their own name: the Southern Ocean https://t.co/zHNSNeLVcj #WorldOceansDay  National Geographic (@NatGeo) June 8, 2021

The ocean, which covers 71 percent of the Earths surface, is technically only one body of water, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explained. However, it has been historically divided into different regional oceans based on a mix of geographical, cultural, historical and scientific criteria. For many years, the Indian, Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were the four main acknowledged oceans, but the Southern Ocean is beginning to gain recognition as a separate entity. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names first acknowledged it in 1999, and NOAA officially recognized it earlier this year, as CBS News reported.

Both the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and National Geographic define the Southern Ocean as the body of water extending north from Antarctica to the latitude line 60 degrees South. This is roughly where the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is centered, National Geographic explained. And it is this unique current that ultimately distinguishes the Southern Ocean.

This dividing line has not yet been internationally recognized, NOAA explained. While it was proposed to the International Hydrographic Organization in 2000, it has not been ratified as some member countries disagree. However, National Geographic is now moving to officially recognize it on its maps.

While there is but one interconnected ocean, bravo to National Geographic for officially recognizing the body of water surrounding Antarctica as the Southern Ocean,

Marine biologist and National Geographic Explorer at Large Sylvia Earle wrote in a statement emailed to National Geographic. Rimmed by the formidably swift Antarctic Circumpolar Current, it is the only ocean to touch three others and to completely embrace a continent rather than being embraced by them.

The northern limit of the Southern Ocean varies between about 50 and 62 degrees south latitude. We're using 60 south latitude as proxy for the Southern Ocean's northern ecological limit, this is used by NOAA in the US and by a plurality of members of the IHO pic.twitter.com/Te3k2QXAe9  National Geographic (@NatGeo) June 8, 2021

The ACC was formed around 34 million years ago when Antarctica and South America split. It runs from west to east around the southernmost continent, and the water within it is colder and less salty than the waters to its north.

This means that the Southern Ocean is also ecologically different from other oceans, and one of the reasons that National Geographic wanted to recognize the ocean was in order to promote its conservation.

[It] encompasses unique and fragile marine ecosystems that are home to wonderful marine life such as whales, penguins, and seals, National Geographic explorer in residence Enric Sala explained in the announcement.

But the newly-minted ocean also faces threats. For one thing, industrial fishing puts crucial species like krill at risk. For another, the climate crisis is warming the ACC. If the ocean warms by just two degrees Celsius, it could shrink ice coverage in some areas by as much as 30 percent, harming species like penguins that rely on the ice for breeding, as CBS News explained.

For now, though, National Geographic hopes the formal recognition will draw attention to this unique and fragile marine ecosystem.

Our maps are updated, the magazine wrote on Twitter. The Southern Ocean is treated the same as the traditional four, and the next quiz question about the number of oceans has an updated official answer from National Geographic  five!
The European Commission has drafted a proposal that would label some nuclear and natural gas projects as green as the EU attempts to transition away from fossil fuels.

The proposal, released a week ago, would set specific criteria for what conditions would allow a project to be classified as a sustainable investment.

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 towards a predominantly renewable-based future, the European Commission said in a statement.

A draft of the proposal would label nuclear projects as green if they had plans, money and space to dispose of waste, Reuters reported. They would also have to receive construction permits before 2045. Natural gas plants would count as green investments if they had emissions under 270g of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt hour (kWh), replaced a higher-emitting fossil-fuel plant, had a permit by the end of 2030 and planned to switch to low-carbon gasses by the end of 2035.

The proposal to count nuclear and natural gas under certain conditions is not without controversy, with Green-affiliated lawmakers and environmental groups arguing against the idea.

By including them the Commission risks jeopardising the credibility of the EUs role as a leading marketplace for sustainable finance, EU Greens president Philippe Lamberts said, as Reuters reported.

There is also a national divide on the issue, with France leading a coalition including Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania that wanted a role for gas and nuclear, The New York Times reported.

Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Luxembourg and Austria, meanwhile, are worried about more nuclear waste.

German Economy and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck said the proposal amounted to greenwashing, according to BBC News.

[It] waters down the good label for sustainability, Habeck said.

France, on the other hand, gets 70 percent of its energy from nuclear power, though it plans to reduce this by half over the next 15 years.

The EU has plans to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as part of its European Green Deal. The negotiations over what counts as a green investment are part of this push, and have lasted for more than a year, according to Reuters.

The European Commission will publish a draft proposal later in January, which could still change. It could then be vetoed by either a majority of member countries or the European Parliament.

Natural gas emits roughly half of the carbon dioxide emissions as coal, but it is vulnerable to methane leaks. Some argue it can be a transition fuel to help especially coal-dependent countries switch to renewable energy, The New York Times reported.

But others argue that counting it as a green investment sets a bad example.

If Europe starts calling an investment in gas green, then what exactly is the reason for the African Union not to go fully into gas as well? Green European Parliament member Bas Eickhout of the Netherlands said, as The New York Times reported.
The Bogor Institute of Agriculture, a leading forestry university in Indonesia, is proposing a controversial plan: to define planting palm oil plantations as reforestation efforts. Typically creating palm oil plantations is considered deforestation, as it requires clearing native forests for monocultures.

In Indonesia, the palm oil industry is a leading cause of deforestation as natural forests are cleared to make space for plantations of the single type of crop. Now, efforts led by Yanto Santosa, a professor at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, are pushing for oil palms to be labeled as forest crops rather than agricultural crops.

This reclassification would mean palm oil companies could plant oil palms in forested areas, because this action would no longer be considered deforestation, despite the fact that native plants would be removed to produce palm oil instead.

There are currently about 16.4 million hectares of palm oil plantations in Indonesia, and if the reclassification proposal is accepted, all of that deforestation would be classified as reforestation, despite decades of land clearing. The Bogor Institute of Agriculture also claims that reclassifying oil palm planting as reforestation would help the environment. According to the school of forestry dean Naresworo Nugroho, these oil palms would absorb 57.2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per hectare per year.

While oil palms do store carbon, their impact pales in comparison to natural forests ability to sequest carbon. According to Mongabay, the deforestation required to establish a palm oil plantation releases more carbon emissions than the new oil palms can store. Over the course of two decades, oil palm plantations store 50% to 90% less carbon than the native forest.

Indonesia has about 125.9 million hectares zoned as forested areas, which are protected from deforestation. If a palm oil company wants to clear these protected areas to establish a plantation, they need to convince the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to delist certain forest plots.

However, under the new proposal, palm oil companies could skip this step and could start clearing forested land under the classification of planting forest crops.

Oil palm entering forest area will speed up the loss of natural forests, said Teddy Rusolono, a professor of forest management at Bogor Institute of Agriculture. According to Rusolono, Indonesias deforestation rate is already high, let alone if oil palm is officially categorized as a forest crop. This will be very dangerous.

Based in Los Angeles, Paige is a writer who is passionate about sustainability. Aside from writing for EcoWatch, Paige also writes for Insider, HomeAdvisor, Thrillist, EuroCheapo, Eat This, Not That!, and more. She earned her Bachelors degree in Journalism from Ohio University and holds a certificate in Womens, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She also specialized in sustainable agriculture while pursuing her undergraduate degree. When shes not writing, Paige enjoys decorating her apartment, enjoying a cup of coffee and experimenting in the kitchen (with local, seasonal ingredients, of course!).
A multi-million euro demand against Spain for the malignant action by the so-called "patriotic police" of the Popular Party (PP). The brothers Higini and Ramon Cierco, owners of Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA), are demanding that the Bank of Spain compensate them with a total of 141 million euros for bringing about the liquidation of Banco Madrid, which they owned. The Bank of Spain took this action on the grounds of alleged money laundering irregularities, which have been denied by the courts. However, the intervention in the bank also took place at the same time as the bank directors were receiving pressure from the PP's patriotic police to reveal if key Catalan politicians had accounts in Andorra and thus tarnish the pro-independence cause - a part of the Operation Catalonia dirty war.

A screenshot had been illegally obtained of the BPA account in Andorra held by the family of the former Catalan president, Jordi Pujol - an account he had not declared to the Spanish treasury and attributes to a inheritance that grandfather Florenci Pujol left to the president's wife, Marta Ferrussola, and their seven children. This money, about four million euros, was initially in Banca Reig, which became Andbank and in 2010 invited the Pujol family to leave the bank; the sum went to the BPA. In response to developments, president Pujol confessed to the existence of the hidden money in July 2014. The denouement of the operation against BPA occurred in March 2015 when the Spanish state warned the US Treasury of a supposed risk posed by the Andorran bank, in turn affecting Banco Madrid, which the BPA had acquired in 2010.

No irregularities

The lawsuit, filed in an administrative disputes chamber of Spain's National Audience, details in 149 pages all the difficulties experienced by the bank, and blames the Bank of Spain for causing a run on funds (20% of the total), when the intervention was announced, which led to the liquidation and bankruptcy of the bank, for which Spanish public prosecutors wanted the financial institution to be declared "guilty". But the judge ruled that out and indicated that, rather, it was "fortuitous" in the absence of government action. The intervention in Banco Madrid caused many clients to be left with their accounts blocked. Marta Ferrusola and three of her children had paid in 1.3 million euros to legalize and pay the fines to the Spanish treasury, and with the intervention they were only able to recover 100,000 euros each - like the rest of the bank clients.

The Bank of Spain rejected the massive claim made, and now the Cierco brothers (a total of four partners) are demanding the National Audience grant it. "The actions of the Bank of Spain caused them serious and illegal asset damages that they must not bear," affirms their lawyer, Jesus Rodriguez Marquez, maintaining that there is no statute of limitations on the matter as the criminal proceedings are continuing.

The claim sets out that in 2015, when the matter began, BPA was an Andorran bank focused on private activity operating in six countries (Andorra, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Panama and Uruguay), that its total assets were worth 1,985 million euros and its solvency ratio, according to the Basel III guidelines, was 15.38%. For its part, Banco Madrid was a private entity specializing in the management of large assets, owned by BPA, had about 15,000 customers, bad debt of less than 2%, and 695 million in deposits. The collapse of the bank was triggered, says the document, by the decision of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") of the United States Treasury Department because it considered BPA to be "a foreign financial institution which was a first-priority concern due to money laundering." It adds that in March 2015, the Bank of Spain agreed to financial intervention in Banco Madrid, after the Andorran National Institute of Finance (INAF) had agreed to intervention in the parent company.

The Cierco family states that the intervention and subsequent liquidation of Banco Madrid took place despite the fact that its liquidity and solvency situation were "much higher than the legal minimums required", and despite the fact that "more proportionate and less onerous measures" could have been applied. The argument adds that four and six years later, all the judicial and administrative proceedings initiated in relation to the breach of obligations in the matter of money laundering by Banco Madrid have concluded without the existence of any illicit sum having being declared by its administrators. It even adds that the administrative procedure initiated by SEPBLAC ended "with a waiver" with respect to all of the bank administrators. The latest resolution is dated August 18th, 2021.

For all of this, the owners of the defunct Andorran bank have taken out a suit against the Spanish state. The document explains that the amount claimed by each of the four partners has been calculated by multiplying the percentage holding of each of the members of Banco Madrid by both 100% of its theoretical book value (129 million euros) and 100% of the valuation obtained by the bank valuer (187 million). Thus, there are four claims of 3,932,000 euros and one of 129,805,000 euros.

Rajoy in Andorra

In Spain, for now, nothing connected to Operation Catalonia has been allowed to go to trial. Last November, the Drets legal body and the Andorran Institute of Human Rights (IDH) asked an Andorran judge to investigate the case of the alleged extortion of Banca Privada d'Andorra (BPA), in the context of Operation Catalonia, citing as defendants Mariano Rajoy, Cristobal Montoro and Jorge Fernandez Diaz as well as other members of the former interior ministry. In the event that they do not appear to testify, it demands that international arrest warrants be issued through Interpol.

Drets and the IDH want the judiciary to determine what role the Spanish and Andorran governments played in the liquidation of BPA and the pressure to access bank accounts which it claimed belonged to the Pujol family, Artur Mas and Oriol Junqueras. In October 2020, the judge admitted the complaint for alleged forgery of documents and coercion of constitutional bodies against the former Spanish prime minister. Former interior minister Fernandez Diaz is also considered the perpetrator of offences of threats, coercion, extortion and blackmail, along with former interior secretary Francisco Martinez Vazquez and former National Police director general Ignacio Cosido.
Washington, MO (63090)

Today

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 59F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 59F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Athens, AL (35611)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
The rationale and the implications of the now repealed Union Contract Farming Act of 2020 and its implications for farmers is the focus of this article. It highlights some major lacunae in it from a design and small farmer perspective informed by experience of contract farming in India. The article argues for better provisions to protect smallholder interests and the need to leverage contract farming for their development.

After more than a year since the agricultural market acts were brought in, first as ordinances in June 2020 and later as acts in September 2020, they have been repealed (GoI 2021). The enactment of these acts was accompanied by farmer protests for their repeal in Punjab since September 2020 which later spread to various states across north India with thousands of farmers putting up at the borders of Delhi for more than a year. After many rounds of talks between the government and the farmer unions, there was a deadlock for more than nine months. Meanwhile, hundreds of farmers lost their lives in this protest. Though there were two new acts, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 (commonly known as the Contact Farming Act, 2020) besides the amendment (2020) to the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955, the Contract Farming Act, 2020 was the most controversial as it led to farmer concerns and fears about their land being under threat and the likely corporatisation of agriculture if this act was enforced.

Contract faming has been in practice in India since the 1960s in the seed production sector across states and in other farm products in many states like Punjab, and Haryana since the 1990s with the Pepsi Foods undertaking tomato, chilly, and potato contract farming. Today the practice of contract farming across crops, states and agencies (public, private and multinational) in India is widespread covering dozens of crops and livestock products with hundreds of contract farming projects or schemes, mostly by private domestic and multinational corporations for domestic processing or for export.
Caste consciousness imposes moral limits on preferential hiring in the mid-day meal schemes.

Various state governments, for the last several years, have introduced the mid-day meal scheme for school children to provide them with nutritious food and ensure their physical retention in the classroom. It was also intended that such a scheme would contribute to the food economy of the needy households. However, as the media reports and several ground-level studies show, such a scheme, though useful, has been a cause for maintaining caste hierarchy that is mediated through the social construction of children, who otherwise are considered to be ethically innocent of caste consciousness.

The recent mid-day meal controversy that occurred in a government school from a district in Uttarakhand has once again brought forth the problem of caste discrimination against a Dalit woman who, as the media reports suggest, was first appointed and immediately dismissed from the job of a bhojanmata or a mid-day meal cook. The job of a bhojanmata was reportedly then given to an upper-caste woman. However, after determined protests by the aggrieved Dalit woman, the promise to restore her job seems to have been given.
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The raid on the houses of the opposition leaders just before the forthcoming elections conveys the most obviousit has a political connotation. The opportune timing of the raids is seen by many as an unusual move; they are unusual for two reasons. First, the investigating agencies do not seem to be following the systemic mechanism to detect, from time to time, the meteoric accumulation of property and wealth that would lead such agencies to consider a phenomenal growth in some suspected persons income beyond the known sources of income. But the recent raids that the central agencies conducted do not seem to follow the normal space of investigation, which is why the spectacle of a raid leads to suspicion. Second, the politics of using the trope of honesty, in its very logic, foregrounds the first point, in the sense that it facilitates the intensification of raids on the election eve and the electoral opponents being its exclusive target.

However, although the ruling party does not openly vouch for the restoration of the virtue of honesty in Indian politics, but, by implication, it might suggest that it really cares for the promotion of such a virtue. If it is the value of honesty that is at stake and hence the raids, then it becomes absolutely necessary to find out in what political condition the value of honesty goes for a toss? However, if the raids are politically motivated, then it requires no reiteration that the value of honesty goes for a toss. The ruling partys attempt at raids do produce honesty as a moral category, which has meaning only for certain sections such as the middle class. Thus, the narrative of honesty is used by the ruling party to electorally target the middle-class constituency on priority. However, the moral meaning of honesty does not seem to have any serious meaning for the members from the ruling dispensation. The ruling party thus imposes on certain sections of the people the moral weight of honesty as the supreme value, while at the same time, it escapes from the moral scrutiny that is internal to the value of honesty. The politics of honesty as a value worth adoring involves the ruling partys design to create in the opponent a corrupt figure who, hence, is morally fallen.
Sometimes, book clubs are spaces where the privileged come to feel less guilty about their power.

When Article 370 of the Constitution of India was abrogated and agony swept through Kashmirits telephone lines cut, internet snapped, and the press strangledmy friends at the book club sang Habba Khatoons verses and discussed Basharat Peers Curfewed Night (2010) to simulate the experience of living in Kashmir. When Dalit boys were flogged to death for using the tube well in a Maratha locality or Dalit girls burnt at midnight to remove traces of a brutal gang rape, the bibliophiles debated exactly how casteist M K Gandhi was. Pogroms were rehearsed and executed, minarets pulled down and replaced with saffron flags, and migrant workers died of heat exhaustion while returning to their villages on foot, but nothing could keep the book club from organising its meetups. Blood continued to flow in the Jhelum as we read Lal Ded. Muslims were accused of corona jihad as we debated the correct interpretations of Faiz Ahmed Faizs poetry. George Floyds were lynched and Manisha Valmikis murdered one more time, but we kept dog-earing pages, correcting each others grammar, asking for book recommendations online.

Book readings, here, are cathartic, therapeutic sessions where the privileged come to feel less guilty about their power so that they can continue to keep it. They read books like Omprakash Valmikis Joothan (2003), sigh and allow it to cause them pain for the next few hours, weeping into their pillows over-analysing their nihilistic nightmares. Then they wake up and pick up the next book. The privileged read books to understand a slice of the experience of the marginalised and believe that the mere discovery (or acknowledgement) of it is activism. They dip their tongues into B R Ambedkars literature to get a taste of oppression and announce themselves as qualified enough to hold on to their stolen mics. These book clubs are self-congratulatory purgatories. They are medicinal moral-cleansing procedures of the ones whose fates are written from the blood of other communities. But activism does not end at awareness; revolution is not just a reading spree; equality cannot only be achieved by agreeing to disagree over political opinions on Facebook. The energy on paper is titillating, but it must materialise into actionallyship is not charity; someones tormenting emotional journey is not an opportunity for the rehabilitation of ones conscience.
Russia must respect the sovereignty of Kazakhstan, said the European Union, reacting to the deployment of Russian paratroopers (6 January) to quell a countrywide uprising after deadly violence spread across the tightly controlled former Soviet state. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, hand-picked by the former countrys strongman Nursultan Nazarbayev as his successor, called in forces from ally Russia overnight as part of a Moscow-led military alliance of ex-Soviet states. He blamed the unrest on foreign-trained terrorists who had seized buildings and weapons. The uprising began as protests over a fuel price hike on New Years Day. The situation spiraled rapidly as protestors stormed and torched public buildings, resulting to many casualties, both civilian and state security forces. An EU spokesperson said that Kazakhstans independence must be respected, adding that the violence must be stopped. We are also calling for restraint from all parties and a peaceful resolution of the situation. Now obviously, the EU is ready and willing to support dialogue in the country,

The crisis in the Central Asian former Soviet republic fuses geopolitical issues across Eurasia, from Moscows efforts to cow the West and subjugate Ukraine to its delicate relationship with China  and the implications are enormous, argues John E. Herbst, a senior director of the Atlantic Councils Eurasia Center and former US ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan. He explains that Putins current focus on Ukraine is not meant to come at the expense of his other geopolitical objectives in Eurasia. To the extent possible, he would like to restore Kremlin influence across the territory of the former Soviet Union.  [But] the unrest in Kazakhstan poses a question for Putin: Should he continue his intimidation campaign on his western flank, or should he address the dangers to his south? Or can he do both? At the moment, Putin is trying to have his cake and eat it too.

Deutsche Welles correspondent Andrey Gurkov agrees, saying that The Kazakhstan crisis makes war in Ukraine less likely. If Russia were to insist on taking back Ukraine, it would lose Kazakhstan. He argues that as Russia must now dedicate much more attention to its southern neighbor, Kazakhstan, Russian military operation on Ukrainian territory has now become less likely. Another reason is that Russian military intervention could lead to domestic instability inside Russia similar to the unrest unfolding in Kazakhstan. Herbst adds that if Russian-led operation in Kazakhstan fails, Putin may face a dilemma. Moscows pre-buildup situation in Ukraine was a stalemate; in Kazakhstan, Moscows position in Central Asia would deteriorate if a popular revolt produces a reform-minded government, or if Tokayev calls on China and the SCO for help to stay in power, he writes. The question then becomes: Would Putin pull troops from Ukraines border to deal with disorder in Kazakhstan and enhance Russias standing in Central Asia?  The stakes for Putin are large in both Kazakhstan and Ukraine  but it may prove difficult for the arch opportunist to successfully attend to both at the same time.
Saturday, January 8, 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)

Some crisis situations happen accidently, while others are accidently prevented. The latter appeared to be the case when, according to news reports, an Amazon Alexa device recommended the site of a lethal viral challenge to an inquisitive 10-year-old child.

According to 9to5Mac.com, "an Alexa device [was] encouraging a ten-year-old to participate in the penny challenge, where you use a penny to touch the prongs of a plug connected to a wall outlet."

Fortunately for all concernedincluding Amazonthe child's parent intervened to prevent what could have been a headline-making crisis for the online retailer.

'Pulled From The Web'

9to6Mac.com noted that, "The Alexa device pulled the information about this challenge (which is obviously dangerous, and should not be attempted) from the web, as it often does when asked questions.

"In response to the child's question to "tell me a challenge to do," the Alexa Echo said 'Here's something I found on the web. According to ourcommunitynow.com: The challenge is simple: plug in a phone charger about halfway into a wall outlet, then touch a penny to the exposed prongs.'

The New York Post reported that, "Ironically, the article that Alexa generated the suggestion from actually cautions parents against letting their children participate in the asinine pastime."

According to Amazon, Alexa uses Bing as the default search engine for all of her queries and the company asks users to help improve answers, the newspaper said. "Our customers want Alexa to get smarter and more helpful to them every day," the site notes. "To do that, we use your requests to Alexa to train our speech recognition and natural language understanding systems using machine learning."

Amazon's Statement About Referral To Viral Challenge

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement today that, "Customer trust is at the center of everything we do and Alexa is designed to provide accurate, relevant, and helpful information to customers. As soon as we became aware of this error, we quickly fixed it, and will continue to advance our systems to help prevent similar responses in the future."

Not The First Viral Challenge

The so-called outlet challenge to which the child was directed is certainly not the first dangerous viral challenge and will likely not be the last.

In 2018, Tide had to contend with the pod challenge. As the Washington Post reported at the time, "... videos circulating on social media are showing kids biting into brightly colored liquid laundry detergent packets. Or cooking them in frying pans, then chewing them up before spewing the soap from their mouths."

Uncertain Origins

"It's not certain how the Tide pod fad got started. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning to parents several years ago about the liquid laundry detergent packets. The agency said the capsuleswhich are colorful, squishy and smell goodare attractive to young children but contain 'highly concentrated, toxic detergent' that can cause harm."

In response to the speeding popularity of the dangerous stunt, David Taylor, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, said in a statement, that, "The possible life altering consequences of this act, seeking internet fame, can derail young people's hopes and dreams and ultimately their health.

"Ensuring the safety of the people who use our products is fundamental to everything we do at P&G. However, even the most stringent standards and protocols, labels and warnings can't prevent intentional abuse fueled by poor judgment and the desire for popularity."

Advice For Business Leaders

Respond Publicly

Allie Martin is the founder and CEO of Fame and Fortune Brand Management, a public relations and social media agency, and teaches social media and public relations courses at Midway University in Midway, Kentucky. She said that, "Companies that have found themselves involved, whether by choice or involuntarily, in viral social media challenges must respond publicly as soon as possible.

"In many instances, these viral challenges can provide harm to the participants and that can quickly create negative PR for your company. I advise companies to put a statement out on all their social media channels stating that they do not advise consumers to participate in these challenges," Martin said.

Communicate

"Additionally, putting a pop-up on your website and sending an email to your email list is also advisable. In extreme situations, a press release should be distributed if additional comments from leadership can be shared," she counseled.

"Overall, do not make light of the topic, as you want these warnings to be taken seriously. Also, don't assume these challenges will just 'go away.' The timeliness of your statement can be the determining factor in this being a PR nightmare or not," Martin concluded.
A bookkeeper who stole $1.8 million from a San Antonio law firm where she worked for nearly 10 years has entered into a civil court agreement to repay her former employer.

An agreed judgment signed by state District Judge Cathleen Stryker this week allows Shelton & Valadez to recover the roughly $1.8 million Irene M. Scott misappropriated. Post-judgment interest will accrue at 5 percent a year until the amount is paid.

The firm can take the roughly $69,000 Scott had in her 401(k) retirement plan at the law firm. She also is on the hook to repay about $86,600 in attorneys fees the firm incurred in the litigation.

The judgment doesnt end Scotts legal troubles. She pleaded guilty to bank fraud and three counts of wire fraud. Sentencing is set for Jan. 25 in San Antonio federal court.

Bank fraud carries up to 30 years in prison, while each wire fraud count carries up to 20 years in prison. Each of the offenses also carries a maximum fine of $1 million. As part of her plea, she has agreed to make restitution.

On ExpressNews.com: Longtime employee of San Antonio law firm pleads guilty to stealing almost $1.7 million.

Just how much Shelton & Valadez expects to actually recover couldnt be determined. The law firms manager didnt respond to a query. Scotts civil lawyer also did not reply to an email seeking comment.

Scott, 42, worked at Shelton & Valadez from 2011 until early 2020 when the firm terminated her.

As bookkeeper and financial administrator, Scott prepared financial reports for the firms partners  including statements and invoices for vendors and accounts payable. She also oversaw issuing credit cards to the firms associates and employees.

According to the judgment, Scott made about $360,000 in unauthorized purchases on the firms business credit card from late 2012 through through June 2016.

In June 2016, she opened a new credit card in the firms name and used it to make about $739,000 in unauthorized purchases up until her firing.

Scott also charged about $183,700 on a credit card that was issued to an employee and should have been closed when the employee left the firm.

On ExpressNews.com: Former office manager sentenced to 46 months for bilking San Antonio medical practice

In addition, Scott fraudulently wrote herself more than $414,000 in checks from the firm. In the firms financial records, she characterized them as vendor payments. She endorsed the checks with signature stamps used by name partner Robert Valadez and other members of the firm to sign letters.

Scott also made at least $71,278 in fraudulent draws on a firm line of credit and checking account, the judgment said.

Shelton & Valadez obtained a permanent injunction against Scott and her husband that prevents them from disposing of any property purchased with the stolen funds, including a 2015 camping trailer.

After her initial court appearance in May, Scott was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond.

Her bond was revoked and she was arrested in August for allegedly violating the terms of her release. She fraudulently claimed unemployment and obtained weekly payments from the Texas Workforce Commission, federal prosecutors said in a court filing.

Scott has been in custody since her August arrest.

pdanner@express-news.net
San Antonio artists are raising the alarm about a recommendation to drop public art funding from one of the citys proposed 2022 bond measures.

The suggestion came from a community committee reviewing the drainage and flooding segment of the bond package. Members said every cent should go toward those projects because flood control is a public safety issue.

Its a slippery slope, said Bill FitzGibbons, an artist wo has created public art projects around the world. If you take public art away from drainage, why not streets?

The City Council is putting together a $1.2 billion program that will go to voters in May. It will fund streets, parks, housing and other facilities as well as drainage projects. Community committees have been meeting since October to discuss how the money should be spent.

FitzGibbons is the driving force behind a campaign to push back against the possible loss of funding. He said he agrees that drainage is important, but the arts are important, too.

He and his fellow artists are writing and calling council members to express their support for public art and encouraging others to do the same. They also plan to attend a Jan. 12 session in which the community committees recommendations will be presented to the City Council.

On ExpressNews.com: Heres how San Antonians want 2022 bond money spent

I dream of us all coming out and standing up for public art so that it goes down into the city archive that all of these people stood up for public art and for artists , said artist Kim Bishop, who is currently working on a project with her partner Luis Valderas funded as part of a 2017 bond measure for drainage.

At a Dec. 15 meeting of the drainage committee, some of the members said the amount allocated in the bond was not enough to meet the citys needs. They recommended putting the almost $2.5 million slated for public art as part of the measure into drainage projects instead.

Recommendations from community committees are part of the citys process of developing bond measures. For the $1.2 billion 2022 package, committees reviewed city staff recommendations that allot $165 million for drainage, $273.5 million for parks, $477 million for streets, $134 million for city facilities and $150 million for housing.

The process has not ended, said Krystal Jones, interim director of the citys Department of Arts and Culture. Council can accept the (committees) recommendations or they can change the recommendations. Theyre the final say.

The budget for each measure includes money for public art.

A city ordinance passed in 2011 requires that 1 percent of the budget for all capital projects be earmarked for art. The 2022 bond measures raise the amount to 1.5 percent, a change that was made at the behest of Jones and her staff.

There was a feeling that this was a great time to start talking about making more investment in art, especially because art did get us through the pandemic, she said.

Jones added that work on public art pieces has continued throughout the public health crisis.

The City Council will vote to approve the project list on Feb. 10. The bond is slated to go to voters on May 7.

Public art funded by the percent-for-art program must be in proximity to whatever project the money comes from, Jones said, explaining that means that it has to be visible from the project site.

Among the public artworks created as part of drainage projects are George Schroeders Tribute to Freedom, a 75-foot-tall aluminum and steel piece that can be found at 6982 W. U.S. 90; Bloom, Leticia Huertas installation of giant flowers at McAllister Park; and Leon Creek Crossing, Barbara Grygutis illuminated aluminum sculptures that arch over a bridge at 6624 W. Hausman Road.

On ExpressNews.com: Leticia Huertas giant flowers to bloom all over the city

Former Mayor Phil Hardberger supports the push to keep percent-for-art in place as well as the proposed increase. He said public art improves quality of life and also is a selling point for visitors and potential transplants.

If we want to get people to come to San Antonio, if we want new businesses here, make it beautiful, Hardberger said. Make it the most beautiful place in Texas. Youll get so many people you wont know what to do with them.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
Reports that Texas National Guard soldiers deployed to Gov. Greg Abbotts highly touted border security mission are experiencing pay delays and poor working conditions  and that some have recently died by suicide  are drawing concern from state lawmakers.

Over the past three months, the Army Times has chronicled habitual pay problems for soldiers on the mission and reported on suicides by soldiers tied to the mission. On Tuesday, Allen West, a GOP candidate for governor, criticized Abbotts handling of the mission and called on the Texas Military Departments top leader to resign. West, a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, said soldiers had also reached out to him about unsanitary conditions in camps and a lack of proper equipment.

In a written statement attributed to the Texas Military Departments public affairs staff, the department said only two of the four soldiers who died by suicide reported by the Army Times in December were on orders in support of Operation Lone Star. The department did not specify which soldiers were not on orders.

One solider whose death was reported by the Army Times was denied a hardship release, according to the publication. Another was on temporary hardship waiver when he died, the Army Times reported.

More Information For 24/7 mental health support in English or Spanish, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's free help line at 800-662-4357. You can also reach a trained crisis counselor through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 800-273-8255 or texting 741741. See More Collapse

It would be a grave assumption to tie these unfortunate incidents to OLS mission as there are many variable which leads to suicide, the departments statement read.

One suicide within our ranks is one too many, and we all grieve for those who are left behind. In such complex situations, a persons decision to take this desperate measure is again, the result of numerous factors, the statement said. The Texas Military Department takes pride in the robust set of services available to help service members cope with personal challenges free-of-charge. The services include a resiliency and substance abuse prevention program, 24/7 behavioral health provider, a chaplain and medical health professional which are located in every OLS task force.

Last week, Brandon Jones, a spokesperson for the department, addressed other concerns about missing pay and proper equipment surfaced by media reports. He said all service members should be receiving paychecks and detailed pay stubs as of Tuesday. He also said the department was made aware of unsanitary conditions at some locations that did not have portable restrooms, but that the scope of the challenge is not large. He said the first wave of personnel may have faced austere conditions with limited resources, but the infrastructure is put into place over time and the department is working to address the issue.

Operation Lone Star began in March, when Abbott said he would deploy more resources from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to the Texas-Mexico border. The rapidly assembled border security operation seeks to stem a surge of crossings at the states southern border, with many migrants fleeing countries torn by some combination of violence, political turmoil and economic crisis.

Since announcing the initiative, Abbott, who is running for re-election this year, has repeatedly blamed President Joe Bidens less stringent immigration stance for a sharp increase in migrants seeking entry into the U.S.

Last year, the Legislature appropriated nearly $3 billion for border security. In a special session this past summer, lawmakers devoted $311 million to the Texas Military Department to send an additional 1,800 Texas National Guard soldiers to the border, bringing the total to 2,500. By November, Abbotts office boasted that 10,000 troops had been deployed to Operation Lone Star.

But state Sen. Cesar Blanco, an El Paso Democrat who served in the Navy, said he is concerned that soldiers were not being given hardship releases and were being activated involuntarily after having served on other missions related to COVID-19, beginning in 2020.

Most of these folks are prior service or have agreed to serve part-time. But these deployments both with Operation Lone Star and COVID  these guys and gals are out there for three (consecutive) years, he said. Thats not what they signed up for. If they wanted to do that, they would have gone active duty.

Blanco also said he was concerned by the large pay discrepancy between being on state active duty for a state-ordered mission and a federal mission. He also said he was concerned with how long deployments affected soldiers retirement benefits and health insurance status.

These are the questions were asking, and I think some of these things the Legislature needs to address in the next legislative session, he said. In the meantime, these are things that can be addressed by leadership in the House, Senate and the governor, as well as members of committee that have oversight over the Texas Military Department.

The respective leaders of the House and Senate, Speaker Dade Phelan and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, did not respond to requests for comment.

Renae Eze, an Abbott spokesperson, said last week the governors office continues working with service leaders to ensure all who are deployed in Texas and overseas have the support they need to keep forging ahead and serve our great state and our nation.

Abbott has fielded attacks about his handling of the border from fellow Republicans challenging him in the March 1 GOP primary. That includes West, who retired from the military after he was investigated in 2003 for using improper methods to force information out of an Iraqi detainee. And Abbotts announcement last year that Texas would build its own border wall came after primary opponent Don Huffines launched his campaign proposing that.

The Texas Military Department cautioned that some of the soldier deaths reported by the Army Times are still open investigations, but a spokesperson told the news outlet: The loss of any service member is a tragedy and mitigating loss through enforcing safety protocols and ensuring resources that promote the total health of the force is something the Texas Military Department takes seriously.

State Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, said soldiers in the Texas National Guard are on the border because of the federal governments failure to curb an increase in immigration and they deserve the support of the state.

Any allegations of inadequate resources or working conditions must be taken very seriously, and as Chairman of the Senate Veteran Affairs & Border Security Committee, we are in direct contact with the Texas Military Department to ensure concerns raised are quickly and fully addressed so our heroes on the border know without a doubt that Texas has their backs, Hancock said in a statement.

State Rep. Richard Pena Raymond, D-Laredo, said he was concerned by reports in late December about suicides by soldiers tied to the mission and reached out to Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, the Texas National Guards top military leader. Raymond leads the House Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee, which oversees the military department.

I want to make sure that our guard are taken care of in terms of their health, in terms of their economic situation, Raymond said.

Norris told him that the Texas Military Department provides resources for mental health, Raymond said. He said he was also told that the department was fixing issues related to pay for soldiers.

Raymond said he was monitoring the situation and would call a legislative hearing if more needed to be done. But he said he trusted Norris leadership.

Gen. Norris is a good leader and if there are any issues, shell get them fixed, he said.

Jones, the military department spokesperson, also said that lodging for soldiers on the mission is in the process of being transformed to long-term deployment living conditions that soldiers have experienced during overseas deployments.

Austere conditions are a result of increasing the number of personnel from 1200 in June 2021 to approximately 10k in five months, he said in an email.

The department disputed claims that its soldiers were missing proper equipment on the mission.

Every Texas National Guard Service Member manning a security point on the Texas-Mexico border is equipped with the proper protective equipment and the appropriate amount of ammunition, Jones said.

Blanco, the El Paso Democrat, said he had also reached out to the Texas Military Department for more information after reports in the Army Times about soldiers suicides.

Its tragic that weve lost four soldiers, Blanco said. We need to make sure that the Texas Military Department is deploying mental health services to these regions to ensure that these guardsmen are doing OK.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Southside Independent School District ended the week with 24 percent of students missing classes after results from routine COVID-19 testing sent students home.

Out of 900 total staff members, the district had 157 of them out on Friday, including 100 teachers.

The total positivity rate for the entire district rose from less than 1 percent before the break to 3 percent this week.

On Wednesday we did our district-wide COVID testing and we saw an increase (on absences) on Thursday, once our students and staff found out they were sick, Superintendent Rolando Ramirez said Friday.

Ramirez estimated about half the absences are due to exposure or positive cases either at school or at home.

The increase in cases and exposures at Southside ISD  and districts across the region  comes as students and staff return to classes from the holidays and as the omicron variant takes a toll on case counts across the nation.

On Friday, the city of San Antonio reported 4,331 new COVID-19 cases, compared with 2,358 the day before. The seven-day average reached 3,620 by the end of the week, compared with 709 cases a week prior.

Before the holiday break, Southside ISDs attendance averaged 91 to 92 percent, Ramirez noted, adding that it all seemed to be returning to a calmer or more normal state before the holiday break and the arrival of the omicron variant.

It almost seems like a lifetime from last year to this year with things changing from one moment to the next, Ramirez said. It seemed like things were really coming back, and then coming in from the break it almost seems like we started back again.

Ramirez hopes many of the students and staff who hadnt returned this week at all may be able to come back by Monday, he said, if they test negative or have no symptoms.

But for now, students quarantining due to a positive test or exposure will be able to access virtual classes, and some already took learning packages home to continue their instruction, he said.

CORRECTION: This story was updated to correct the student attendance numbers for this week. An earlier version contained incorrect numbers provided by the district.

danya.perez@express-news.net | @DanyaPH
Stay out of the pecan trees.

In San Antonio, it's illegal to climb a pecan tree or throw stones into the tree for the purpose of gathering pecans. The portion of the city's municipal code dedicated to protecting pecans is not the only unusual or highly specific law.

Want to visit your local pet shop and purchase a panther, or an ostrich, or a miniature Vietnamese pot-bellied pig? Unfortunately, those animals are on the list of possible pets that the shops are not allowed to sell.

READ MORE: Can you recognize these famous San Antonio residents, when blurred?

The city's Code of Ordinances also provides lengthy explanations for the police's duties and the definition of public nudity.

A police officer can compel a citizen to assist them in making an arrest or putting out a fire. It's illegal to refuse.

To avoid an arrest for public nudity, make sure you're covering the "portion of the female breast that is situated below a point immediately above the top of the areola."

While some of these ordinances may not be regularly enforced, they remain on the books.

Click through the gallery above to see several strange San Antonio laws you might not know about.
An amber alert for Lina Sardar Khil, the 3-year-old girl missing for more than two weeks from a Northwest Side apartment, has been discontinued.

The Texas Department of Public Safety website updated the alert for Lina, listing it as discontinued around noon Friday.

Pamela Allen, CEO of Eagles Flight Advocacy and Outreach, said police have told her that the cancellation is procedural. Allen has maintained a supportive relationship with the family as police continue the search for Lina.

San Antonio police said Friday that the missing person case involving Lina remains an active investigation.

"We will continue to diligently continue combing through leads in hopes of locating Lina and reuniting her with her family," the department said in a statement.

On ExpressNews.com: As time goes on, Lina Khil's case seems more like an abduction

Officials said Amber Alerts are a tool used in investigations. The Amber Alert was activated as police requested help from multiple law enforcement agencies, who used "every reasonable resource available in locating Lina."

William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

"While the Amber Alert for Lina has been suspended, its critical to communicate that Lina is still a missing person and, once again, we continue to follow up on leads and actively search for Lina," officials said.

Police are asking anyone with information on Linas case to contact their missing persons unit at 210-207-7660 or Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867.

Lina was last seen around 5 p.m. on Dec. 20 at a playground of the Villas Del Cabo apartments, 9400 Fredericksburg Road.

Chief William McManus has previously said her case is being treated as a missing person and not an abduction.

There have been no major updates in the case since her disappearance.

On ExpressNews.com: Who are the ace FBI divers who searched for missing 3-year-old Lina Khil?

Police and FBI agents have searched all units in the apartment, as well as the surrounding areas and greenbelts around the apartment.

The FBI even brought in its Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team from Washington, D.C., which searched the creek near 5700 Babcock Road on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Police said a search of the creek did not yield conclusive evidence in Linas disappearance.

This is an ongoing news story and will be updated as more details become available.

jbeltran@express-news.net
What can you tell me about Montgomery Drug? It was at the corner of Olmos (Drive) and McCullough (Avenue). I understand that many years ago it had a shooting range and other diversions for the younger set and was more open than Laurel Heights Pharmacy.

 Jonathan Cluck

The two near North Side drugstores, both established in the early 20th century, had different images.

Laurel Heights was the elder of the two, founded in 1910 at Mistletoe Avenue and Howard Street  when it wasnt a sure thing that there would be enough suburban customers  and moving in 1923 to the purpose-built Gillmore Building at Mistletoe and Main Avenue. Think of this drugstore as a Gibson Girl illustration, a proper, indoor environment with a marble-countered soda fountain. Women of leisure visited for cool drinks; parents could ply their children with Frozen Joys (chocolate-dipped cones) while they shopped for toiletries or sundries and former chemistry professor L.D. Gilmore, pharmacist and owner, filled their prescriptions. The pharmacy also added fine foods (lots of salads) and air conditioning that drew customers inside and kept them there to bask in the comfortable, healthful atmospheric conditions.

Montgomerys drugstore came along in the Roaring 20s, and quickly evolved a personality to match. It was a new business in a new place to do business. In 1926, former insurance agent Dee Montgomery bought a piece of property at McCullough Avenue and Robinson Road (later an extension of Olmos Drive) that was cleared for building by the completion of the flood-retaining Olmos Dam. At 3201 McCullough Ave., he built a two-story stone, tile and stucco building  business on the ground floor, apartments on top and, as it turned out, partying on the side. Think of this drugstore as a John Held flapper cartoon, a place for young people to let loose.

On ExpressNews.com: Exploring the history of Los Patios, San Antonios enchanted forest

With his wife, Maybelle Stanfield, an English teacher at Brackenridge High School, Montgomery opened his self-named store in 1927 on the very edge of the developed area, as noted in a historical article in the San Antonio Light, March 29, 1959, and soon turned it into a magnet for young San Antonians who would drive out to the sticks after the hotel roof dances at the Gunter and the St. Anthony to meet and greet.

Teens from every San Antonio high school, public and private, pulled up to the drive-in at Montys, as they called it, to enjoy each others company over steak sandwiches and frozen milkshakes. There was a dance pavilion, and there were fistfights  over cars and girls  and a brief vogue for egg fights, waged by two jellybean armies of goofy young men.

Montgomerys drugstore didnt advertise much; it didnt have to. No regular drive-in place in town got bigger play, said the Light, Jan. 28, 1962.

Hundreds showed up on Friday and Saturday nights during Montys 1930s heyday, calling out for their favorite carhop waiters, who went by nicknames  Pharoah, Rabbit, Rowboat and Showboat. Sometimes theyd throw in a little song and dance to coax dime tips from young diners. In the background, the next wave of customers honked their horns to encourage parked drivers to free up a space. At least once, kids let armadillos loose in the store.

After the Montgomerys first year at 3201 McCullough Ave., Maybelle quit teaching to work at the store full time  as cashier, sales clerk and buyer. Her expertise, which included degrees from the University of Texas and Columbia University Teachers College, probably contributed to the stores appeal.

The couple made countless lasting friendships with the youngsters who frequented Montys, the 1962 Light story said, quoting Mrs. Montgomery: They would tell us their problems, their dreams, their plans for marriage. Sometimes when a couple would become engaged, we would be the first to hear.

On ExpressNews.com: It was on, baby  burning rubber during San Antonios street racing heyday

Dee retired in 1945; the store stayed open briefly under his wifes management but had lost some of its luster during the gas-rationing years of World War II and closed permanently.

When Dee died at 70 of a heart attack, his obituary in the Light, Feb. 22, 1957, recognized him as one of the first developers of business property in Olmos Park. Maybelle lived to be 110, passing away at home Sept. 22, 2006.

historycolumn@yahoo.com | Twitter: @sahistorycolumn | Facebook: SanAntoniohistorycolumn
At Mitchell Lake, on the South Side between Loop 410 and U.S. 281, thousands of birds soak in the morning sun. Lounging in the water, flocking in neat formations and snapping up little bugs for breakfast, nearly 350 species have found a home among the reeds and fish this month.

For some of them, its an unusual sight this time of year. White-faced ibis are not supposed to be here anymore, nor is the American coot or the northern shoveler. These waterfowl, who came from the northern parts of the United States and Canada, normally keep moving south for the winter  past San Antonio and into Central America during their migration.

This winter is different, however. Warmer than average weather patterns throughout December and so far in January have been so comfortable for some birds that theyve decided to stay and scope it out, said Sara Beesley, director of the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center, a national environmental organization for the conservation of birds and their habitats.

With San Antonio being on the central flyway for neotropical migratory birds, 95 percent of birds flying north to south pass through this area on their way to warmer weather for the winter each year. The reverse pattern brings them here again when they fly north later in the year.

And when regular weather patterns are altered, such as being cold or warm for longer than usual, migratory patterns change with it.

San Antonio is literally like a rest stop for birds as they are flying down south or up north, Beesley said. When the weather changes, birds will hop on that flyway heading in either direction, so depending on the weather, they may migrate a little bit earlier or later, or just hang out.

A mix of birds

William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

The white-faced ibis  a red and brown waterfowl with a long beak  typically stops in San Antonio for a few days, but this year several of them have been at Mitchell Lake for more than six weeks. Currently, the count is 60.

Other waterfowl, such as the American coot and the northern shoveler, are even more numerous. About 600 coots were spotted as of Jan. 5, with no pressing reason to leave soon.

Its like why bother looking for housing somewhere else when they have it all right here, Beesley said.

Along with unusually warm weather, short-lived cold fronts that come through San Antonio also move birds around in flocks. The chilly weather that came through early last week is an example of that.

On ExpressNews.com: The birds and the bond: SAWS, Texas Audubon seek 2022 bond money for South Side lake

A recent bird count by the Mitchell Lake Audubon Society found that the recent cold front brought more birds from the north into the city, creating swarms of birds fluttering around the San Antonio River and other natural areas. The birds  mostly songbirds and an immense number of grackles  rode the cold weather winds from upstate or Oklahoma into warmer weather.

At the same time, some birds left the city when it got cold, heading to Mexico or farther south.

It depends on the bird, Beesley said. If its below 40 degrees for just a few days, the birds may stick around until its warm again, but if its cold for a week or more, the birds will take off.

During the winter storm last February, most birds flew south when they sensed the weather was too cold for them, while a few were found frozen to death.

The recent cold front was too short to prompt mass migration, Beesley said.

But if we see more cold days ahead, the water fowl that are hanging around in the San Antonio heat will begin to head south as well like they usually do, she said.

Looking ahead

William Luther /San Antonio Express-News

As climate changes around the world and in San Antonio, the migratory patterns of birds will continue to shift.

South and Central Texas are expected to heat up, according to climate research, significantly affecting the habitats and food sources for birds. Already, Beesley has seen the effect at Mitchell Lake with a different variety of birds coming through due to the changing climate.

As global temperatures increase, the migratory paths of some birds might end in San Antonio because the weather farther south is too hot. And if this area heats up further, too, the birds might leave again.

Bugs, such as caterpillars and butterflies, are widespread at Mitchell Lake and provide the biggest food source for birds. With extreme heat, the plants and berries that the bugs depend on shrivel up, causing the bugs to die and the birds to lose their food.

The birds will then have to find another home with cooler temperatures, Beesley said, but they might go too far north and inadvertently freeze in search of food.

Recently, a bat falcon  normally indigenous to Mexico and South America  was found as far north as the Rio Grande Valley because of the high temperatures.

Ranges are expanding for some and shrinking for others, Beesley said. Thats the biggest thing, right? As the climate changes, were seeing the general pattern shift.

Elena Bruess writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. elena.bruess@express-news.net
The Dec. 13 meeting of the NEISD school board was one of the most discouraging and encouraging public events that Ive seen recently.

It was discouraging because it showed how well-intentioned school administrators can get manipulated by a cynical politician.

It was encouraging because it showcased students who were more perceptive and courageous than the adults who run the district.

The issue at hand was NEISDs decision to temporarily pull 414 books from its libraries for review. Those books were taken from a list of 850 titles that state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, deemed objectionable.

On Oct. 25, Krause, the chairman of the House Committee on General Investigating, sent a letter to Texas school superintendents, asking for the following information: how many copies of each book on his list they had in their libraries, the campus locations for those books, and the amount of money the district spent for those books.

Krause also asked superintendents to identify any other books dealing with material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.

Most school districts greeted Krauses letter with the silent contempt that it deserved. But not NEISD.

I want to state that we are not banning books, Superintendent Sean Maika assured irate students and parents at the Dec. 13 meeting. While the Krause list may be politically motivated, our review is not.

Maika was either unwilling or unable to recognize that the issue was bigger than the final tally of which books ended up being returned to the library shelves.

By honoring Krauses list, NEISD danced to the tune of a demagogue.

Imagine for a second that Joseph McCarthy, at the height of his red-scare powers in the early 1950s, sent a letter to the superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District, seeking information about district employees who he suspected had communist sympathies.

Even if none of those employees got fired, if the district provided McCarthy with the information he wanted, they would have been complicit in his twisted crusade of suppression.

The NEISD board was briefed on Dec. 13 by Rick Lopez, the school districts attorney, who assured trustees that the district was not engaging in viewpoint discrimination.

The district didnt have to engage in viewpoint discrimination. They let Krause do it for them.

The students and parents who spoke at the meeting understood what Maika and Lopez seemed to miss.

I think the concern that youre hearing, one mother (and former NEISD student) said, is that Rep. Krauses list is the jumping-off point for this review.

Motioning to the students in attendance, she said, These are our future leaders and they need to have these different voices and these different perspectives if theyre going to lead in a multicultural society.

Krauses list was remarkable for the brazen way it targeted books that dare to examine race relations, womens rights and LGBTQ issues.

In Krauses world, a book about the late, great gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk is not suitable material for public-school students. Krause also wants to keep the work of Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of our most incisive analysts on the issue of race in America, out of the hands of our kids.

He doesnt want students reading a book that humanizes Matthew Shepard, a gay 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death in 1998 by hateful bigots.

He doesnt want them to read a book examining the history of the Roe v. Wade decision or a graphic-novel recasting of Margaret Atwoods dystopian feminist classic, The Handmaids Tale.

Krause doesnt want our kids to be introduced to concepts that might make them uncomfortable. But the truth, by its nature, makes us uncomfortable. Confronting uncomfortable truth enables us to grow.

Practically every great book Ive ever read has disrupted my prevailing set of assumptions and jarred me from my complacency. Thats what literature is supposed to do.

Should Texas students be prevented from reading about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, because some of them, to borrow Krauses terminology, might feel guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress about the fact that the shooting happened in their home state?

NEISD administrators failed to understand that Krause and his fellow Texas Republicans are part of a national trend to whitewash history and exile the LGBTQ community to the margins of our society.

Dwight Eisenhower put it well in a 1953 speech criticizing those, like McCarthy, who wanted to purge our libraries of provocative content.

Dont think you can cure something by hiding the evidence of it, he said.

To put it another way, if Texas Republicans are afraid of ideas that contradict their worldview, they must not have much faith in their worldview.

ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
I walked into the U.S. penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., in fall 1978 facing a challenge  to teach a college course on criminology to federal prisoners.

They were enrolled in the educational outreach program offered by the University of Kansas. I was a graduate student in sociology.

The classroom was traditional: Desks, lectern and blackboard. The class had 25 students. I taught there for the next two years, a different sociology course every semester, one night a week.

My guys were like students everywhere. Some were good students, others less so.

One of the very best was Richard Tony Hughes, a Native American from Arizona who had committed a serious crime on a reservation and was given a life sentence. We became friends.

Richard earned his bachelors degree from KU while in prison. He then enrolled in KUs graduate program and began work on his masters degree.

My wife and I moved to San Antonio in 1981, but I stayed in close contact with Richard. There were frequent letters and monthly phone calls.

Then, in the early 80s, he was transferred to the federal correctional institution in Bastrop. Now, I could make the drive and visit in person three or four times a year. My wife and daughter went a few times, too.

Richard finished his masters degree in the late 80s, and we went to Bastrop for his academic hooding ceremony with another of his teachers from KU. Afterward, there was a powwow and we all ate buffalo meat, corn on the cob and fried bread.

Richard became an example of responsibility and a mentor to younger Native American prisoners, providing lessons on their culture, history, art and tribal rituals.

As the years went by, friends would ask me if hed ever get out. I would say, You hope for the best but expect the worst. The years accumulated.

Over time, Richard was transferred to the federal medical center in Fort Worth, to the federal prison complex in Beaumont, and then back to Bastrop.

I went to see him in each place.

In 2017, he was moved to Fort Worth. I testified at his parole hearing in 2018, and the examiner recommended parole. The U.S. Parole Commission said no to the recommendation.

Richard persisted. He got another hearing, another favorable recommendation. This time, the commission reversed course and set Dec. 17, 2021, as his release date

He had been in prison for 45 years. I had been on the journey with him for 43.

Richard never had a single disciplinary infraction in those 45 years. He earned associate, bachelors and masters degrees while in prison. He had passed through countless prison programs, earning numerous awards.

It was past time for release.

So, eight days before Christmas, my wife and I, our daughter and Richards daughter, who was an infant when he went in but had stuck with her dad through all these years, waited for Richard outside the entrance to the prison in Fort Worth.

At 7:40 a.m. he came out the door, carrying 45 years of belongings.

Hugs and tears for all.

And then off to breakfast in a restaurant before his daughter drove him to his new home.

Richard now has a place to live, a job and a strong support group. He is going to be OK. In fact, hell be better than OK.

I will soon make the drive to see him. Meanwhile, Richard and I have talked on the phone. He sounds good.

I have thought about my 43 years with Richard and come to a few conclusions.

First, we all can be better than the worst thing we have ever done.

Second, do not abandon hope. Keep it alive and nourish it frequently.

Third, stick with your friends. Dont let them go.

If you have a family member or friend in prison, get on their mailing list and write to them. Get on their visiting list and go see them. You might be their link to a better life.

When Richard and I began our journey I was in my 20s and he was in his 30s. Now were both in our 70s.

It was past time to enter phase two of the journey.

Roger C. Barnes is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of the Incarnate Word.
Barbara F. Walter, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, has interviewed many people whove lived through civil wars, and she told me they all say they didnt see it coming. Theyre all surprised, she said. Even when, to somebody who studies it, its obvious years beforehand.

This is worth keeping in mind if your impulse is to dismiss the idea that America could fall into civil war again. Even now, despite my constant horror at this countrys punch-drunk disintegration, I find the idea of a total meltdown hard to wrap my mind around. But to some of those, like Walter, who study civil war, an American crackup has come to seem, if not obvious, then far from unlikely, especially since Jan. 6.

Two books out this month warn that this country is closer to civil war than most Americans understand.

In How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them, Walter writes, Ive seen how civil wars start, and I know the signs that people miss. And I can see those signs emerging here at a surprisingly fast rate.

Canadian novelist and critic Stephen Marche is more stark in his book, The Next Civil War: Dispatches From the American Future. The United States is coming to an end, Marche writes. The question is how.

In Torontos Globe and Mail, Thomas Homer-Dixon, a scholar who studies violent conflict, recently urged the Canadian government to prepare for an American implosion. By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence, he wrote. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship.

As John Harris writes in Politico, Serious people now invoke Civil War not as metaphor but as literal precedent.

Of course, not all serious people. Harvard political scientist Josh Kertzer wrote on Twitter that he knows many civil war scholars, and very few of them think the United States is on the precipice of a civil war. Yet even some who push back on civil war talk tend to acknowledge what a perilous place America is in. In the Atlantic, Fintan OToole, writing about Marches book, warns that prophecies of civil war can be self-fulfilling; during the long conflict in Ireland, he says, each side was driven by fear that the other was mobilizing. Its one thing, he writes, to acknowledge the real possibility that the U.S. could break apart and could do so violently. It is quite another to frame that possibility as an inevitability.

I agree with OToole that its absurd to treat civil war as a foregone conclusion, but that it now seems distinctly possible is still pretty bad. The fact that speculation about civil war has moved from the crankish fringes into the mainstream is itself a sign of civic crisis, an indication of how broken our country is.

The sort of civil war that Walter and Marche worry about wouldnt involve red and blue armies facing off on some battlefield. If it happens, it will be more of a guerrilla insurgency. As Walter told me, she, like Marche, relies on an academic definition of major armed conflict as one that causes at least 1,000 deaths per year. A minor armed conflict is one that kills at least 25 people a year. By this definition, as Marche argues, America is already in a state of civil strife. According to the Anti-Defamation League, extremists, most of them right-wing, killed 54 people in 2018 and 45 people in 2019. (They killed 17 people in 2020, a figure that was low due to the absence of extremist mass shootings, possibly because of the pandemic.)

Walter argues that civil wars have predictable patterns, and she spends more than half her book laying out how those patterns have played out in other countries. They are most common in what she and other scholars call anocracies, countries that are neither full autocracies nor democracies but something in between. Warning signs include the rise of intense political polarization based on identity rather than ideology, especially polarization between two factions of roughly equal size, each of which fears being crushed by the other.

Instigators of civil violence, she writes, tend to be previously dominant groups who see their status slipping away. The ethnic groups that start wars are those claiming that the country is or ought to be theirs, she writes. This is one reason, although there are violent actors on the left, neither she nor Marche believe the left will start a civil war. As Marche writes, Left-wing radicalism matters mostly because it creates the conditions for right-wing radicalization.

Its no secret that many on the right are both fantasizing about and planning civil war. Some of those who swarmed the Capitol a year ago wore black sweatshirts emblazoned with MAGA Civil War. The Boogaloo Bois, a surreal, violent, meme-obsessed anti-government movement, gets its name from a joke about a Civil War sequel. Republicans increasingly throw around the idea of armed conflict. In August, Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina said, If our election systems continue to be rigged and continue to be stolen, then its going to lead to one place and thats bloodshed, and suggested he was willing, though reluctant, to take up arms.

Citing the men who plotted to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Walter writes that modern civil wars start with vigilantes just like these  armed militants who take violence directly to the people.

There are parts of Walters argument that Im not quite convinced by. Consider, for example, Americas status as an anocracy. I dont dispute the political science measures she relies on to show the alarming extent of Americas democratic backsliding. But I think she underplays the difference between countries moving from authoritarianism toward democracy, and those going the other way. You can see why a country like Yugoslavia would explode when the autocratic system holding it together disappeared; new freedoms and democratic competition allow for the emergence of what Walter describes as ethnic entrepreneurs.

Its not clear, however, that the move from democracy toward authoritarianism would be destabilizing in the same way. As Walter acknowledges, The decline of liberal democracies is a new phenomenon, and none have fallen into all-out civil war  yet. To me, the threat of America calcifying into a Hungarian-style right-wing autocracy under a Republican president seems more imminent than mass civil violence. Her theory depends on an irredentist right-wing faction rebelling against its loss of power. But increasingly, the right is rigging our sclerotic system so that it can maintain power whether the voters want it to or not.

If outright civil war still isnt likely, though, it seems to me more likely than a return to the sort of democratic stability many Americans grew up with.

Marches book presents five scenarios for how this country could come undone, each extrapolated from current movements and trends. A few of them dont strike me as wholly plausible. For example, given the history of federal confrontations with the far right at Waco, Ruby Ridge and the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, I suspect an American president determined to break up a sovereign citizen encampment would send the FBI, not an Army general relying on counterinsurgency doctrine.

Yet most of Marches narratives seem more imaginable than a future in which Jan. 6 turns out to be the peak of right-wing insurrection, and America ends up basically OK. Its so easy to pretend its all going to work out, he writes. I dont find it easy.
Many Express-News readers had strong reactions and emotions a year ago as they witnessed the insurrection of Jan. 6 and the disruption of the Electoral College count to certify Joe Biden as president.

As we marked the one-year anniversary of the insurrection Thursday, I looked back at letters we published after the assault on our nations Capitol. The first letters were sent within hours of the attack.

In the aftermath of the attack, some of you expressed deep sadness and sought to put the insurrection into historical context.

Jan. 6, 2021, will forever be remembered as the saddest day for American democracy, wrote Abel Castilla.

Joe Henry Sanchez Sr. wrote: The insurrection Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol is the third-greatest American tragedy: Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and now the storming of the U.S. Capitol. So, so sad.

Many of you blamed then-President Donald Trump and his refusal to accept defeat.

G.L. Lamborn wrote: America has never in its history come so near to a fascist coup detat. President Donald Trumps use of lies, intimidation and crude threats, leading to violence in the Capitol, should be ample evidence for the American people that Trumpism aims at compelling American allegiance to one man  Trump  rather than loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. This is naked fascism.

John Francis wrote that Trump wouldnt back down from the Big Lie that the election was stolen: Even when calling for the rioters to go home, Trump still managed to again claim the election was fraudulent.

But Trump wasnt the only official to get blame. Some readers blamed members of Congress, including Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn.

Trump was not alone in inciting the insurrection, Martha Spinks wrote, because prominent Republicans did not push back against the lie of widespread voter fraud.

But Trump did not do his work just with that one speech. Hes been fueling these folks for years, Spinks wrote. Our Texas delegation  U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy  have been helping Trump feed this beast all along the way, and now they have lost control of it.

John Moore called for change in the Republican Party. It is time for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and others to denounce their support for President Donald Trump and reaffirm their allegiance to the United States of America, Moore wrote.

Nearly a year later, many writers were discussing accountability for those responsible for the insurrection, with a focus on the House Jan. 6 committee.

I was recently reminded of a quote often attributed to Ben Franklin in 1787 that is very applicable today. When asked what form of government he and the other founders were developing he said: A republic  if you can keep it. The Jan. 6 commission is trying to keep it and they deserve the cooperation of all patriots, Tom Hoskings, wrote in a letter we published in December.

Also in December, Pamela Wessel wrote, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn: What a sad and disgraceful lot this Republican Party has become. Your party. The party of insurrection. The party of lies and disinformation. The party of hypocrisy. The anti-democratic party working to repress the vote, nationwide. The party dismissing the Jan. 6 insurrection as just a walk in the park.

Writing helps us process events and emotions. Sharing our views is more than putting our voices out into the world  its building a conversation. We dont just submit letters and op-eds, we also read letters and op-eds from others.

Having conversations about the events of Jan. 6  whether through letters or in person  help us to process and begin national healing, so vital to our democracy. Please keep sharing your letters and thoughts with us.

mharris@express-news.net
Re: Would you help Afghan refugees? Other Views, Dec. 23:

New York Times columnist Farah Stockman reported on the commendable humanitarian efforts by the U.S. government, private sector, churches and citizens to welcome 74,000 Afghan asylum-seekers with open arms to prevent their persecution and possible death in their own country. They are based temporarily in military bases and may get benefits, such as subsidized health care.

One wonders why the same courtesy, respect and favored treatment is not extended to asylum-seekers from south of the border. Those neighbors are kept in Mexico in squalid camps, deprived of necessities and exposed to exploitation by criminal gangs. They should be afforded the same system of integration, and both groups can be trained to fill jobs in the wake of COVID-19.

This separate approach to the plight of our southern neighbors has to be a severe human rights violation of discrimination and immigration laws. It is a double standard, yet another example of the callous, inhumane treatment of unfortunate peoples by our insensible, incompetent and ignorant leaders.

George Farias

Cruz no heir apparent

Re: Cruz isnt exactly presidential front-runner, Metro, Wednesday:

Express-News columnist Gilbert Garcia explained why Sen. Ted Cruz he isnt the heir apparent in 2024.

Cruz recently remarked that if the House of Representatives turns Republican in 2022, it could impeach President Joe Biden. When Rep. Jamie Raskin of the House Select Committee heard this, he described it as pathetic to suggest impeaching someone just because you dont like them. Raskin added that Cruz is an embarrassment to Harvard Law School, where both had graduated.

Cruz continues to be an embarrassment to the state of Texas as well.

Barbara Moschner

Put virus war to rest

Our country is in a civil war, and its hard to believe. We still have those who choose to believe COVID-19 and its variants are a hoax or their body is strong enough to defend against it. The other side chooses to get the vaccine, wear the mask and believe this virus will take their life.

More than 800,000 people have died, and hospitals are getting overcrowded again. Lets put this war to rest. Learn to protect yourself and your family.

Fred Machado
WASHINGTON  After a day in the crosshairs of conservative commentators for calling Jan. 6 a violent terrorist attack, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was on Fox News Thursday night taking it all back.

It was a mistake to say that, Cruz said on Tucker Carlsons show, 24 hours after Carlson tore into Cruz and other Republicans for repeating the talking points that (Attorney General) Merrick Garland has written for them.

Cruz said he texted Carlson soon after the Wednesday evening segment aired, asking if he could go on the show again and explain that his phrasing was sloppy and it was, frankly, dumb.

BACKGROUND: Conservatives attacks on Sen. Ted Cruz underscore GOP infighting over Jan. 6 riot

As a result of my sloppy phrasing its caused a lot of people to misunderstand what I meant, Cruz said. What I was referring to was the limited number of people who engaged in violent attacks against police officers.

Remember, while thousands of people were standing up to defend this country on Jan. 6, at that exact moment I was standing on the Senate floor, objecting to the election results, demanding that we impanel an election commission to consider evidence of voter fraud, Cruz said. Of course, it would be ridiculous for me to be saying that the people standing up and protesting to follow the law were somehow terrorists.

Carlson said he didnt buy it, because Cruz never uses words carelessly.

I guess I just don't believe you, and I mean that with respect, he said.

The blowback from Carlson and others illustrated the tension within the GOP a year after the Capitol attacks, as many Republicans take care not to attack the former president or his supporters, who still hold remarkable sway within the party.

FLASHBACK: What Sen. Ted Cruz said as he led the Jan. 6 effort to block President Joe Bidens win

Cruz had repeatedly called it a terrorist attack before recanting Thursday.

What happened at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism, Cruz said in an interview with Hearst Newspapers two days after the riot. The violent criminals who attacked the Capitol should be fully prosecuted and they should go to jail for a very, very long time.

Cruz sparked the outrage this week during a Senate Rules Committee hearing with Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger on Wednesday.

We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week and it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol, Cruz said.

ben.wermund@chron.com
The state Medical Examining Board last month revoked the license of a Shelton physician who failed to attend required mental health therapy sessions and fined four physicians for a variety of issues involving patient care.

On Dec. 21, the board revoked the medical license of Dr. Nami Bayan, which had been under suspension since May 1, 2019. Bayans license to practice medicine was initially suspended for two years and he was ordered to participate in therapy sessions at least twice a month after he exhibited signs of a mental health issue, a disciplinary report said.

In 2018 Bayan, a surgeon who worked at H & B Quality Medical Care in Shelton, had sent repeated e-mails to the state Department of Public Health (DPH) indicating he believed the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were investigating the possibility of a terrorist attack based on a report he made, documents said. The board temporarily suspended his license in December 2018, saying Bayan presented a clear and immediate danger to public health and safety.

DPH investigators learned in 2020 that Bayan had violated the terms of the 2019 discipline by failing to show up for therapy sessions over the course of months, documents said. After a hearing on whether Bayan violated the terms of his discipline, the board voted to revoke his license permanently.

The board also reprimanded the license of Dr. Michael Imevbore, a pulmonary physician with CT Pulmonary Specialists in New Haven, and required him to pay a $5,000 fine after a DPH investigation found that he failed to check the states prescription monitoring and reporting system before writing prescriptions for more than 200 patients between July 2018 and May 2020, documents said.

Imevbore also wrote controlled substance prescriptions for another 70 patients, but only checked the states prescription monitoring program for half of them, from May 2020 to November 2020, investigators concluded. Since December of 2020 he has properly used the reporting system, DHP officials said.

Under the consent order approved by the board, Imevbore will be on probation for a year, during which he is required to have 20% of his patient files reviewed for his use of the prescription reporting system. The state Department of Consumer Protection Drug Control Division, which runs the prescription monitoring program, will do two random audits of his compliance with the system in the next year, the order said.

The board also fined three other physicians.

Dr. J. James Bruno II, of Urology Associates in Danbury, was fined $1,000 after he failed to meet the standard of care by not reviewing a scan before he performed a cystoscopy on a patient in 2019 to remove a kidney stone. The scan revealed that the kidney stone had been passed prior to the procedure, documents said. The board also reprimanded Brunos license.

Dr. Rania Rifaey, of Avon, was fined $1,000 after injecting numbing medication and other drugs used to treat inflammation on the wrong side of a patient suffering from bursitis in October of 2018, documents said. Rifaeys license was also reprimanded.

Dr. Murray Wellner was fined $1,000 and his license placed on probation for nine months after an investigation found that he had used illegible handwriting to document the files of at least three patients from 2013 to 2020, according to DPH.

During the probationary period, Wellner, a West Hartford physician, will have to undergo a review of 20% of his patient files to check for legibility, the consent order said. Wellner had been previously disciplined by the board in 2011 after an investigation revealed he had inappropriately prescribed a drug to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder for eight patients who didnt need the treatment.

The board also reprimanded the Connecticut license of a physician who was disciplined by California authorities for diagnosing and treating patients through telehealth without proper assessment and evaluation, documents said.

Dr. Ho Dzung Anh, a physician practicing in California, was disciplined in California after he prescribed antibiotics for two undercover investigators posing as telehealth patients, documents said. Anh holds medical licenses in several states, the DPH said.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team ( c-hit.org ), a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.
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Xi says firmly opposes any attempt to destabilize Kazakhstan

Xinhua) 10:30, January 08, 2022

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China firmly opposes any force undermining Kazakhstan's stability, threatening the country's security, and sabotaging the peaceful life of the Kazakh people.

In a verbal message to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Xi said China strongly rejects any attempt by external forces to provoke unrest and instigate "color revolutions" in Kazakhstan, as well as any attempt to harm the friendship between China and Kazakhstan and disrupt the two countries' cooperation.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
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CUPERTINO (dpa-AFX) - US District judge ruled in favor of Apple Inc (AAPL) in a 2020 lawsuit filed by Jay Freeman, the creator of Cydia, the App Store counterpart for jailbroken iPhones. However, Freeman is looking to file an amended complaint by January 19.



District judge, Yvonna Gonzalez Rogers has dismissed Freeman's argument that Apple holds an illegal monopoly over the app distribution on iOS. Freeman's platform lets the users install all kinds of apps on iPhones and iPads and also allows the users to tweak and change the entire look and feel of iOS. In the lawsuit, Freeman claimed that Cydia is the precursor of the App Store and the only 'comprehensive solution' to the monopolization of the app market that Apple has nurtured.



The platform was created back in 2008, months before the first iteration of the App Store was launched. SBSettings, one of the functionalities of Cydia that allowed the users to make changes to do the tweaks has a close resemblance with what the iPhone users today see as the Control Center.



At its peak, Cydia had more than 4.5 million users who were jailbreaking iPhones. Soon Apple caught wind of it and made it impossible to jailbreak iPhones making it difficult for Cydia to manage its operations. The company earned $10 million during 2011 and 2012 from app developers and then went out of business. The lawsuit seeks damages for the harm Apple has caused to the company.



However, the judge has declared the motion for Tim Cook's company and Freeman now has till January 19 to amend the complaint. Apple will have till February 2 to file its response. Apple has stood firm on its ground claiming that Android poses as a very big and potent rival to App Store and therefore it is not a monopoly. Apple has also reiterated the safety and privacy benefits of Apple's security module which is non-existent in third-party apps.







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Labelbox, a San Francisco CA-based company training data platform for enterprise machine learning applications, raised $110M in Series D funding.

The round was led by SoftBanks Vision Fund 2 with participation from Snowpoint Ventures and Databricks Ventures along with previous investors B Capital Group, Andreessen Horowitz and Catherine Wood, CEO and founder of ARK Invest. To date, Labelbox has raised $189m in funding.

The company intends to use the capital to accelerate growth and production.

Led by Manu Sharma, CEO, and Brian Rieger, co-founder and President Labelbox provides a training data platform for machine learning applications. Rather than requiring companies to build their own homegrown tools, the company created a collaborative platform that acts as a command center for data scientists to collaborate with dispersed annotation teams.

The solution is designed to facilitate the entire training data iteration loop that improves ML model performance. It integrates a collection of tools to annotate data and train AI models, conduct error analysis to identify data on which the model performs poorly, refine annotations found to be incorrect or ambiguous, supplement data through augmentation or additional data collection and then test the model and repeat the error analysis in a continuous loop that improves model performance.

Labelbox is currently being used by industries as diverse as agriculture, insurance, healthcare, media, and military intelligence with customers that include ArcelorMittal, Chegg, Genentech and Warner Brothers.

FinSMEs

08/01/2022
An Ohio woman was arrested on several charges recently after allegedly attempting to get forged prescriptions filled at a local pharmacy.

According to an arrest citation written by Prestonsburg Police Office David Duncan, on Dec. 22, Prestonsburg 911 received a call from Food City in regards to a forged prescription and requesting to speak with an officer. Duncan wrote that he arrived at the store and was informed the Food City had received a second forged prescription from the same name, with a male caller advising that a female would be by to pick up the prescription.

Later, the citation said, Duncan was informed that a female was there to pick up the forged prescription. The woman, the citation said, had also picked up the first half of the prescription on Dec. 11.

The citation said Duncan made contact with the woman, who told the officer she was from Ohio, that she works for a medical company and that she picks up the prescriptions and drops them off in the mail.

Duncan wrote that the woman could not provide credentials from the job she said she had and that the doctor listed on the prescription had no knowledge of the prescription.

The citation said the woman, identified as Mary Elizabeth Gessendorf, 39 of Herbert Avenue, Cincinnati, appeared intoxicated, was lethargic and slow to respond to questions and told the officer she had taken gabapentin and Adderall that day.

Upon search of Gessendorfs vehicle, Duncan wrote, officers found several other prescriptions filled from various locations, psilocybin mushrooms, a white powdered substance believed to be cocaine and five blue pills believed to be amphetamine.

Gessendorf was lodged in the Floyd County Detention Center on charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument, public intoxication, first-degree possession of a controlled substance (cocaine), second-degree possession of a controlled substance (hallucinogen) and second-degree possession of a controlled substance (amphetamine).
On January 5, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea Osman Saleh Mohammed in Asmara.



Wang Yi said, it has been 32 years in a row for Chinese foreign ministers to visit Africa at the beginning of the year. This demonstrates the solidarity and cooperation between China and Africa, and also shows that China's diplomacy always stands on the side of developing countries. Eritrea is the first country on this tour to Africa. China cherishes its traditional friendship with Eritrea and is willing to open up new prospects for the development of bilateral relations. The greatest outcome of this visit is that the two sides reached a consensus and the two heads of state have made major political decisions to elevate China-Eritrea relations to the strategic partnership, which serves the fundamental and long-term interests of the two countries and two peoples. China would like to take this opportunity to advance bilateral all-around mutually beneficial cooperation, open a new chapter in bilateral relations and bring more benefits to the two peoples. The two sides should strengthen the synergy of the "nine programs" put forward at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to inject strong impetus into future cooperation.

Wang Yi said, as strategic partners, China and Eritrea should more firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns. We should strengthen coordination and cooperation in international and multilateral affairs, hold high the banner of multilateralism, and oppose hegemony and power politics. We stay committed to promoting democracy in international relations and safeguarding international fairness and justice. China will always stand by our African brothers, and China's vote in the United Nations always belongs to developing countries.

Osman said, the establishment of the strategic partnership between Eritrea and China will push bilateral relations to a new height. Eritrea fully agrees with the "nine programs" initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping, and is ready to work with China to align and implement the cooperation framework plan, strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, ports, industrial parks and other fields, and translate the willingness of cooperation into tangible results. Eritrea and China share common ideas on issues such as peace and stability, sovereignty and independence, mutually beneficial development, and equity and justice. Eritrea firmly pursues the one-China policy and supports China's just position on issues related to China's Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea. It is Eritrea's long-standing tradition to stand with China. Eritrea is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China to jointly safeguard the legitimate interests of developing countries.

Following the talks, the two sides signed the Joint Statement by Foreign Ministers of China and Eritrea.
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This past fall, I was talking with one of my daughters about school, about social studies. She was learning about world religions. Our conversation covered a lot, revealing that Indigenous-based religions/faiths were not part of the unit. We talked about why Indigenous-based spiritualities are often left out of religion/faith conversations  both in and outside of classrooms.

Simply put, Indigenous people are continually described in the past tense. Our ceremonies and spiritualties are viewed as past tense, viewed as other and typically not described as real religions.

Rather than be part of broader conversations about religion, Indigenous-based faith is boxed into designated Native American curricula, special topics or side conversations. The normalization of this type of othering is not reflective of Indigenous experiences with faith/religion, which are very much alive and vibrant.

Indigenous teachings are always dependent on the region, tribe and communities in which they occur. The diversity of practices can make it harder for some to recognize them as religion or faith. Indigenous-based faith is grounded in connections to each other and the world around us  plants, animals, waterways, lands, the cosmos. It is grounded in responsibility to these connections and the Creator.

Indigenous-based faith relies on instructions, ways of living and the power of prayer. This may sound familiar to those from other religious backgrounds because it is a type of religion. Framing Indigenous faith as illegitimate does not make Indigenous-based faith any less important, or powerful, for those who follow it.

Indigenous-based faith and ceremonies are so powerful that laws were enacted to prevent them from taking place. I am writing this article on the anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre that happened Dec. 29, 1890. This massacre occurred in response to the Ghost Dance movement and the resurgence of Indigenous ceremonies during that time.

In other words, people were killed for practicing their faith. For most people, this is unfathomable. Yet it did happen. This was a government-sanctioned action that resulted in medals of honor being awarded to those who killed Indigenous people for practicing their faith.

The Wounded Knee Massacre and other similar killings were a result of policies outlawing the practice of Indigenous-based faith. In 1883, the Courts of Indian Offenses was established to prosecute Indigenous people for practicing ceremonies, dances and rituals which were described through a Code of Indian Offenses. Medicine people were deemed threats to civilization and prosecuted.

These federally sanctioned sets of laws applied only to Indigenous people, used as justification for massacres such as Wounded Knee and the persecution of Indigenous-based faith and practices.

For nearly 100 years, Indigenous people had to practice their faith underground due to fear of religious persecution. It was not until 1978 that the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed. This act ensures Indigenous peoples religious rights are protected through the First Amendment.

Law, policy, education and popular culture have all played a part in othering Indigenous-based faith and religions. Yet they have continued to remain a fire that burns across time in the hearts of Indigenous people. Part of the responsibilities that come with Indigenous-based faith is ensuring that our teachings continue for future generations.

Our religious practices are about helping keep balance for all creation. This is taken very seriously. I continually live in gratitude that the generations before me found a way to keep our ceremonies going, and fought so hard to ensure current generations would not be persecuted for practicing our faith.

This is something I give thanks for each day and in each prayer. It is something I ensure my children understand and offer gratitude for as well.

Luhui Whitebear is an enrolled member of the Coastal Band of the Chumash Nation, mother and assistant professor at Oregon State University. She also volunteers as part of the Corvallis School Board, is an MMIW advocate and, in her free time, enjoys hiking with her children.

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Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Partly cloudy skies with gusty winds. Low around 35F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies with gusty winds. Low around 35F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph.
Slade Grove goes to the Arrowhead Towne Center Farmers Market every Saturday morning to sell his collection of homemade desserts, pet treats and body care products.
Dublin, Dec. 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "State-Owned Enterprises in South Africa 2021" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report focuses on South Africa's major state-owned entities and includes information on the major enterprises, their performance and the factors that influence them including the pandemic, economic factors, their debt and performance levels and leadership issues.

There are profiles of 24 public entities which include major SOEs such as Transnet, Eskom, South African Airways and Denel, and other entities under state ownership and control such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Independent Development Trust.

State-owned Enterprises South Africa:

The ongoing financial and operational crises faced by a number of major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) casts doubt on their practicality and survival. Total SOE debt stands at a staggering R692.9bn. The most recent budget review indicated that SOEs have reported poor growth, high costs and elevated debt servicing costs, and several appear to be at risk of defaulting on their debts. Prospective reforms and increasing private-sector participation provide some hope for South Africa's SOEs.



Corruption:

The Zondo Commission of Inquiry into allegations of state capture in the public sector, including organs of state, has outlined corruption at the highest echelons of entities such as Transnet, Eskom, SAA and Denel and provides some explanation for the extent of the financial mismanagement at these enterprises. The poor performance of SOEs continues to reflect crumbling infrastructure, poor and ever-changing leadership, corruption, wasteful expenditure and mismanagement of funds.



Major Changes:

The government announced in June that it plans to sell 51% of South African Airways to a private consortium and that it would retain a minority stake. The proposed sale will amount to the first privatisation in decades and represents a major shift from the state's stance on SOE control and ownership. Government will also now permit independent power producers to increase self-generation without obtaining a licence from 1MW to 100MW. Both announcements represent a major shift in government's stance and indicate an awareness of the SOEs' limitations.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Description of the Industry

2.1. Industry Value Chain

2.2. Geographic Position



3. Size of the Industry



4. State of the Industry

4.1. Local

4.1.1. Corporate Actions

4.1.2. Regulations

4.1.3. Socio-Economic Development

4.2. International



5. Influencing Factors

5.1. Coronavirus

5.2. Economic Environment

5.3. State Capture and Corruption

5.4. Government Guarantees and Support

5.5. Environmental Concerns

5.6. Labour



6. Competition



7. SWOT Analysis



8. Outlook



9. References

9.1. Publications

9.2. Websites



Appendix

Summary of Notable Players

Company Profiles

Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company Ltd

Airports Company South Africa Soc Ltd

Alexkor Soc Ltd

Armaments Corporation of South Africa Soc Ltd

Broadband Infraco Soc Ltd

Denel Soc Ltd

Development Bank of Southern Africa

Eskom Holdings Soc Ltd

Financial Sector Conduct Authority

Independent Development Trust

Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Ltd

Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa

Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa Soc Ltd (The)

Sef Soc Ltd

South African Airways Soc Ltd

South African Broadcasting Corporation Soc Ltd

South African Forestry Company Soc Ltd

South African Nuclear Energy Corporation Soc Ltd (The)

South African Weather Service

Suid-Afrikaanse Poskantoor Soc Ltd

Telkom Sa Soc Ltd

Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority

Transnet Soc Ltd

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4ekgvy
SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The microbiome treatment market is receiving global attention and is rapidly emerging as a new treatment alternative for various intractable diseases. However, recent clinical trial failure reports and the limitation to identify a clear mode of action demand a careful approach. Korea-based company BioMe Inc. wants to bring in disruption with pathbreaking microbiome-based therapeutics.

Established in November 2020 by Professor Sang Sun Yoon of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, BioMe Inc. has been developing a microbiome-based live biotherapeutic product (LBP). Based on the distinguished microbiology research foundation of Yonsei University College of Medicine, BioMe Inc.

(i) understands the bacteriological characteristics of the candidate strains,

(ii) can prove its effectiveness using animal disease models, made possible in the state-of-the-art Avison Biomedical Research Centre.

To accelerate its research & development process, the startup recently signed a technology transfer contract with Yonsei University College of Medicine. BioMe Inc. would start developing microbiome-based therapeutics with the six patents transferred from Yonsei University College of Medicine.

The technology transfer under the contract includes a total of six patents, and BioMe's development pipeline is as follows:

No. Development Pipeline 1 A protein derived from airway microbiome with inhibitory effects against broad-spectrum respiratory infections 2 A microbiome-derived immune-enhancing protein with clear anti-cancer effect 3 A skin microbiome showing efficacy in treating atopic dermatitis 4 A consortium of commensal microbes showing efficacy in treating inflammatory bowel disease 5 Novel synbiotics system inducing butyrate synthesis

In addition to the above technology, a novel pipeline capable of degrading TMA, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is under development by BioMe Inc.

Beyond discovering useful strains, BioMe Inc. is building a microbiome-based system that selectively produces beneficial metabolites or degrades hazardous counterparts. This development strategy represented by "Molecule First" is implemented through the iBTSTM (integrated BioMe Technology for Screen) platform.

Recently, Kim Bu Seon, a former managing director of SK Bioscience, has been recruited to design target product profiles for candidate strains. Preclinical trials are scheduled to begin in the first half of 2022, and clinical trials will begin in 2023.

Press contact: vallabh@topprwire.com

Related Images











Image 1: BioMe





BioMe









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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TORONTO, Jan. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT) (TSX:CAR.UN) announced today it will issue its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2021 after markets close on:



Wednesday, February 23, 2022

A conference call to discuss the results will be hosted by Mark Kenney, President and Chief Executive Officer and Scott Cryer, Chief Financial Officer on:

Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 9:00 am ET

The telephone numbers for the conference call are:

North American Toll Free: (844) 200-6205

International: (929) 526-1599

Conference Access Code: 914949

Please enter the Access Code followed by the # sign when instructed.

A slide presentation to accompany managements comments during the conference call will be available prior to the conference call. To view the slides, access the CAPREIT website at www.capreit.ca, click on For Investors and follow the link on the page. Please log on at least 15 minutes before the call commences. The live call will also be available as a webcast. Please visit www.capreit.ca, go to the For Investors home page and access the link on the page.

The call and accompanying slides will be archived on the CAPREIT website at www.capreit.ca.

For more information about CAPREIT, its business and its investment highlights, please refer to our website at www.capreit.ca and our public disclosure at www.sedar.com.

For more information, please contact:
"We are excited to work with Grounded & FINAO to promote global ESG impact using the green public network of Rubix" - KC Reddy, founder & chief architect of Rubix.



"We believe the way people shop and the brands that they buy have the power to change the world and that every purchase should be a step towards a more sustainable future. Consumerism now comes with a conscience and so must business. We're excited to work with Rubix to make a difference" - Phil White, co-founder of Grounded.world.

"Working with schools and major non-profits like the YMCA, we understand successful ESG requires efficient tools and trusted accountability. We are delighted to work with Rubix, as placing ESG parameters on a blockchain will create more awareness of the social consciousness of corporations in a measurable and transparent way. The pandemic has created a sense of urgency among consumers on the need for careful monitoring of the ESG compliance of their favorite brands, so for corporations ESG compliance is no longer a choice but a necessity and a core component of their brand definition" - Wallace Greene, President and CEO, FINAO

HYDERABAD, India , Jan. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rubix (a web-scale Layer 1 blockchain building Web3 applications), Grounded (a leading marketing firm helping global brands to achieve and communicate purpose and ESG goals), and FINAO (a digital technology company helping organizations drive digital adoption), have entered a strategic partnership to help leading global brands achieve ESG impact using the trustless provenance of public blockchains. Grounded has rich experience in helping top brands achieve ESG impact. FINAO has strong experience in working with leading global organizations in digital & social impact.

Recognizing the environmental, social, and business imperatives of sustainability, Rubix has focused on leveraging its public blockchain as a uniquely secure, scalable, and trusted tool for ESG reporting. Rubix's blockchain will bring world-class efficiency and publicly verifiable accountability to its customers governance strategies through its own commitment to innovation, culture, trust, human capital, environmental impact, and social sustainability. These concepts are difficult to measure, and most of them are not captured by traditional accounting and managerial reporting frameworks. However, there is a pressing need to do so as shareholders, capital providers and other stakeholders increasingly focus on how companies create long-term value, especially focusing on the "sustainability as captured by ESG metrics."

Provenance on public blockchains is becoming the best method for brands to establish their commitment to sustainability, and this has been Rubix's express mission while building the Rubix protocol. Rubix is one of the greenest networks with energy consumption lower than existing computing networks. Brands & their supply chain partners can post their provenance data on Rubix chain without worrying about costs, security or privacy. Customers, investors & policy makers can now leverage the benefits of instant supply chain and social impact provenance on Rubix to achieve ESG goals.

About GROUNDED

Grounded is a multi-award-winning B-corp certified activation agency thriving at the intersection of brand experience, commercial innovation, and social impact. They work with global brands, retailers, startups and nonprofits to help them articulate their purpose, activate their brands and accelerate their impact at scale.

About FINAO

Led by former Microsoft execs, FINAO is an innovative consultant and developer of proprietary and custom software applications for social good, education, equity, and total wellness. FINAO works in partnership with global non-profits, corporations, and education organizations. Their sweet spot is creating system-oriented solutions for great user experience, high efficiency administrator ownership, informing data, accountability, and use-case scalability.

About RUBIX NETWORK SYSTEMS Ltd

Rubix Network is a Layer 1 blockchain protocol for peer-to-peer data transfer & transactions. Rubix is a Web scale protocol with Zero transaction fees, minimal infrastructure costs, high security and privacy. With 0.00000174 kWh per transaction, Rubix has one of the lowest energy consumptions among all computing networks. Rubix software can be freely downloaded on any PC or virtual machine. The Rubix community has more than 10,000 validators.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information on Product:

https://rubix.network

https://grounded.world

https://finaoeducation.com

Social Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rubixchain

Telegram: https://t.me/rubixblockchain

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rubixnet/

Media Contact

Company: Rubix Networking Solutions Pvt Ltd

Email: info@rubix.network

Website: https://rubix.net/

SOURCE: Rubix Networking Solutions Pvt Ltd




Chicago, United States, Jan. 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Servcorp, a flexible office space provider with nine premium locations in the U.S. and 150 worldwide, has recently updated its 2022 virtual office rental pricing for its two Chicago Loop locations, including 155 North Wacker Drive and 444 W Lake Street in the Chicago Loop, Financial District.

Servcorp recently announced new virtual office packages for 2022. The latest special includes its two Chicago offices on North Wacker Drive and River Point, both in the Chicago Loop Financial District.

The first month is free for all virtual office packages, with no deposit and only $1 to set up.

More information is available at: https://www.servcorp.com/en/virtual-offices/prices-locations/chicago/

Servcorps virtual office packages start at $96 per month, less than a cup of coffee a day, and include flexible rental terms for all customers. Their virtual office packages are ideal for entrepreneurs, small businesses, associations/societies, and freelancers looking to reduce business overhead. They offer a prestigious business address with all the benefits of a Servcorp location.

The Servcorp flexible rental options include the popular virtual office bundle, the business address package, the communications package, and the premium virtual office solution.

Their most popular standard virtual bundle includes a 5-star business address, local phone number assigned instantly, dedicated receptionist, 24/7 voicemail, access to meeting rooms, a networking community of 50,000+, and more.

The premium virtual offices provide all the benefits of the standard virtual office package, plus access to a private office whenever and wherever needed.

The discounted pricing for the Virtual Office plan includes one-day private office use each month outside Chicago and 8 hours of free monthly private office usage in Chicago. Customers also get three hours per day of free use of coworking spaces at any Servcorp location worldwide.

Senior Vice President and Head of US Operations, Colleen Susini, said, Servcorp is excited to announce these new pricing plans for Chicago virtual office clients. Its just another way the company strives to meet the changing needs of businesses in this dynamic city.

The Chicago locations are a business hub of fortune 500 companies and the headquarters of several international firms. These locations also have many amenities, including a cutting-edge fitness center, a dedicated conference facility, and several dining choices, Gibsons being one of the favorites.

Servcorps virtual office locations in the U.S. include New York City, Washington DC, Houston, and Chicago (North Wacker Drive & River Point). In addition to virtual offices, the company also offers serviced offices, coworking spaces, meeting, and conference rooms.

Servcorp, an Australia-based company with over 150 premium locations worldwide, provides several office space rental benefits, including 24/7 access, flexible rental terms, a dedicated team for secretary & reception support, mail forwarding services, and telephone answering.

For more information about Servcorp Chicago virtual offices or to set up a tour of their serviced office space, please contact: colleen.susini@servcorp.com or visit: https://www.servcorp.com/en/virtual-offices/prices-locations/chicago/

Website: https://www.servcorp.com/en/
South Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

For this most recent project, the company teamed up with their client Delaware North, a world-leading airport food service and retail company, operating in more than 30 airports and travel centres in the United States, Great Britain and Australia. The two companies collaborated in the redesign and refurbishment of Adelaide Airports Coopers Alehouse a provider of Australias original craft beer.

More information about Initial Capitals services is available at https://initialcap.com.au

The announcement of InitialCap and Delaware Norths partnership showcases an example of InitialCaps commitment to collaborations that deliver 360-degree experiences.

Coopers Alehouse pub and restaurant has been a flagship venue at Adelaide Airport for over 16 years under the leadership of Delaware North. The establishment was created to bring the refreshment of one of downtown Adelaides iconic products to airport customers at a central concourse location. The post-refurbishment pub retains its distinctive original features, including a bar in front of large mirrors with gold-leaf artwork and renovated wooden benches. Customers can enjoy the classic pub setting of live televised sports, all-day breakfast, and traditional pub dishes.

InitialCap has worked closely with Delaware North to provide an effective project planning and programming strategy. Their strategic services cover project brief preparation, design and documentation management, contract preparation and administration, and closeout reporting.

In addition to project management services, InitialCap offers a wide range of development management services. These services include site appraisal, strategic planning, finance procurement, and sales and marketing coordination. The company also offer personalized meetings to discuss strategies to reduce operational overheads in the commercial office landscape.

The latest expansion of InitialCaps services is in line with the companys commitment to creating properties that allow businesses and employees to survive and thrive.

More details of InitialCap and Delaware Norths collaboration can be found at Delaware North Media

InitialCap have played an important role in the project management and delivery of our 5 hospitality outlets as part of the Adelaide Airport Terminal upgrade. They have assisted Delaware North to realise significant cost savings across the overall project through design rationalisation and negotiations with the Head Contractor without compromising on quality. Delaware North look forward to continuing the positive working relationship across our other assets with Initial Capital Projects.  Lucky Logothetis, General Manager  Food & Beverage, Delaware North  Adelaide International Airport

Interested parties can find more details about the Coopers Alehouse project at https://glamadelaide.com.au/refurbished-coopers-airport-alehouse-opens-today

Connect with the team at Initial Capital at: https://initialcap.com.au

Website: https://initialcap.com.au




RADNOR, Pa., Jan. 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Chegg, Inc. (Chegg) (NYSE: CHGG). The action charges Chegg with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the companys business, operations, and prospects. As a result of Cheggs materially misleading statements to the public, Chegg investors have suffered significant losses.



CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR CHEGG LOSSES

LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: February 22, 2022

CLASS PERIOD: May 5, 2020 through November 1, 2021

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:

James Maro, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or Toll Free (844) 887-9500 or Email at info@ktmc.com

CHEGGS ALLEGED MISCONDUCT

Chegg operates a direct-to-student learning platform. Cheggs services include subscription services and required materials that comprise its print textbooks and eTextbooks.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants touted that Chegg was in a unique position to impact the future of the higher education ecosystem and that the primary cause of Cheggs success was its strong brand and momentum which would allow Chegg to continue to grow and take advantage of the ever-expanding opportunities in the learner economy.

The truth was revealed on November 1, 2021, when Chegg reported its financial results revealing fewer-than-expected enrollments while failing to provide 2022 guidance. In addressing these concerns, CEO Dan Rosensweig stated, a combination of variants, increased employment opportunities and compensation, along with fatigue, have all led to significantly fewer enrollments than expected this semester. And those students who have enrolled are taking fewer and less rigorous classes and are receiving less graded assignments. Following this news, shares of Chegg plunged nearly 50% on November 2, 2021.

WHAT CAN I DO?

Chegg investors may, no later than February 22, 2022 , seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages Chegg investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASE

WHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?

A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. At the end of the day, we have succeeded if the bad guys pay up, and if you recover your assets. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

James Maro, Jr., Esq.

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

(844) 887-9500 (toll free)

info@ktmc.com

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/51d6aa1c-c968-4fe9-86a7-7ef4fdcb10ee
NEW YORK, Jan. 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

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 Educations 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 pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com 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 firms 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 Educations business; and (3) based on the foregoing, the statements in the Registration Statement concerning Zhangmen Educations 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 pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com 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 investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

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Goshen, IN (46526)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain late. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
Hyundai Motor Company and Unity, a platform for creating and operating real-time 3D (RT3D) content, announced a partnership to design and build jointly a new metaverse roadmap and platform for Meta-Factory.

The companies held a virtual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony with Youngcho Chi, President and Chief Innovation Officer of Hyundai Motor Group, Hong Bum Jung, Senior Vice President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Global Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICS), Jules Shumaker, Senior Vice President, Revenue, Create Solutions, Unity and Dave Rhodes, Senior Vice President of Digital Twin, Unity, participating.





Through this MOU, Unity becomes a strategic partner to Hyundai, supporting its vision of becoming the leader in future mobility solutions. The MOU pertains to the fields of smart manufacturing, AI training and study as well as autonomous driving simulation.

The partnership will realize Hyundais vision of becoming the first mobility innovator to build a Meta-Factory concept, a digital twin of an actual factory, supported by a metaverse platform. The introduction of a Meta-Factory will allow Hyundai to test-run a factory virtually in order to calculate the optimized plant operation, and enable plant managers to solve problems without having to visit the plant physically.

The partnership will also culminate in a real-time 3D and virtual platform which will reach a broad group of Hyundai customers, offering them a more comprehensive range of services across sales, marketing, and customer experience. Consumers will be able to trial, test and engage various auto-related solutions digitally, long before choosing which to transfer to physical vehicles.

Hyundai plans to first apply the Meta-Factory concept to the HMGICS facility, supporting the Groups initiative to create an open innovation hub for research and development.

Due to be completed at the end of 2022, HMGICS will study many advanced technologies and mobility services. At HMGICS, Hyundai and Unitys partnership will further accelerate innovation in the field of intelligent manufacturing, integrating AI, 5G and other advanced technologies into a next-generation smart factory platform.

Beginning with the MOU, Hyundai and Unity will seek ways to expand the partnership in order to realize breakthrough innovations in metaverse-based digital-twin factory, while also expanding collaborating in the fields of AI training and study as well as autonomous driving simulation. Hyundai will also continue to pursue active partnership opportunities with other global partners such as Microsoft in order to further accelerate advancement of smart factory.
The Community Announcements calendar publishes twice weekly on Thursday and Saturday. The submission deadline for Thursday announcements is noon on the previous Tuesday. The submission deadline for Saturday is noon on the previous Wednesday.
Cameron Judd is a lifelong Tennessean born and raised in Cookeville, and a Greene County resident since 1982. An award-winning columnist and extensively published author of western and frontier fiction, he is retired from The Greeneville Sun. He and wife Rhonda live in Chuckey.
During the holiday season, charitable giving always grows. But as the New Year begins, many residents of our community are still facing financial, personal and medical struggles.

Its not too late to help. The Giving Fund, now in its 38th year, offers readers the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people in the area.

Donations made to The Giving Fund directly benefit two local nonprofits, Greenwich-based Family Centers and Darien-based Person to Person, which both help struggling families in Greenwich, Stamford, Darien and throughout lower Fairfield County.

On Sundays and Thursdays in the winter season, The Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time and The Darien Times are printing the stories of area residents in need.

In our stories today, a mother wants to buy new winter clothes for two boys; a man with health problems needs new tires for his car so he can get to his medical appointments; and a single mother hopes to buy new beds for her four children.

These are stories that showcase the need in our community, said William Brucker, chief advancement officer at Family Centers. Making a donation to the Giving Fund is an important way to support the community.

Even a small donation can go a long way toward improving someones life as you help to cover their everyday needs

The stories

Each case in the Giving Fund includes an estimated dollar amount to help an individual or family tackle everyday challenges. The names in the stories have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.

Case #480: Giselle is a teenage mom of a 14-month-old baby. She lives with her mother, attends school and takes public transportation to work a few hours a week to help her mother and to provide for her son. Giselle needs a stroller for her son, and wants to buy a special toy for her baby boy, however, she has no money for extras. A contribution of $400 would help this young mom cover her needs.

Case #481: Lucia is the single mother of a 2-month-old baby who had to start working one month after delivery. Her job is physical and exhausting, but she has no other options. She does not want to fall behind in her rent and has expenses with her new baby. A contribution of $500 would help this young mom cover some of her expenses.

Case #482: Nelly has a 14-month-old baby girl and works the overnight shift three or four times a week. She is looking for a new job so she can spend more time with her daughter. But she needs some financial support in the meantime, and $500 would help Nelly pay for rent, household expenses and overdue bills.

Case #483: Melissa is a single mother of four kids, including a young family member in her care. She has been living in her apartment for over 15 years and some of her furniture is broken and worn. Melissa has been saving to buy new beds for the children, but money is tight. A gift of $500 would allow Melissa to purchase new beds.

Case #484: Mary held a steady job for 20 years but she is now unfortunately unemployed and struggling financially. With a gap in her resume, no car and no computer, she has found job searching to be especially challenging. A gift of $500 would keep Marys electricity on until May and cover another month of bus fare and phone so she has the tools to continue her job search.

Case #485: Lynne received a diagnosis of lupus right before the COVID-19 shutdown. During that time, she also experienced abuse and fled with her children. She has been unable to work, but her health is now improving and she is working to obtain employment and provide a stable life for herself and her children. A gift of $500 would help Lynne and her children transition into their new apartment.

Case #486: Jamie left a domestic violence situation to stay with family outside of the country and got stuck there during the COVID-19 pandemic. She returned to the U.S. this summer so that her children could be in school, and she has been trying to get back on her feet. She is now trying to obtain employment and set up a stable life. A gift of $500 would help Jamie with past due bills so they can concentrate on moving forward.

Case #487: Mary is a single mother with two boys. She struggles to get by on just Social Security benefits, but her boys need new clothes. A gift of $250 would greatly help Mary in making this purchase.

Case #488: John is single, but he is always supporting and helping others in the community. He has health issues and needs his car to get to medical appointments and run errands. His car needs new tires to be reliable. A gift of $300 would help him with the purchase.

Case #489: Kristina is a single mom of a 2-year-old son who has a speech delay. She feels isolated and needs support after more than a year without a job. She is struggling to manage her bills and cover her basic needs such as food and care for her son. A gift of $500 would help Kristina in this difficult time.

All the Giving Fund cases will be listed online. To make a donation online, visit https://givingfund .isecuresites.com/.
OnePlus had a rather turbulent year announcing plenty of changes that await fans and users in 2022 but one of the biggest surprises is that the OEM skipped its T series this year. The OnePlus RT was allegedly comming in December, but that never materialized. And we must say that this year, we feel like there were more losers than winners at OnePlus' camp. So we've picked the highlights from this year, as we usually do. Here it goes.

Winner: OnePlus Nord series

It feels like the Nord lineup is slowly becoming the leading OnePlus lineup. Last year we praised some of the Nord phones and this year Nord 2 5G and the Nord CE 5G were very successful midrangers. In fact the Nord 2 5G is probably the best handset you can get right now at 400. In countries, where it's available that is, which sadly doesn't include the US.



OnePlus Nord 2 5G and Nord CE 5G

One could even argue that the Nord series bring back what OnePlus was all about in the beginning - great price/performance ratio. The Nord 2 and the Nord CE are well-built, balanced and powerful handsets and make a lot of sense if you are into OxygenOS. Although, that last part is rather debatable given recent developments with Oppo's ColorOS merge. But more on that later.

Loser: OnePlus Watch

We honestly expected more. Especially when the first rumors of OnePlus' watch started flying in. And then, it turned out to be a glorified fitness tracker. OnePlus could have at least put WearOS on it - a missed opportunity there.

When you add the uninspiring watch faces, lengthy strap, no always-on display and limited amount of workout modes to the list of cons, the watch starts to make even less sense. At $159 asking price, it's even a bit overpriced in some markets.

Winner: OnePlus 9 Pro

Sure, the OnePlus 9 Pro has its issues but it's a solid phone nonetheless. It's a relatively more affordable than most flagships with the same screen size and it has all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a proper flagship phone. Moreover, the 9 Pro is quite competitive in markets such as the USA, where there are less manufacturers present, and India, where it's avaialble at a barganous price.

The only thing that's not really all that competitive is the camera experience, which brings us to our next point.

Loser: Cameras

OnePlus has been promising to improve its camera experience for years now. It's been the only blemish on the maker's CV. Speedy and clean software are nice, but a flagship needs to cover all bases if it to compete against the big guys.

The whole Hasselblad marketing worked out well for the hype but didn't translate into spectacular image quality. The first time we heard about the news we thought that OnePlus is really onto something here. After all, we haven't seen the legendary Hasselblad brand on a smartphone, so we hoped it will be more about exchanging know-how and less about marketing.

We are not saying the cameras are bad, we are saying that they are not as good as the best in the industry. Of course, we saw a great improvement in the ultrawide camera but it wasn't enough to replace the 8 Pro in our cameraphone 2021 Buyer's guide. Also, while everyone is making periscope cameras nowadays, OnePlus is still stuck with a modest 3x telephoto unit.

Loser: OxygenOS

OxygenOS and its fans are probably the biggest losers this year. After all, the timely updates, clutter-free and speedy OxygenOS software has been the staple of OnePlus' success over the years and since the company announced that it's merging its OS with Oppo's ColorOS, there has been an outcry in the community. Gone are the days of stock-looking Android.

This will surely push away some older OnePlus diehard fans and when you account for the rather troublesome OxygeonOS updates for new and old phones, there's no surprise that users will be taking their business elsewhere.

You can make a case that OnePlus just lost its identity and this move almost completely closes the gap between Oppo and OnePlus phones.

There's a silver lining to all of this, though. As OnePlus and Oppo point out, sharing R&D and software support, OnePlus may actually stand to gain more than it loses. It could potentially mean that Oppo's ColorOS updates would come faster with fewer issues.

We hope this turns out well for OnePlus and we will see how this unravels in 2022.
Motorola announced its latest flagship smartphone, the Edge X30, back in December for the Chinese market, and now it seems like the phone is finally on its way to other countries. And one of the countries it's going to launch in is India.

The Bureau of Indian Standards has certified the Motorola Edge X30 for sale in the Indian market with the model number XT2201-01. Usually this certification is acquired a few weeks before a new device's release, and rumor has it the Edge X30 will be officially presented in the subcontinent either in late January or early February.

So if you're in India and have been waiting for a fresh new Motorola high-end device, your wait is almost over. To recap, the Motorola Edge X30 comes with a 6.7" 1080x2400 OLED touchscreen with 144 Hz refresh rate, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, 8/12 GB of RAM, 128/256 GB of storage, a triple rear camera system (50 MP f/1.9 main with OIS, 50 MP f/2.2 ultrawide with 114-degree field-of-view, 2 MP depth sensor), a 60 MP f/2.2 selfie camera, and a 5,000 mAh battery with 68W fast charging (taking the cell from zero to 100% in just 35 minutes, allegedly). The phone runs Android 12.

Via
Players shoot hoops at the basketball court next to the mayors office in Dededo on Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021. Got a photo depicting village life that youd like to see published in an upcoming Village News page? Send the photo and information to life@guampdn.com.
The Guam Economic Development Authority has processed and forwarded the first applications for the governments $50 million Local Employers Assistance Program.

About $1.3 million in checks could be issued to dozens of small businesses within the week, according to Melanie Mendiola, agency administrator.

More than 800 businesses have applied for the pandemic relief program, which will provide as much as $300,000 for larger businesses and as much as $50,000 for smaller businesses.

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero created the LEAP program by executive order on Oct. 15. GEDA started accepting applications Dec. 20.

Lawmakers last month approved $25 million from the General Fund for the program, matching $25 million in American Rescue Plan funding provided through the governor.

Tourism-related businesses, some of which didnt qualify for past federal pandemic relief payments, lobbied the local government to create a more inclusive relief program to keep them afloat until tourism arrivals increase.

Program rules

According to the program rules, loans will be as much as $300,000 for businesses with at least five employees which lost at least 50% of their monthly income during the pandemic.

GEDA will provide grants for as much as $50,000 for businesses with fewer than five employees that lost at least 20% of their monthly income.

For larger businesses, the entire loan amount can be forgiven if at least 60% of the money is spent on payroll, according to GEDA. Smaller businesses arent required to spend their grant money on payroll, but they could be audited to ensure it was used for eligible business expenses.

GEDA has processed or is reviewing about 400 of the applications and Mendiola said GEDA on Friday transmitted 64 applications to the Department of Administration for payment.

They usually cut the check in five business days, but it largely depends on the volume of other programs, Mendiola said.

Categories

She said the first batch of applications represents Category A businesses, which are those with four or fewer employees. The average check for those businesses will be more than $20,000.

She said the next batch of applications, for larger Category B businesses, will be sent to the Department of Administration next week, upon signing of the promissory notes and ensuring that they all have DUNS (identification) numbers.

Mendiola said the 67 Category B businesses will be paid about $12.8 million. Thats an average check of more than $191,000.

LEAP is similar to (the Payroll Protection Program) as it is a loan with a forgiveness component attached to employment. This differs from our previous grant programs, which is what necessitates the promissory note, Mendiola said.
A coconut leaf weaving workshop was held Saturday at Valley of the Latte Adventure Park and is part of a series of events to teach traditional CHamoru crafts that the park plans to hold on weekends.

The workshop that we are doing today is one of the workshops that we will be conducting on Saturdays, said Anthony Mantanona, a weaving instructor and cultural adviser for the park.

The workshops were brainstormed by employees as a way to continue welcoming visitors during the pandemic  especially locals and the military.

Since then, our local and military involvement has tripled, Mantanona said  from three or four visitors a week to more than a dozen during a visit. To follow COVID-19 safety protocols, the park is limiting guests to 25 per group.

He said the park wanted to provide lessons that are educational, such as weaving, so that guests can learn a skill they can take with them, while also helping the park make a profit.

Pre-pandemic

Prior to the pandemic, Mantanona said, the park would receive hundreds of visitors week after week, mostly from Japan and South Korea. He added that the park was just beginning to break into the Taiwan market.

Teaching traditional weaving to Guams visitors is important to Mantanona because he said these practices are part of what makes the CHamoru people who they are.

He added that the island does not lead the region in electronics or fashion, so culture is what Guam shares with guests.

What we have to offer is our culture and we have to offer it from our hearts, said Mantanona.

Participants

Sharon Cardona, 33, attended the workshop with her son, Asaph. She moved to Guam about six months ago with her husband, who is in the military.

Weve been wanting to come check out Valley of the Latte for a while to learn more about the history and culture of Guam and the CHamoru people, so we just had a day we could make it down, Cardona said.

She was interested in learning to weave to make baskets, and her son is hoping to attend future workshops on making coconut candy and rope.

Aileen Deeter, 56, who hails from Kansas, is a travel nurse who arrived on island Dec. 11. She learned about the workshop online as she was searching for fun activities to get to know Guam.

Deeter said it can be difficult because of her work and sleep schedule to participate in different events, but that when it is possible, she attends and has enjoyed how hospitable and welcoming the people of Guam have been.
After the holiday season, some nonprofit organizations on island experience a drop in donations.

Its called donor fatigue.

Despite this, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving remains steady for certain necessities.

Donor fatigue is a very common thing on Guam, said Samantha Taitano, executive director of Manelu and chairwoman of the Guam Homeless Coalition. There are a lot of organizations that need additional financial support through corporate donations, she said, adding that businesses are constantly receiving solicitation letters.

Taitano said while local businesses are enthusiastic about supporting worthy causes on island, there is only so much that can be given.

The donor fatigue,  you learn to just kind of expect it after the holidays and truly everybody is just tired, but it doesnt last that long. We are able to get back into the swing of things certainly by Easter, said Salvation Army Capt. Kari Rudd.

Thats what we budget the year for, knowing that after the holiday season there is going to be a bit of a quiet time. But our food pantry is still open and we make sure that whether its through commodities, or donations, or things that we are buying ourselves, that people are set, Rudd said.

Summer challenge

Lisa Bordallo, Catholic Social Service client program manager, said the organization doesnt experience much donor fatigue in the new year. It gets donations throughout the year of clothing and household goods.

A decrease in giving for the nonprofit typically occurs over the summer, she said, and the drop is usually for the food bank, which can be a challenge since the nonprofit is completely reliant on donations of food.

Food donations are similar, although in the middle of the year, I would say, that donations drop when its not the holiday season because people arent thinking about it. Those are the times we have to do donation drives, Bordallo said.

Pandemic impact

Victor Camacho, Sanctuary Inc. executive director, said the organization is fortunate to have continued support from businesses.

He said charitable contributions during COVID-19 have reduced in quantity and frequency across the board and Sanctuary recognizes that there are other nonprofits who also need support.

Camacho said the nonprofit operates within its means, making strategic and focused decisions with finances as they work alongside the community during the pandemic.

Rudd said the COVID-19 situation didnt cause more donor fatigue and that, if anything, people have been more generous because its touched everybody in some way.

People are that much more sensitive and empathetic to the needs of those who are on the margins, because more people are in the margins than when we started this whole pandemic, said Rudd.

More donations

Bordallo explained that the Catholic Social Service client base grew as they were serving many more people during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said it was a miracle that the organization was able to keep up with getting donations to support the demand.

Some organizations saw an increase in donations of household items and clothing during the pandemic.

At the Salvation Army Thrift Store, Rudd said it cant keep up with donations because everyone keeps organizing, cleaning and redoing their houses and Salvation Army is receiving the benefits of that in household goods, clothing, furniture, books, baby items and more.

Bordallo said the Catholic Social Service thrift store is experiencing the same thing.

During COVID-19, I think with people staying home, everybody was cleaning out their house and getting rid of things so donations increased on all levels, she said.




Haiti - News : Zapping...





Paul Loulou Chery and his wife kidnapped

Unionist Paul Loulou Chery and his wife were kidnapped on the evening of Wednesday 5 January in Croix-des-Bouquets by armed men from the "400 Mawozo" gang as they were preparing to return home. The Gang demands a ransom of 500 thousand US dollars for the release of the 2 hostages.



A stolen ambulance, caution

The National Ambulance Center (CAN) informs that one of its ambulances registered DM-00147, Mobile 123 has been stolen. CAN calls on the population to be vigilant and ask them to check the license plates of all ambulances in circulation.



Kidnapping foiled, 2 bandits killed

Friday, January 7, during a joint operation carried out by the National Police of Haiti (PNH) and the Government Commissioner near the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince, Me Jacques Lafontant, killed two bandits during a foiled kidnapping attempt in Delmas 19.



Death of journalists, words by the PM

"I condemn the assassination of journalists Amady John Wesley and Wilguens Louissaint in Laboule 12. On behalf of the Government, I offer my condolences to the family and friends of the victims, as well as to the press in general. The Haitian National Police (PNH) must step up its efforts to stem this phenomenon"reacted the Prime Minister a.i. Ariel Henry.



Fake vaccination cards

Fake vaccination cards in circulation. The Ministry of Public Health promises to crack down rigorously against networks of counterfeiters.



Tennis: Naomi Osaka injured, withdraws from Melbourne tournament

Saturday in Melbourne the Japanese of Haitian origin Naomi Osaka withdrew from the WTA tournament in Melbourne, before the semi-final she was to play against the Russian Veronika Kudermetova, due to an injury to the abdomen "I had a lot of fun playing here in Melbourne [...] Unfortunately, I have an injury to my abdomen and I have to rest and prepare for the Australian Open" from January 17th she posted on her account Twitter.



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Quincy, IL (62301)

Today

Periods of rain. The rain will be heavy at times. Low 54F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Periods of rain. The rain will be heavy at times. Low 54F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
The source said that "five soldiers were wounded in clashes with ISIS in Tarmiyah, north of the capital, Baghdad," according to the al-Sumaria network.

And earlier on Saturday, the Security Media Cell announced, "a suicide terrorist was killed and an explosive belt he was wearing was dismantled during a raid on a den north of the capital, Baghdad."

T/S

ANHA
Residents of Martyr Rustam Jodi' camp (Maxmur) who were displaced from their homes in the nineties of the last century, as the Turkish attacks on their villages and cities in Bakur Kurdistan, subjected to many harassment , particularly following ISIS attacks on Iraqi cities in 2014, when the occupation army intensified its air attacks against the camp's residents, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party authorities imposed a stifling siege on them, and now there are attempts by the Iraqi government to fence the camp with barbed wire.

Kagan confirmed to ANHA that the people of Maxmur are going through a sensitive and difficult period, "where the Turkish occupation state has launched attacks on them for years, in addition to pressures from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which imposed, in July 2019, a suffocating siege on them, moreover attacks of ISIS mercenaries.

Kagan asserts that the camp residents "are political refugees registered with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner in Iraq.

"He held the United Nations and the Iraqi state responsible for the attacks and harassment on the residents of the Martyr Rustam Jodi camp, and said: "The United Nations and the Iraqi state do not carry out their responsibilities towards what the residents of the camp are subjected to ."

The United Nations looks at the camp residents with the eyes of Turkey

Kagan said that the threats made by Turkish officials against the residents of Maxmur camp are now being implemented."

where the United Nations and the Iraqi state look at the residents of the martyr Rustam Cudi camp "with the eyes of Turkish officials who send false reports to the United Nations which is far from the facts."

Kagan criticized the actions of the Iraqi government: "Now the Iraqi government is trying to fence the Martyr Rustam Jodi camp with barbed wire. They are seeking to turn the camp into a detention center that is contrary to international values and covenants."

Haji Kagan explained that there is constant communication with the central government, and said: "After the Turkish attacks by warplanes and drones that targeted the martyr Rustam Cudi camp in June and July of last year, an official delegation from the camp went to Baghdad and a delegation from Baghdad visited the camp, where Baghdad's, presented several Items, including reopening of the administration, the Iraqi police offices, and the office of the commission in the camp again, and we affirmed that we respect Iraqi laws and agreed to what was proposed by Baghdad delegation.

Kagan noted: "After these visits and discussions, the administration, police and commission offices were reopened, and Iraqi police forces were stationed at the checkpoints. A census was also conducted within the camp. During those visits, fencing the camp was not discussed."

On December 27, 2021, the Iraqi forces tried to fence the camp with barbed wire, without notifying the camps residents which formed a state of indignation among its them. Kagan explained that the camp residents showed a great reaction to attempts of the Iraqi forces, and they went out in a demonstration started from the camp to Maxmur district .

We will continue to sit until we get guarantees

Kagan explained that the resident of the camp broke up the demonstration after assurances from the Iraqi forces by saying: "These forces confirmed that they will not make any movement until results of the upcoming meeting between the camp delegation and the Iraqi government's ".

Kagan made the point clear that the Iraqi state is unable to face the external attacks, suffers from a bad security situation, there is a real crisis in Iraq, amid heavy movements of ISIS mercenaries, and Sunni and Shiite contradictions, along with foreign interventions, therefore Turkey takes advantage of this situation and launches attacks on the camp's residents, and the Democratic Party exploits the Iraqi situation in order to impose its policies on the camp's residents.

A conspiracy being hatched against the Kurdish people,

Kagan stated " We know very well that the Iraqi government does not want to fence the camp with barbed wire. However, this step was taken as a result of Turkish pressure, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the United Nations.

Hajji noted that the process of fencing off the camp is not in order to protect it, but rather is part of the conspiracy targeting the entire Kurdish people, and said: "Rojava villages and cities are subjected to systematic bombing on a daily basis, where dozens of civilians lose their lives . In Sengal, it did not stop The Turkish bombardment against the people of Sengal who seek to heal their wounds. The Maxmur camp is also bombed from time to time. The legitimate defense areas are bombed with chemical weapons, amid systematic silence by countries and regional and international organizations.

If they want to protect the camp, the Turkish bombing must be stopped

The co-chair of the People's Democratic Assembly in Maxmur said: "If they want to protect Maxmur, the Turkish bombing must be stopped first." Haji Kagan emphasized that the Iraqi state embraced them and granted them lands after their forced marriage for more than two decades, where the people of the camp did not take any action contradicts Iraqi laws, and defended Iraqi lands during the attacks of ISIS in 2014. Dozens of camp residents were martyred for this, and he noted: "We were waiting for the Iraqi government to do its duty towards the camp's residents, not to fence it."

Kagan explained that the residents of the Martyr Rustam Jodi camp since ISIS attacks, in 2014, have been subjected to many pressures, as the Turkish occupation army intensified its bombing of the camp and the Kurdistan Democratic Party besieged it, he indicated that protection of the camp is the United Nations responsibility by saying: "We are registered as political refugees with the United Nations, which is responsible for protecting the camp's residents."

The lives of the camp residents are at risk

Kagan revealed that there are real threats against the camp's residents, and said: "Turkey is bombing the camp, ISIS launches attacks from time to time. Those with chronic diseases cannot receive treatment. University students cannot complete their education since the Kurdistan Democratic authorities imposed the siege. KDP does not respect our identity that was granted to us by the officially recognized United Nations, and this in itself violates Iraqi laws."

Kagan noted that the residents of the camp are neither prisoners nor slaves until the camp is fenced with barbed wire, he said Our demands are right. We want to stop the Turkish attacks against us. We want to live in safety and stability."

A.K

ANHA
Recently, Kentucky State Police troopers from Post 11 in London, Post 13 in Hazard and Post 10 in Harlan partnered with DESI East and Jade Enterprises of Berea to gather supplies throughout the communities in their respective post districts. On Dec. 16, troopers made the trip to Madisonville, Dawson Springs and Mayfield to deliver those supplies to the tornado victims.

Donated items included water, cleaning supplies, clothing, heaters, kerosene, monetary donations, toys and various other items. A total of 10 troopers and 10 Jade employees made the trip to communities throughout western Kentucky visiting families and individuals who were devastated by the tornadoes in the early morning hours of Dec. 12.

KSP officials said they would like to thank Jade Enterprises for transporting all the donated items for them. KSP said they will never be able to thank all the businesses and people that brought them supplies, toys or monetary donations.

It is going to take a lot of time and many people to rebuild these communities. However, what we saw on Thursday (Dec. 16) was people working together to clean their communities and start back over. Kentucky people are strong and I believe our brothers and sisters from the West will bounce back from this disaster. Kentucky State Police asks the public to please keep the families of the Western KY affected by this storm in your thoughts and prayers, KSP officials said in a statement.
Xi'an healthcare providers urged to be more flexible

By ZHENG CAIXIONG and ZHOU HUIYING (China Daily) 11:05, January 08, 2022

Residents queue up for nucleic acid tests at a community in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Friday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan urged relevant departments and medical institutions in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, which is in lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak, to adhere to people-first and life-first principles and never refuse the people's need to seek medical treatment when necessary.

Residents' access to medical services must not be denied under any pretext, despite the ongoing urgency of containing the further spread of the coronavirus, said Sun, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Sun made her remarks at a work conference on Thursday after local residents complained to relevant departments of their difficulties in obtaining medical treatment in Xi'an in recent days.

"Serious and critically ill patients must be admitted whether or not they have proof of nucleic acid tests," she said.

Designated hospitals should be built to provide continuous medical services to pregnant women, newborns and those undergoing dialysis, radiotherapy or chemotherapy, Sun added.

Local social media posts previously reported a woman who was eight months pregnant miscarried after she was refused admittance to Xi'an Gaoxin Hospital on Jan 1 because her nucleic acid test result was four hours past efficacy. A man from a medium-risk area who suffered from angina died after he had been refused entry by several hospitals on Sunday night.

Sun said it is sad such cases have occurred and lessons should be learned.

Authorities in Xi'an issued an announcement on Friday stipulating that all communities, emergency centers and medical institutions cannot use the 48-hour negative certificate of nucleic acid testing as a reason to bar admittance to healthcare facilities.

No medical institutions are allowed to refuse patients for any reason, it said.

According to Zhang Bo, deputy director of the Xi'an health commission, residents living in areas that have been sealed off or closed no longer need 48-hour nucleic acid testing proof when they have made appointments online to leave home to seek medical services. Meanwhile, those living outside sealed and closed areas can go to hospital themselves without any negative nucleic acid test results, or they can consult doctors online at home.

"In case of emergency, neighborhood committees and quarantine hotels can immediately arrange vehicles to transport to hospitals serious and/or critically ill patients, including those suffering from strokes, chest pain, severe trauma, shock, high fever or about to give birth," Zhang said at a news conference on Friday.

Xi'an reported a total of 57 locally transmitted confirmed cases on Thursday, bringing the city's total number of patients to 1,913 as of late Thursday, Zhang said.

"All of the newly detected patients, including 45 men and 12 women, have developed mild symptoms," Zhang said.

In Henan province, a total of 56 new locally transmitted confirmed cases were reported on Thursday, the provincial health commission said on Friday.

Of the cases, 26 were reported in the provincial capital Zhengzhou, with 28 in Xuchang and one each in Xinyang and Luoyang.

Zhang Boli, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said similar to Shaanxi province, the outbreak in Henan involved the Delta variant.

"Stringent control measures adopted in Xi'an have proved effective, so Henan can learn from its experience," the academician said.

In Shenzhen, Guangdong province, the municipal government has required its officials to take the lead and not leave the city and the province after a couple, both 29, tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday.

Meanwhile, the southern metropolis has strictly controlled and limited large-scale conferences, activities, forums, training, performances, exhibitions and sales promotions in the city. The districts of Longgang and Luohu have decided to suspend all large-scale gathering activities starting Friday.

Kang Ruoming contributed to this story.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
Sharon Jean McCarthy, 83, of Greenville, passed away on April 11, 2022 in Greenville, Texas. A memorial service will be at Wesley United Methodist Church on April 30, 2022 at 9 a.m. Coker-Mathews Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Mrs. McCarthy was born Feb. 4, 1939 in St. Louis, Mi
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A man was fatally shot overnight in the Westwood area of Houston, where he may have been in his vehicle with a sex worker, according to Houston Police.

A call came in regarding a person down around 12:15 a.m., and authorities responded to the 9700 block of Bissonnet. Police found a man, who had been shot at least one time, lying outside of his vehicle, according to Commander Dan Harris of Houston Police.
Houston Police Department

A patron is dead and at least two others are injured  an employee and a security guard  after a shooting outside of a southwest Houston club early Saturday, according to Houston Police.

Police got a call about a shooting around 7:55 a.m. in the 7200 block Clarewood Drive, which is near the El Tucanazo night club. Police responded to the area and saw Houston Fire Department treating three people, according to Houston Police Department assistant chief Yasar Bashir. The injured people were transported to the hospital, and one of them died, Bashir said.
Jay R. Jordan / Jay Jordan, Staff

A 28-year-old man was arrested and charged Thursday in the fatal shooting of a woman and injuring of two men early New Year's Day near a southwest Houston hookah lounge, according to a press release from the Houston police.

Gregory Allen of Houston was charged with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for a Jan. 1 incident in which police said he and another suspect got in an fist fight with a group of people outside of the establishment just before 2 a.m. in the 1700 block of Wilcrest.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday halted the distribution of $1.95 billion in aid awarded to Texas after Hurricane Harvey because it said the state has failed to send the federal agency required paperwork detailing its plans to spend it.

The delay is the latest in a series of hold-ups; almost four years after Congress approved $4.3 billion in HUD aid for Texas, about half of it remains unallocated.

HUD said in a statement its formal action gives the Texas General Land Office 45 days to submit the missing document, which the agency said is an analysis explaining how the states proposed list of disaster mitigation projects helps the most vulnerable residents.

We look forward to receiving and reviewing Texass submission of the additional information needed for approval, the HUD statement said. We are hopeful that Texas will take the steps needed to begin much-needed, forward-looking mitigation projects in the state.

The decision prevents Texas from distributing $1.2 billion in flood mitigation grants to local governments it had selected through a funding competition, as well as $750 million to Harris County, which was awarded nothing from that contest.

HUD in 2020 signed off on the GLOs plan for the funding competition, which selected 81 projects, and said it welcomed the subsequent proposal for Harris County. The agency on Friday, however, said moving forward with those plans depends on whether GLO provides the missing report.

Brittany Eck, spokeswoman for Land Commissioner George P. Bush, blasted HUDs announcement as a purely political move. She noted that the agency previously had approved the GLOs plan for the money and said GLO already has completed a 628-page analysis that fulfills the HUD requirement.

The partisan political game being played by the Biden Administration is putting Texans at risk, Eck said. HUD must approve this funding now, before the next storm hits.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said she looked forward to GLO completing the paperwork. She said county staff are prepared to answer any questions from HUD about how its planned projects will help vulnerable residents. Hidalgo still is hoping for additional aid.

This $750 million is a start, but more is needed since Harris County and the city of Houston took over 50 percent of the damage from Hurricane Harvey, and because millions of residents remain vulnerable to natural disasters, Hidalgo said.

Mayor Sylvester Turner raised the same point about the unequal distribution of aid. He said he was pleased with HUD's action Friday, and awaits the response from the Land Office.

Federal, state and local leaders have bickered over the HUD aid package since Congress approved it in 2018. Of the total Texas received, $2.1 billion is for mitigating future disasters. HUD made the 23 counties hardest hit by Harvey eligible for the aid, including Harris; Texas added another 26 counties.

GLO held a funding competition for a $1 billion tranche of the aid, inviting local governments to submit applications that would be scored using criteria the state developed. Houston and Harris County received $0 from the contest, despite suffering more deaths and flooded homes during Harvey than the other eligible counties combined.

A Houston Chronicle investigation revealed that GLO had used criteria on the 105-point scale that discriminated against populous areas, effectively dooming the city and countys chances of winning. The most problematic, engineers who reviewed the competition said, was a 10-point category that divided the number of residents a project would benefit by the total population of the applying entity.

This meant that even the proposed Brays Bayou project that would benefit 774,000 people  more people than even live in any other eligible county  would score less than 1 point.

Houston and Harris Countys proposals received five of a maximum 10 points in the social vulnerability category that identifies an areas wealth using 14 social factors, including poverty, access to transportation and education levels. The criterion, however, considers the city or county as a whole rather than the area being served by a particular project.

That meant, for example, the Heights neighborhood along White Oak Bayou, which has a median household income of $108,000, was averaged together with East Houston along Halls Bayou, which has a median household income of $29,000.

The newspaper investigation also found that counties with a higher risk of natural disasters, per the states own metric, were less likely to receive the disaster mitigation aid.

After rare bipartisan outcry over the snub, Bush said he would seek HUDs permission to award $750 million to Harris County. Houston, however, would still receive nothing.

zach.despart@chron.com
A program to help Houston and Harris County renters impacted by the pandemic is slated for an infusion of federal funds that could keep rental assistance open for months longer than projected. The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Friday its plans to reallocate Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds from local governments that have been slow to disburse rent relief to those that have distributed theirs more quickly.

Montgomery County was among those that returned funding to the federal government  $7.1 million. Houston and Harris County, among the fastest in the nation to establish rent relief programs and distribute funds, was among those receiving additional funding  $14.5 million, roughly $13 million of which will be available for renters after administrative costs are taken into account.

The size of the infusion is a small fraction of the $283 million in funding the Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program had previously received and largely distributed over the course of 2021 but could grow if the Treasury continues reallocating funds. It had distributed all but $4 million as of Thursday.

Mayor Sylvester Turner applauded the decision.

Our priority will remain to get those dollars out, and the goal is to keep families in their homes during the pandemic and beyond, he said in an emailed statement. He added that Houston and Harris Countys joint effort, in partnership with BakerRipley and Catholic Charities has served as an example for cities and counties around the country.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Houston rents have soared to record highs, forcing renters to downsize and consider other options

While before, landlords could receive funds as soon as tenants fell behind, the dwindling money is now being used to help tenants at the greatest risk of losing their homes. The program has been able to distribute between $1 million and $2 million a month to landlords who have already filed for evictions, meaning the funds would be depleted around the end of February if not for the additional infusion.

Some tenants and landlords who had already submitted rent relief applications but are not yet in eviction court will continue to be processed, as landlords who received too much funding make refunds to the program, according to the Houston-Harris County Emergency Rental Assistance Program spokesperson. But it is unclear whether the $13 million will allow the program to start processing that subset of applications in earnest.

We are currently determining the best approach for the reallocated funds, but expect to prioritize in active eviction proceedings, said Melissa Arredondo, press secretary for Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, in an email.

While four states received additional funding, Texas did not, meaning that many Texans continue to be cut off from Emergency Rental Assistance funds. While many local governments are helping distribute federal relief funds to local renters, in some parts of the state, Texas Rent Relief was the only avenue to such funds, and it depleted that funding in 2021. Only 23 of the states 254 counties and 14 of its cities had their own Emergency Rental Assistance program funds, according to a Treasury Department report. Residents in the rest of the state depended on Texas Rent Relief, which the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs said had reached 95 percent of Texas counties as of Oct. 14.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Montgomery County gives up $7.1 million of its rent relief funds: Theres just not that many people needing assistance

In Houston and Harris County, many are asking what will happen once the money runs out.

Arredondo pointed to other rent assistance programs that existed before the pandemic and that will continue after the influx of federal rent relief, albeit with much more limited funding. Tenants can call 211 for referrals to any available programs in their area, she said.

And Dana Karni, managing attorney for the Eviction Right to Counsel Project at the nonprofit Lone Star Legal Aid, encouraged any renter headed to eviction court call the organization to see if they qualify for free legal representation. During the pandemic, an emergency order has allowed attorneys from the Eviction Defense Coalition to be present at nearly all Harris County eviction dockets and offer last-minute representation, which she says has resulted in many tenants winning cases they likely would not have otherwise.

The dwindling help is hard on everybody, said Andy Teas, vice president of public affairs for the Houston Apartment Association, an advocacy group for apartment owners, property managers and service suppliers.

Its hardest on the residents, Teas said. But luckily we have a robust job market right now, so we have a lot of opportunities for residents to earn rent money  moreso than a year ago.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas Rent Relief for those affected by the pandemic closes applications

Nonetheless, eviction filings are already rising. In the last four weeks of December, 3,600 cases were filed in Harris County, up from 2,700 cases filed in the same four weeks a year before, according to Harris County data analyzed by January Advisors.

Evictions have not yet reached pre-pandemic levels (in the four weeks beginning Feb. 3, 2020, 5,600 eviction cases were filed). But renter advocates believe numbers will soon increase, especially with rent relief funds winding down.

Its a matter of time before we exceed pre-pandemic rates by leaps and bounds, Karni said.

rebecca.schuetz@chron.com;

twitter.com/raschuetz
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the Harris County Jail is shipping hundreds of inmates to a private facility in Louisiana this month to address security concerns and a major court backlog caused by Hurricane Harvey and the pandemic.

The recent transfers caught the eye of civil rights lawyers defending indigent inmates in two lawsuits challenging bail practices. A federal court hearing Monday may address concerns they outlined about access to bail hearings and lawyers.

Huge transfers to offsite jails have happened in the past when the jail population surged, but Gonzalez said this is the first major transfer since he took the helm in 2017. The sheriff said he has tried to avoid having people detained far from home, but he said circumstances have become too pressing at the facility to stretch resources much farther.

About 300 people are booked at the jail daily. The average stay in Harris County is more than 200 days; statewide the average stay is 60 days, he said.

At some point you reach capacity, Gonzalez told the Chronicle. You bring people in but theyre not leaving.

He noted that 75 percent of the inmates are currently designated as maximum security. Normally the recommended capacity is 25 percent maximum. He said that this helps explain why there has been an uptick in assaults on prisoners and staff.

The county jail population is 8,725 inmates, according to the sheriffs website. More than 7,300 are presumed innocent and awaiting trial. About 350 people at the lockup are facing misdemeanor charges.

The jail capacity is 10,000, the sheriff said. But there are housing restrictions about certain classifications of detainees, which has made the cutoff point lower.

Obviously, at our jail size, theres not a whole lot of wiggle room, the sheriff said.

Gonzalez said Saturday that 188 people were transferred this week to LaSalle Correctional Center, a private medium security jail in Olla, La. The goal is to send another 192 people next week who dont have immediate court dates scheduled, he said. By the end of January, the sheriff anticipates he may reach the 500 mark.

The civil rights lawyers who challenged Harris Countys bail practices say the mass transfers to Louisiana make it hard for people to bond out or even contact their lawyers prior to trial.

A hearing Monday before Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal will tackle the lawyers concerns, including allegations that inmates being held on low-but-unaffordable bonds are being denied bail hearings. The advisory also noted that concerns about Gonzalez transferring hundreds of people to a private out-of-state jail.

The lawyers from Civil Rights Corps, the Texas Civil Rights Project and Susman Godfrey LLP said in their advisory to the court the recent transfers amounted to a violation of inmates constitutional rights.

It is common knowledge that people detained in the Harris County Jail are routinely not brought to court and rarely see their lawyers, the attorneys said in an advisory to the judge. Transferring these individuals to Louisiana will inevitably exacerbate those Due Process and Sixth Amendment problems and will likely cause cases to drag on even longer.

They asked the federal judge to address housing inmates so far away and whether they will have access to adequate counsel. They also requested information on whether judges are making bail hearings regularly available to incarcerated people.

The court filing offered examples of inmates who they said were languishing in the jail.

One man the lawyers identified by the initials J.B.C. is a 68-year-old homeless veteran arrested Christmas Day in 2020. He is accused of stealing a bottle of wine from CVS and threatening to strike a person with the bottle. The man was not at his bail hearing when the court set a $30,000 bond. The court subsequently lowered the mans bond to $5,000. The man has been in jail more than a year awaiting trial because he cant pay $5,000.

Gonzalez said for at least a year officials have had countless meetings to try to alleviate the backlog. Associate judges are expected help lighten the load, but the jail is also planning to make building improvements this year that will require clearing out some of the cell blocks.

The courts will play a key role in easing the mounting pressure, he noted.

Its not a jail population issue, its a criminal justice issue, he said.

gabrielle.banks@chron.com
This week marked the start of what promises to be a fiery Republican primary for the office of Texas Agriculture Commissioner, as two challengers to incumbent Sid Miller throw political punches at his policy record and tangles with the state ethics commission.

Miller, a former rodeo cowboy, is running for his third term as agriculture commissioner. Hes known as an early supporter of Donald Trump and for his popular Facebook page with 842,000 followers where he posts conservative memes and has been known to spread conspiracy theories, such as promoting the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. He once posted that hed slap the next person who said Happy Holidays to him and, in 2015, suggested the United States should drop a nuclear bomb on the Muslim World.

Trump endorsed Miller for reelection last week.

The commissioner and his aides have now been the subject of at least two Texas Rangers investigations, as well as a handful of complaints to the Texas Ethics Commission, including one into improperly using political funds for personal travel to attend a Mississippi rodeo in 2015 and another to Oklahoma to receive a Jesus shot.

In a phone interview, Carey Counsil  a rancher and economics professor from Brenham running in the primary  said Miller is just not an ethical person.

Hes been there 7 years and cant follow the rules, and it hasnt just been one time, Counsil said. Its just an ongoing over and over and over, cant get along, cant play well with others.

JESUS SHOT: Prosecutors decline to charge Miller for taxpayer-funded trips to Oklahoma, Mississippi

And Millers other primary foe, East Texas Republican state Rep. James White, referred to the incumbent on a Dallas-area morning radio show interview as a lawless commissioner with a fake conservative record.

White went further: We're finding out that Sid Miller's campaign team has been meeting in the back alleys behind the Texas Department of Agriculture, taking bribes in and swindles from poor farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs that are trying to get their business started, a reference to Millers political aide who was arrested in May for allegedly soliciting bribes for hemp licenses.

The aide, Todd Smith, was accused of taking tens of thousands in cash or campaign donations in exchange for the hemp licenses  which normally cost $100. The Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit and the Travis County District Attorneys Office are still investigating that case, Smiths lawyer confirmed.

Miller, who is running for a third term as commissioner, laughed when he was informed over the phone that White had described him as a fake conservative  Good luck with that one. He noted that charges have not been filed against Smith by the DA.

It happens every election. They know theyre not going to get you on anything, but the process is the penalty. All they need is a headline: Sid Millers political consultant under investigation for selling hemp licenses, Miller said. Well, they brought him in for questioning. They said OK, this was 8 months ago, they said were not filing charges and were not indicting you, so end of the story, folks, move on. But they got the headlines, so they bring up that old crap.

IN-DEPTH: Texas Ag commissioner, BBQ pitmasters battle over a weighty issue

Smiths lawyer Samuel Bassett, reached Friday afternoon, told Hearst Newspapers that it is not uncommon for investigations to last for months in serious or unusual cases. Smith is still working with Miller and providing political advice.

Miller also hired Smiths wife, Kellie Housewright-Smith, for a high-paying job in the Agriculture Department in 2015.

White and Counsil call it a pattern of behavior, a characterization Miller rejects.

Miller said the criticism from both White and Counsil amount to just a couple of desperate candidates trying to grasp at straws to make some headlines, and said his internal polls showed him up 30 points over them, so no wonder.

Im squeaky clean, and let me tell you why, he went on, saying that in September 2020 the Presidential Appointments Office informed him that former President Trump, if re-elected, intended to nominate Miller as the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, a cabinet-level post that requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

I went through 6 weeks of FBI interviews and 6 different agents, and I passed. So if thered been any of this true, then I wouldnt even have been considered for that position, Miller said.

edward.mckinley@chron.com
Regarding Editorial: Healing wont happen. Truth? Its all we can hope for on Jan. 6 anniversary, (Dec. 6): The first anniversary of Jan. 6 made me think that Watergate might well represent the halcyon days for our democracy. The country was riveted then by the Watergate hearings and learning of Nixons involvement in a cover-up along with charges of obstruction of justice, abuse of authority and defiance of committee subpoenas. No one including the president was deemed to be above the law and there were serious consequences for his actions. Republicans and Democrats worked together closely to obtain the truth, not to mask, redirect or deny what had occurred. Barry Goldwater, a staunch conservative, and one other senator visited Nixon at the White House to tell him that he must resign. It was principles and the Constitution over party loyalty and power. The system worked as intended. What has changed so much that an attack on the Capitol is met by an almost muted response from one party? Political scientists, historians, sociologists and even psychologists most certainly will examine how in 50 years we have arrived at a place where conservatives can somehow justify or at a minimum tolerate an assault on our nations Capitol.

William Mirsky, Houston

Shame on the GOP leaders and those who support them for their absence at the U.S. Capitol for the commemoration of the insurrection on Jan. 6, and for their abject failure to acknowledge it for the terrible attack on our democracy that it was. There are no words to express how sad, disappointed and, yes, angry I feel. Do not tell me that you are acting for the good of the U.S. or for the common good.

Maris P. Helfrich, Galveston

All this hand-wringing over the eagerness of politicians to continue lying about the election is of no use. The real culprit is our system of primaries. The folks who vote in the primaries are mostly from the extreme wings of the two parties. Regrettably, politicians are forced to pamper them in order to survive. If everyone who votes in the general election were to vote in the primaries, we would not end up with such extremism.

Imtiaz Munshi, Sugar Land

We all saw it on television, one year ago. It was an attack on our Capitol that disrupted what has always been a peaceful transfer of power in our country. Republicans who have downplayed it are nothing more than cowards.

Patrick Cooney, Cypress

The media coverage of the Jan. 6 atrocity on its first anniversary was truly a public service. It reminded us of the hypocrisy and treason of those who participated, of those who inspired the violence and of those who claim that participants were all good people behaving like normal tourists. I see no mention of fines to pay for restoring that which they broke, plus the costs of tracking them down, bringing them to trial and supporting them during their pitifully brief prison sentences. They were all complicit so they should all be held responsible for the crimes and for the expense. Why should the majority of our democracys citizens pay for the insanity of the few?

Page S Williams, Houston

As I reflected yesterday on your coverage of the Jan. 6 attack, I was reminded that, over a century and a half ago, another, more terrible, insurrection occurred, whose instigators also fought to preserve a particular way of life. Yet neither great faith in God, nor passionate belief in what their politicians told them, gave them the power to preserve racial inequality, white supremacy, or the culture on which it was based. My prayer, as we reflect on our more recent insurrection, is that we will not forget the lessons of the Civil War, or ever have to pass through such horrors again.

Michael Terlouw, Houston

To some Americans, those who stormed the Capitol are patriots or were all peaceful protesters who were just casually strolling around the Rotunda. To others, they are insurrectionists who attacked American democracy by trying to overturn the will of the American voters. It is political bias that allows for such divergent views of reality. Our viewpoints of situations should not vary depending on which end of the political spectrum the issue exists. Any insurrectionist who uses force to storm our Capitol is a vigilante who committed a crime no matter what political party they are supporting. The investigation should not be whitewashed. It is very important we hold accountable those who planned and executed this event to help make sure it never happens again.

Rick Abegg, Conroe

Good luck (and riddance)

Regarding Biden re-ups nomination of Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez to lead ICE, For someone who shamefully trashed ICE and uncompromisingly rejected cooperating with them in arresting, jailing and prosecuting immigrants entering here illegally, good luck. Your hypocrisy will not serve you well in your confirmation process, sheriff.

Mike Gonzales, Houston

Theranos

Regarding Opinion: 5 lessons Houston startups and investors can learn from the Elizabeth Holmes conviction, (Jan. 5): It is amazing to me that Elizabeth Holmes could be found guilty of defrauding investors about blood analyzers, yet corporate executives directly involved in the massive harm to patients from pushing opioids in fraudulent ways have never been found personally guilty of a crime. Does this difference represent investors over patients?

John T. James, Houston

Walter Ulrichs takeaways from the Elizabeth Holmes affair underscore the sad fact that everyone at some point has been conned to some degree by a charismatic charlatan. While a number of unicorn purveyors have hinted at being the next Steve Jobs, none have embodied both his P.T. Barnum-like style and Thomas Edison-class substance.

J. Reynolds, Houston
Its an election year  and Americans will be voting sooner than many people may realize. The first primary election is in Texas on March 1, fewer than two months away.

While there will be a handful of important Democratic primaries, the big news is coming on the Republican side for several reasons. For one thing, with Republicans expected to have a good year, their nominees simply matter more, since theyre more likely to be elected and share the power of the majority. For another, one of the things that can stop Republican majorities is the possibility of extremely poor candidates winning nominations in competitive seats. Control of the party is at stake, and thats currently a lot more of a contentious question on the Republican side.

Texas does not feature any of the dramatic contests in which a challenger endorsed by former President Donald Trump is trying to unseat an incumbent Republican. For that, well have to wait until May, when 13 states choose their nominees. In Idaho (May 19) and Georgia (May 24), Trump-endorsed candidates are taking on sitting Republican governors and, in Georgia, the Republican secretary of state who refused to help the president overturn the 2020 election results, Brad Raffensperger. We can be sure that such challenges will be interpreted as tests of Trumps influence within the party.

But Trumps clout will get an earlier test in some complicated primaries in Texas, where he has endorsed incumbents.

Gov. Greg Abbott is being challenged by two even more radical Republicans, former U.S. Representative Allen West of Florida and former State Senator Don Huffines, both of whom are claiming that Abbott is insufficiently conservative. (A few other minor candidates are on the ballot as well, including one named Rick Perry. Hes not the former governor, but his name could attract a few votes anyway). Abbott is favored to win the nomination, but if he falls below 50 percent on March 1 hell be forced into a runoff, and that will surely be looked at as a sign of weakness even if he ultimately prevails.

Abbott has dominated the polling so far. Should he win while Trump-backed challengers win elsewhere, Trump would have a good argument that his endorsement was decisive. On the other hand, if Abbott gets dragged into a runoff, it would suggest that winning Trump challengers elsewhere might be successful not because of Trump in particular, but because of the general direction of the party.

The attorney general contest in Texas is even more complicated. Scandal-ridden incumbent Ken Paxton is seeking a third four-year term despite having been under indictment for most of his first two terms, and having much of his staff resign and charge him with corruption in an unrelated case during the current term.

All of this has earned him three significant challengers: Current land Commissioner George P. Bush, former Texas supreme court Justice Eva Guzman and House Freedom Caucus stalwart Louie Gohmert. Trump endorsed Paxton, although Bush has broken from his family and supported the former president, and the Freedom Caucus members have been Trumps closest allies in the U.S Congress. Paxton, for his part, was a leader in lawsuits asking the courts to overturn the 2020 election. Its unclear what will happen, but Paxtons renomination doesnt appear to be a sure thing.

The winners are likely to prevail in November and govern the nations second-biggest state. Perceptions about the outcomes matter, too, because they will influence what happens elsewhere. Only a fraction of Republican party actors are enthusiastic Trump supporters, and a smaller (and apparently shrinking) fraction are flat-out Trump opponents. Most Republican party actors, including politicians, will support him if they think they need to. And nothing is interpreted as showing a politicians clout  or lack thereof  as much as the fate of those he or she has endorsed.

If Abbott and Paxton dominate on March 1, Republicans in other states will be more inclined to scurry for Trumps favor before their own elections. If not? Fewer candidates will care about his support, and even those in the May primaries who already have it might be less likely to center their campaigns around it.

The tests of Trumps hold on Republicans are sometimes subtle and will take some time to sort themselves out. But it all starts soon, in Texas.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.
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Shelley Luther, a Republican candidate for Texas House and hairdresser who became a hero of the anti-lockdown movement during the coronavirus pandemic, recently said in a since-deleted tweet that Chinese students should not be allowed to attend Texas colleges.

Chinese students should be BANNED from attending all Texas universities, Luther said in the Wednesday tweet. No more Communists!

In a follow-up tweet that is still online, Luther said the state's taxpayers "should not be subsidizing the next generation of CCP leaders," referring to the Chinese Communist Party. In a subsequent tweet, she said it is "common sense" that CCP members "should not have access to our schools."

On Friday, state Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat from Houston who is Chinese-American, condemned Luther's comments and asked her to publicly apologize.

"Luthers statements are ignorant, hateful, and incite violence against not only Chinese Americans, but all Asian Americans," Wu said in a statement. "To casually conflate all Chinese students in America with actual registered members of the ruling party in the Peoples Republic of China is not only ignorance of an extreme nature, it is also the type of rhetoric that drives anti-Asian hate crimes."

Asked for comment Friday, Luther declined to apologize and attacked Wu, who was among the House Democrats who broke quorum and went to Washington, D.C., last year in protest of Republicans' priority elections bill.

"It doesnt surprise me that a socialist Democrat who doesnt even know how to show up to work thinks the position that communist Chinese citizens should not access taxpayer funded state institutions is racist," Luther said in a statement to the Tribune.

Luther's comments came as anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise. They increased by more than 73% in 2020, according to recent FBI data, far outpacing all hate crimes, which increased 13%.

Luther is challenging state Rep. Reggie Smith, R-Sherman, in the March primary. The district favors Republicans, so whoever wins between Smith and Luther is set to hold the seat after November.

Luther became nationally known at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 when she refused to shut down her Dallas salon in defiance of emergency orders. She was sentenced to a week in jail but was released after only a few days, via a motion granted by the Texas Supreme Court.

She became a vocal critic of Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican, and ran unsuccesfully for a state Senate seat in a special election later that year.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/01/07/shelley-luther-chinese-students-texas/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Chicago, IL (60637)

Today

Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 46F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 46F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Abbott Memorial's 351 Ambassadors Marley Miner, Ryleigh Rathbun, and Amari Smith. The Grade 8 students led a successful food drive for the Al Nelson food pantry.

Abbott Memorial School Donates to Al Nelson Friendship Center

FLORIDA, Mass.  Abbott Memorial School donated 1,508 items to the Al Nelson Friendship Center Food Pantry in North Adams as part of its Project 351 Food Drive.

"The outpouring of support to help others through food contributions by Gabriel Abbott Memorial School students and families was staggering," Principal Martin McEvoy Jr. said. "It is another reflection of the colossal empathy, generosity, and spirit of the community. To realize how willing the school community was to help their neighbors, even while facing formidable challenges, of their own, says so much."

Project 351 is an independent nonprofit organization that fosters youth-led service by engaging ambassadors from each of Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns.

The ambassadors this year from Abbott were 8th-graders Ryleigh Rathbun of Florida, Amari Smith of Monroe and Marley Miner of Savoy. These students lead the program.

"We are very proud of the ambassadors representing Florida and the two towns with whom our school has a tuition agreement," McEvoy said. "... These student-leaders did an amazing job of planning and executing the drive, along with the project's coordinator, second-grade teacher/Assistant Principal Denise Chesbro."

The entire school was involved, and McEvoy said the 103 students who attend the small school, which is part of the Northern Berkshire School Union, collected 1,340 pounds in just nine days.

"I was surprised that a school of our small size could collect a total of 1,340 pounds of food, but not surprised at the level of generosity and goodwill shown by the Abbott Memorial school community," he said. "I have come to learn quickly how caring and supportive the school community and town is of its kids, school, and larger community."

He added that the school has participated in many fundraising and donation efforts over the years. He said giving back is most definitely part of the Abbott Memorial education.

"The parameters of public education today are ever-broadening in order to put students in the best position to live productive, meaningful, and happy lives in a constantly changing, complex world," he said. "One of the overriding and critical outcomes of education, which we focus on here at Abbott, is to prepare students to become engaged, thoughtful, and contributing members of society.

In fact, this project gave us the opportunity to live our school's vision, which we collectively developed at the beginning of this school year: 'At Abbott, we strive everyday to nurture growth, love of learning, and a sense of community in the Berkshires and beyond!'"
Floodwaters cover a residential street near Centralia, Wash., Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. Rain and snow continued to fall across the Pacific Northwest Friday, causing flooding and concerns about avalanche danger in the mountains. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Niraj Bishnoi, the 21-year-old arrested by Delhi Police has a history of indulging in online abuse and falsehoods, senior police officers told The Indian Express.

A day after Delhi Police arrested the engineering student from Assam for allegedly creating a website where Muslim women were put up for auction, senior officers told The Indian Express that he had created at least five Twitter handles in the last eight months, including one to allegedly propagate information that a Muslim man was the culprit in a similar case six months ago.

TV9 Hindi

Role of 'Bulli Bai' accused in 'Sulli Deals' case

Niraj Bishnoi, the mastermind and creator of the Bulli Bai app, was also allegedly involved in Sulli Deals  a website that also uploaded images of Muslim women without their consent for the purpose of auctioning them, reported ThePrint. He is also allegedly one of the promoters who propagated the websites content on Twitter, for which he is believed to have created multiple handles.

His phone and laptop are in forensic examination. He is definitely a part of the Sulli Deals case, but whether or not he is the creator will be ascertained after we get the full report, a source in Delhi Police told ThePrint. During interrogation, the source added, Bishnoi confessed to being a part of Sulli Deals.



Sulli app

His modus operandi

Through a fake Twitter profile of a girl, Bishnoi at that time - November, 2021 - tried to communicate to the investigative agency as a news reporter, police said, as reported by PTI. During that time, he came in contact with various news reporters and tried to plant his misinformation, DCP K P S Malhotra said. Bishnoi had also allegedly tried to push the narrative that the app was created by a Muslim man, Javed Alam.

Bulli Bai/ Screengrab

Revelations made by cops in recent case

Police claim that Bishnoi is the creator and mastermind of the Bulli Bai website that put up for auction dozens of Muslim women on Saturday.



In the Bulli Bai case, Bishnoi had allegedly instructed the other three arrested accused  Vishal Kumar Jha, Mayank Rawat and Shweta Singh  to share the apps content on social media. The three accused, according to police, used Sikh names as their Twitter handles, with an intention to create a rift between Sikhs and Muslims.

Neeraj Bishnoi

He also had tried to show his identity from Nepal and subsequently, as proof, posted notices and communications received from GitHub regarding the Bulli Bai app investigation on an online news portal, the DCP said.

Police said during interrogation it was found that Bishnoi had earlier created various Twitter handles with the initial name of giyu which is a gaming character. The handles have been identified as @giyu2002, @giyu007, @giyuu84, @giyu94 and @giyu44. From @giyu007 account, he was active during the Sulli Deals case. The account @giyu007 came into light when the Sulli Deal case was under investigation. Through this handle, he had tried to plant some information regarding the possible propagator/originator of Sulli Deals app, police said.

You have arrested the wrong person, slumbai police



I am the creator of #BulliBaiApp



Got nothing to do with the two innocents whom u arrested, release them asap mf https://t.co/QJA078wSnH pic.twitter.com/ycbDuc7cNS  . (@giyu44) January 5, 2022

Sources in Delhi Police said the Twitter account @giyu44 was created by Bishnoi on 3 January 2022 with the agenda to demean the arrests made by Mumbai Police and challenge the investigating agencies.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.


As Omicron variant of coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across India, the centre has announced a third "precautionary shot" in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.

Where, how, when and who are the questions that we have answered below. Take a look.

Who is eligible?

The three priority groups of healthcare workers, frontline workers and 60-plus population with comorbidities, are eligible for their third precautionary dose 39 weeks after getting their second jab, said sources in the ministry.

AFP

Earlier this week, the government had said that the precautionary dose would be the same as the first two doses. The health ministry has said that there is no need for those above 60 years to provide a prescription or medical certificate to prove co-morbidity for vaccination.

Where and how to register for it?

You can either book an online appointment or walk in to any vaccination centre, sources in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. Appointments for the precautionary dose of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine in India will begin from Saturday, according to the announcement made by the central government. The Centre has also said that no new registrations in the CoWin platform would be required for those taking the shot.

Reuters/Representational Image

When will the inoculation begin?

The online appointment facility will start by Friday evening. Vaccination with onsite appointment starts on January 10, news agency ANI reported, quoting a statement from the ministry.

The latest phase of vaccination comes at a time when the country is seeing a spike in Covid-19 cases. According to the health ministry, 1,17,100 new cases and a positivity rate of 7.74% were reported on Friday, taking the countrys active caseload to 3,71,363.

AFP

Meanwhile, the health ministry said Indias vaccination coverage crossed 150 crore doses on Friday. In a landmark achievement, Indias Covid-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 150 crore (1,50,52,21,314) today. More than 81 lakh (81,50,982) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 pm today. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight, the ministry said in a statement.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.


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I bought my first laptop in 1997 and my first digital camera in 1999 and joined Facebook in 2007. Over the years I started an AOL blog, severa
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A total of 100 employees of National Pen face redundancy as the company has announced it will close its Fulfilment Operations Centre in Dundalk, and move certain operations to the Czech Republic.

National Pen has said it remains committed to its international headquarters and contact centre in Dundalk, whose 240 employees are not affected by the announcement.

The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said: This is really difficult news to receive at the start of the year and I know its devastating for those affected and for the entire community, especially following the companys previous decision to let staff go in May 2020.

In May 2020, the company announced it was letting 126 employees go from its plant, while moving 50 other positions to Japan.

National Pen has advised that it will offer an attractive redundancy package and that the redundancies will not start until January 2023.

All temporary contracts will be honoured until the end of December 2022.

National Pen has also decided to invest in the online operations part of its business in Ireland, with help from the Government through the IDA, which will create 50 new jobs over the next five years.

The Government will make all necessary State assistance available to the workers, the Tanaiste said.
If the emissions from global food waste were assigned to one country, it would take third place only behind the US and China as the highest emitter of carbon dioxide into the earths atmosphere with a staggering 3.3 billion tons each year, with some 1.3 billions tons of food wasted around the world annually, a figure that should also be considered in light of the 870 million people who go hungry each day around the world. In Ireland, we are no less guilty, wasting enough food to fill Croke Park to the brim twice over and then return for a third time to fill it up again to half way.

The truly superb FoodCloud began back in 2012 when two young students, motivated by a love of food and appalled by food waste, Iseult Ward and Aoibheann OBrien, first conceived of the idea and they have since steered the ship as it has become an international organisation re-directing potentially wasted food, connecting retailers to deserving charities and communities, using their technology platform to complement and enhance the operation of food banks, and establishing large storage and distribution hubs to manage larger volumes.

FoodCloud have now launched a brand new six-part online content series All Taste, Zero Waste, a show pitching celebrity chefs against charity chefs, battling it out to help the planet, as part of a campaign to drive awareness of the climate issue of food waste. In each episode, the chefs create delicious dishes using surplus food generously donated by food industry partners, sharing hints and tips on how to reduce our food waste, and hearing stories of the positive impact redirected food waste can have on communities all over Ireland. Chefs involved include Mark Moriarty, Jess Murphy, Donal Skehan, Currabinnys William Murray, Eric Matthews and Holly Dalton. Episodes can be accessed on the website: https://food.cloud/about

The best response to challenging times is to respond with creativity and innovation and the finest practitioners in the hospitality sector usually have those qualities in spades. The Menu recently wrote of chefs Niall Davidson and Hugh Higgins working with BCP Capital, to unveil their visionary Allta rooftop restaurant on top of Dublins Trinity Car Park, which was almost immediately booked out through to the end of 2021. Shortly afterwards, the final part of this ambitious project, Glovebox, was launched.

Glovebox is an exciting and innovative new space on the upper flowers a multi-story carpark in Dublin, offering food and drink along with a whole range of social and cultural experiences.

Glovebox is a new cultural space for art, music, cocktails and great food taking place in the floor below Aalta Winter House and will remain open until at least next May or June. As well as featuring visual arts, events, music and live DJs on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, there will be all manner of creative dining choices (smoked Gubbeen fries; lamb shoulder, crispy potatoes, creme fraiche; tempura soft-shell crab with kimchi; lobster rolls) and equally imaginative beverage options with which to wash it all down. Over 25 Irish and international artists will be featured at Glovebox, curated by artist/designer, Ronan Dillon. Live events every Wednesday will include orchestras and artists talks, and as the weather warms up in Spring, these will extend on to the spacious open-air rooftop terrace. Glovebox ticket prices (20 pp) are redeemable against snacks and drinks.

www.instagram.com for bookings and information @alltawinterhouse & @g.l.o.v.e.b.o.x

After a pandemic-triggered hiatus, Irelands premier cooking competition for young professional chefs, Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year, has returned and there is still just over a week remaining for young chefs or other chefs, mentors, and restaurateurs wishing to express an interest on behalf of a young chef, should they believe she/he has what it takes. Open to professional young chefs, the previous age limit of 26 has been raised this year to 28, to include those unable to enter over the past two years because of Covid-19.

Participating chefs take part in several educational activities, producer visits and workshops that will support and guide them to the semi-finals and finals, which this year moves forward to June as opposed to the more usual finals in November.

To express an interest, office@euro-toques.ie or or DM on social media @eurotoquesirl.

Further information: www.euro-toques.ie

TODAYS SPECIAL

Galmere Foods, in Galway, grow all their year round basil requirements in this LED lighting vertical farm

Making basil pesto requires substantial amounts of basil and that has always been a fraught issue as so much of the classic Genovese pesto uses basil heavily sprayed with herbicides and insecticides and The Menu generally likes to avoid anything at all that ends with -cide, especially if is going into his body.

If we are to continuing producing food in the volumes required on a planet increasingly compromised by the impact of climate change and yet do so without using toxic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, then we will also have to investigate the potential of progressive, new technology.

Galmere Foods, based in Galway, are growing all the basil required for their own Irish-made pesto, using vertical growing towers and LED lighting technology, which enables them to produce sufficient quantities of the herb, 12 months of the year. The finished product isnt bad either, although The Menu reckons cheddar cheese, rapeseed and pomace oil are superfluous to the classic recipe of just EV olive oil, basil, pine nuts, garlic and Parmigianno Reggiano, or Grana Padano as a substitute.

Home from another gruelling day at the academic pitface, The Progeny were more than happy to wolf it down, mixed into a bowl of steaming hot al dente fusilli with plenty of extra butter for the pasta!
Update March 3: The search for woman missing from Dublin Bernadette Connolly has been stood down.

The body of a woman was recovered on the coastline in Blackpool, England.

Gardai issued a statement on Thursday confirming that the searh had been been stood down following DNA analysis from the British police.

Gardai thanked public for their assistance in this matter.

January 11:

The daughter of a missing Dublin woman has posted an emotional appeal on social media asking for anyone with information that could help find her mother.

Bernadette Connolly, 45, has been missing from her home in Swords since Friday, January 7.

In a heartfelt appeal, Jadericka 'Jade' Connolly thanked people who have helped so far in the search for Bernadette, including The Shoreline Hotel who provided gardai with CCTV footage of the missing woman.

Bernadette was last seen on Swords Main Street at around 11.30am on Friday morning and was later spotted on Donabate beach shortly after 12.30pm.

In the short video, Jade asked anyone who may have seen her mother since to "reach out to us".

Something might come back to you, the slightest bit of information will help and might help us piece the bits together," she said.

My Mam is the most amazing mother in the world. I know thats very biased. She is there for absolutely everyone and she is my rock. Im her only daughter.

I will not rest until I search every part of Donabate, Portmarnock, Malahide, Rush, everywhere in Ireland. I need to find her.

Bernadette Connolly is described as 5' 6" tall, of slim build with long black hair, hazel eyes and sallow skin.

When last seen, she was wearing a black hat with a bobble, a black and white animal print scarf, black gym leggings and black and white Nike runners. She was also wearing a black puffer jacket.

Gardai are asking anyone with information that could lead finding the missing woman to contact Swords Garda Station at 01-666 4700 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.

Jade concluded her video by saying: She is loved, were gonna get her back she concluded.
At the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting before Christmas, party leader and Tanaiste Leo Varadkar put his ministers on notice.

Confirming his intention to carry out a reshuffle later this year, when it is expected he will retake the Taoiseachs office, Varadkar told his increasingly agitated troops that there will be changes in the ranks. Nothing rarely focuses the minds of ambitious politicians than reshuffles.

Those in ministries will fear the axe while those languishing on the backbenches will hope against hope for the nod to enter the higher echelons of Cabinet.

Some present that night saw Varadkars comments as a lazy attempt to distract from a run of poor opinion polls, insisting that after 10 years in office the Fine Gael brand has become jaded as one minister said to me.

Even some of the partys top figures admit that the mishandling of the Katherine Zappone affair and now the so-called Champagne-gate reception involving staff in the Department of Foreign Affairs shows a malaise and complacency at the top.

Read More Coveney breaks silence on Department of Foreign Affairs champagne party

Some have correctly pointed out that both controversies related to Simon Coveneys department and his own personal failure to shut them down quickly has drawn internal criticism. He was forced into several grovelling apologies over the Zappone affair and had to admit the summer had not been his finest hour in politics.

However, his stubborn silence until Wednesday of this week about whether he was or wasnt present during the champagne reception held by his officials on the night Ireland won a seat on the United Nations Security Council, was another self-imposed own goal.

Day after day, newspapers stubbornly refused to let the matter drop and it got to the point when his own TDs were calling on him to clarify his position. As is often the case with these matters, the failure to offer a swift explanation only serves to inflame the controversy.

Coveney should have followed the example of Helen McEntee and Ciaran Cannon, then junior foreign affairs ministers, who immediately clarified their position on the matter. Even though he was in the department that night, it would have killed the matter off much sooner.

Now by digging in only to admit he thanked staff during a 10-minute period while denying he was present for any champagne reception, he has compounded the initial error. He said: I spoke to and thanked the staff involved in the UN campaign in the UN section of Iveagh House.

I did not see the Covid breach from the earlier photograph and I was thanking our officials in their workplace on a workday for the work they had done on behalf of the State.

After 10 minutes I returned to my office in Iveagh House to prepare for a call with the Norwegian foreign minister and for ongoing briefings on the coalition government negotiations.

These sorts of self-inflicted gaffes tend to happen when you have been in government for so long. Some too have pointed to the failure of Varadkar to order Coveney to shut both controversies down before he did.

Fine Gael's other ministers

As it stands, Coveney and Varadkar are the sole survivors of the Fine Gael team that took office under Enda Kenny in 2011. They entered Government as the young bucks of what was perhaps the most conservative administration in a generation.

Of the current Fine Gael crop of Cabinet ministers, Paschal Donohoe and Heather Humphreys were elevated to Cabinet in 2014, Simon Harris was appointed as Health Minister in 2016 and McEntee is the only first-timer taking up her post in 2020.

In the context of Varadkars threatened reshuffle, even those sympathetic to Coveney would concede that he has played himself into contention for demotion. Donohoe has played down speculation that he is about to abandon ship but has also been in the finance portfolios since 2017.

It is anticipated that when the big switch between Varadkar and Micheal Martin happens this December, the two finance ministers will also swap jobs. However, there is a growing school of thought that Donohoe will move elsewhere rather than return to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Humphreys did her own position no harm by stepping up and covering McEntees maternity leave last year and given her gender and geographical base, she looks unsackable.

The justice portfolio is also likely to switch hands as it is understood that Fianna Fail nominated their Attorney General while Fine Gael got the ministry. This would see the impressive McEntee move, possibly to the finance gig, but she is another who is highly unlikely to face the axe.

McEntee has won many plaudits for a high degree of activity as well as some well-timed initiatives, such as the amnesty for migrants announced before Christmas.

Simon Coveney's failure to offer a swift explanation for the so-called Champagne-gate reception only served to inflame the controversy.

Harris and Varadkar are not close, but the former health minister is one of the partys best assets when it comes to communicating the governments message and could be troublesome for his leader were he dropped.

Comparisons are already being made between the position Varadkar finds himself in now and the situation Bertie Ahern was in following the 2002 General Election. Fianna Fail were seen to have reneged on their pre-election promises and were perceived as being overly cruel in how then finance minister Charlie McCreevy wielded the axe.

Ahern had a calculation to make, and he ultimately decided that the swash-buckling free marketeer McCreevy would have to make way. Off he went to his plum job in Europe and Ahern was immediately able to highlight his previously undisclosed socialist credentials.

Varadkar is the leader of an increasingly unpopular Fine Gael party, which is seen as largely having failed to resolve the health crisis or the housing crisis. In fact, on both fronts it stands accused of making the situation worse.

This is not unexpected having been in office for so long. Also, Varadkar himself said his preference would have been to go into opposition after the 2020 General Election to build up the party again. The decision to remain in government will certainly come at a cost to that need for renewal.

Despite some achievements in office, having been at the Cabinet table since 2011, Varadkar no longer looks like the dynamic energetic leader that became Taoiseach five years ago.

Then, he enjoyed the total loyalty of his party and his ministerial team line-up looked fresh and energetic compared to a stale-looking Fianna Fail front bench. Like Ahern in 2004, Varadkar could look to cast Coveney aside as Ahern did with McCreevy in a bid to refresh his lethargic team.

Simon Coveney was forced into several grovelling apologies over the Zappone affair and had to admit the summer had not been his finest hour in politics. Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

But it is not a risk-free enterprise. Even though Coveney is not a potent a threat to Varadkar as he once was, the dynamic between the two men in 2022 will be keenly watched in the context of the leaders warning to his ministers.

In his weekly column in the Daily Mail, former minister Dermot Ahern sought to counter the narrative that Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald is a shoo-in to be Taoiseach, insisting there is life in the old Fine Gael/Fianna Fail dogs yet.

That may be true, but come December both dogs will be in dire need of a refresh and for Varadkar, this could mean big decisions to be made over Coveney, his long-term rival.
Its rare enough in journalism that the assignment is literally just a five-minute walk from home.

Its also not common to be reporting on a horrific event that happened just around the corner from where you were born and raised.

And in the space of less than 10 days, two separate events that shocked a west Dublin suburb have led national news bulletins.

Its been a tough week for Ballyfermot, local councillor Hazel de Noirtuin said. Today our area woke to more shocking news.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, a man in his 40s died after a shooting incident on Thomond Road.

It came less than 24 hours after the community had gathered in such a positive way to show their support to victims of an assault just before the new year.

Community shows solidarity

Saturdays vigil for Alanna Quinn Idris hit different.

The 17-year-old suffered serious injuries in the attack on Thursday 30 December. A friend of hers also suffered injuries in the incident.

Alannas family fear she may lose sight in one eye over the attack, and shes due to be seen by a doctor again next week.

Alanna Quinn Idris sustained a serious injury to her eye in the assault.

Local representatives, youth workers and activists put their heads together and hastily arranged a vigil for Saturday morning where the local community could show their solidarity with the families of those injured and show their support.

And the people of Ballyfermot answered the call.

It was a cross-generational affair. Whole families made the trip out. The young and the old were equally represented.

As they arrived, placards bearing the words solidarity and support the families were handed out, as were green ribbons for people to tie around their arms.

By 11am, there were maybe 200-250 people gathered at the civic centre on Ballyfermot Road.

Really great turnout for the vigil today pic.twitter.com/E0BUg78EfA  Sean Murray (@SeanMJourno) January 8, 2022

Lydia Marshall, a youth justice worker who lives in Ballyfermot, said the event was an important one for the whole locality.

Ballyfermot is a really good community, she said. Showing up with no political banners, or anything like that, everyones leaving all that behind and were just showing up as human beings and standing in solidarity after the incident that happened last week.

Youth worker Brendan Cummins later addressed the assembled crowd, and referenced the support that had been shown to Alanna since the attack.

Mr Cummins said:

An incident like this affects not just the families but the whole community.

He said the support given to the family is the Ballyfermot we know, while incidents such as the assault is not.

As he spoke, it resonated strongly with me.

I was raised here, went to school here and still live here. Ballyer may have its problems like many other places do, but it also has a strong sense of community that frequently shines through.

The community goes out of its way to support each other, and Saturdays vigil was a perfect example of that.

Those hundreds lined both sides of Ballyfermot Road bearing the solidarity placards.

At a time of great difficulty for some families, this was a way of telling them that theyre supported, that the community is there for them, that theyre being heard.

Event is winding down now. Organisers hailing high turnout and saying its an expression of the goodness in the community. pic.twitter.com/rbf99cJ5MT  Sean Murray (@SeanMJourno) January 8, 2022

Putting my journalist cap aside, it was a privilege to witness the scenes as someone from Ballyfermot.

The events of the last week have shocked the entire community. The vigil was about showing families that this community would support them in whatever lies ahead.

The large response from local people would suggest they may have succeeded in getting this message across.

But it was also about calling for such a thing never to be repeated. And, while extra youth supports and more visible policing that local reps are calling for may be action for another day, local TD Patrick Costello summed it up well.

People just dont want to see this happening again, he said.

But in a completely separate incident less than a day later, another act of violence shocked the community all over again.

As the youth worker Brendan Cummins put it, the show of support on Saturday is the Ballyfermot we know.

As true in Ballyfermot as it is in Ballincollig, Ballina or Ballybofey, acts of violence are not a thing we should come to expect as being part of the communities that we all know.
A judge has dismissed the only criminal charge filed against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo in connection with the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from office.

The expected procedural move had been requested by prosecutors from the Albany County district attorneys office and came as they, Cuomo and his lawyers made a virtual appearance before a judge in Albany City Court.

Cuomo did not speak during the hearing, which lasted just a few minutes. He was briefly visible on the video conference as a defence lawyer moved her camera slightly to show him in the room. He was wearing a black mask.

We have reviewed all of the available evidence and concluded we cannot successfully secure a conviction in this case, assistant district attorney Jennifer McCanney said.

Judge Holly Trexler said: This court is acutely aware of the fact that the district attorneys office has unfettered discretion to determine whether to prosecute a particular person or case.

Andrew Cuomo appears briefly for a virtual court session in Albany City Court (Hans Pennink/AP)

The dismissal of the charge, which accused Cuomo of groping an aide in the executive mansion in 2020, removes what had been seen as the most serious legal threat to the Democrat.

He could still potentially face lawsuits over his conduct if his accusers choose to take him to court. Cuomo denied the groping allegation and says he did not touch anyone inappropriately.

The misdemeanour complaint was filed by the local sheriff in October, two months after Cuomo resigned from office.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares told Judge Trexler this week that although the aide was credible, and some evidence supported her account, he believed he could not win a conviction in court.

The charges against Cuomo were based on allegations by Brittany Commisso, who said Cuomo slid his hand up her blouse and grabbed her breast when they were alone in an office at the mansion.

Her testimony was among the most damning in a report released in August by Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James that concluded Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women.

Cuomo resigned that month. He has called the report unfair and has vehemently denied the groping allegation.

In a letter to Trexler on Tuesday, Mr Soares said statutory elements of New York law make this case impossible to prove.

He added that multiple government inquiries into Cuomos conduct had created technical and procedural hurdles regarding prosecutors obligations to disclose evidence to the defence.

Some legal experts said Mr Soares decision illustrated the difficulties of prosecuting sex crime allegations but others said he should have proceeded if he considered the accuser credible.

Ms Commisso was among the critics.

My disappointing experience of re-victimisation with the failure to prosecute a serial sexual abuser, no matter what degree the crime committed, yet again sadly highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward, especially against people in power, Ms Commisso said in a statement to the Times Union of Albany.
Burma Junta Watch: The Boss Toasts His Henchmen, an Unwanted Guest Arrives and More

Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing confers an honorary title on his deputy Soe Win.

Regime member sends New Years wishes to NUG

In a New Years message, U Thein Nyunt, a member of the State Administration Council (SAC) the governing body of the military regimewished death and destruction upon the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) as well as its legislative body, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and its armed wing, the Peoples Defense Force (PDF).

Myanmar is going through a war for the cause of nationalism between patriots and those under foreign influence. My wish is that the foreign invaders and traitors will be totally defeated in the New Year, the turncoat wrote in his New Years greetings published in the junta-controlled newspapers.

U Thein Nyunt was previously a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD)s Central Executive Committee. When the NLD boycotted the 2010 general election, he left the party and co-founded a new one, the National Democratic Force. He later resigned from the party and ran as an independent in the 2010 poll, winning a seat in the Lower House. He later founded the New National Democracy Party (NNDP). He contested the 2015 poll as the NNDP chair, but lost the race to the NLD.

He has since allied himself with the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and spent the years prior to the coup finding fault with the NLD government. In the run-up to the 2020 election, he made statements encouraging a military coup. He again suffered defeat in the 2020 vote, but became a member of the SAC following the takeover. He has always tried to curry favor with Min Aung Hlaing, seconding whatever he says at regime meetings.

Sending good tidings with one hand, dealing death with the other

On Karen New Years Day, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing wished the Karen people well. It was rank hypocrisythe general ordered airstrikes on Karen villages last month, bringing devastation to the lives of thousands.

Since Dec. 15, Myanmars military has carried out ground and aerial attacks on Lay Kay Kaw and surrounding areas in Karen States Myawaddy Township near the Thai border, claiming that PDF fighters were taking shelter there. The attacks have forced more than 10,000 locals from their homes and across the border into Thailand.

Only the regimes media acknowledged Karen New Years Day with any energy. The occasion went unmarked even in relatively peaceful Yangon and Ayeyarwady regions, which are home to large Karen populations.

Min Aung Hlaing eyes electoral reform to maintain grip on power

In his message on Myanmars 74th annual Independence Day, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing articulated the merits of the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, which he said would allow all-inclusive and wide representation in Myanmar.

In the first-past-the-post system that has been practiced to date in Myanmar, candidates who win a majority of votes in their constituencies are elected lawmakers. Under the PR system, parties receive parliamentary seats proportional to the percentage of votes they win in an election. Calls by the militarys proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party and its allied parties to switch to PR have become louder since last March, one month after the coup.

Obviously, Min Aung Hlaing is preaching the advantages of PR not because of its benefits for Myanmar, but because it would benefit the military and himself personally.

With the military-drafted constitution guaranteeing 25 percent of seats in the legislature for Myanmars military, its proxy USDP and allied parties only need to secure an additional 26 percent of total seats to form the government. However, after they failed to do so in both the 2015 and 2020 elections, they knew they would never be able to take control of the parliament and the government unless PR is introduced.

The military regime, after annulling the results of the 2020 general election in July, said it would hold a new election in August 2023, but to Myanmar people, that is nothing more than a tall story.

Hun Sen: Myanmars Unwelcome Visitor

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen arrived in Naypyitaw on the morning of Jan. 7 on a visit opposed by Myanmars people, who fear it will lend legitimacy to coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, given that Cambodia currently holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member. The dictatorial Khmer ruler is the first foreign leader to visit the head of the Myanmar junta since the military seized power in February last year.

Junta leader honors his deputy and regime supporters

To mark Myanmars Independence Day on Jan. 4, Min Aung Hlaing conferred titles on military officials including his deputy, Vice Senior General Soe Win, and military supporters including well-known Buddhist monks.

The coup leader, who himself had the title Maha Thray Sithu bestowed on him by his military seniors earlier in his career, conferred the title Thray Sithu on his deputy, and other titles on various military officials who are in one way or another involved in the ongoing brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters and killings of civilians.

Among the other title recipients were Major Naing Bo Bo, who rammed a vehicle into anti-regime protesters in Yangons Kyimyindaing in December, and well-known Buddhist monks Ashin Chekinda and U Tilawkar Biwonsa. The latter is the chief monk of the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, an ultranationalist group known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Tha.

The honorary orders are traditionally awarded to individuals who have done great work for the country. This year, however, the awards went to supporters of Min Aung Hlaing.

Other recipients included Dr. Aung Kyaw Win, the husband of the regimes Social Welfare Minister Daw Thet Thet Khaing, and U Aung Min Kyaw Thu, the vice chairman of pro-military nationalist group the Young Mens Buddhist Association. Posthumous honors were conferred on ward administrators and regime employees who were killed for allegedly being military informants.

Junta admits it did not expect armed resistance from civilians

Regime spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun admitted in an interview with the BBC on Dec. 5 that the military had not expected armed resistance from civilians.

Tatmadaw is facing challenges. The main challenge is mine attacks and sneak attacks by resistance fighters disguised as civilians, Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun added.

Myanmar civilians initially responded to the coup with peaceful demands that democracy be restored in the country. However, after their protest columns were hit by live bullets and grenades and many of their comrades shot dead in late February and March, they came to realize that taking up arms was the only answer if they were to defeat the regime.

Since then, hundreds of resistance groups known collectively as the PDF have sprung up across the country, fighting the regime in both urban and rural areas of Myanmar.

In the cities, junta soldiers who had shown no mercy for unarmed protesters have tasted fear. Fatal guerrilla attacks by resistance fighters have forced junta soldiers to duck behind sandbags and barbed wire mesh fences.

Even as the regime has branded the resistance fighters as terrorists and launched a series of manhunts across the country, everyone can see that attacks on regime targets have only increased in Yangon and elsewhere.



You may also like these stories:

Cambodian Leader Draws Peoples Fury as He Arrives in Junta-Ruled Myanmar

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No News About Pro-Democracy Broadcasters Family Held by Myanmar Junta
On This Day The Day Myanmar Military Chief Makes First Move for Coup

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing speaks to instructors and trainees at the Command and General Staff College in Kalaw, Shan State via video conferencing on January 8, 2021. / Min Aung Hlaings website

On this day in 2021, Myanmars military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing alleged that the November 8, 2020 general election was fraudulent and marred by vote rigging, establishing a claim that he would use as the justification for a coup staged just over three weeks later.

In conducting an assessment after the election, unfair and dishonest practices were found, the future coup leader told the Command and General Staff College in Shan States Kalaw via video conferencing.

Not many people were aware then of the hidden meaning in what he said. But, looking back at the post-election period, there were already hints that Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was preparing for the February 1 coup, after his dream of becoming Myanmars president was shattered by the National League for Democracy Partys overwhelming victory in the November general election.

In late November 2020, the military said it was reviewing the electoral process to determine whether the poll was conducted in accordance with the law. It said it was reviewing the balloting in 218 townships where military personnel and their families cast votes.

The announcement came just a few days after the militarys proxy political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), cried foul over the election result and complained that its calls for a probe of the poll and the Union Election Commission (UEC) had fallen on deaf ears.

A few days after Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaings comments on alleged vote rigging, the militarys appointees in parliament joined with the USDP and a few small political parties to submit a proposal to parliament calling for a special session to be convened to address the electoral fraud claims.

The military then called on either the government, the UEC or outgoing parliamentarians to prove the November general election was free and fair so it could accept the results.

That was followed by a series of pro-military rallies in Yangon and southern Myanmar organized by the juntas current immigration minister, U Khin Yi, and rallies in the capital Naypyitaw organized by General Wai Lwin, a former defense minister in U Thein Seins quasi-civilian administration.

By the last week of January, a military spokesperson was refusing to rule out the possibility of a coup. In a press conference, the spokesperson warned that the armed forces could take action if its complaints about election fraud were not addressed.

Concerns about a possible military takeover were fueled a few days after that press briefing when Snr-Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said that the military-drafted 2008 Constitution should be revoked if its laws are not being followed. However, on January 30, Myanmars military said that the commander in chiefs statement was misinterpreted, and that the armed forces would protect and abide by the constitution and act according to the law, so allaying coup fears.

Despite that, the military seized power on February 1, the day the new parliament was scheduled to convene.

Three months after the coup, independent observers of the 2020 general election, such as the Asian Network for Free Elections, said that the outcome of the poll was by and large, representative of the will of the people of Myanmar.

In July, six months after the coup, the military regime annulled the results of the 2020 general elections, saying it was not free and fair because more than 11 million ballots were wrongly counted in the vote.



You may also like these stories:

The Day Suu Kyi Met Her Jailer and Ex-Myanmar Junta Leader

The Day Election Winners and Losers Discussed Myanmars First Peaceful Transfer of Power

The Day Myanmars Election Commission Certified the NLDs 2nd Straight Poll Landslide
Trinity, TX (77320)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Jacksonville, TX (75766)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms becoming likely overnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Johnson City, TN (37604)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 60F. Winds light and variable.
Staff Writer

Jonathan Roberts is a reporter and photographer for the Johnson City Press covering Jonesborough, healthcare and higher education. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and has been with the Press since 2019.
By Liu Qingbin

January 6 and 7 might be two days of great importance for Japan that has been yearning to play a more important role in the international political and military stage.

Leaders of Japan and Australia held a video-link summit on January 6, followed by this years two plus two meeting between Japanese and American foreign ministers and defense ministers the next day. Japanese media reported that the two events both indicated that Japan will play a bigger role in the so-called Indo-Pacific military security.

For starters, Tokyo and Canberra will sign the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA)  the first in-depth defense agreement signed by Japan since the Agreement regarding the Status of United States Armed Forces in Japan signed with the US in 1960  to reinforce their defense and security cooperation. The new agreement will bring Japan and Australia to a quasi-military alliance and largely intensify their military ties in the US-Japan-India-Australia Quad mechanism, a result the US has been pushing strongly under the table in the past two years.

For another thing, a key topic at the Japan-US two plus two meeting was a draft of joint combat program in the event of an emergency involving Taiwan. According to the draft, Japan will allow American troops to build a temporary attack base on its southwestern islands if necessary, which are geographically close to the Taiwan island. If military friction or conflict broke out across the Taiwan Strait, the US troops would be able to step in and interfere immediately leveraging Japans geographical proximity to the island, and that would be equivalent to embroiling Japan into the conflict too.

Having grown into a major economy, Japan has been hoping to also become a major political power in the world, and its political elites believe the post-WWII international system and Japans Pacifist Constitution have tied the countrys hands in playing its due political and military role. Therefore, Tokyo has been seeking an opportunity to shed the shackles on it, and now its political elites are seeing such an opportunity in Americas need for Japan when pursuing strategic containment of China.

Diplomacy is the continuation of internal politics. Japans eager attempt to forge deeper and tighter military connections with Australia and America corresponds with the radical remarks recently made by its former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other figures, such as a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency. Abe has increasingly shown his rightist true color after stepping down from office. Judging from what the Liberal Democratic Party is doing now, Abe and his followers seem to count on using the Taiwan question as an excuse to not only revise the Pacifist Constitution, but also quickly draw up a conscription law afterwards.

Despite Japans shrewd calculating, most of its people dont support its plan and surrounding countries are also vigilant and firmly opposed to it playing a bigger military role overseas. Many Japanese media have emphasized that the Japanese people are opposed to their country engaging in foreign military conflicts, and the young people wont accept the conscription law.

The more-than-70-year peace and development enjoyed by Japan after WWII is preconditioned by its waiver of the right to war, hence invalidating the notion of conscription. The pretext of proximity to Taiwan may draw public attention for a moment, but Japanese residents will by no means deny the experience and lessons they have gained in the past 70-plus years. Neither will they accept conscription and pay their hard-won money for the countrys mounting defense budget.

(The author is a professor at the Yokohama National University, Japan)

Editor's note: This article is originally published on huanqiu.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
Joplin, MO (64801)

Today

Thunderstorms, some strong this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 48F. SSW winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some strong this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 48F. SSW winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Reporter

Susan covers the towns of Somers and Enfield. She joined the JI in May 2021 and graduated from Skidmore College. She recently completed docent training for the Wadsworth Atheneum and hopes to start giving tours some time next year.
Oregon hospitals have created new interim guidance to help them determine which patients should get lifesaving if the current COVID-19 surge forces them to choose between people due to a lack of beds, staff or critical medical equipment care.

The guidance will only work if hospitals have exhausted all other options for treating each patient, including transferring to other facilities, deferring non-urgent surgeries and care, stocking up on supplies, and repurposing existing beds and spaces for intensive care patients.

The new policy comes as Oregon faces a wave of highly contagious but milder variants of COVID-19 omicron. The state has repeatedly set new records for new cases of COVID-19 over the past week and Thursday, and state health authorities said hospitalizations were up 12 percent from the previous day.

The Oregon Department of Health said there are only 42 adult ICU beds available, and 95 percent of the states adult non-ICU beds are full. Gov. Kate Brown announced Friday that she will deploy as many as 500 members of the Oregon National Guard to hospitals to help, with the first 125 members arriving next week at some of the hardest-hit hospitals.

Now, we want to put a triage tool in the hands of clinicians who may face very difficult decisions in the coming weeks as Omicron variants take their toll and hospitalize more patients, said OHAs Dana Hargunani. Chief medical officer.

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This ad hoc tool isnt perfect, but it ensures clinicians face these harrowing decisions with confidence that the standards they use are firmly rooted in Oregons values ??of nondiscrimination and health equity.

The agency acknowledged that the surge in omicron cases did not have time to engage the strong, comprehensive and fully inclusive community and clinicians needed and that the interim criteria were imperfect. In the preamble to the guidance, OHA said a new committee will be formed this winter that will review the policy and make changes and additions as needed.

These standards are based on standards developed in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Washington during the COVID-19 pandemic. They replace previous rules that were repealed following a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by the Oregon disability rights advocacy group, alleging they discriminate against older adults, people with disabilities and people with serious medical conditions.

The guideline directs hospitals to rank patients by assessing their likelihood of short-term survival without judging their overall quality of life or long-term survival prior to their current disease.

In a relationship between two patients who need the same resources, those who have already been treated will continue to get it unless their condition worsens. In a link between two patients with similar conditions at the same time, the hospital will use a blind map to decide who gets treatment.

Unlike other states, Oregons standards do not prioritize lifesaving care for any particular population. For example, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that other states offer more points to pregnant women, those under 18, healthcare workers or single parents.

Previous criteria allowed hospitals to exclude certain people from intensive care during a crisis, such as those with certain cancers or other serious medical conditions.

Oregon hospitals can set their own standards of crisis care, but must adhere to the states standards.
From the very beginning of the cryptocurrency movement, Bitcoins social potential (bitcoin) has always been one of the fundamental selling points. The decentralized design of crypto-based systems introduces the possibility of bringing individuals together to achieve common goals and enables them to pool resources while remaining free from external control. 2021 presents many cases that serve as evidence of the liberating power of digital assets.

Constitutional DAO: $49M raised in days

Arguably the most high-profile example of a massive fundraising campaign facilitated by DAOs in 2021 is ConstitutionDAO.The group was formed in November with the sole aim of Buy the original U.S. Constitution, sold at Sothebys.

The DAO is very close to its goal. The artifact sold for $43.2 million, while the DAO managed to raise around $47 million in ether (Ethereum), its bid was ultimately capped at $43 million by Sothebys to account for taxes and costs of protection, insurance and pushing the constitution. After the auction, the DAO offers a full refund to anyone who donates. Those who did not receive refunds kept the PEOPLE governance tokens they received in exchange for their contributions.

As a statement from ConstitutionDAO Say, While it wasnt the outcome we had hoped for, we still made history tonight. Its hard to argue with that, as it took just one week to raise funds from 17,437 backers.

BlockbusterDAO: Empowering Decentralized Streaming

In December 2021, the founders of BlockbusterDAO announced that they had formed a new Decentralized Autonomous Organization Aim to buy Blockbuster  An American brand that originally operated as a video rental company. At its peak, Blockbuster had 6,000 stores worldwide and was valued at more than $8 billion. It closed nearly all of its operations in 2014 and currently operates just one store in Oregon. Strictly speaking, this move is not expected to be fully realized until 2022.

DAO explained in an article tweet It plans to raise at least $5 million through a non-fungible token (NFT) minting campaign, each worth 0.13 ETH, to rally grassroots efforts to buy Blockbuster. BlockbusterDAO plans to turn Blockbuster into a decentralized movie streaming studio. More than 20,000 netizens are currently participating in the project on Twitter and Discord.

Fortune News PleasrFund: Supporting Journalism Integrity

In September 2021, US business magazine Fortune launched a decentralized endowment with NFT artist Pplpleasr, with proceeds earmarked for independent journalists and projects that promote journalistic integrity.

Fortune News PleasrFund launched on the Ethereum blockchain through Endaoment, A charity-focused DAO. It has allocated 214.55 ETH, worth approximately $680,000 at the time of writing, and represents half of the proceeds from the sale of the limited-edition Pplpleasr NFT commissioned by Fortune.

The four initial beneficiaries of the fund are the American Reports/GroundTruth Project, the nonprofit Journalism Institute, Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders. Each organization received an initial distribution of approximately $165,000 from Fortune and Pplpleasr.

Battle of the Infrastructure Act

Sometimes, lost battles make war history victorious.Hopefully, this is how well remember the crypto communitys backlash against last-minute crypto-related additions $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Interestingly, new tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrency brokers are a big part of the bipartisan agreement that enables ambitious federal spending projects  there are some estimates suggestion This new tax base will help the IRS increase federal revenue by about $28 billion over 10 years.

In response, tech advocacy group Fight for the Future launched a counter-initiative urging U.S. voters call their representative Oppose the crypto provision of the bill, labelling it a crypto red alert. Senate offices were flooded with calls, and a list of influencers who publicly opposed the proposed measures included Jack Dorsey, who oversees Twitter and Block (formally Square), and Brian Brooks, the former acting comptroller of currencies, among others. Now at Bitfury.

The resistance has led to a days-long stalemate in the legislature. While the infrastructure bill was eventually passed and signed without any changes to its cryptocurrency-related language, the uproar that the crypto community was able to spark demonstrates its growing lobbying powers.

As former President Donald Trumps chief of staff Mick Mulvaney put it:

I think what youre seeing is the maturation of the industry  youre seeing crypto people now understand how Washington is affecting their world, and Washington understands the technology.

Whats next?

Of course, the above examples are hardly exhaustive of all the crypto-driven social and political initiatives we will see in 2021. For example, there are countless examples of philanthropy, such as the NFT project Trippy Bunny donate all proceeds from its mint sales American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and American Cancer Society Crypto Cancer Fund Launched in January 2021. These examples represent another area where encryption can play a role.

In 2021, the potential for DAOs and crypto-driven political action becomes very clear. But were just getting started, and there are plenty of reasons to believe this trend will only get stronger in 2022.
A group of investors in Africrypt is reportedly pushing for criminal charges against the directors of the now-defunct cryptocurrency investment platform. Opponents of the move argue the push is unlikely to succeed because many investors have already been repaid some of their funds.

Mystery investor pours over $5 million into Africrypt

In a new twist in the Africrypt saga, a group of investors in the defunct cryptocurrency investment platform is reportedly taking steps to secure criminal charges against the firms two missing directors. Just a few weeks ago, a mysterious investor paid over $5 million to rescue Africrypt.

According to Bloomberg Report, this group of investors hoped that the matter would be resolved as soon as possible, and raised the possibility of private prosecution. These investors are represented by Sean Pierce of Coast to Coast Special Investigations. In an interview, Pierce explained why investors want to bring criminal charges against the crypto platforms two directors, Raees and Ameer Cajee. He said:

We are pushing for fraud, theft and money laundering charges against the brothers. They can get 10 to 15 years in prison for their first offense.

criminal charges

However, some, including lawyers representing Africrypt, said the push to bring criminal charges against the Cajee brothers was unlikely to succeed. They argue that an arrangement agreed to by most investors before being compensated gives control of all their claims to Afrcrypt to the mystery investor.

as before report According to Bitcoin.com News, a majority of Africrypt investors have agreed to terms proposed by Dubai-registered firm Pennython Project Management LLC. Under the proposal, investors would be paid the equivalent of 65 cents for every dollar invested.

While Pierce was quoted in the report as saying that some of the investors he represented did get reimbursed, he insisted that investors are still moving forward with criminal cases because there is still money to lose.

Do you think these investors will succeed in getting the Africrypt director behind bars? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Terence Chimwala Terence Zimwara is an award-winning journalist, author and author from Zimbabwe. He has written extensively on the economic woes of some African countries and how digital currencies can offer Africans an escape route.































Image Source: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for reference only. It is not a direct offer or invitation to offer, nor is it a recommendation or endorsement of any product, service or company. Bitcoin Network Does not provide investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused or related to the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned herein.
Following "Rookie Cops" characters' individual posters, Disney Plus released new refreshing stills featuring the beautiful young women of the Police University, Chae Soo Bin, Park Yoo Na, Min Do Hee and Cheon Young Min.

'Rookie Cops' Introduces Lead Stars Chae Soo Bin, Park Yoo Na, Min Do Hee and Cheon Young Min

On January 7, Disney Plus' original series "Rookie Cops" released the bright stills of Go Eun Gang (Chae Soo Bin), Ki Han Na (Park Yoo Na), Woo Jo Young (Min Do Hee) and Shin Ah Ri (Cheon Young Min).

The published photos depict the first ever encounter of the four aspiring policewomen, stimulating curiosity.

In the first photo, Ki Han Na, Woo Joo Young and Shin Ah Ri, three young females who have tasted the harsh reality inside the police university for a while, are quite nervous. Contrary to their discomfort, Go Eun Gang, who managed to enter through an additional pass, expresses her excitement and happiness.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Rookie Cops' Introduces Kang Daniel, Chae Soo Bin and More Through Their MBTI Personalities and Character Posters

Go Eun Gang greets her fellow freshmen with a wide smile, exuding high energy. Because of this, Woo Joo Young and Shin Ah Ri warm up easily with the newcomer. However, Ki Han Na minds her own business and eats her lunch deliciously without sparing the other three her glances.

Focus is given to the four different aspiring police officers, who will learn how to work together in order to survive their hardships inside the police university.

'Rookie Cops' Production Unit on the Drama and Characters

The drama stars Chae Soo Bin as Go Eun Gang, a young reckless woman who forces herself inside the police university to chase for an unrequited love. On the other hand, Park Yoo Na plays the role of Ki Han Na, the haughty and aloof top student in the university.

Min Do Hee and Cheon Young Min play the roles of forensic science major Woo Joo Young and ulzzang Shin Ah Ri, respectively.

The production unit of "Rookie Cops" described the drama as "a work that depicts the shining moments of young people with huge dreams."

Despite life's challenges, the aspiring police women will do anything to reach their dreams.

The bond and friendship the four will create in the drama is one of the things that everyone should anticipate in "Rookie Cops."

'Rookie Cops' Premiere and Further Details

Kang Daniel, Lee Shin Young, Park Sung Joon and Kim Woo Seok will join the four beautiful ladies in creating colorful memories inside the police university.

The Kim Byung Soo-directed series is slated to air for the first time on January 26 on Disney Plus.

Just in case you missed it, watch the refreshing teaser of "Rookie Cops" here:

Follow KDramaStars for more KMovie, KDrama, and celebrity updates!

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
"Be Melodramatic" actress Lee Joo Bin is currently gearing up to return to the small screen with MBC's upcoming legal romance drama "Dr. Lawyer" with So Ji Sub.

Lee Joo Bin To Lead New Drama 'Dr. Lawyer' with So Ji Sub

On January 7, Swag Management and Pictures, Lee Joo Bin's agency, released a statement confirming the actress' appearance in the upcoming MBC drama.

"Actress Lee Joo Bin takes on the role of Im Yoo Na in the new medical legal thriller drama "Dr. Lawyer," they said. "Please anticipate Lee Joo Bin's transformation."

In the drama, the actress takes on the role of Im Yoo Na, the head of Banseok R&D, who possesses both beauty and intelligence. After graduating from John Hopkins University while working as the youngest senior researcher at a global biotech company in the United States where she was born, Yoo Na returns to Korea to fulfill her duty as the head of the R&D center at Banseok Hospital.

Lee Joo Bin works alongside veteran actor So Ji Sub in "Dr. Lawyer." He will portray the role of Han Yi Han, a genius surgeon who becomes a lawyer, specializing in medical litigation after he lost everything due to a failed operation.

"Dr. Lawyer" is set to deliver a heartwarming and exhilarating medical thriller that will give comfort to victims of unfairness and life.

The drama also stars Im Soo Hyang and Shin Sung Rok, and it is scheduled to air on Friday, March 4, on MBC at 9:00 p.m. KST.

Lee Joo Bin To Join Park Hae Soo in the Korean Remake of 'Money Heist'

Actress Lee Joo Bin made her terrestrial television debut rather late in the tvN's "Mr. Sunshine" with Lee Byung Hun, Kim Tae Ri, Yoo Yeon Seok, and Byun Yo Han.

She graced beauty and talent in major works like OCN's "Trap," JTBC's "Be Melodramatic," MBC's "How to Remember That Man" and JTBC's "She Would Never Know."

She is currently receiving her much-deserved appreciation from the industry as a hot-trending rookie.

While gearing up for the new MBC drama, she is also currently working on another huge project in collaboration with Netflix.

Alongside experienced stars Park Hae Soo, Yoo Ji Tae, Jeon Jong Seo, Lee Won Jong, and Park Myung Hoon, Lee Joo Bin joins the cast of Netflix's upcoming series "Money Heist."

It is a South Korean take on the hit heist series of the same name. The actress portrays the role of Yoon Mi Seon, an employee in charge of accounting at the Royal Mint.

Moreover, "Money Heist" is slated to be released on Netflix in the second half of 2022 with a total of 12 episodes.

Follow KDramaStars for more KMovie, KDrama, and celebrity updates!



KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
The 2016 South Korean horror film "The Wailing," directed by award-winning filmmaker Na Hong Jin, is undoubtedly one of the best horror films ever released in the film industry up to this writing.

"The Wailing" follows the story of a policeman who is determined to conduct an investigation regarding the mysterious serial killings and illnesses in a Korean village, after his only daughter catches the same sickness.

Thanks to Hwang Jung Min, Kwak Do Won and Chu Woo Hee's brilliant acting performances, the film will surely go down in history.

Here's what's new from the cast, six years laters, to anticipate this year!

Kwak Do Won

Hwang Jung Min gave an unforgettable performance as a protector of the infected Korean village in the film.

He jumped onto another award-winning film "Deliver Us From Evil," directed by Hong Wong Chan, with fellow veterans Lee Jung Jae and Park Jung Min.

The film depicts the complex story of a hitman who plans to retire from the whirlwind scene, but finds himself connected to a harrowing case in Thailand.

Hwang Jung Min coupled up with Girls Generation Yoona in the 2020 JTBC drama "Hush," which is based on the novel "Silence Warning" by Jung Jin Young.

The actor recently showed off his realistic performance in the 2021 hostage-taking crime film "Hostage: Missing Celebrity" where he portrayed the role of an actor, named after him, who has been captured and tortured inceasantly.

He is reported to lead the upcoming 2022 Netflix drama "Suriname" that follows the story of a Korean man who became a drug lord.

Hwang Jung Min is also scheduled to return to the big screen with Hyun Bin, Kang Ki Young and Kwon Hyun in the new action crime thriller "THe Point Men" that is based on the 2007 hostage crisis and rescue mission in Afghanistan.

Kwak Do Won

Kwak Do Won did a really great job in portraying the role of a policeman in the drama as he hooked the viewers until the end of the film.

In 2017, he decorated the big screen with the action thriller film "Steel Rain" with Jung Woo Sung. He also reprised his role in the 2020 sequel of the film entitled "Steel Rain 2: Summit."

The actor led the 2020 political drama film "The Man Standing Next" with sterling actors Lee Byung Hun, Lee Sung Min and Lee Hee Joon.

It follows the story of the feud between the high ranking officials of the Korean government and Korean Central Intelligence Agency before the asssasination of President Park Chung Hee in 1979.

Kwak Do Won returns to the small screen, after almost a decade, with the titular drama "Gu Pil Soo Is Not There" with Yoon Doo Joon.

It will deliver a refreshingly relatable drama as it depicts the story of two friends, a breadwinner in his 40s who dreams to be successful and a genius who aims to own a start-up company in his 20s.

"Gu Pil Soo" is expected to evoke laughter and emotional feelings from viewers with its heartwarming plot that everyone can empathize with. It will air in the first half of 2022.

Chun Woo Hee

Chun Woo Hee, after the film, immediately worked on another masterpiece "One Day" with Kim Nam Gil in 2017.

She rose to fame and gained worldwide recognition for her outstanding performance in the JTBC romance drama "Be Melodramatic" with Jeon Yeo Bin, Han Ji Eun and Gong Myung.

It depicts the crazy story of three 30-year-old best friends who try to live their life amid the unexpected challenges and hurdles that will test their patience, determination and friendship.

In 2021, Chun Woo Hee led the drama film "Waiting for Rain" with Kang Ha Neul that touches the themes of love, longing and life.

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KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Family of 7-year-old Alex Hook, who suffered a brain injury last year after a projectile from a lawnmower struck his head, have tentative plans for Alex to return to school Monday after a fantastic Christmas.

Michelle Koertgen, Alexs aunt, said that Alex has been looking forward to seeing his friends again.

Hes actually really excited to return to school because he misses his friends, Koertgen said. He needs to get back to some normalcy. Itll help him overall to be around his friends.

Last September, Alex, the son of Kirbey and Caryn Hook of Silver Lake, was struck in the head while at recess at Riverview Elementary in Silver Lake when a piece of rebar was ejected from a lawnmower that was cutting grass near the playground.

Alex was flown to intensive care at Childrens Wisconsin Hospital in Wauwatosa, suffering a fractured skull and bleeding in his brain. Since then, Koertgen said Alex has undergone multiple surgeries, at one point being put into a medically-induced coma.

Long road ahead

Although his condition has improved, Koertgen said the family was still meeting with neurosurgeons and therapists to help Alex on what could be a long road ahead.

With a traumatic brain injury, it can be months before you know something is wrong, Koertgen said.

Even if he returns to school, Koertgen said Alex wont be able to play sports, go out to recess or go to gym class.

He cant hit his head, Koertgen emphasized. Its kind of disheartening, you know now his life is going to be different.

Although Koertgen said the family is grateful for his recovery so far, learning about the new limits Alex would have to face were another punch for Alexs parents.

Shes (Alexs mother) the one that has to explain this to him, Koertgen said. Hes not going to be happy with these limitations for a year. A year to a 7-year-old is a completely different thing than to us.

Grateful for support

Despite the difficulties, the family has plenty to be grateful for, Koertgen said. Fundraising efforts for Alexs medical expenses have raised around a quarter of a million dollars, according to Koertgen.

The generosity of people is truly amazing, Koertgen said. Were in awe of the generosity of people who dont even know him.

Koertgen said theyve received donations from every state in the U.S., as well from South Africa, Germany and Ireland.

And on Christmas, the family tree was surrounded by stacks of donated gifts.

My sister literally was in tears, Koertgen said. Were hoping that 2022 is going to be a happy, and most importantly healthy, new year.

More information and updates on Alexs condition can be found on his GoFundme page.

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GILLETTE, Wyo. - The mayor of Wyomings third-largest city has resigned after text messages she sent with off-color and denigrating remarks became public.

Gillette Mayor Louise Carter-King announced her resignation Thursday, two days after apologizing for the texts about City Council members and other local officials.

Carter-King says in her resignation letter she never intended to hurt anyone but recognizes she hurt people and damaged relationships with the texts disclosed by a former city administrator.

The Gillette News-Record reports the City Council plans to appoint a new mayor. Carter-King became mayor in 2015. She previously served on the city council.

The city posted an unredacted copy of more than 400 pages worth of texts and screenshots of Carter-King's messages, which you can read here.
Have a news tip or would like to report a typo? Email Anthony Victor Reyes at areyes@kvoa.com.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are scheduled to travel to Colorado to meet with families who were affected by a recent massive wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes and thousands of acres, and pictured here, a fire burns near a home on Dec. 30, 2021, north of Boulder, Colorado.
BURLINGTON  As the city moves away from its Chocolate City image, officials are considering deploying a new slogan, Small Wonder, Big Dreams, to draw attention to a changing community.

A consultant hired to rebrand Burlington without its longstanding association with chocolate has presented the Small Wonder, Big Dreams concept to the Burlington City Council.

The same consultant previously urged city leaders to abandon a different option, City of Trails, based on the fact that Burlingtons system of recreational trails is not terribly prominent or memorable.

Instead, consultant Jay Graham has encouraged officials to refocus on promoting Burlington not as a place for tourists to visit, but as a place where people like to live.

Small Wonder, Big Dreams is designed to highlight the communitys status as a relatively small city where families and other residents will find opportunities to build a future. As presented, the logo shows a home alongside representations of natural resources.

Hefty likes it

City Council members are expressing mixed feelings about the concept, although some say they are warming up to it as a possible new identity for Racine Countys second-largest municipality.

Mayor Jeannie Hefty said the slogan makes her think of the homes, farms and rivers that make Burlington enjoyable.

I truly feel thats Burlington, Hefty said. It sends a message.

Other council members, however, said they were less than overwhelmed with the new slogan.

Alderman Ryan Heft and others suggested that the simplest of all slogans  Welcome Home  might be the best way to beckon newcomers to the city of 10,000 people.

None of them really, necessarily jump out or wow me, Heft said. I dont know if weve found the winner yet.

City officials hope to make a decision by February, after which the city is prepared to make a six-figure investment in introducing a rebranded Burlington to the public.

Burlington adopted its Chocolate City U.S.A. slogan in 1987, based on the presence of Nestle, the chocolate-maker that operates a manufacturing plant at 637 S. Pine St. A summer festival called ChocolateFest grew into the citys biggest event of the year.

But as Nestle underwent changes and chocolate became less of a fixture around town, city officials started talking about retooling Burlingtons image. The summer festival last year was renamed the Burlington Jamboree.

An ad hoc group of community leaders came up with the idea of the City of Trails slogan.

Using a $40,000 state grant, the city then hired Grahams firm  GrahamSpencer Brand + Content Solutions  and the Rockford, Illinois-based consulting firm did extensive research on Burlington and its identity.

According to city officials, as many as 40 possible rebranding ideas were identified. From those, a half-dozen finalists were identified, and then two options were presented to the City Council.

In addition to Small Wonder, Big Dreams, the other idea was, Lakes & Rivers & Dreams Come True.

I expected to see more

Both were unveiled Tuesday at a meeting of the City Council Committee of the Whole. Council members did not voice much enthusiasm for Lakes & Rivers & Dreams Come True.

Alderman Shad Branen questioned why the council members were not allowed to consider more than two proposals.

I expected to see more  and to have more choice, Branen said.

Officials also have not identified the members of an advisory group that worked with the consultant and narrowed the list of rebranding possibilities from 40 to two.

Richard Lynch, one member of the group, addressed aldermen Tuesday and urged them to get behind Small Wonder, Big Dreams. Lynch acknowledged that the slogan might seem vague, but he said the now-famous swoosh symbol for Nike shoes was once unclear, too.

The new brand would draw people with the promise of experiencing Burlingtons many local businesses and other attractions, Lynch said.

I just think its huge. Its a big idea, he said. I would be disappointed if you walked away from it.

Graham presented the Small Wonder, Big Dreams concept with a variety of logo styles and arrangements.

Alderman Jon Schultz, president of the City Council, said he was not impressed initially. He was among those mentioning Welcome Home as perhaps a better idea.

Schultz, however, said the new proposed brand has grown on him. He likes the way it encourages people to consider how the Big Dreams tagline applies to them.

It doesnt have to tell the whole story, he said. All it has to do is invite you in.

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The Wicked Poke Hut, 120 Broad St. in Lake Geneva, is expected to reopen under new ownership by spring with a new menu focusing on tacos, instead of poke bowls.

Representatives from Guac Star LLC are buying the business from previous owners Karen Schutz and Joshua Bernicchi. Schutz and Bernicchi had their last day of business on Dec. 21.

Kevin Singh of Guac Star LLC said he decided to purchase the Wicked Poke Hut as part of a new business venture. Singh also is the co-owner of Going Bananas which is located in the lower level of the Riviera building, 812 Wrigley Drive.

I wanted to do something else, Singh said. At the Riviera, spaces are small. You cant do a full-on kitchen there, so I got to go somewhere else and this is perfect.

Singh would not disclose how much he was paying for the business, but the Wicked Poke Hut was listed for sale at $50,000.

Singh said he plans to renovate the Wicked Poke Hut building and re-open the business March 1.

Instead of custom-made poke bowls, the business is set to offer street tacos, quesadillas, burritos and charros.

Members of the Lake Geneva City Council unanimously approved a fermented malt beverage Class B liquor license and a wine Class C liquor license for the business, Jan. 10.

The city councils finance, licensing & regulation committee unanimously recommended the licenses, Jan. 4. The liquor licenses will allow the business to offer beer and wine for on-premise consumption.

Its going to be quick service, good food, great drinks and a good time, Singh said.

Going Bananas opened for business in the summer of 2020 in a space previously occupied by Ba-Bas Lakefront Grill. The business offers frozen bananas dipped in chocolate then covered with selected toppings.

Singh said he is looking forward to operating both businesses, especially since they are located across the street from each other.

This is around the corner, so I can watch both businesses at the same time, Singh said. Im up to the challenge. Thats why Im doing this. I want the challenge.

Singh has not operated any other businesses besides Going Bananas and Wicked Poke Hut; however, he indicated he may start other business ventures in the future.

I feel like thats a trend, every year something new, Singh said.

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Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, one of former President Donald Trumps most vocal supporters, has decided to seek reelection to a third term, two Republicans with knowledge of the plan told The Associated Press on Friday.

Johnson, of Oshkosh, has been coy about his intentions for months, but recently has indicated that he would announce his decision soon. The Republicans with knowledge of his plans were not authorized by Johnson to speak publicly about his intentions but said he could announce as soon as early next week. Johnson did not return a text message or phone call seeking comment.

A Johnson candidacy would avoid a wide-open GOP primary in the narrowly divided swing state.

Johnson pledged in 2016 not to run for a third time, but he rescinded that promise and kicked around running again for months, saying circumstances changed when Democrats took full control of Congress and the White House.

Johnson, 66, has long said his preference was to retire after two terms.

Even with Johnson in the race, Wisconsin is up for grabs with Senate majority control at play. President Joe Biden won the state by fewer than 21,000 votes after Trumps similarly razor-thin victory in 2016.

Still, Republicans have reason to be optimistic about regaining control of the 50-50 Senate. The party that does not hold the White House generally gains seats in midterm congressional elections. Former President Barack Obamas Democratic Party, for example, lost 63 seats in the House and six in the Senate in 2010.

Johnson rose out of the tea party movement in 2010, spending $15.5 million  including $9 million of his own money  to defeat Democratic U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold that year and in 2016. Johnson has long been aligned with Trumps hard-line policies and politics. He led the push to investigate Bidens son Hunter.

Johnson emerged as one of Trumps loudest defenders in 2020, particularly after his election loss, and that support continued after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Johnson held a hearing where unfounded conspiracy theories about widespread fraud in the election were given a platform. He also espoused conspiracy theories related to the Capitol raid that attempted to shift blame for what happened away from Trump supporters.

Just before the Capitol was stormed a year ago, Johnson objected to counting the Electoral College votes from Arizona.

Yet, in an unguarded moment secretly taped by a liberal activist, Johnson acknowledged that Trump lost the election in Wisconsin because he didnt do as well as other Wisconsin Republicans on the ballot.

Theres nothing obviously skewed about the results, Johnson said. Collectively, Republicans got 1.661 million votes, 51,000 votes more than Trump got.

Trump endorsed Johnson in April and encouraged him to run.

Johnsons stance angered many conservatives in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin State Journal, the states two largest newspapers, called for him to resign.

Johnson has been a loud voice for unproven COVID-19 treatments, and he accused the medical establishment and health agencies of failing to explore and promote the use of relatively inexpensive drugs previously approved for other uses as early interventions against the coronavirus.

He suggested Listerine could treat COVID-19 and said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, overhyped the COVID-19 pandemic and did the exact same thing with AIDS.

Democrats line up

Democrats running include Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson and Steven Olikara, founder and chief executive of the nonprofit Millennial Action Project.

Wisconsin voters will relish the opportunity to fire Ron Johnson, who has used his senatorial power to enrich himself and his wealthiest donors at the expense of the middle class, said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler.

Johnson has raised $4.2 million in the 2022 race so far, ahead of any Democratic candidate. Lasry, with over $3 million, has raised the most money in the Democratic field, followed by Godlewski with $1.8 million, Barnes with $1.1 million and Nelson with $700,000.

Ron Johnson has been a failure and Wisconsin voters know it, Barnes said in a statement last week. Ron Johnson has made clear that hes corrupt, out of touch with Wisconsinites, and cant be trusted.

The winner of the 2022 race will join Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who began her second term in 2019.

A Marquette Law School poll released late last year suggested Johnson may have a challenging re-election campaign.

In the poll, 38% of respondents said they would vote for Johnson, 52% said they would vote for someone other than Johnson and 10% said they didnt know or declined to answer.

Additionally, 36% of respondents said they have a favorable opinion, 42% have an unfavorable opinion and 22% didnt know.

Many potential Republican candidates have been waiting on Johnson before deciding whether to run. Former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy announced this week that he was not running for Senate or governor. Former Marine Kevin Nicholson, who lost a Republican primary for Senate in 2018, has said he would run for governor if Johnson seeks reelection.

State Journal reporter Alexander Shur contributed to this report.
Officials have identified the two Mineral Point firefighters who died in a crash with a semitractor-trailer Thursday as fire Capt. Brian Busch and firefighter James Ludlum, who have a combined 60 years of service with the fire department.

Busch, 43, and Ludlum, 69, were honored Friday during a procession that carried their bodies from a Dodgeville funeral home to UW Hospital, where autopsies were scheduled to take place. Firefighters and first responders between Dodgeville and Madison and beyond lined the route and saluted as the procession passed and as UW Med Flight followed from above.

Once the procession reached UW Hospital, first responders stood in a group and saluted as the two caskets, each draped with an American flag, were rolled into a building where autopsies were scheduled to be performed.

The Iowa County Sheriffs Office also identified the man who was driving the semi as James Morey, 80, of Waukesha. Morey was uninjured.

The Sheriffs Office said Ludlum and Busch, who were responding to a rollover crash, were driving north on Highway 151 at about 12:30 a.m. when they attempted to use an emergency crossover just west of the Highway 23 exit on the citys north side. Thats when their fire truck, with its lights flashing, was struck by a northbound semitractor-trailer.

The fire truck, a tanker with 2,000 gallons of water on board, caught fire. Busch and Ludlum died at the scene.

Morey refused medical treatment. The Sheriffs Office has not said if Morey faces possible charges, only that the crash is still being investigated.

The semitractor-trailer is owned by Soren H. Miller Transportation, a transportation company based in Delafield, the Sheriffs Office said.

Firefighters from Mineral Point responded to the crash site but were later relieved by firefighters from the Dodgeville Fire Department. The crash closed the highway in both directions for nearly 15 hours.

According to the Wisconsin State Firefighters and EMS Memorial website, three firefighters died in 2020, three in 2019 and six in 2018. Deaths that year included Capt. Cory Barr of Sun Prairie, who died in a downtown explosion, and Richard Garner, 29, a Madison Fire Department firefighter and paramedic who collapsed suddenly and died shortly after his shift ended.
New Delhi, January 8: Bulli Bai case main accused and mastermind Niraj Bishnoi has threatened to commit suicide in Delhi Police custody, informed DCP of IFSO special cell KPS Malhotra on Friday.

"The accused has confessed that he knows the creators of 'Sulli Deal', the app where Muslim women were auctioned. He has also accepted that he has access to the user account of Sweta Singh, who has been arrested by Mumbai police", DCP of IFSO special cell KPS Malhotra added.

Also Read | Online Fraud in Gujarat: Businessman Loses Rs 46 Lakh After Receiving Missed Call on His Phone.

The police are taking care of him in police custody. "His medical examination has been conducted and he is stable and unharmed. Suicide threat may be due to his mental condition or maybe he wants to delay the investigation", DCP added.

"He had further disclosed that he was in touch with the persons arrested by Mumbai Police in the virtual world and used to chat through Twitter group chats. He had never met those persons and even did not have their contact numbers. He had disclosed that he was using the Twitter account of the girl Shweta arrested by Mumbai Police", DCP Malhotra added.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: People in UP Set to Bid Farewell to BJP Govt, Claims Akhilesh Yadav.

While investigating the Bulli Bai case, the Delhi police have found out that Niraj Bishnoi is habitual of hacking, defacing the websites and learning the same since he was 15 years old.

"Previously he had hacked/defaced the various websites of schools and universities of India as well as of Pakistan. His claims of hacking the websites related to schools are being verified from the concerned quarters", said Delhi Police sources.

The police sources said that they are verifying Niraj's claim of being in touch with the creator of the Sulli Deals app. "Further technical analysis is being done to identify the culprit. Forensic examination of the technical devices is underway", they added.

"He said that he had chosen the Gurmukhi script in the crime as he found the same to be more impactful than the Devanagari script", said Police on Friday.

(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, Jan 8 (PTI) The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Saturday allowed devotees to visit gurdwaras in the city on the occasion of Prakash Purab of Guru Govind Singh on January 9.

Amid rising COVID-19 cases in the city, the authorities had allowed religious places to remain open in Delhi but visitors are not permitted.

Also Read | Online Fraud in Gujarat: Businessman Loses Rs 46 Lakh After Receiving Missed Call on His Phone.

The DDMA, however, granted a special permission for the occasion of Sikh guru Govind Singh's birth anniversary, subject to adherence with Covid norms.

"I am directed to convey the concurrence of the competent authority that the devotees will be allowed to visit gurdwaras of Delhi on the occasion of Prakash Purab of Guru Govind Singh ji to be held on January 9, subject to the strict compliance of instructions or guidelines of the government of India and the government of NCT of Delhi issued from time to time," the order issued by DDMA Additional CEO Rajesh Goyal said.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: People in UP Set to Bid Farewell to BJP Govt, Claims Akhilesh Yadav.

Covid-appropriate behaviour such as masks and social distancing are to be followed, and arrangements such as thermal screening, focus on hygiene, sanitisers and staggered timings among others will have to be made.

All district magistrates of Delhi and district DCPs will ensure that guidelines issued by the Centre and the Delhi government are strictly complied with by visitors as well as the gurdwara management committees, the order order.

(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 8 (PTI) The announcement of Assembly election dates signals the end of "anarchy and chaos" in Punjab, said Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday as he accused the ruling Congress of misgovernance.

"The present rulers had reduced governance to a circus joke," said Badal in a statement as he took on the state's Congress government.

Also Read | Online Fraud in Gujarat: Businessman Loses Rs 46 Lakh After Receiving Missed Call on His Phone.

The Election Commission on Saturday declared the poll schedule for Punjab and four other states.

The elections in Punjab will be held on February 14 and the counting will take place on March 10.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: People in UP Set to Bid Farewell to BJP Govt, Claims Akhilesh Yadav.

"This signals the end of anarchy, chaos, confusion and misgovernance in Punjab," said Badal.

The SAD chief said people of the state are ready and eagerly looking forward to a strong, stable and development-oriented SAD-BSP government "committed to peace and communal harmony".

"People will heave a sigh of relief and the state will go back to a serious and sober business of governance by the SAD-BSP alliance," he said.

We are the happiest. We are ready for action and eagerly waiting for the bugle to be blown. We are far ahead of others in preparations," added Badal.

(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, Jan 8 (PTI) Police and administrative officials in Delhi kept vigil to check violations of COVID-related guidelines as weekend curfew kicked in Friday night in the city to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The weekend curfew started at 10 pm Friday and will continue till Monday 5 am.

Also Read | Gujarat: 4 Cops Suspended for Assaulting 23-Year-Old Youth in Umra.

Officials in several districts said that teams will be in the field during the period to check that the curfew order was not violated and people did not venture out unnecessarily.

"We are prepared to enforce curfew conditions and other coronavirus-related guidelines. People are likely to keep indoors as it has been raining which will make our task a bit easy," said a district official.

Also Read | V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Tests Positive for COVID-19.

In view of the surge in coronavirus cases due to the Omicron variant, the Delhi government announced the weekend curfew on Tuesday.

"A weekend curfew has been imposed to minimise the spread of the coronavirus in Delhi. Visit the hospital only if you have severe symptoms. Treatment is possible under home-isolation. Wear a mask and follow all the COVID-related protocols," Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain tweeted saturday morning.

During the weekend curfew, only those involved in essential services and those facing an emergency situation are allowed to step out of their homes. Those venturing out will have to produce e-passes issued by the government or valid identity cards.

People can apply for an e-pass for the weekend curfew and the night curfew on weekdays on HYPERLINK "http://www.delhi.gov.in"www.delhi.gov.in.

Officials involved in essential and emergency services are included in exempted category and can move out by showing their identity cards.

People coming from or going to airports, railway stations and inter-state bus terminuses will be allowed on the production of valid tickets. Pregnant women and patients going to get medical and health services, along with attendants, are exempted on the production of valid identity cards and a doctor's prescription.

During the weekend curfew, only shops dealing in essential items such as groceries, medical equipment, medicines will be allowed to open.

If anyone has any kind of emergency like going to a hospital etc. will be allowed to move. We request the citizens not to come out of their homes without any reason during the curfew and to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, Delhi Police public relations officer Chnmoy Biswal had said on Friday.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], January 8 (ANI): Congress leader Harish Rawat on Saturday expressed confidence of the the party's victory in the assembly polls in the state next month and the party is ready to ring the farewell bell for the ruling BJP in the state.

"Rules should be the same for the ruling party and the other parties. We are absolutely ready to ring the farewell bell for BJP in Uttrakhand. Congress will contest in all 70 seats," Harish Rawat told ANI.

Also Read | Bengaluru School Files Complaint Against Parent of Girl Who Alleged Her Math Teacher Said Allah is a Better God in Classroom.

Rawat is leading the party's campaign in Uttarakhand.

Welcoming the announcement of the instructions by the Election Commission for the polls to be held on February 14, Rawat said that Congress always follows the guidelines set by the poll panel

Also Read | Gurugram: Three Arrested for Stealing and Trafficking Newborn Babies.

"We welcome the announcement of election dates for Uttarakhand. Congress always abides by the code of conduct and the guidelines set by the Election Commission," Rawat said.

On the decision of prohibiting rallies and roadshows amid the COVID-19 pandemic till January 15, Rawat said, "Congress does not mind any restrictions that are taken to contain the spread of the virus. We will fully cooperate."

Assembly polls in Uttarakhand will be held in a single phase on February 14. The counting of votes will be done on March 10. (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 (Punjab) [India], January 8 (ANI): Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who has maintained that there was "no threat" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the state, said on Saturday that the Prime Minister was "completely safe" when his convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes on his way to National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala.

Channi also said he had briefed party leader Priyanka Gandhi "on whatever happened here".

Also Read | Mumbais Dharavi Reports 147 New COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours.

"I am again saying there was no threat to the PM here, it was not there, will not be there . He was completely safe. His sercuirty was around him. No one went near him, for one kilometre no one came near him...I had a conversation with Priyanka Gandhiji and I had briefed her on whatever happened here," he told ANI.

He was asked about the security breach during the Prime Minister's visit to the state on Wednesday.

Also Read | Mumbai: Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill BJP MLA Ashish Shelar.

Union Home Ministry has sought a report from the Punjab Government on the security breach during the Prime Minister's visit to Punjab on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister's convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes due to road blockage by some protestors about 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala.

The Prime Minister was to visit Ferozepur and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects worth more than Rs 42,750 crore. After the security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda Airport.

Channi said security force personnel come in sizeable numbers during visit of Prime Minister.

"I am tired of asking, what security threat was there PMji? There were no protestors within one km range of the Prime Minister, there were 6000 tsecurity personnel, IB, and SPG for PM's security. He is Prime Minister of biggest democracy. What danger could have been?" he asked.

Congress leaders have spoken in different voices on the security breach.

Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jhakhar has said that a secure passage for the Prime Minister of India to address BJP's political rally in Ferozpur should have been ensured.

"What has happened today is just not acceptable. It's against Panjabiyat," he had said in tweet hours after the security breach. (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 8 (ANI): The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has restored the registration of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration after it "submitted necessary documents" needed to avail the Centre's facility.

"Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic religious congregation set up by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, was restored on January 7," said MHA sources on Saturday.

Also Read | Gujarat: 4 Cops Suspended for Assaulting 23-Year-Old Youth in Umra.

On December 25 last year, the MHA refused to renew the FCRA licence of Mother Teresa NGO's due to some "adverse inputs".

After the MHA rejected Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity request for licence renewal on December 25, the NGO secured a place among those 5,789 entities who lost their registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) on the ground of their failure in submitting a renewal application to enjoy the facility despite several reminders from the government.

Also Read | V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Tests Positive for COVID-19.

After the political uproar for rejecting the FCRA licence of Missionaries of Charity, the MHA then issued a statement mentioning that "the renewal application under FCRA of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) was refused on December 25 for not meeting the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR) 2011".

"No request or revision application has been received from MoC for review of this refusal of renewal," the statement read.

The MoC was registered "under FCRA vide Registration No 147120001 and its registration was valid up to October 31, 2021. The validity was subsequently extended up-to December 31, 2021, along with other FCRA Associations whose renewal applications were pending renewal".

"However, while considering the MoC's renewal application, some adverse inputs were noticed. In consideration of these inputs on record, the renewal application of MoC was not approved. MHA did not freeze any accounts of MoC. State Bank of India has informed that MoC itself sent a request to SBI to freeze its accounts," the MHA statement then mentioned. (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, Jan 8 (PTI) More than 2 crore first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given to those in the 15-18 age group, taking the total doses administered to over 151.47 crore on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said.

More than 79 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of final reports for the day by late Saturday night.

Also Read | Mumbais Dharavi Reports 147 New COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours.

As many as 2,27,33,154 vaccine doses have been administered to adolescents, the ministry said.

In a tweet, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya praised the enthusiasm among adolescents for vaccination and congratulated them on this achievement.

Also Read | Mumbai: Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill BJP MLA Ashish Shelar.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2, 2021.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1, 2021 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

The next phase of vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

(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 8: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has constituted an Inspector General (IG) level team to assist the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure and seize the records related to Prime Minister's security breach during his visit to Punjab on January 5.

As per a senior NIA official, the anti-terror agency has "nominated Inspector General of Police Santosh Rastogi to assist the Registrar General of Punjab and Haryana High Court to secure and seize the records related to the visit of Prime Minister to Punjab on January 5, 2022, from State and Central Agencies".

"Director-General NIA issued an order in this regard on Friday," the officer said, clarifying "there is no probe". Sources also said that the team comprises seven other officers, including three Deputy Inspector General level officers. PM Narendra Modi Security Breach: Supreme Court Directs Punjab and Haryana High Court Registrar General To Preserve All Records.

The move comes after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asked the NIA DG Kuldiep Singh to constitute the team. The DG then issued a written order on Friday to form a team.

The officers who will assist Rastogi in the investigation include DIGs Vidhi Kumar Bidhi, Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar and Amit Kumar, Superintendents of Police Amit Singh, Tejinder Singh and Shankar B Raimedhi. The development comes hours after the MHA constituted three-member committee summoned Punjab Police Director General Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, Punjab ADGP, Patiala IGP and Ferozpur DIG along with over a dozen top Punjab Police officers who were responsible for the Prime Minister's security during his visit to Punjab's Ferozpur on January 5.

The MHA on Thursday constituted a three-member committee led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat; Balbir Singh, Joint Director (IB); and S. Suresh, IG, Special Protection Group. The Centre is considering action under the Special Protection Group (SPG) Act against Punjab Police officers following the breach in the security of Prime Minister Modi during his visit to Punjab on January 5.

Section 14 of the SPG Act makes the state government responsible for providing all assistance to the SPG during the PM's movement. The provision, titled 'Assistance to Group', states: "It shall be the duty of every Ministry and Department of the Central Government or the State Government or the Union Territory Administration, every Indian Mission, every local or other authority or every civil or military authority to act in aid of the Director or any member of the Group whenever called upon to do so in furtherance of the duties and responsibilities assigned to such Director or member."

The MHA's three-member team started its probe on Friday from its visit at the flyover where Prime Minister's convoy was stuck for over 15-20 minutes due to a road blockade by protesters during his visit. The MHA on Thursday constituted the three-member committee to enquire into the serious lapses in the security arrangements during PM's visit to Punjab's Ferozepur on Wednesday, which led to the exposure of the VVIP to grave security risk.

Home Ministry Spokesperson in a Tweet on Thursday had informed about the formation of the three-member committee which is advised to submit the report at the earliest. The move comes after the Home Ministry on Wednesday also sought a detailed report from the Punjab government over the security lapse and asked it "to fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action".

The Home Ministry in a statement had then informed that it has asked the state government to "fix responsibility for this lapse and take strict action".

The action was taken after the Prime Minister's convoy during its visit to National Martyrs Memorial in Punjab reached a flyover where the road was blocked by some protestors.

The Prime Minister was stuck on the flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister. The Punjab government has also constituted a high-level committee to probe the incident. Prime Minister Modi landed at Bathinda on January 5 morning from where he was to go to the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter.

Due to rain and poor visibility, the Prime Minister waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out, said a Home Ministry statement issued then. "When the weather did not improve, it was decided that he would visit the National Martyrs Memorial via road, which would take more than two hours," the statement said. PM then proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police, mentions the statement. PM Narendra Modi Security Lapse: BJP Protests Near Congress Headquarters in Delhi Over Security Breach in Punjab.

"Around 30 km away from the National Martyrs Memorial in Hussainiwala, when the Prime Minister's convoy reached a flyover, it was found that the road was blocked by some protestors. "The Prime Minister was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister," reads the statement.

The Home Ministry then said that the Prime Minister's schedule and travel plan was communicated well in advance to the Punjab government. As per procedure, the Home Ministry said, they have to make necessary arrangements for logistics, security as well as keep a contingency plan ready.

"Also in view of the contingency plan, the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed. After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda Airport."

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hong Kong: CE issues statement on Jan 3 banquet

The banquet, which a number of officials attended on January 3, may involve another preliminary positive case. Chief Executive Carrie Lam said today if the case is confirmed eventually, all participants will be required to undergo quarantine.

Issuing a statement today, Mrs Lam noted that she learnt from the Centre for Health Protection that the banquet may involve another preliminary positive case who attended the event from 6pm to 8pm.

She said if the case is confirmed eventually, all participants will be classified as close contacts and are required to be sent to the Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre for quarantine.

In other words, the eight officials, who were not required to be subject to quarantine given the attendance at the banquet after 9.30pm in relation to the first confirmed case, will be classified as close contacts who need to be subject to quarantine.

Having regard to the latest development and the report by several more officials who had attended the banquet, in addition to Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui, Director of Immigration Au Ka-wang and Political Assistant to the Secretary for Development Allen Fung who attended the banquet after 9.30pm and were sent to the quarantine centre, 10 more officials will be arranged to be sent to the quarantine centre, while pending confirmation by the centre in due course on the status of the new infection case.

The Chief Executive has instructed all officials being subject to quarantine that they should not continue to discharge their duties and that they are required to take their own vacation leave for quarantine.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has made appropriate arrangements to ensure that daily operations will not be affected.

Deputy Commissioner / Head of Operations of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Ricky Yau will be the ICAC Acting Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Management) Kwok Yam-shu will be the Acting Commissioner of Police, Deputy Director of Immigration Benson Kwok will be the Acting Director of Immigration.

Taking into consideration that both the Directors of Bureau and the Under Secretaries of the Home Affairs Bureau and the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau need to undergo quarantine, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip will take up the post of the Secretary for Home Affairs concurrently.

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau will take up the post of the Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury concurrently.

All these posting arrangements will last until the completion of the quarantine of the relevant officials.

As to whether the attendance of 13 officials at the banquet constitutes any breach of discipline, Mrs Lam has instructed the Director of the Chief Executive's Office Chan Kwok-ki and Mr Nip to make detailed investigations.

Mr Chan will handle the investigation of 10 politically appointed officials and the ICAC Commissioner Simon Peh, while Mr Nip will handle the investigation of two heads of department who are civil servants.

The investigation will cover the detailed circumstances of the attendance of each official at the banquet, including the time of arrival, duration of stay and their behaviours there.

The investigation and enforcement action by the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) under the Prevention & Control of Disease (Requirements & Directions) (Business & Premises) Regulation, covering such aspects as whether the attendee used the LeaveHomeSafe app and wore a mask, will also be taken as reference.

As regards enforcement actions against the restaurant and customers, Mrs Lam has requested the FEHD to investigate according to the law as soon as possible and inform the public of the investigation results at a timely moment.

Mrs Lam reiterated that the whole societys concerted efforts are needed to fight the virus and that Government officials should lead by example, abide by the rules, stay vigilant and refrain from taking part in high-risk activities.

After the completion of the investigations, she will take appropriate actions against the relevant officials, she added.

This story has been published on: 2022-01-08. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to media inquiries about the fine and warning issued to the Chinese subsidiary of the Japanese company 7 & i Holdings that is the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores in China, violating China's Regulation on Map Management.

The Credit China website, which publicizes details of administrative penalties, shows the company displayed problematic maps on its official website and the entrance to its company offices in Beijing. The maps contain so many mistakes that they could even be listed as an index for mistakes to be avoided.

In the map on its official website, it skipped the islands in South China Sea and the Diaoyu Islands, made mistakes on China's boundaries in Aksai Chin and Southern Tibet, and portrayed Taiwan as "an independent country". The map at its company entrance had all the mistakes except the last one.

Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources fined the company 150,000 yuan ($23,520) for the two wrong deeds.

The difference between the two maps suggests two possibilities. One, the company knows China's stance of sovereignty issues well, which is why it avoided portraying Taiwan as an independent country on the map at its company entrance. Yet it just turned a blind eye to the same mistake on its official website, putting the wrong map there as if no one would notice that.

Two, its executives know that Taiwan is part of China and tried to avoid wrongdoings on the issue, but were so ignorant that they cared little about the other mistakes on the map.

The company has said that it "is taking the issue seriously and making sure to prevent a recurrence".

Upholding the principle of one China should be done in deeds, not just words. It is the obligation of all companies doing businesses on the Chinese mainland to obey the laws and regulations, and to gain enough knowledge about the laws should serve as a key, indispensable step of that.
New Delhi, January 8: Former Puducherry lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi on Saturday termed the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy near Punjab's Ferozepur as "100 per cent administrative failure" and a pre-planned conspiracy, adding that the country narrowly escaped the assassination of its Prime Minister.

Speaking to ANI, the Former Puducherry LG said, "Plan to ambush the Prime Minister did not succeed. This is 100 per cent administrative failure. The prime minister of this country survived a horrific attack. The state is near the Pakistan border. There could have been a bomb under the bridge. I think this country narrowly escaped the murder of its number one executive."

Also Read | Mumbai: Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill BJP MLA Ashish Shelar.

She slammed the absdence of senior officials, including DGP, Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and District Magistrate at the time of the incident. PM Narendra Modi Security Breach: Ferozepur SSP IPS Harmandeep Singh Hans Replaced by IPS Narinder Bhargav.

"All senior officials look for such opportunities to meet the Prime Minister. I think they have to answer why they were absent. This is criminal negligence. You ran away from your duty. It is a protocol that when the Prime Minister comes DGP, Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and District Magistrate receive him," Bedi told ANI.

Also Read | MUHS PG and Graduate Exams Postponed Due to Rise in COVID-19 Cases.

She stated that Chief Minister and the state Home Minister are accountable for the answer to the incident.

"Do not associate this incident with Punjabiyat. Punjabis served the people during the COVID pandemic. We will be who we are. But, do not do such an act which affects the country's reputation," she said. She demanded the dismissal of the DGP and the Chief Secretary.

"It is criminal negligence. They have to be dismissed out of the service... no pension, nothing. A criminal case should be registered against them," she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's convoy was stuck for 15-20 minutes due to a road blockade in Punjab's Ferozepur. The Prime Minister, who was travelling by road, had to call off his event in Ferozepur on Wednesday.

PM Modi, who had to return to Bathinda airport on Wednesday due to a security breach during his visit is learned to have told state government officials at the airport, "Apne CM ko thanks Kehna, ki mein Bhatinda airport tak zinda laut paaya".

Following the incident, BJP alleged that the Congress government in Punjab had deliberately created a scenario to harm Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(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, Jan 8 (PTI) Even for a party that loves to up the ante in every election, stakes could not have been higher for the BJP than they are in the five state assembly elections, the schedule for which was announced by the Election Commission on Saturday.

To begin with, the party is in power in four of the five states, including in all-important Uttar Pradesh, and the elections are also the first popular test for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he announced the repeal of three contentious farm repeal laws to douse the fire of discontent raging among a big section of farmers in north India.

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If the polls, which begin from February 10, hold significance for what they will bring to the ruling party, they have an added element of political salience for the likely impact their results will have on the opposition camp too, as the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress have mounted an aggressive campaign which is as much directed at the Congress as the BJP.

With the Congress' claim of being the natural spearhead of any united opposition challenge to the BJP in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls drawing scrutiny from regional satraps, the election results may force a realignment in the opposition politics, political watchers believe.

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: People in UP Set to Bid Farewell to BJP Govt, Claims Akhilesh Yadav.

This theory gains more currency because of the Sonia Gandhi-led party being the main challenger in three of the four states where BJP is in power. The Congress is in power in Punjab.

For the BJP, the first two phases of the polls on February 10 and 14 are probably also the most challenging as they include Punjab, where the farmers' agitation was most intense and western UP, the Jat region of Uttar Pradesh which was also hit hard by the protests.

Goa and Uttarakhand, both states where the BJP is in power, will also go to the polls on February 14.

Some believe the trends seen in the first two phases may play a key role in the remaining five phases for Uttar Pradesh, which has total 403 assembly seats with a voter base of over 15 crore.

There was speculation in some quarters that the BJP may want elections to start from the eastern parts of UP, where the party is believed to be in a stronger position than the western part of the state in the wake of farmers' protests.

However, the election schedule will follow the traditional pattern of West going to polls first and then moving towards East, which some pundits now say would help BJP put up a confident face from the word go.

At the same time, it will also help the ruling party step up its tempo if it fails to garner desired level of support in Punjab and Western UP.

The recent political slugfest between Congress and BJP over the security breach during Modi's visit to Punjab has added another dimension to the state polls.

If in 2012 western UP was the stepping stone to the saffron wave that swept Uttar Pradesh, this time the BJP is faced with the challenge of perceived anger among a section of Jats with the Samajwadi Party and the RLD joining hands to take on the ruling party.

BJP leaders have expressed confidence of repeating the feat they had achieved in the last polls on the back of their twin planks of development and Hindutva, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath leading the charge while Modi remains the dominant theme of the party's campaign.

The party also hopes to benefit from differences in the Congress camp in Uttarakhand, even though it has been forced to change two chief ministers in the state leading to the polls.

Goa and Manipur are also set to witness multi-cornered contests with the BJP having worked to weaken the main opposition Congress in both the states through a spate of defection.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], January 8 (ANI): Telangana Police has arrested TRS Kothagudem MLA Vanama Venkateshwar Rao's son Vanama Raghavendra Rao in connection with an abetment to suicide case, said police on Saturday.

Vanama Raghavendra was arrested by the police at Chintalapudi police in Andhra Pradesh and brought to Kothagudem district.

Also Read | Uttarakhand High Court Suspends Physical Hearing After Judge, 4 Others Test Positive for COVID-19.

Raghavendra was booked by the police under sections 302, 306 and 307 of the IPC after four members of a family died of burn injuries.

According to ASP Rohit Raju, Mandiga Naga Rama Krishna poured petrol on his wife Mandiga Sri Laxmi, two daughters - Sai Sahitya and Mandiga Sai Sahithi - and on himself and set themselves ablaze.

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In a video before his death, Rama Krishna alleged that he had a property dispute with Rao, and the former had asked him to send his wife to settle the dispute, said ASP Raju.

On January 3, Rama Krishna, Sri Laxmi and Sai Sahitya died due to burn injuries, while Sai Sahithi, who had sustained 80 per cent burn injuries, died on January 5 at around 6 pm.

Following this, the police launched a manhunt to arrest Rao. On Friday night, Rao was arrested at Mandalapalli.

The accused will be produced before the court today.

Further investigation is underway. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Dehradun, Jan 8 (PTI) Uttarakhand on Saturday reported 1,560 coronavirus cases, recording the highest single-day spike in infection cases in the state since May 29 last year when 1,687 people had tested positive.

Meanwhile, no death was reported in the state, which till now has reported 7,423 fatalities. So far, 3,49,472 cases have been reported in the state.

Also Read | Mumbai: Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill BJP MLA Ashish Shelar.

Dehradun district reported the highest 537 cases, followed by Nainital (404), Haridwar (303), Pithoragarh (82), Almora (52) and Champawat (46), the Covid control room here said.

Uttarakhand had reported 814 cases of Covid-19 on Friday.

Also Read | MUHS PG and Graduate Exams Postponed Due to Rise in COVID-19 Cases.

On the sudden jump in Covid cases, social activist Anoop Nautiyal said, "I appeal to Govt of #Uttarakhand and Health Dept to immediately increase the no. of Covid tests.

We are only doing 15,000 odd tests on a daily basis. This is far lower than the target of 25,000 that was set by the authorities. In fact, this target needs revision after the big spike in cases in state," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mexico City, Jan 8 (AP) Nine bodies were found heaped on a roadside in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz, authorities said.

The state public safety department called the killings a reaction to the results of work being done to fight crime.

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Veracruz Gov. Cuitlahuac Garcia said a total of nine bodies were found at the scene on Friday and suggested the crime involved gangs.

We are not going to allow any acts of revenge between criminal groups, Garcia said.

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He also said past Veracruz administrations had agreements with the drug gangs that operate in the state.

We are going to take resounding action against all the criminal groups that before had agreements with past state administrations, Garcia said, adding that gangs are a little angry that such agreements no longer exist.

Local media reported a handwritten message found at the scene threatened authorities and was signed by the four letters, commonly a reference to the Jalisco Cartel.

There are four letters in the initials of the cartel's formal name, Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The bodies were found in the township of Isla, near the crime-plagued port of Coatzacoalcos.

The grisly discovery came one day after assailants left the bodies of eight men and two women in front of the governor's office in the north-central Mexican state of Zacatecas.

The bodies were found crammed into a pickup truck left before dawn on Thursday near a Christmas tree in the main plaza of the state capital, also named Zacatecas.

Francisco Murillo, the Zacatecas chief prosecutor, said seven of the 10 bodies had been autopsied and all died of asphyxiation by strangulation.

Six had injuries suggesting they had their feet and hands bound. One showed possible signs of torture.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been unable to significantly reduce homicides in Mexico. There were 31,615 killings in the first 11 months of 2021, a decline of just 3.6 per cent from the 32,814 in 2020. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Colombo, Jan 8 (PTI) Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will arrive in Sri Lanka on Saturday on a two-day visit and is scheduled to meet the country's top leadership, marking the 65th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Wang, who will arrive here from the Maldives, will meet President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister G L Peiris during the visit, Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage said.

Also Read | China: 16 Killed, 10 Injured in Lunchtime Blast at Govt Office Cafeteria in Chongqing.

His visit marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations and the 70th anniversary of the Lanka-China Rubber Rice Pact.

Signed in 1952, the Rubber-Rice Pact was a trade agreement between Lanka and China under which Colombo supplied rubber to Beijing in exchange for rice, leading to the establishment of diplomatic relations and expansion of trade between the two nations.

Also Read | Tesla Make Record Sales in UK in 2021, Helps Country To Achieve New Electric Market Share Milestone.

The events marking the occasions will be held at the Chinese-built port city in central Colombo, one of the many mega infrastructure development projects supported by China since 2010.

Colombage said new Chinese investment opportunities might be sealed by Sri Lanka during the foreign minister's visit.

The relationship between the two countries has been under stress in the recent months.

China protested against Sri Lanka's rejection of an organic fertiliser shipment which the local farmers and some experts claimed was contaminated.

The Sri Lankan commercial high court here blocked payment for it despite top level interventions by China. The Chinese black listed the Sri Lankan state bank for not honouring the payment.

Sri Lankan scientists had questioned the quality of the Chinese fertiliser consignment, saying that instead of helping, it could prove harmful to the crops.

However, on Friday, on the eve of Wang's visit, the Sri Lanka's People's Bank released USD 6.9 million US to the Chinese company.

China's blacklisting of the Sri Lankan bank, and the public clash between officials on both sides, had come amid growing concerns over an acute agriculture crisis in Sri Lanka, following President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's decision in May last year to abruptly switch from chemical to organic fertilisers.

The decision triggered protests from farmers who said the fertiliser ban would result in reduction in harvest, leading to a food crisis this year.

China in December suspended a project to install hybrid energy plants in three islands of Sri Lanka, citing "security concern" from a "third party", amid reports of India raising concern over its location.

In early 2021, India lodged a "strong protest" with Lanka on the award of the tender to the Chinese company for the construction of renewable energy power plants in Delft, Nagadeepa and Analthivu.

The visit also happens at a time when Sri Lanka is facing its all-time worst foreign exchange crisis.

By December, the reserves position had plummeted to just one month's imports or a little over USD 1 billion.

However, by the end of the year, the Central Bank announced that the reserves position had improved and the cash realisation was believed to have come from a previously agreed currency swap with China.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Washington, Jan 8 (AP) Lani Guinier, a civil rights lawyer and scholar whose nomination by President Bill Clinton to head the Justice Department's civil rights division was pulled after conservatives criticized her views on correcting racial discrimination, has died. She was 71.

Guinier died Friday, Harvard Law School Dean John F. Manning said in a message to students and faculty. Her cousin, Sherrie Russell-Brown, said in an email that the cause was complications due to Alzheimer's disease.

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Guinier became the first woman of color appointed to a tenured professorship at Harvard law school when she joined the faculty in 1998. Before that she was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's law school. She had previously headed the voting rights project at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in the 1980s and served during President Jimmy Carter's administration in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which she was later nominated to head.

I have always wanted to be a civil rights lawyer. This lifelong ambition is based on a deep-seated commitment to democratic fair play  to playing by the rules as long as the rules are fair. When the rules seem unfair, I have worked to change them, not subvert them, she wrote in her 1994 book, Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy.

Also Read | China: 16 Killed, 10 Injured in Lunchtime Blast at Govt Office Cafeteria in Chongqing.

Clinton, who knew Guinier going back to when they both attended Yale's law school, nominated her to the Justice Department post in 1993. But Guinier, who wrote as a law professor about ways to remedy racial discrimination, came under fire from conservative critics who called her views extreme and labeled her quota queen. Guinier said that label was untrue, that she didn't favor quotas or even write about them, and that her views had been mischaracterised.

Clinton, in withdrawing her nomination, said he hadn't read her academic writing before nominating her and would not have done so if he had.

In a press conference held at the Justice Department after her nomination was withdrawn, Guinier said, Had I been allowed to testify in a public forum before the United States Senate, I believe that the Senate also would have agreed that I am the right person for this job, a job some people have said I have trained for all my life.

Guinier said she was greatly disappointed that I have been denied the opportunity to go forward, to be confirmed, and to work closely to move this country away from the polarization of the last 12 years, to lower the decibel level of the rhetoric that surrounds race and to build bridges among people of good will to enforce the civil rights laws on behalf of all Americans."

She was more pointed in an address to an NAACP conference a month later.

I endured the personal humiliation of being vilified as a madwoman with strange hair  you know what that means  a strange name and strange ideas, ideas like democracy, freedom and fairness that mean all people must be equally represented in our political process, Guinier said. But lest any of you feel sorry for me, according to press reports the president still loves me. He just won't give me a job.

On Twitter Friday, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund head Sherrilyn Ifill called Guinier my mentor and a scholar of uncompromising brilliance."

Manning, the Harvard law dean, said: Her scholarship changed our understanding of democracy  of why and how the voices of the historically underrepresented must be heard and what it takes to have a meaningful right to vote. It also transformed our understanding of the educational system and what we must do to create opportunities for all members of our diverse society to learn, grow, and thrive in school and beyond.

Penn Law Dean Emeritus Colin Diver, whose time as dean overlapped with Guinier's time on the faculty, said she pushed the envelope in many important and constructive ways: advocating for alternative voting methods, such as cumulative voting, questioning the implicit expectations of law school faculty that female students behave like gentlemen,' or proposing alternative methods for evaluating and selecting applicants to the Law School.

Carol Lani Guinier was born April 19, 1950, in New York City. Her father, Ewart Guinier, became the first chairman of Harvard University's Department of Afro-American Studies. Her mother, Eugenia Genii Paprin Guinier, became a civil rights activist. The couple  he was Black and she was white and Jewish  was married at a time when it was still illegal for interracial couples to marry in many states.

Lani Guinier, who graduated from Harvard's Radcliffe College, is survived by her husband, Nolan Bowie, and son, Nikolas Bowie, also a Harvard law school professor.

My mom deeply believed in democracy, yet she thought it can work only if power is shared, not monopolized. That insight informed everything she did, from treating generations of students as peers to challenging hierarchies wherever she found them. I miss her terribly, her son wrote in an email.

Other survivors include a stepdaughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. (AP)

(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 [UAE], January 8 (ANI/WAM): The Atlantic Council announced today that the 2022 Global Energy Forum will now be held alongside Expo 2020 in Dubai from March 28-29.

The forum, which is part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, will also be hosted in conjunction with the 2022 World Government Summit a major global convening focused on the tools, policies, and models that are essential in shaping future governments and will take advantage of the unparalleled opportunities at Expo during its closing week.

Also Read | COVID-19 Recovered at 3-5 Times More Omicron Reinfection Risk Compared to Delta, Says WHO.

"As the global energy system faces unprecedented challenges and promising new innovations, it is more important than ever for leaders around the world to collaborate in-person to advance the energy transition," said Randy Bell, senior director of the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Centre.

"The recent sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in the United States due to the Omicron variant made it necessary to postpone the 2022 Global Energy Forum. We are confident the new event dates and location will allow for an even more impactful and engaging convening."

Also Read | Earthquake in China: Quake of Magnitude 6.9 Hits Menyuan County.

The Global Energy Forum will also convene several virtual programmes this month during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (which is still going ahead as planned) to complement ADSW's critical mission of accelerating global climate action.

These programmes will include a high-level discussion on the outcomes from COP26 and the agendas for COP27 and COP28; the rollout of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Centre's annual flagship publication The Global Energy Agenda; a discussion on the various pathways to reaching net-zero; and a deep dive on the role of hydrogen in a net-zero energy system. (ANI/WAM)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi [India], January 8 (ANI): India will start exports of mango to the USA from January-February 2022 and of pomegranate arils from April 2022. The United States will also begin exporting Alfalfa hay for animal feed and cherries from April 2022, the Government said in a press release on Saturday.

Based on the ministerial discussions, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) also conveyed its readiness to provide market access for US pork and requested the US side to share a signed copy of the final sanitary certificate for finalising the same.

Also Read | COVID-19 Recovered at 3-5 Times More Omicron Reinfection Risk Compared to Delta, Says WHO.

Department of Agriculture and farmer's welfare (DAC&FW) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have signed a framework agreement for implementing the 2 Vs 2 Agri market access issues.

It includes inspection/oversight transfer for Indian mangoes & pomegranate and market access for pomegranate arils from India and market access for US cherries and US Alfalfa hay.

Also Read | Earthquake in China: Quake of Magnitude 6.9 Hits Menyuan County.

The agreement to facilitate the market access for mangoes and pomegranates from India and cherries, and alfalfa hay for animal feed from the US was made at India-US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting held on 23 November 2021. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Manila [Philippines] January 8 (ANI/Xinhua): The Philippines reported a record high 26,458 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, pushing the total number of the confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 29,36,875.

The country's Department of Health (DOH) said that the number of active cases or patients still battling the disease soared to 1,02,017 as the positivity rate soared to 43.7 percent.

Also Read | Murree Tragedy: Cold Kills 16 People Trapped in Cars in Heavy Snow at Pakistan Resort.

Saturday's case count surpassed the 26,303 cases tallied on September 11, 2021, while the country was battling the third wave of infections.

Experts said suspected cases of Omicron are fueling surges in communities and further straining the hospitals' capacity to cope with the continuing pandemic.

Also Read | Murree Tragedy: Thousands of Tourists Stranded Due to Heavy Snowfall in Pakistan, 19 Freeze to Death; Rescue Operations Underway.

The DOH said that 265 more people died from COVID-19 complications, bringing the country's death toll to 52,135. The reported deaths include those who died in the previous months.

"With the enormous number of people being positive with the just short duration of time and most of them are manifesting upper respiratory track symptoms, then I would say there is already community transmission of Omicron variant," infectious diseases specialist Rontgene Solante told a televised press conference on Saturday.

Indeed, Solante said the government hospitals "are seeing increasing numbers" of COVID-19 patients daily, including the severe and critical cases.

Jonas del Rosario, the spokesperson for the Philippine General Hospital, echoed Solante's assessment, saying the government-owned hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) has reached full capacity.

"Our ICU right now is full. The ICU ends for COVID-19 patients are 100 percent occupied," he told a televised press conference, adding the hospital is converting its non-COVID wards to meet the rising demand for COVID-19 beds.

Experts and health authorities warned that cases will continue rising in the coming days. "It will be very scary for the next few weeks," molecular biologist Nicanor Austriaco of the OCTA Research Group said.

Authorities stressed the need to stay at home if only experiencing mild symptoms and reserve the hospitals for critically-ill COVID-19 patients.

"This is really the important part; the key critical protection that we must do at this time is we must protect our hospitals and our health care workers," Austriaco added. (ANI/Xinhua)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Johannesburg, Jan 8 (PTI) US-based Guernsey's Auction House has agreed to suspend its planned auction of the key to the cell on Robben Island where former President Nelson Mandela served out most of his 27 years as a political prisoner before becoming the first democratically-elected president of South Africa in 1994.

This followed interventions by the South Africa government after it emerged that the key had been made available for auction on January 22 alongside other Mandela curios.

Also Read | Tesla Make Record Sales in UK in 2021, Helps Country To Achieve New Electric Market Share Milestone.

The online sale of the key was expected to fetch more than a million pounds. Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, who welcomed the decision, said that the key belonged to the South African nation in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act.

The key symbolises South Africa's painful history whilst also representing triumph of the human spirit over evil. This key is living proof of South Africans' long walk to freedom and belongs to the people of South Africa. It therefore must rightfully be returned to the country, Mthethwa said on Friday after learning of the decision.

Also Read | Novak Djokovic Australia Visa Controversy: World No. 1 Thanks Supporters Around the World in Instagram Story.

Mthethwa ordered an investigation into reports that the key had been provided to Guernsey's by Christo Brand, who was Mandela's jailer and later became a tour guide on Robben Island as part of reconciliation attempts after Mandela ascended to power.

The minister said whether this was true or not, it was a serious matter which was receiving attention at the highest levels.

He said the master key to the Robben Island cells was still there, so the investigation would determine whether Mandela's cell key was duplicated.

No individual has the right to possess this important object of cultural and heritage significance. Robben Island is a national monument and national museum, and is also a World Heritage Site, declared by UNESCO in 1999, and therefore is governed by so many heritage declarations, Mthethwa said.

Guernsey's has undertaken to arrange for the key to be returned to South Africa in consultation with relevant South African authorities. Details of such arrangements will be made available later.

Guernsey's has also agreed to halt the sale of various other items which belonged to Mandela, as the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) believes that such items also form part of the national estate.

SAHRA had worked together with the Departments of Sport, Arts and Culture; International Relations and Cooperation; and Justice and Correctional Services as well the Robben Island Museum, Office of the Solicitor General and Office of the Chief State Law Advisors on the negotiations with Guernsey's.

Mthethwa said SAHRA should engage the Mandela family and the Nelson Mandela Foundation with a view to establishing whether all other items intended for auctioning form part of the national estate.

The auction house had earlier said the items on auction included Mandela's eyeglasses ceremonial pens he received from President George W Bush and the UN and a powerful bronze cast of his fist.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Minneapolis, Jan 8 (AP) Prosecutors and defence attorneys for three former Minneapolis officers who are charged in the death of George Floyd asked a judge on Friday to postpone their state trial while a federal civil rights trial goes forward.

Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao are scheduled to go to trial on March 7 on state charges of aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter.

Also Read | Tesla Make Record Sales in UK in 2021, Helps Country To Achieve New Electric Market Share Milestone.

The three also face a federal trial on January 20 on charges alleging they violated Floyd's civil rights while acting under government authority.

State prosecutors and defence attorneys filed a joint request on Friday to have the state trial postponed, saying it's not known how long the federal trial will last.

Also Read | Novak Djokovic Australia Visa Controversy: World No. 1 Thanks Supporters Around the World in Instagram Story.

The request says all parties agree that a continuance should be granted in the interest of justice.

They are asking for an informal conference to set a new trial date. It's not known when Judge Peter Cahill will rule.

Derek Chauvin, who is white, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison last year on murder and manslaughter charges for pressing his knee against Floyd's neck for up to 9 1/2 minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn't breathe and eventually went limp.

According to evidence in the state case against Chauvin, Kueng and Lane helped restrain the 46-year-old Black man as he was on the ground. Kueng knelt on Floyd's back and Lane held down Floyd's legs.

Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening as he was restrained.

Chauvin pleaded guilty in December to a federal count of violating Floyd's civil rights during the May 25, 2020, arrest. Prosecutors are seeking 25 years on the federal count.

The killing was captured on bystander video and galvanized protests against police brutality around the US and beyond. (AP)

(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, Jan 8: The Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity (MTMC) got back its Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) licence again on Saturday.

Missionaries of Charity is a Kolkata based organisation which operates orphanages and shelters for the poor, sick, and destitute in India, its FCRA licence was not renewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

On the occasion of Christmas, the MHA had refused to renew its FCRA licence. The MHA had reportedly found some adverse input following which it didn't renew the licence. The move of the MHA had led to a nation-wide controversy with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemning the move. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity Accounts Not Frozen, Clarifies MHA, Says Charity Itself Sent Request To Suspend Its Accounts.

After losing its FCRA license the organisation was helpless to access foreign funds parked in over 250 accounts. To access the foreign funds of 250 accounts the organisation needed to revive its FCRA licence.

As of now the Centre has not made any statements in this respect.

According to sources, the MHA finally agreed to renew the licence after necessary documents were furnished with the concerned authorities.

Soon after it was restored, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev tweeted: "Service to mankind is the greatest service".

Derek O'Brien, another TMC MP took to twitter to criticise the Centre.

"The FCRA registration for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity is back. The 'adverse inputs' harassed so many and then disappeared in two weeks. The POWER OF LOVE is stronger than the power of 56 inch," read his tweets.

He also shared a screen shot on the twitter regarding his tweet showing that licence was renewed.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram has also attacked the Centre on Twitter following the renewal of the licence.

According to the information, a police complaint was lodged with Gujrat Police against one unit of the MTMC. It was a children home of MTMC and the complaint was against its director. It was alleged that a conversion racket was being run at the children home.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2022 11:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Reports of tourists in vehicles dying of CO poisoning after getting stuck in vehicles with heavy snow outside have surfaced on the internet. Thousands of tourists were stranded in Murree on Friday night due to heavy snowfall after which the roads leading to Murree from Islamabad were closed.

As per the reports, at least 19 tourists have died in the tragic event. The Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has imposed a state of emergency in the calamity-struck region, amid fears the death toll may increase. Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry requested the tourists not to plan trips towards upper areas of the country for a few days. Telangana Tragedy: 6 Teenagers Drown in Manair River in Sircilla Town.

Watch Shocking Video of Murree Tragedy:

Evacuation Process Continues in Murree:

Faheem Younus, MD Tweeted:

Tragic news from #Murree Were the deaths caused by cold or carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning? CO is odorless, lethal If an idling car is buried in snow, the blocked exhaust (silencer) can quickly kill the passengers as they breath COhttps://t.co/Fq1bKLOio4  Faheem Younus, MD (@FaheemYounus) January 8, 2022

Reportedly, more than 23,000 vehicles stuck in traffic have been evacuated from Murree but hundreds of vehicles are still stuck in traffic. Heavy machinery has been opted to clear the roads and the civil armed forces have been called in to rescue the stranded tourists.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2022 03:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, January 8: The Election Commission of India on Saturday announced the dates and schedule for upcoming assembly elections in the poll bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab. As per the announcement, the Assembly Elections 2022 for 403 seats in UP will be held in Seven phases from 10th February to 7th March while 40 seats in Goa, 70 seats in Uttarakhand and 117 seats in Punjab will go to polls on 14th February. Elections for the 60 seats of Manipur legislative assembly will be held in two phases on 27th February and 3rd March.

The results of the elections will be announced on March 10.

Dates have ben announced a day after the Union Health Secretary, in his meeting with the ECI, presented the overall global and domestic status of spread of Covid, as Well as Omicron, in the country.

Details were also presented on status of preparedness of the public health response within the states for control and management of the increasing numbers of Covid cases, the statement by the Union Health Ministry Said.

Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022 Dates And Schedule

Elections for the UP legislative assembly will be held in seven phases between February 10 to March 7.

Citing the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, the Congress had announced that it would not hold any rallies in Uttar Pradesh and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to refrain from holding large public events in the state.

The assembly election in Uttar Pradesh comes as a big challenge to the Yogi Adityanath led BJP Government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi With Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow (View Pics)

Uttar Pradesh, the country's largest state in terms of Lok Sabha seats, remains crucial for the BJP and especially for the Modi-Shah duo where they are expected to face a tough challenge from the Samajwadi Party.

Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022 Dates And Schedule

Elections for the 70 seats in Uttarakhand will be held on 14th February.

Since the formation of Uttarakhand, the people of the state have not given a mandate to the government of any one party for a second time in a row. Breaking this trend, forming the government consecutively for the second time is another big task for the BJP in 2022. Uttarakhand Assembly Election 2022: Arvind Kejriwal Promises Rs 1 Crore to Kin of Security Personnel Who Die in Action

Punjab Assembly Elections 2022 Dates And Schedule

Elections for the 117 seats of the Punjab legislative assembly will be held on 14th February.

In Punjab the incumbent Congress government led by Charanjit Singh Channi faces anti-incumbency and the Aam Aadmi Party( AAP) which has intensified its attacks on the state government. The Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party is focussing on two issues -- education and illegal sand mining -- in its fight against the Congress.

Goa Assembly Elections 2022 Dates And Schedule

Assembly elections for the 40 seats in Goa will be held on February 14th.

Known for its volatile, tumultuous political developments, Goa politics is hotting up as battle lines are being drawn by a slew of contenders for the Assembly elections.

While the BJP, which has been ruling the state for a decade, and the main Opposition Congress remain the principal contenders, the aggressive entry of the TMC and AAP into Goas packed electoral field has given the battle another dimension.

Manipur Assembly Elections 2022 Dates And Schedule

Elections for the 60 seats of Manipur legislative assembly will be held in two phases on February 27th and 3rd March.

In Manipur, with knives out for Chief Minister N. Biren Singh within the BJP and severe anti-incumbency against his government, the lead Opposition party in the State, Congress has reason to cheer, except the party is still dragging its feet into the Assembly election with 73-year-old Okrom Ibobi Singh, Manipurs three-term Chief Minister, who is both the partys strength and weakness.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2022 04:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Besides the poll schedule, Covid-19 protocols will also be announced amid the rising number of cases across India. Last week, the poll body held a meeting with the Health Ministry to discuss the current Covid situation in the five states.
Ariana DeBose has been candid when talking about her role in the musical "West Side Story," noting the challenges that came with it.

DeBose said that they were dancing outdoors, on the streets of New York, and that she burned holes in her shoes, adding that she considers herself more of a poetic athlete, according to Variety report.

The actress said that the type of dance they had was so physical, as well as the maintenance that goes with it.

The Afro-Latina actress also talks about how the film did not shy away from her skin color. DeBose said that she was proud that the microaggressions that her role experienced were included in the film.

DeBose noted that it is not every day that an Afro-Latina gets to be "part of the main event," according to an NPR report. She added that her character's Afro-Latina identity informs the story, adding that it is not an afterthought.

West Side Story has been an iconic film with the role of Anita giving the sole recognition of a Latina acting winner at the Oscars, with Rita Moreno bagging the statuette 60 years ago.

DeBose opened up her meeting with Moreno. The Afro-Latina actress said that the veteran actress had a piece of advice to her, which is to lean into "everything that makes you unique." She added that representation matters.

Colombian-American actress Rachel Zegler also talked about representation in the film. Zegler said Afro-Latinos are not represented and not validated in their identity, adding that people see it every day.

READ NEXT: Celebrities We've Lost in 2021: Remembering Some of the Biggest Stars Who Died This Year

Ariana DeBose Hosting Saturday Night Live

Meanwhile, Saturday Night Live has announced its return for the first show of the new year of January 15. The NBC late-night comedy show will feature Ariana DeBose as host, and popstar Roddy Ricch as the musical guest, according to a Hola report.

DeBose will be hosting the first episode of 2022 after shutting down productions amid the COVID infections surge.

Producers were reportedly planning to bring back the entire cast and crew, as well as the studio audience. However, anything can change last minute with the spread of the COVID variant.

Saturday Night Live taped its last show of the year without a live audience in December 2021 after a surge of infections across the country.

Paul Rudd was the host at the time, wherein the actor said that he is "extremely disappointed" during the opening monologue.

The last episode was mostly on pre-recorded bits and reruns of old sketches while featuring two members.

Guest stars at the time were Tina Fey and Tom Hanks.

The show's new developments were posted on its official Twitter page, with an announcement about the host and musical guest.

Ariana DeBose

Ariana DeBose had a breakout role in last year's Apple TV+ musical series "Schmigadoon!." The show was executively produced by Saturday Night Live head Lorne Michaels.

She is best known as a stage actress, appearing in plays such as Bring It On: The Musical, the original run of Hamilton, and Donna Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.

Her role in the Donna Summer gave her a Tony nomination.

READ MORE: Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" Reaches 1 Billion Milestone on Spotify Streams

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Extended Interview: Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose On 'West Side Story' Remake - from NBC News






Former President Donald Trump claps back on President Joe Biden's on Friday, calling the chief executive of United States a "voice of desperation," a day after the January 6 Capitol riot anniversary.

Trump made his comments through a statement he issued in response to Biden's attack in his speech.

"What we witnessed yesterday was the last gasps of a corrupt and discredited left-wing political and media establishment that has, for decades, driven our country into the ground," Trump said, adding that Biden is trying to turn America into a country that the people "cannot recognize."

"Joe Biden's voice is now the voice of desperation and despair," the former president added.

Trump further noted that Biden's handlers gave him a speech yesterday, claiming that his allies know the "failure of his presidency."

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Launches Scathing Attack on Pres. Joe Biden on Eve of Capitol Riot Anniversary: Here's What He Says

Donald Trump Blasts Democrats in Friday's Speech

In Trump's statement on Friday, Newsweek noted that the former president also accused the Democrats of using the January 6 Capitol insurrection to "justify" what he claims are an attack on the Americans' liberties.

Donald Trump also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in his speech, as he compared the January 6 Capitol riot to the September 12 terrorist attack, calling the insurrection "a Pelosi-led security failure at the Capitol."

Trump then said that he was not the one who tried to "undermine the American Democracy," touting that he was the one "trying to SAVE" it.

He then pledged that "America Will Be Great Again" and that the Americans will speak up, vote, and take action, and that they will "TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY.'

President Biden's January 6 Anniversary Speech

Donald Trump's statement came a day after President Joe Biden gave his January 6 Capitol riot anniversary speech, where he attacked the former president accusing Trump and his allies of holding a "dagger at the throat of democracy."

Despite attacking Trump in his speech, Biden said that he chose not to name Donald Trump in it because he did not want to start a "contemporary political battle." Joe Biden identified Trump as the "former president" in his speech on Thursday.

In the anniversary speech, Biden blatantly accused the former president of preventing a "peaceful transfer of power" through a "violent mob" that breached the Capitol.

Joe Biden pointed out the former president "can't accept he lost" even though a number of officials, including the vice president, said that he did not win for the office.

Biden also said that the former chief executive also resulted in "spreading web of lies" regarding the 2020 election.

Biden said that the former president did so because "he values power over principle," and that he sees his own interest are more necessary than the interest of the Americans.

"His bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution," Biden added.

READ NEXT: Pres. Joe Biden Avoided Naming Donald Trump in Speech Marking Capitol Riot Anniversary, Here's Why

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Biden Blames Trump for January 6 Riot in Speech Marking Anniversary - From CBS News
The Food and Drug Administration has shortened the waiting period to get Moderna booster shots to adults amid the COVID cases surge across the country.

The FDA has allowed everyone 12 and older who was administered with the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine to get a booster at least five months after their second dose, which was a decrease waiting time from six months, according to a CNBC report.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the use of Moderna boosters for adults in October.

On Wednesday, CDC then lowered the eligibility for Pfizer boosters.

Data shows that two doses do not provide strong protection against symptomatic infection from the Omicron variant, which is a COVID variant that has grown dominant in the U.S. However, they still offer good protection against severe illness.

Peter Marks of the FDA noted that vaccination is the best defense against COVID, including the circulating variants.

The director of the agency's research department added that shortening the length of time for boosters may help reduce the decrease of immunity over time, according to a Reuters report.

Boosters were shown to be up to 75 percent effective at preventing such infection, according to the U.K. Health Security Agency's published report.

READ NEXT: Pfizer's COVID Pill Could Have Risky Effects When Used With Other Drugs; FDA Restricts Merck's COVID Pill Use to Adults and Scenarios Where Other Treatments Are Not Available

Moderna Booster

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel noted that a fourth dose may be needed at some point after finding out that boosters are likely to decline its protection over time.

The U.K. Health Security agency found that booster protection starts to decline about four weeks, with boosters being 55 percent to 70 percent effective at preventing infection at weeks five to nine.

It then decreases to 40 to 50 percent effective 10 weeks after receiving the shot.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla echoed the Moderna CEO's sentiments. Bourla said people may need a fourth shot sooner than expected.

Meanwhile, CDC supported the shortened waiting period to get a booster.

Omicron Variant in The U.S.

The United States is currently facing an unprecedented wave of COVID infections, with a seven-day average of over 600,000 new cases every day. This is a 72 percent increase from the previous week and a pandemic record.

Meanwhile, California is extending its indoor mask mandate to mid-February amid the rise of COVID cases that could overwhelm health care facilities.

State models forecast hospitalizations could be around 20,000 by early next month.

The World Health Organization Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that even though the Omicron variant appears to cause less severe symptoms, it should not be categorized as "mild," according to an Aljazeera report. Ghebreyesus also repeated his call for greater global equity in the distribution of and access to COVID vaccines.

Ghebreyesus noted that 109 countries will miss WHO's target for 70 percent of the world's population to be fully vaccinated by July with the current vaccination rollout.

READ MORE: Pres. Joe Biden Says He Personally Phoned Emergency Room for a Good Friend During a COVID Vaccine Mandate Talk

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: FDA advisers endorse Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine booster shots - from CBS News






The two Florida teenagers responsible for shooting another teen in the face and stealing his vehicle have been arrested, the Volusia Sheriff's Office said on Friday.

According to Orlando Sentinel, Florida authorities said the Deltona shooting happened on Thursday evening in the area of Wilmington Drive and Tivoli Drive.

Florida Teens Shot the Victim Before They Stole His Car

According to WFLA, deputies from Volusia Sheriff's Office said the shooting was initially reported at 6:22 p.m. on Thursday after a man was hit by a car in Deltona.

But when deputies arrived at the scene, they learned that the 18-year-old victim was actually shot in the face. Despite the injury that he suffered, the victim was still able to walk and speak.

Based on the statement from deputies, the victim said he was shot, and the two 15-year-old suspects stole his car. The victim was then taken to a medical facility for treatment, and authorities expect him to recover from his injuries.

The Volusia Sheriff's Office noted that the victim's car was found abandoned one block away from the shooting on Abeline Drive after deputies set up a perimeter and deployed K9s and an air unit in their search.

READ NEXT: Florida Cops Stop Teen Girl From Jumping off Highway Overpass for 3rd Time

Florida Authorities Track Down Teen Suspects in Shooting, Stealing Incident

One of the K9 deputies was able to track down one of the suspects in a backyard on Abeline Drive with no shoes on but with socks. The sheriff's office said a pair of slippers were left at the crime scene.

Deputies also located the second suspect. Further investigation by authorities found that the teen, who was first, arrested was on probation for an armed home invasion he committed when he was 13 years old alongside another 13-year-old.

The sheriff's office stated on their report that the two boys, who were now at the age of 15, were trying to buy illegal drugs from the 18-year-old victim when an altercation broke out.

Deputies noted that one of the teens shot the other teen before they got into the victim's car and drove away.

The two Florida teens both face several charges, including attempted felony murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, carjacking with a firearm, violation of juvenile probation, and using a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Fox35Orlando reported that the two suspects were taken to the Department of Juvenile Justice, where they were being held in secure detention.

The sheriff's office said this is not their first run-in with the law. The deputies said one of the suspects was charged with burglary assault in 2018, when he was 12 years old, while the other was arrested for allegedly robbing another kid of his shoes at knifepoint in September 2019.

The deputies also said that both boys, when they were 13 years old, committed an armed home invasion at an apartment in Port Orange with two other juveniles.

READ MORE: Florida Police Arrested Man After Search Led to Discovery of Cocaine, Meth Bags Wrapped Around His Private Area

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: 2 Teens Face Attempted Murder Charges in Florida Shootout - From CBS Evening News
The bodies of two journalists in Haiti allegedly killed by a gang were recovered on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince on Friday.

A source in Haiti's security forces told CNN that the bodies of Wilgens Louis Saint and John Wesley Amady were retrieved from the mountainous terrain of the Laboule 12 neighborhood.

According to the BBC, gangs are fighting for control of the area because of a road that passes through it, connecting Port-au-Prince to the country's south.

The road is reportedly under the control of one of Haiti's most powerful gangs, a rival of the Baz Ti Makak gang. The source told CNN that members of Haiti's National Police were not able to go to the crime scene on Thursday because of security concerns.

Due to a lack of resources, the source added that the cops were concerned that they could be in danger from gangs operating in the area. To date, local officials have yet to identify which gang is responsible for the death of the two Haitian journalists.

READ NEXT: Colombian Ex-Soldier Charged in U.S. Over Killing of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise

Journalists in Haiti Killed By Gang Not Burned

Initial information from Haitian National Police said the two journalists were killed on Thursday as they traveled to the area and had been burned alive.

In a statement on Thursday, Radio Ecoute FM, Amady's employer, has also said that he had been "savagely" killed and burned alive while reporting on the area.

However, images of the remains obtained by CNN show no signs of being burnt, but one of the journalists was seen with a gunshot wound in his right temple.

The source confirmed that the bodies were not burned, and no National Police members were able to go to the crime scene. Radio Ecoute FM also acknowledged the error and said Amady's remains had now been returned to Les Cayes city.

According to Al Jazeera, a third journalist was with Amady and Louis Saint at the time, who managed to escape.

"We condemn in the strongest terms this criminal and barbaric act, which constitutes a serious attack on the rights to life in general, and to those of journalists in particular to exercise their profession freely in the country," radio station's director general Francky Attis said in a statement.

The death of the two journalists in Haiti came as the country battles with extreme violence and deteriorating security conditions in Port-au-Prince, with rival gangs battling one another or the police.

According to reports, Haiti's security situation sharply declined after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July. Law enforcement have been reportedly largely ineffective and failed to organize any large-scale operations to address gang violence in the country.

Haiti has also seen an increase in kidnappings for ransom in the past year. According to the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights in Port-au-Prince, at least 950 kidnappings were recorded in 2021.

UNESCO: 55 Journalists Killed in 2021

Latest UN data showed Thursday that at least 55 journalists were killed worldwide. UNESCO said impunity for killing journalists is "alarmingly widespread."

Most deaths reportedly occurred in just two regions, Asia-Pacific, with 23 killings, and Latin America and the Caribbean, with 14. The UNESCO Observatory of Killed Journalists noted that two-thirds of victims died in countries with no armed conflict.

"Once again in 2021, far too many journalists paid the ultimate price to bring truth to light... The world needs independent, factual information more than ever. We must do more to ensure that those who work tirelessly to provide this can do so without fear," said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

READ MORE: Haiti Truck Blast: Death Toll Rises to 90; Number of Fatalities Not Yet Final

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: WorldView: 2 Journalists Killed by Gang in Haiti - From CBS News
A judge in Georgia sentenced the three white men convicted of murder for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery to life in prison on Friday.

Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley also denied any chance of parole for the father and son suspects, who armed themselves and initiated the deadly chase of the Black man.

Walmsley said that when he thought about the incident, he thought about it from many different angles, Associated Press reported.

Walmsley noted that he kept coming back "to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores," the Brunswick neighborhood where Arbery was killed.

3 Suspects Involved in Ahmaud Arbery's Killing in Georgia Convicted

Life without parole was given to Travis McMichael, who fatally shot Arbery, and his father, Gregory McMichael. Their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan was granted a chance to earn parole after serving at least 30 years in prison.

The three men were convicted of murder and other charges in November by a Glynn County jury in the pursuit and fatal shooting of Arbery.

Arbery was 25 years old when he was killed on February 23, 2020. Walmsley described Arbery's killing as "callous," saying it occurred because "confrontation was being sought," NBC News reported.

Walmsley's sentences were in line with the request of prosecutor Linda Dunikoski, who recommended that the McMichaels be denied the possibility of parole while Bryan gets a chance.

Dunikoski said the McMichaels showed no remorse or empathy for the "trapped and terrified" Arbery. She further noted that Greg was former law enforcement, while Travis had served in the Coast Guard, who should have known better.

READ NEXT: Ahmaud Arbery's Mother Accuses Prosecutors, Police of 'Vast Cover-up' in New Civil Lawsuit

Ahmaud Arbery's Murder

Under Georgia law, murder carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment unless prosecutors seek the death penalty, which they did not pursue in this case.

During the sentencing hearing, Ahmaud Arbery's family asked the judge to show no leniency in deciding on granting parole.

Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said she suffered an intense loss worsened by a trial where the suspects' defense was that her son made bad choices that led to his death, The Guardian reported.

Cooper-Jones noted that this was not a case of mistaken identity or mistaken fact.

"They chose to target my son because they didn't want him in their community... And when they couldn't sufficiently scare or intimidate him, they killed him," Cooper-Jones said.

Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery Sr., also spoke and told the court that he sees his son's execution in his mind over and over whenever he closes his eyes.

Marcus said they killed his son while Arbery was doing what he loved more than anything and when he felt "most alive," and "most free."

The incident happened while Arbery was out for a jog in the Brunswick neighborhood. After they spotted him running, the father and son suspects allegedly armed themselves, chased, and shot Arbery, who was suspected of being one of the burglars in a series of local break-ins.

Bryan joined the chase and recorded a cellphone video of Travis shooting Arbery in the street three times at a close range. After the shooting footage leaked online, the three suspects were arrested.

The leaked video sparked national outrage, and Arbery's killing has been considered a modern-day lynching.

Robert Rubin, one of Travis' attorneys, said his client deserved the possibility of parole since this was not a planned murder and was only a fight over a gun. Rubin argued that Travis opened fire only after Ahmaud Arbery "came at him and grabbed the gun."

Meanwhile, Greg's lawyer, Laura Hogue, said her client has health problems and acknowledged that he would not likely get out of prison. But Hogue noted that granting Greg a chance at parole would show that he did not intend Arbery to die as this was an "unintentional act."

READ MORE: Court Thinking to Reinstate Third-Degree Murder Charge vs. Derek Chauvin

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Judge Sentences Gregory and Travis McMichael to Life for Murder of Ahmaud Arbery - From the Independent
New York Caring Majority co-director Ilana Berger released the following statement:

"New York faces the worst home care crisis in America - and today Kathy Hochul took an important first step toward addressing this dangerous crisis by committing to raise health care workers' wages.

"For too long, New York State has left countless aging adults and disabled people without essential home care. Because of the home care shortage, our family members and neighbors go without the support they need to live safely and with dignity in the community - and are often forced into dangerous nursing homes. If New York pays home care workers a fair wage, the state could quickly wipe out the home care shortage, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and save the state money by moving home care workers off of social assistance. And our state's home care sector is overwhelmingly women and people of color - so fair wages would create new jobs for historically underpaid communities."

READ NEXT: Letitia James, Jumaane Williams, 1199, AARP, Seniors & Disabled NYers Launch "Fair Pay for Home Care" to End Home Care Crisis

"We thank Governor Kathy Hochul for her commitment to addressing this dangerous crisis, and urge the Governor to include the Fair Pay for Home Care Act in her Executive Budget which would wipe out the state's home care shortage and quickly achieve her goal of growing our health care workforce by 20%. As New York's population ages and the shortage worsens by the day, we can't afford to wait."

Background:

New York faces the worst home care shortage in the nation. The "Fair Pay for Home Care Act," (S5374, A6329) would raise home care wages to 150% of the minimum wage  allowing home care workers to make at least $35,000 a year on average.

The Act currently has bipartisan support in both houses, with 79 sponsors in the Assembly and 35 sponsors in the Senate.

Legislation benefits include:

o End the home care shortage: The Act would wipe out the home care shortage in the next five years.

o Senior Safety: Research has found that recovering Covid patients have fared far better in home care than nursing homes.

o Economic generation: The Act would generate $5.4 billion for New York's state economy through new income and sales tax revenue, economic spillover, and reductions in Medicaid and social assistance.

o Lift workers out of poverty: Currently, median annual earnings for home care workers are currently only $21,300, with 57% of the state's home care workers reliant on social assistance. The Act would lift over 200,000 home care workers out of poverty wages.

o Job creation during Covid: The Act would bring 200,000 new home care workers into the field over the next decade and additionally create 180,000 jobs in other sectors and industries via increased spending and economic activity.

o Jobs for women & people of color: New York's care sector is 91% female and 77% people of color. As the country and state wrestle with historic racial injustice, along with the disproportionate impact of COVID on communities of color, Fair Pay for Home Care is an investment in equity.

READ MORE: New York State Land Title Association Applauds Gov. Hochul, State Legislature on Passage and Signing of Remote Online Notarization Law
Marital rape, an issue which long been disregarded, has never been paid the heed that it truly deserves. The pious nature that has long been attached to marriages in India, coupled with the shame that has been attached to rape, has discouraged women from speaking up on this traumatic occurrence.

Women who find the courage to report the same are laughed at by the authorities, are said things like katore mai bhar ke consent de di jab saat phere liye, youll file a case against your own husband?, Husband hai to rape kaise hua?. It is statements like these, made not just by the authorities but society in general that have shielded the ignorance shown by the Legislature when it has not even considered the fact that marital rape is something that is actually happening and it is high time that the same is addressed.

In a bunch of petitions seeking the criminalisation of marital rape in Inida, one of them being RIT Foundation vs. Union of India, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves has argued that marital rape is the biggest form of sexual violence against women in the matrimonial home, unrecorded and unreported.

The factual background of the case was also referred to by Gonsalves wherein a 27 year old woman was brutally raped by her husband and sustained very serious injuries in consequence of the assault. He also argued that in cases of marital rapes, no one ever helps the victim, neither the parents nor the authorities.

Various cases were also cited by Gonsalves in support of his contentions, one of them being the case of R vs. R in which the House of Lords held that a husband can be covicted of rape or attempted rape of his wife, overturning the old Common Law rule which stated that marriage automatically gave consent for sexual intercourse.

He then referred to the case of C.R. vs. United Kingdom where the European Commission of Human Rights held that a rapist remains a rapist regardless of his relationship with the victim.

The Supreme Court of Nepal has also held that a marriage does not turn women into slaves. They do not lose human rights just because they are married. To say that a husband cann rape his wife after marriage is to deny her independent existence, self- respect and her right to live with self determination.

Vermilion on the forehead or a mangalsutra on the neck should not become a symbol of the loss of all human rights that a woman is born with. The right to ones own body is the most sacred of all human rights, and it is high time that the Courts and the Legislature of this great country pay heed to the pain that a woman suffers when she has to make sandwiches for her rapist every morning.

A country and a culture which takes pride in worshiping goddesses will have to do more than just say husband hai to rape kaise hua?.

And now, a question for our aspirants-

State the name of the case wherein the Honble SC has increased the age of wife from 15 to 18 years in Exception 2 to Section 375
The Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme for 2022 is now open, and Minister Pippa Hackett is urging groups in the Midlands to make applications.

We are rich in peatlands in Laois and Offaly and we should be justifiably proud of that heritage, so I would encourage community and school groups to come up with ideas and get their applications in, said Minister Hackett.

Last year, successful applications were made by Abbeyleix Bog Project, for surveys and mapping; St. Brendans Community School, to repair the boardwalk in Killaun Bog; and Mountrath Scout Group for workshops, signage and surveys Knockacoller Bog.

The Peatlands Community Engagement Scheme is administered by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage with a total fund of 500,000 available in 2022, the largest allocation of funding to date.

The scheme seeks to encourage local peatland communities, local groups, local schools and interested parties to engage in the conservation and revitalisation of raised and blanket bogs, particularly protected bogs and fens, and to promote public engagement with and awareness of our natural heritage and environment.

The opening of the 2022 Scheme was announced by Green Party Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan T.D.

Im delighted to announce the largest allocation of funding to date for this scheme, he said. This year, for the first time, projects relating to fens are eligible for funding, as well as raised and blanket bog areas.

Irelands peatlands which include raised bogs, blanket bogs or fens are special and unique places and play an important role in contributing to our biodiversity, sense of place and well-being. I thank the community groups who have participated in this scheme so far and encourage all schools, peatland community and voluntary groups to check out the funding available this year.

Successful applicants will be awarded funding to support a maximum of 75% of the project eligible costs with a maximum grant of 25,000. Details of the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme and Application Form needed to apply are available at this link: https://www.npws.ie/ peatlands-and-turf-cutting/ peatlands-community- engagement-scheme-funding-2022

Closing date for submission of applications is 4pm, Friday, 11 February 2022.
A Covid-19 positivity rate of over 50% has been recorded this week.

That's according to the latest data available on the Covid-19 Data Hub, which collates information from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The latest 50.8% positivity rate marks a continuing rise in cases, and it's believed the figure may be even higher due to a recent difficulty obtaining PCR tests.

Approximately 141,000 people in Ireland have tested positive for the virus in the last seven days after a total of 282,069 tests were conducted during the period.

It comes as Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly praised the "fantastic" uptake in booster vaccinations in the State.

Yesterday (January 7), he tweeted: "The uptake of our booster programme has been fantastic and we have seen a real impact on incidence in boosted age groups. Remember boosters continue to be available through vaccination centres, at participating pharmacies and at GPs."

A total of 2,324,478 boosters have been administered up to January 6 2022.

The HPSC has been notified of 21,926 cases in the last 24 hours, a slight decrease on Friday's 23,817.

According to the latest data, 936 Covid-19 patients are currently hospitalised, 84 of whom are in Intensive Care Units (ICU).

Overall, 930,598 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland so far, a figure which continues to grow exponentially.
A Boil Water Notice has been issued for some 5,700 homes in Monasterevin and the surrounding areas because of inadequate chlorination of the public water supply due to disinfection issues at the water treatment plant.

Irish Water made the decision to issue the advisory to customers in consultation with the Health Service Executive and Kildare County Council. It affects those served by the Monasterevin public water supply, including Monasterevin, Kildangan, Kilberry and parts of North Athy and surrounding areas.

Map of areas affected:

According to the utility company, Irish Waters drinking water compliance and operational experts are working with colleagues in Kildare County Council to resolve this situation with a view to lifting the precautionary boil notice as soon as possible, in consultation with the HSE.

Irish Water says that water is still safe to use for hygiene purposes, including handwashing, and advised customers to follow HSE Covid-19 advice.

Customers can also check if they are impacted by this Boil Water Notice by visiting www.water.ie/help/water-quality/ and entering their propertys Eircode in the search bar. (Click through the pink 'More Details' button after entering Eircode).

Monasterevin was hit by a water outage last Monday which affected most of the town during the morning.

Speaking about the imposition of the Boil Water Notice this evening, John ODonoghue, Regional Operations Lead with Irish Water said, Irish Water apologises for the impact and inconvenience caused by this Boil Water Notice to homes and businesses. Our number one priority is public health and the safety and well-being of our customers. We would like to reassure our customers that Irish Waters drinking water and operational experts are working with our colleagues in Kildare County Council to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

"While we are working to lift the Boil Water Notice, we would like to remind people to check if they are in an affected area and to familiarise themselves with the safety advice."

Vulnerable customers who have registered with Irish Water will receive direct communication on this Boil Water Notice and are reminded that the water is safe to consume once boiled and cooled. Those who have concerns can contact our customer care team on 1800 278 278.

Boil Water Notice advice

Water must be boiled for:

Drinking

Drinks made with water

Preparation of salads and similar foods, which are not cooked prior to eating

Brushing of teeth

Making of ice - discard ice cubes in fridges and freezers and filtered water in fridges. Make ice from cooled boiled water.



What actions should be taken:

Use water prepared for drinking when preparing foods that will not be cooked (e.g. washing salads).

Water can be used for personal hygiene, bathing and flushing of toilets but not for brushing teeth or gargling.

Boil water by bringing to a vigorous, rolling boil (e.g. with an automatic kettle) and allow to cool. Cover and store in a refrigerator or cold place. Water from the hot tap is not safe to drink. Domestic water filters will not render water safe to drink.

Caution should be taken when bathing children to ensure that they do not swallow the bathing water.

Prepare infant feeds with water that has been brought to the boil once and cooled. Do not use water that has been re-boiled several times. If bottled water is used for the preparation of infant feeds it should be boiled once and cooled. If you are using bottled water for preparing baby food, be aware that some natural mineral water may have high sodium content. The legal limit for sodium in drinking water is 200mg per litre. Check the label on the bottled water to make sure the sodium or `Na' is not greater than 200mg per litre. If it is, then it is advisable to use a different type of bottled water. If no other water is available, then use this water for as short a time as possible. It is important to keep babies hydrated.

Great care should be taken with boiled water to avoid burns and scalds as accidents can easily happen, especially with children.



Using water during a Boil Water Notice Video:
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has refused to say if the champagne reception breach will result in disciplinary measures for officials involved.

Minister Coveney this week said he had not attended the bash at the Iveagh House in June 2020, where his staff were celebrating after Ireland won a seat on the United Nations security council, while strict lockdown measures were still in place.

In a statement on Wednesday (January 5), the minister denied attending the event but said he had spoken to staff after the result, thanking them for their work on the campaign, before returning to his office after 10 minutes.

When approached by reporters yesterday (January 7), he refused to say if his officials would be disciplined for the breach, and also refused to say if he is prepared to answer questions on the matter before the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee.

I made a detailed statement in writing on Wednesday and I have nothing further to add, Mr Coveney said on arrival at the Kings Inn in Dublin, where he was attending a book launch on the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty.

The minister was also asked if he was avoiding questions on the issue and if he had seen any evidence of the party when he thanked his officials.

Ive said what I had to say on it and Im leaving it at that, he replied.

Minister Coveneys attendance at yesterday's book launch, marking the centenary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, was flagged in the Governments ministerial public engagements diary earlier this week.

But the press office at the Department of Foreign Affairs said the engagement had been added by mistake, and that he would not be speaking to the press.

The department has apologised for the incident, issuing a statement saying we briefly let out guard down, after a photo emerged showing officials toasting with champagne.

At least 20 officials and staff at the department were pictured at the event in Iveagh House on June 17 2020 while pandemic restrictions were still in place.

A spokesperson said steps were taken to ensure lessons have been learned following the breach of public health guidelines.

Addressing the controversy on Wednesday, Mr Coveney issued a statement saying: June 17th, 2020, was a workday for me. At no point during that day did I attend a champagne celebration.

I was in Government Buildings for the UN Security Council vote.

It was at this time a photograph was taken at Iveagh House that showed DFA officials breaching Covid guidelines.

I had no prior knowledge of this impromptu gathering in the workplace.

It should not have happened and the then Secretary-General admitted the mistake 18 months ago. The department apologised again last week for the breach.

He added: I spoke to and thanked the staff involved in the UN campaign in the UN section of Iveagh House.

I did not see the Covid breach from the earlier photograph and I was thanking our officials in their workplace on a workday for the work they had done on behalf of the State.

After 10 minutes I returned to my office in Iveagh House to prepare for a call with the Norwegian foreign minister and for ongoing briefings on the coalition government negotiations.

The minister recently survived a motion of no-confidence in the Dail over another controversy related to former minister Katherine Zappones appointment as a special UN envoy.
History may tell that the French presidential campaign of 2022 started with one of the most common French slurs. On Tuesday when President Emmanuel Macron promised hell to the unvaccinated to convince them to go and get their shot in the arm, he threatened to "emmerder" them (metaphorically, to cover them with, well, shit) until they did.

Everybody is entitled to "emmerder" (active form), or to be "emmerde" (passive form) by his or her boss, the State, the speed limits, the tax department, or a noisy neighbor at all hours of the day and night. Except for the president of the republic who shouldnt speak like that. A president is only allowed to swear like a trooper in his bathroom. And even then, whispering or mumbling is strongly recommended.

The outcry which followed his threat was heard well beyond the Hexagone, the geometrical-inspired nickname used for France. Foreign journalists racked their brains to find an appropriate but decent translation. It was an unexpected wake-up call for the most consequential election in decades to be held in this country. Its two rounds will take place on the 10th and the 24th of April, in a bit less than a hundred days.

If any lesson is to be drawn from Macrons Profanitygate, its that the campaign wont be boring ("emmerdante"- adjective- also works there as this curse is polysemous). The political price of the presidents boldness must not be understated even if it will rapidly fade away. The French like the image of educated leaders. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of Frances oldest far-right party, whatever his provocations, was respected by his worst enemies for his ability to use a tense of French conjugation that had long since fallen into disuse: limparfait du subjonctif (using it in a conversation is as prestigious as speaking Hungarian).

That brings us to the peculiar situation of an incumbent president who is not yet a candidate while everyone knows he will seek a second and final term. With a commanding position in the polls, for now, Macron could choose the higher ground and manage both the current wave of Covid and the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union which will last six months. He seems to consider that may be a trap and that time is not ripe for a restrained exercise of power considering the explosive mood in France after two years of pandemic and with some yellow jackets of 2018 ever ready to go to the barricades.

Unless a flurry of scandals and polemics  according to the late president Jacques Chirac "les emmerdes" fly in droves  tank his ambition, Emmanuel Macron appears all but certain to pass the first round. By contrast, it would take a miracle for the left to reach the second one because of its division into half a dozen candidates, often with diverging platforms. The only path would be a strategic voting wave in which an overwhelming majority of voters from the left would quite magically band together behind one name, whatever their sincere preferences, which is all but uncertain.

Who then could face the incumbent president for the second round? Three candidates are already fighting it out, tooth and nail: two females and one man (who unfortunately despises women in power). Valerie Pecresse, the head of the Ile de France region which includes Paris, won in December the primary of her party, Les Republicains, the last heir of the successive Gaullists parties. In other words: the traditional right.

On the far-right, Marine le Pen is another heiress because she inherited her party from her father, le Front national turned Rassemblement national. She was almost sure to pass the first hurdle until a polemicist, a former Le Figaro columnist, Eric Zemmour, decided to throw his hat in the ring, claiming she wouldnt make the cut. Especially after her sounding defeat against Emmanuel Macron in 2017.

All three are fighting more or less for the same voters, using the same soundbites about the decline of France, a country whose identity is supposedly threatened by immigration and Islam and a pandemic of insecurity. Only one of them will survive in the voting booths.

This column starting mid-January, on a daily basis, aims to guide you through the twists and turns of a French campaign, from the emboldened far right to the decomposed left (Emmanuel Macron is looking for a spot in the middle), or through oddities such as the curious hunt for support from small-town mayors that candidates need to be able to compete, or the amount of public money used for this election.

Every morning, it will tell you where the campaign stands and what is at stake. It will provide also the most significant quotes, translated and explained, the candidates most interesting proposals, the latest polls published by us and the insides of the race provided by our political desk.

Thanks for reading and see you soon.

Gilles Paris(Columnist and former Le Monde correspondent in Washington)
A LIMERICK man, who admitted downing vodka and cider, was cleared of drink driving because he said he consumed the alcohol after a collision.

Daniel McNamara, aged 42, of Windmill Street, Limerick city said he was so upset by an accident that he drank a shoulder of vodka and one and a half cans of Druids Cider.

Garda Yvonne Norris said on December 16, 2020, she responded to a report of a van crashing into a bollard in the forecourt of a petrol station on Bruffs Main Street.

The garda said she got a very strong smell of intoxicating liquor from Mr McNamara, who was the driver of the van.

I arrested him at 3.20pm and conveyed him to Bruff Garda Station, said Garda Norris. Kilmallock Court heard he had 198 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine - almost three times the legal limit for a fully licenced driver.

Ted McCarthy, solicitor for Mr McNamara, asked Garda Norris about getting a very strong smell of alcohol.

Is this because he had just drank alcohol prior to your arrival? asked Mr McCarthy.

Garda Norris said: I cant say.

Mr McCarthy said Mr McNamara will say he had a cement mixer in the back of the van.

When he pulled away the cement mixer moved, causing the drive shaft to break. The vehicle veered and hit off the bollard, said Mr McCarthy.

Garda Norris said she was not mechanically minded.

Mr McCarthy asked if she would accept the van was not driveable.

Yes. A tow truck was called from Bob Sweeneys, said Garda Norris.

The solicitor asked if she had looked in the van because if she had she would have seen empty cans of Druids Cider.

No. Mr McNamara was my main concern and getting him safely back to the station, said Garda Norris.

Mr McCarthy said his client will say he had no drink taken prior to the van hitting the bollards but did consume alcohol afterwards.

I cant say, said Garda Norris.

The next person to give evidence was a person working in the petrol station on the day.

This gentleman came in and bought four cans of Druids Cider. He paid with a lot of coins. He left the shop, hit the bollard and hit the corner of the shop. He was trying to get the van moving again. He asked people for help but nobody could help him, said the person working in the shop.

Mr McCarthy asked if they had noticed anything about Mr McNamara when he purchased the cider?

No, was the reply.

The last witness was Mr McNamara. He said he bought four cans of Druids Cider in the shop and then went back to his van.

There was a two and a half tonne cement mixer in the back. It fell on its side. The drive shaft broke. The van tipped the bollard, said Mr McNamara, who then rang for a recovery truck.

He said he got upset over the van and got a shoulder of vodka which he had in the van.

I put it down in one go. I had one and a half cans of Druids Cider. I am a recovering alcoholic. I had no alcohol in the days before the accident, said Mr McNamara.

The defendant said while he was waiting for the tow truck to arrive the police came and arrested me.

Inspector Pat Brennan, prosecuting, asked what happened to the tow truck he called. Mr McNamara said he cancelled it.

Insp Brennan asked how long was it between the accident and gardai arriving. Mr McNamara said between 25 to 30 minutes. Insp Brennan said it was 18 minutes between the gardai being called and arriving.

In summing up, Mr McCarthy asked for the case to be dismissed.

The garda accepted the van couldnt be driven after the drive shaft broke. Mr McNamara then went to the shop and bought four cans of cider. He drank a shoulder of vodka and one and a half cans of cider which he purchased in the shop. The person working in the shop said she didnt notice anything else about him.

There is no evidence that he was under the influence prior to the vehicle becoming damaged, said Mr McCarthy.

Insp Brennan said the time of driving and drinking was agreed.

I cant dispute it. Im in your hands, said Insp Brennan to Judge Patricia Harney.

The judge said to convict she must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt.

The State has failed to give evidence to prove he was drinking prior to the van hitting the bollard and corner of the shop. The witness from the shop didnt notice anything about him. I am satisfied Mr McNamara is entitled to his dismissal, said Judge Harney.
A MAN has been charged in connection with the death of a pensioner whose body was found at his home in Lisdoonvarna on Friday morning.

The dead man, who has been named locally as John ONeill, was well known in the town where he previously operated a Bed & Breakfast business.

Following the discovery, his body was taken to University Hospital Limerick where a post mortem examination was carried out by the State Patholgist.

Gardai have not disclosed how Mr O'Neill died and the results of the post mortem examination have not been released for operational reason.

However, they have confirmed that a man who was arrested on Friday afternoon has now been charged and is due to appear before a special court sitting in Ennis this Saturday night.

"Gardai have charged the man, aged in his 30s, who was arrested yesterday on Friday, January 7, 2022 following the discovery of a mans body at a domestic residence in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare," said a spokesperson.
LIMERICK'S Vicky Phelan has helped launch a major new fundraiser run by her friend Charlie Bird which will see people climb Croagh Patrick for charity.

The cervical-check cancer campaigner was due to appear live on RTE's Late Late Show last night alongside the former news correspondent, who received the devastating diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease last year.

The climb will raise money for both the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, and suicide prevention charity Pieta.

Both Charlie and Vicky - who will receive Limerick's Freedom this year - will climb the Mayo mountain on April 2 alongside a legion of supporters.

In a video message played out by host Ryan Tubridy, Vicky apologised for not being able to be in the studio.

However, she added: "I really want to send all my love tonight. I hope you get a huge amount of support after your appearance for your climb in April. Please God, all going well, I will be there with you."

Charlie paid tribute to Vicky, saying after their meeting late last year: "It was as if I'd known her all my life. I saw her on TV and in the newspapers. I was so sad when I saw her going to America for treatment. When we walked into our kitchen, it was like meeting an old friend. A remarkable, amazing woman."

The launch of the Climb with Charlie campaign featured a number of other supporters including former president Mary McAleese, Davy Fitzgerald, Donie OSullivan, Baz Ashmawy, Joanna Donnelly, Dr Harry Barry, Dermot Bannon, Karl Henry and many more, who will all be joining the climb in early April.

For more information on the charity event, please visit https://www.climbwithcharlie.ie/
LIMERICK City and Council have poured cold water on a councilor's claim some people are slow to ring the fire brigade for fear of being burned by the bill.

Cllr PJ Carey said: "It sounds crazy but I know a lot of people who had a chimney fire or a small fire and they took a chance that it would burn out (click below to read more).

In response, a council spokesperson said the proposition made by the councillor that people would think twice about calling the emergency services does "not seem to be borne out by call-out rates".

"Limerick Fire and Rescue service provides an invaluable service to the people of Limerick and neighbouring counties, and is usually one of the first of the blue-light emergency services called upon for a range of incidents, not just fires.

The service is provided on a 24 hour, 365 day basis with firefighters ready to deal with any type of incident.

Fire charges are in place in the vast majority of fire services in Ireland. The fire charges in Limerick would be similar to charges in other authorities. These charges are reviewed on an annual basis," said the spokesperson.

Details of charges are available on Limerick.ie.

Fire charges are an important element in the budget which is required for the running of Limerick Fire and Rescue Services, said the spokesperson.

He added that any diminution in the charges would have to be made up by the Council from other sources of income or reduced expenditure as call-out charges do not cover the full economic costs of attendance of fire services at incidents.

"The fire service is obliged to attend each incident when a 999/112 call comes in and Limerick Fire and Rescue service is entitled to invoice accordingly to help with the future investment in appliances, training and equipment to ensure that Limericks firefighters can best serve the people of Limerick," he stated.

"The responsibility for the fire charge rests with the property owner/occupier or the beneficiary of the service. In many instances, insurance covers the cost of the call out of the fire service. Where there is no insurance, a staged payment or waiver scheme is in place for the charges eg, if one can prove an arson attack occurred and provide such information from the gardai, then the fire charge may be waived in such circumstances," said the spokesperson.

The local authority says all fire charges are reviewed on a "case by case basis".
A petition demanding the resignation of Education Minister Norma Foley has reached over 7,000 signatures.

It was created following ongoing criticism of the minister due to concerns about safety measures in schools, such as the provision of adequate ventilation.

The petition has almost achieved its goal of 7,500 signatures, with 7,012 people signing in just two weeks.

One of the issues highlighted in the petition's description is the scrapping of school contact tracing, as well as the use of allegedly incorrect data on positive Covid cases in schools.

In a meeting on January 4 between the minister and public health and education representatives, it was decided there was no public health rationale to delay reopenings, and schools reopened on January 6 as planned.

It was also confirmed that advice had been given to schools on appropriate ventilation.

Since the reopenings, thousands of teacher absences have been reported and teachers' unions have repeatedly called for increased protective measures for staff and students.

Some of their concerns include the lack of freely available medical grade masks and the lack of HEPA air filters in many classrooms.

Opposition TD, Aodhan O'Riordain, also expressed his dissatisfaction with the minister.

He commented on social media today (January 8) after receiving a picture of a thermostat from a Dublin classroom reporting a temperature of 7.5 degrees celsius.

This photo was sent to me yesterday from a classroom in Dublin.



It shows a temperature of 7.5 degrees.



Similarly a seminar I attended last week spoke of children whose hands were too cold to write.



1/3 pic.twitter.com/yt2bJUVr9l  Aodhan O Riordain (@AodhanORiordain) January 8, 2022

He said, "A proactive and caring Education Department/ Minister would have assembled a task force of officials spanning expertise in health, education and housing a year ago. Such a group would proactively engage with every school to provide advice, funding and resources to meet their needs.

"The reality is that if a principal got a call from the Department asking how they were getting on, they would most likely faint with shock. We dont have a proactive and caring Education Department/ Minister. It seems enough for them to have opened schools. Simply not good enough."

The importance of ventilation was highlighted in a Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) report released this week, which recommended adequate ventilation of indoor spaces through natural means such as by opening windows, or by mechanical means such as central air-conditioning.

However, parents and teachers alike have raised the issue of children sitting in cold classrooms due to windows being kept open throughout the school day.

Minister Foley came under fire online this week for comments she made during a Radio Kerry segment.

She said, "There's very clear guidance given to schools in terms of the opening and closing of windows and when that should be done, so for example it is recommended that windows would be open before class, windows would be open at the end of class, so I think perhaps there is a misconception that windows have to be open 24/7."
If you are planning to watch a movies on TV over the coming week, we've got you covered. Film guru Ronan O'Meara has been scouring the schedules and has picked 17 to choose from.

Lake Placid: Saturday, The Horror Channel @ 9pm

Lake Placid. The name conjures up images of peace, calm, stillness, relaxation doesn't it. What it doesn't conjure up is gigantic killer crocodiles. But they are there. And they are hungry as hell. This comedy/action/horror/thriller from 1999 is mighty craic and even better is that it knows it's silly and has fun with the fact. Bridget Fonda, Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson and a profane and much missed Betty White all add to the mirth.

The Age Of Innocence: Saturday, TG4 @ 9.30pm

Newland is smitten with Ellen but he's engaged to marry her cousin May. What's a man to do? Martin Scorsese's look at 19th century society in New York City is as far from the gangster films he's best known for as it's possible to be but it's still a staggeringly well crafted and absorbing look at love and longing in an age where expressing your true self was highly avoided. Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder all do stunning work.

I, Daniel Blake: Saturday: RTE 2 @ 11.50pm

After a health scare issue prevents him from working, Daniel finds himself tied up in the red tape of the UK benefits system. A system designed to rip the heart and soul away from a person. Ken Loach's 2016 drama is a maddening, upsetting & nightmarish indictment of ridiculous government policy but one also filled with humour and a deep humanity. A horribly believable film. Dave Johns & Hayley Squires are excellent.

Little Man Tate: Sunday, Film4 @ 12.45pm

Fred Tate is quite smart. In fact he's brainy. Well to be honest he's a genius. But he's also only seven and he's struggling with his gift. His mam Dede is worried and broke but wants him to have the world. Jodie Foster's directorial debut is a warm and touching look at the struggles facing people who are considered to be outside the norm. Foster and Adam Hann-Byrd do strong work as mam and son.

Making The Grade: Sunday: RTE One @ 4.05pm

Thousands of people all over Ireland learn the piano and every year they have exams to earn a grade. The 8th grade is the target they all strive for, the pinnacle of learning. Some find it easy while others have to struggle. This Irish documentary is about the students and teachers take part. It's a delightful watch, far more interesting and enjoyable than you would imagine. A lovely, moving and very likable way to spend 100 mins.

The Sisters Brothers: Sunday, BBC Two @ 10pm

Eli and Charlie Sisters are a pair of confusingly named brothers who are also assassins that ply their trade in the big ol' wild west. Herman Warm is a gold prospector. Their paths are about to cross. Jacques Audiard's western is a triumph. Warm, funny and beautiful looking yet vicious and horrifying in places. All the old genre tropes are here but given a humane twist by a pair of great turns from John C.Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix. Riz Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal prop them up wonderfully.

The Red Shoes: Monday, Great! Movies Classic @ 1.20am

From the magical hands of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, this tale of a ballerina torn between the twin loves of her life, ballet dancing and her husband, is an absolute stunner. It's a film that should be watched even if the subject matter doesn't appeal. It's an astounding piece of work and one that has been influencing movie makers for over seven decades. Moira Shearer and Anton Walbrook are first rate.

The Criminal: Monday, Talking Pictures TV @ 9pm

The heist he's planned for years goes well but in the aftermath Johnny gets jailed. Before he was caught he buried the money and now his accomplices want it and will do anything to get it, including going after those he loves. It might feel a bit tame nowadays but it's depiction of prison life and vicious criminality got it banned in Ireland for a number of years. A tense, exciting watch powered along by solid turns from Stankey Baker and Sam Wanamaker.

In Fear: Tuesday, Film4 @ 2.20am

A young English couple come to Ireland for a music festival. It's dark, the weather is muck and the signposts are confusing. Oh and there's something out there in the night, watching, waiting. A suspenseful and claustrophobic watch, set mostly inside the car our heroes are driving. It's nothing you haven't seen before but it's well made and it will made you anxious and any horror that can do that is worth a watch. Allen Leech, Alice Englert and Iain De Caestecker do nice work.

Barry Lyndon: Wednesday, TCM @ 5.20am

The life and times of a young chancer in 18th century Ireland who is forced out of the country and has no choice but to join the British army. One of Stanley Kubrick's least talked about films but one of his warmest and most satisfying ones. Ryan O'Neal plays the lead and yeah his accent is ropey in places but he gets the job done. It's a gorgeous looking film who's pace may be offputting to some but stick with it and you'll love it.

Saturn 3: Wednesday, The Horror Channel @ 9pm

Do you like cheesy sci-fi? Look no further. Two people working on a space station on a moon off Saturn finds their cosy life turned upside by a malevolent intruder and his murderous robotic companion. Harvey Keitel may have called this the nadir of his career but it's still an amusing and imaginative watch with a wicked soundtrack. Kirk Douglas and Farrah Fawcett make for an interesting couple, if you can get past the age difference that is.

Sexy Beast: Wednesday, Film4 @ 11.20pm

Gal is living his best life in the south of Spain. He's sunbaked and happy as a clam. Until the day he finds out his gangster ex partner Don is coming to recruit him for a job. Don is not a nice man. A hell of a watch, hilarious and terrifying and sometimes both at the same time. It contains a Ben Kingsley performance that has to be seen to be believed, it's truly out of this world. Ray Winston as Gal ain't too bad either.

The Naked Kiss: Thursday, Talking Pictures TV @ 2.45am

Kelly's on the run. She's a lady of the night and her former employer is out for her blood. She lays low in suburbia and tries to create a new life but deviancy bubbles beneath the whitest of picket fences. Samuel Fuller's thriller might be 57 years old but it's still a potent brew of the lurid and the taboo which got it banned in the UK for 39 years. Constance Towers puts in a towering performance (hahaha sorry) as a woman who is sick of it all.

How The West Was Won: Thursday, BBC4 @ 8pm

Time for one of the most epic westerns ever made. The sprawling tale of one family set over several decades from the Gold Rush to the arrival of the railroads. 3 hrs of every western you've ever seen all rolled into one and with a cast that will amaze you. James Stewart, Carroll Baker, Walter Brennan, Henry Fonda, Debbie Reynolds, John Wayne and too many others to even begin to name star in an enjoyable and all encompassing tale.

Identity: Friday, The Horror Channel @ 9pm

A disparate group of people find themselves being picked off one by one at a run down motel in the middle of nowhere. Just what on earth could be going on? An entertaining and blackly comic, grisly whodunnit filled with enough twists and turns for a dozen films. There's a fine cast too including John Cusack, Ray Liotta and Amanda Peet and their good work might just stop your eyes from rolling out of your head late in the story.

The Light Between Oceans: Friday, RTE 2 @ 9.30pm

Isabel and Tom run a lighthouse on a remote island and one day discover a baby in a floating dingy. Not knowing what to do they raise the child as their own. Until one day.... Derek Cianfrance's movie is a handsomely shot and well acted movie that's quite affecting in it's own little way. Michael Fassbinder and Alicia Vikander (a real life couple) both do memorable work as a couple grasping at the chance of a better life.

High Noon: Friday, TG4 @ 9.40pm

A quiet western town finds itself cowering in terror when a feared gang makes a reappearance. Only one man is brave enough to stand up to them and on his wedding day too. One of the quintessential films of the western genre & an early example of revisionism. Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly lead the film as the newly married couple and are both superb. It's gripping, it's exciting and it's all done in 85 minutes. What's not to love?

As always visit hamsandwichcinema.blogspot.com/ for more film and tv chat.
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THAILAND, one of the few Asian countries currently open to American tourists, has an unusual entry protocol. The name itself conjures fun and sun: Phuket Sandbox.

Fully vaccinated visitors are allowed into the countryonce a few administrative hurdles are clearedbut must first fly to Phuket, Thailands largest island or, as of Jan. 11, to one of three other seaside provinces, and stay at one of several designated hotels, including luxury resorts. Those hurdles include submitting paperwork for a visa and certificate of entry, showing proof of a negative RT-PCR test and paying for Covid-19 insurance (a minimum coverage of $50,000 is required).

Once travelers get the green light they must stay put on Phuket or the other provinces for seven daysbut can roam around as they please. Only if they test negative again can they travel elsewhere in the country. Sure, a seaside swimming pool at a luxury resort such as Trisara, Six Senses Yao Noi, Anantara Mai Khao, Como Point Yamu or V Villas Phuket makes the hang time luxurious, but those eager to get to Bangkokwith its reclining Buddhas, golden temples and street-food stallsmust bide their time.

That idea runs counter to the norm, said G.W. Ferguson, owner of travel planner Asia Desk. Unless its a honeymoon, people who come to Thailand for two weeks want a cultural experience in Bangkok first; beaches are their end-of-trip relaxation," said Mr. Ferguson, who walks his clients through the entry process and suggests SquareMouth, a travel insurance aggregator, for comparison pricing for that requirement.

The program was originally implemented last July. In November, when Covid cases had declined significantly, the government introduced a Test & Go protocol, which let foreign travelers fly directly to Bangkok. But in December, due to the rise in Omicron variant cases around the world, Thailand paused the Test & Go program and reverted back to the Phuket Sandbox plan.

Fortunately, Phuket has its own allure, especially now, said Daniel Fraser, CEO of luxury travel company Smiling Albino. Visitors experience the [smaller] crowds of the 1960s, the amenities of 2021 and prices somewhere in the 1990s," said Mr. Fraser. Smiling Albino rolled out a number of cultural and culinary tours in Phuket last year. Their beyond-the-beach" diversions include a day trip to Old Town, in the islands interior, for its art and architecture and lunch at a southern Thai restaurant, or an evening at a rum distillery in Chalong Bay to drink in the traditions of spirit-making. Theres also a tour to a 200-year-old Muslim community in the mangrove forests of Northern Phuket to learn about its traditions.

Philip Cornwel-Smith, author of the travel guide Very Bangkok," notes that Phukets Old Town is a worthy cultural destination in its own right. The lattice of streets are lined with historical Sino-Portuguese shophouses converted into boutiques, galleries and restaurants." said Mr. Cornwel-Smith. Pre-pandemic, most visitors tended to stick to Phukets beaches and upscale resorts, he added. Now that they have to stay longer, the province provides much more to explore."
Delhi is expected to add 20,000 cases to its coronavirus infection tally with a positivity rate of around 20% on Saturday, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said. he added that only 10% of hospital beds are occupied in the city, so far. "Delhi will report around 20,000 fresh cases today, positivity rate to rise by 1-2%. Currently, only 10% of hospital beds are occupied in the city," Jain said. He said till now there has been no Omicron variant-related death in the national capital.

Maintaining that the city government is well prepared, he said infrastructure has been augmented keeping in mind the high number of Covid cases.

"Currently hospital admissions are less. Earlier, when Delhi had 17,000 cases, the deaths were more than 200 on a daily basis but the deaths are lower this time. People are coming to hospitals for treatment of other disease and are being found positive (for Covid)," he said.

The minister said authorities have devised different levels of restrictions and alerts under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) keeping in view the severity of infections caused by the Delta variant of coronavirus.

Jain reiterated that the high number of coronavirus infections is due to the increasing number of tests being conducted in the national capital.

Yesterday, Delhi recorded 17,335 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day rise since May 8, and nine deaths while the positivity rate mounted to 17.73%.

The huge spike in fresh cases in the span of the last several days here is being recorded amid a significant jump in cases of the new Omicron variant of Covid in Delhi. The new fatalities raised the death toll from the pandemic to 25,136 in the national capital.

Amid surging coronavirus cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will meet on Monday to discuss further restrictions, including 'total curfew', under the Graded Response Action plan.

The agenda of the meeting includes a review of the COVID-19 situation and preparation in the wake of rising Omicron cases in Delhi, a discussion on the implementation of GRAP (Level 4 Red), and a review of the vaccination programme.

The Red Alert is the topmost level of restrictions, including a total curfew, closure of all non-essential shops, Metro trains, government offices, except those dealing with essential services, under the four-stage Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) approved by DDMA.

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Camille Tokerud/Getty Images

The surge in COVID-19 cases in the Houston-area due to the highly-contagious Omicron variant is taking a toll on the Harris County Animal Shelter. Shelter officials announced in a Facebook post Thursday that due to a decrease in pet adoptions, their animal intake has reached an "all-time high" and will therefore be closed through Monday.

"Our staff and animals are experiencing the stress from the situation, and in order to properly care for our staff and animals in the best possible manner, we have closed animal surrender intake effective Thursday, January 6th through Monday, January 10th," officials said in the post, adding further adjustments may be made depending on staffing and capacity.
Lena Ann "Lee Ann" Enzinna, age 77 of the City of Tonawanda, April 28, 2022. Lee Ann was a 1962 graduate of Tonawanda High School and a graduate of Buffalo State Teachers College. She had been employed by Roswell Park Cancer Inst. for many years. Daughter of the late Samuel F. Sr. and Lena E
A Covid-19 positivity rate of over 50% has been recorded this week.

That's according to the latest data available on the Covid-19 Data Hub, which collates information from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Longford woman tells of losing incredible seven stone during lockdown Local weight-loss expert Tona Daly runs two groups in Longford, supporting her members to manage their weight each week.

The latest 50.8% positivity rate marks a continuing rise in cases, and it's believed the figure may be even higher due to a recent difficulty obtaining PCR tests.

Approximately 141,000 people in Ireland have tested positive for the virus in the last seven days after a total of 282,069 tests were conducted during the period.

It comes as Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly praised the "fantastic" uptake in booster vaccinations in the State.

Yesterday (January 7), he tweeted: "The uptake of our booster programme has been fantastic and we have seen a real impact on incidence in boosted age groups. Remember boosters continue to be available through vaccination centres, at participating pharmacies and at GPs."

A total of 2,324,478 boosters have been administered up to January 6 2022.

The HPSC has been notified of 21,926 cases in the last 24 hours, a slight decrease on Friday's 23,817.

According to the latest data, 936 Covid-19 patients are currently hospitalised, 84 of whom are in Intensive Care Units (ICU).

Overall, 930,598 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland so far, a figure which continues to grow exponentially.
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McAlester, OK (74501)

Today

Thunderstorms, some strong during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 51F. SW winds shifting to NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some strong during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 51F. SW winds shifting to NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch.
Meadville, PA (16335)

Today

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 46F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.
The curious case of conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and his relationship with actress Jacqueline Fernandez keeps taking a new turn every week. After the ED enquiry established that the actress had received gifts worth several crores from him, Sukesh in his letter which he sent his lawyer confirmed that he was in a relationship with Jacqueline, and that she should be kept out of the case.



 Instagram

The whole incident and her involvement in his case came to light when last month selfies of the two kissing went viral on the internet. The actress was stopped from leaving the country for her Da-bangg tour with Salman Khan and co. , and was called to Delhi for further enquiry. Today another cozy picture of the alleged couple is doing the rounds where the actress can be seen sporting a hickey.



Post the picture going viral, there has been a divided opinion on the matter. Some people are talking about them being in love and assuming that she didnt know who he was and hence she should indeed be kept out of the matter. On the other hand, people are trolling both of them. The internet can be a dangerous ground which breeds unsolicited opinions at times. The gifts which the actress received from Sukesh include Persian cats, jewellery, brands like Gucci and Chanel as well. Sukeshs name was also linked to Norah Fatehi when it was reported that he gifted her a luxurious car in the past.

Source: TOI
A Memorial Service of Christian Burial will begin at 2 p.m., Saturday, May 7, 2022, at Robert Barham Family Funeral Home Chapel. Robert Barham Family Funeral Home is honored to be entrusted with the arrangements. Mrs. Cobb, 68, of Meridian, passed away Sunday, May 1, 2022, at Bedford Care Ce
DETROIT  Two parents charged with their son in a Michigan school shooting failed to get their $500,000 bond reduced Friday, as prosecutors offered new allegations about the teens hallucinations, passion for guns and boasts about violence.

James and Jennifer Crumbley, who are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Oxford High School shooting, ignored numerous warning signs about Ethan Crumbley and instead bought him a gun that was used to kill four students and injure others on Nov. 30, assistant prosecutor Marc Keast told a judge.

In August, Ethan made a video with a different gun and told a friend in a message that it was time to shoot up the school  jk, jk, jk, Keast said, apparently a reference to just kidding.

Biden to deliver first State of the Union address on March 1

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1, the White House confirmed Friday, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent the president a formal invitation to speak to Congress and the American public one year into his term.

It will mark the latest any president has delivered a State of the Union address. The speech is normally timed for January, and occasionally for February. The delay is driven in part by a busy legislative calendar, a winter spike in COVID-19 cases from the more transmissible omicron variant and the upcoming Winter Olympics, which ties up broadcast network time.

The last State of the Union address was delivered by then-President Donald Trump on the eve of his acquittal by the Senate in his first impeachment trial.

Cruz apologizes for describing Jan. 6 attack as terrorism

NEW YORK  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had desperation written on his face.

The conservative ideologue and potential 2024 presidential contender appeared on Fox News Channels Tucker Carlson Tonight show Thursday to apologize for describing the Jan. 6 insurrection as a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol a day earlier, the eve of its anniversary.

The way I phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy and it was frankly dumb, Cruz told Carlson, a powerful voice in GOP politics whose show is among the most-watched on cable news.

Cruz insisted that he had misspoken, though he has consistently described the riot by Donald Trump supporters as a terrorist attack in interviews and statements over the last year.

But Cruzs capitulation to outrage from the Republican Partys far right flank underscores the power it increasingly holds over leading GOP politicians and the influence held by conservative TV hosts like Carlson, who reach millions of viewers every night.

And it shows how lawmakers like Cruz, who was once considered one of his partys most conservative voices, now face pressure from a new guard of hard-liners who swept into power with the backing of Trumps base.

Cruz has been increasingly open about his interest in mounting another run for the GOP presidential nomination, noting that historically the runner-up is almost always the next nominee.

Carlson had used his previous nights show to excoriate Cruz for his terrorist comment. Others piled on.

Shame on Ted Cruz, said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a first-term lawmaker and Trump supporter who has peddled numerous conspiracy theories and was recently barred from Twitter for her anti-vaccination comments. She called Cruzs initial comments irresponsible and disrespectful of MAGA patriots.

Im so done with Ted Cruz, echoed Trump ally Sebastian Gorka on Twitter.

Cruz, along with other Republican Party leaders, had previously described the events of Jan. 6 as terrorism without blowback.

The attack at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system, Cruz said in a statement released by his office a year ago Friday. The January 6 terrorist attack on the Capitol was a dark moment in our nations history, and I fully support the ongoing law enforcement investigations into anyone involved, he said May 28.

As recently as December, in an interview with The Associated Press, Cruz said that on Jan. 6, 2021, we saw a terrorist attack on the Capitol.

He went on to say anyone who commits a crime of violence should be prosecuted, and that anyone who violently assaults a police officer should go to jail for a very long time. Thats true whether youre right wing, left wing or you got no wings whatsoever.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell has described the attack in similar terms. American citizens attacked their own government, he told the Senate after it acquitted Trump in its impeachment trial. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of domestic business they did not like.

There is nothing surprising about that characterization. The FBI defines domestic terrorism as Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature. In the Jan. 6 attack, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to halt the peaceful transition of power and certification of President Joe Bidens win.

But many, especially on the right, have resisted attempts to label violence as terrorism, especially when it is committed by white people.

Carlson, who has promoted the racist Replacement Theory that elites are trying to replace majority white populations with nonwhite immigrants, pressed Cruz on his characterization of the Capitol assault.

You called this a terror attack when by no definition was it a terror attack, he said. Thats a lie. You told that lie on purpose and Im wondering why you did.

Cruz said he had long used the term to describe anyone who attacks police.

It was a mistake to use the word yesterday because the Democrats and the corporate media have so politicized it, he said.

Carlson and others have noted that no one in the assault has been charged with terrorism. But there is no federal law that provides for an explicit charge of domestic terrorism.

Federal law makes it a crime to give material support to designated foreign terrorist groups, which gives law enforcement agencies the ability to arrest people who donate money or otherwise aid such organizations, even if they havent harmed anyone or threatened violence themselves. No comparable law exists for people aligned with U.S.-based extremist groups, which enjoy expansive free speech protections.

Members of two extremist groups, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, face the most serious conspiracy charges in the Jan. 6 riot. Individual rioters have been charged with assault and other violent crimes for their attacks on law enforcement. More than 100 police officers were injured, some critically.

Republicans have also taken issue with insurrection to describe the events of the day, because none of the rioters so far has been charged with treason or sedition, crimes that would fit with an insurrection attempt.

Those charges are extremely rare. Prosecutors may be reluctant to bring them because of their legal complexity and the difficulty in securing convictions. Overzealousness in applying such charges historically has also discredited their use.



Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report from Washington.
BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a message of sympathy to Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani over his infection with the COVID-19 virus.

In his message, Xi said that learning about the infection of President Ghazouani, he extends sympathy to him and wishes him a speedy recovery.

The Chinese government and the Chinese people firmly support the Mauritanian government and people in the anti-pandemic fight, Xi said, adding he believes that under the leadership of Ghazouani, Mauritania will surely defeat the pandemic at an early date.
The Green River Area Community Foundation awarded $30,000 in grants to six nonprofits in the greater Owensboro area.

Nonprofits included the Cliff Hagan Boys and Girls Club, the Help Office of Hancock County, OASIS, the Community Dental Clinic, Owensboro YMCA and Puzzle Pieces.

The nonprofits were chosen out of 20 that submitted applications and were selected based on the organizations impact in the community, mission and that have been affected by the pandemic.

Narrowing down the recipients from the many deserving applicants is a difficult task. There are so many excellent nonprofits in our community that do significant and exceptional work, said Greg Longtine, Grant-making chair for GRACF.

Funds awarded to the YMCA, according to Kristi Harrison, director of operations, will help fund all-inclusive programming specifically targeting children with sensory needs.

Programming, she said, will include an interactive, digital playground with motion-sensing technology that allows for interaction without physical touching while helping to develop social and emotional skills for children with sensory needs.

This is a new avenue for us to be able to offer this kind of programming  it just brings an interactive experience to all kids, she said. Were just super grateful and excited to offer this to the community.

For the Cliff Hagan Boys and Girls Club, funds will help supply start-up equipment for a STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) program for children ages 6-11.

The program, according to club grant writer Kathy Doup, will help members reach academic success  one of the clubs core values.

Its to give them some additional time to explore STEM activities. They do it in school, but we feel like if we have the equipment, we can supplement what they get at school, she said.

The Community Dental Clinic will utilize funds to help continue providing essential dental care to those in the community in need, according to grant writer Emily Baur.

The clinic has worked recently to serve dental needs for newly arrived Afghan refugees, along with increasing its current clientele.

We know this was a very competitive process and this will go to serve the dental needs, which will also improve overall health for our patients, Baur said. This will really help us in a critical time.

OASIS received funds from the grant to assist with its relocation process, according to board president Suzanne Craig.

OASIS helps provide shelter for displaced women and their children who have been affected by domestic violence.

The shelter announced in 2021 that it would need to relocate within a years time. Funds from the grant will go toward moving expenses, including the purchase of a new facility.

The Green River Area Community Foundations generosity; it makes a big difference for agencies, Craig said. We cant thank them enough.

Puzzle Pieces plans to use its grant funds to help assist with growing and the longevity of its Owen Autism Center, according to Executive Director Amanda Owen.

The center offers targeted autism programming, including pre-employment training, where about 50 clients have been placed in jobs throughout the community.

We are honored to receive the GRACF grant and it couldnt have come at a better time, Owen said. As we slowly emerge from the hardest times of the pandemic, Puzzle Pieces is not only ready to grow our programming, but also the number of clients we serve.

Funds received by the Hancock County Help Office will go toward providing assistance for utilities, dental care and prescriptions.

Julie Newton, executive director of the help office said the funds to provide this assistance has been hit the hardest during the pandemic. Funds will help get assistance back up and provide for those in need.

We have been blessed by supporting community members who have continued to donate monies to our food pantry, she said.

Christie Netherton, cnetherton@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7360
Eleven holidays have an official United States government stamp of approval. But with 365 days on the calendar, 11 is far too few to celebrate. Each year we at KidsPost look for at least one nontraditional  and often quite silly  holiday for each month to add to your calendar. This year we found days for those who love animals, poetry, nature, science and, as we said, silliness. And these days arent just for kids. Share them with your parents, teachers and neighbors. It just might make our next trip around the sun a little more fun.

National Compliment Day (Jan. 24): Start the year on a positive note by sharing kind words about those around you. Did Dad make you pancakes for breakfast? Compliment his culinary skills. Did your sister empty the dishwasher even though it was your turn? Tell her shes the best sister ever! How about the classmates who worked with you on a Spanish project? Tell them, Ustedes son fabulosos!

International Polar Bear Day (Feb. 27): These beautiful Arctic animals are considered vulnerable because their habitat is disappearing. The bears spend much of their lives on sea ice, which is melting because of human-caused climate change. The bears must travel farther in their search for food. It also means more ships (and humans) disrupting this formerly remote area. To mark this day, read about polar bears and learn what you can do to help save the species.

Take a Walk in the Park Day (March 30): With winter officially over and spring flowers appearing, its the perfect time for a walk in a local park or one thats not so nearby. Check out the Kids in Parks website (kidsinparks.com) to find hiking trails in 15 states and the District of Columbia. If you sign up for the TRACK trails program, you can earn prizes for spending time in nature. Thats something to celebrate!

Haiku Poetry Day (April 17): KidsPost features poetry each April for National Poetry Month. We love a good sonnet, acrostic or villanelle. But a traditional haiku  a three-line poem with five syllables on the first line, seven on the second and five on the third  is an especially fun challenge. For inspiration, read KidsPost readers poems about squirrels (wapo.st/SquirrelHaiku).

Mayday for Mutts (May 1): The word mutt used to be a negative term for a dog that wasnt purebred and probably not smart. Thankfully, most people now think mutts, or mixed-breed dogs, are wonderful companions. If you have a mixed-breed dog, give her an extra treat today. And if you know someone looking to add a dog to their family, encourage them to adopt from a shelter or rescue organization.

Hug Your Cat Day (June 4): Theres a saying that every dog has his day. But every cat should, too! Almost 32 million U.S. households include at least one cat, according to the American Veterinary Medical Associations 2018 count. But not all cats would be thrilled with a hug on their special day. So give Luna or Milo what they like most, whether its a cuddle, a chin scratch or a game of catch the string.

Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk Day (July 4): Have you heard the expression Its so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk? It has been around for a long time, perhaps since a 1899 newspaper column, according to the Library of Congress. Its a mystery about who urged people to try this on July 4 (although it is often sizzling hot on that day). But Oatman, Arizona, takes it seriously. Each July Fourth the Solar Egg Frying Contest offers a prize for the best sun-cooked egg.

Play in the Sand Day (Aug. 11): You may have realized how fun sand can be as a toddler in a backyard sandbox. But the tiny pieces of rock arent just for little kids. Sand has provided so much fun for all ages that the Strong National Museum of Play inducted it into the National Toy Hall of Fame last year. So, if possible, head to the beach today to create a spectacular sand castle.

Wonderful Weirdos Day (Sept. 9): Austin, Texas, prides itself on being kind of weird  doing things differently. Its a place where a Cathedral of Junk can become a must-see attraction. So its not surprising that a group of Austin residents suggested an unofficial holiday encouraging everyone do the same. To celebrate, be a little wacky. Wear mismatched clothes or try an unusual hairstyle. And do it, as Austinites do, with pride.

International Animation Day (Oct. 28): If you like animated films, you have Emile Reynaud to thank. The Frenchman invented a machine called the Optical Theater, which projected a series of painted images onto a screen.. Reynauds invention made its public October 28, 1892, at a museum in Paris, France. Today, watch your favorite animated movie as part of this worldwide celebration.

International Tongue Twister Day (Nov. 13): Tongue twisters have been around at least since 1813, when John Harris published Peter Pipers Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation. Even the title is a mouthful. Try a tongue twister challenge today with your parents or a friend. Heres a tricky one from Dr. Seuss: Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew. Try saying that three times fast.

National Popcorn String Day (Dec. 13): You may think of popcorn only as a snack, but it once was a popular Christmas decoration. Its unknown who came up with the idea, but Colonial Williamsburg notes that in 1842 Charles Minnigerode shared with neighbors the German tradition of decorating a Christmas tree. They strung popcorn around the branches. Ask your parents if you can bring back this tradition using stale popcorn, waxed dental floss and a needle. Then deck the halls!
A bill that has already passed the House and a Senate committee would, if approved, move Daviess County into a new Supreme Court and Appellate Court district.

House Bill 179 is sponsored by Rep. Jason Nemes, a Louisville Republican.

The bill would shift Daviess County from the Second Supreme Court and Appellate District to the First District. Currently, the second district includes two larger cities, Bowling Green and Owensboro. The change would make Daviess County the largest county in the First District in terms of population. The First District is made up of western Kentucky counties, and includes the cities of Paducah and Madisonville.

Nemes told members of the Senate committee on state and local government on Friday that Senate and Appellate redistricting is required by the state constitution.

The Court of Justice was founded in 1976 in Kentucky, Nemes said. We totally revamped the way we did our court system. Since then, we have not redistricted the appellate courts.

The maps are only for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges. The current maps do not meet the requirements of the constitution Nemes said.

Senate and Appellate districts have to be adjusted so all of the states seven districts are roughly equitable in population. We are not there, because of not addressing this issue for over 40 years, Nemes said.

The changes would take affect this year. The proposed map change means Appellate Judge Jeff Taylor, who has his office in Owensboro, would remain with the Second District when Daviess County moves to the First District. Taylor lives in Ohio County, and judges must live in their district.

Nemes said Ohio County and Hancock County will be part of the Second District under the plan.

We couldnt make a district where Daviess County stayed in the Second, due to the requirement to balance populations, Nemes said.

The plan would have moved Ohio County to the First District as well, but Ohio was kept in the Second so Taylor wouldnt have to run for election in the First against two incumbents. Taylor has already filed for reelection in the Second District.

Lawmakers have already approve a bill that extends the deadline for candidates to file for office to late January, to give people in altered districts time to file for the appropriate office.

JD Meyer, an Owensboro attorney and president of the Kentucky Bar Association, said moving Daviess County into the First District would change who Daviess County residents vote for in terms of the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.

Taylor could not be reached Friday for comment.

A lot of times, Supreme Court Judges and Court of Appeals judges deal with cases from across the commonwealth, Meyer said. Obviously, its the judge we get to vote for, but they serve the entire state. Regardless of whether we are in the First or Second, all of the judges, I have the utmost faith, will uphold the law and serve us well.

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 7, 2022

CONTACT: Lynn Sutfin, 517-241-2112

LANSING, Mich. - Michigan has received its first shipment of new oral medications to treat COVID-19, paxlovid and molnupiravir, following the recent emergency use authorization by the FDA.

These antivirals are designed for the outpatient treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19. Both medications may only be prescribed for a patient by physicians, advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants.

When administered to non-hospitalized patients within five days of symptom onset, these antivirals may reduce symptoms and the risk of hospitalizations and emergency room visits associated with the virus.

Due to the limited quantity of these drugs, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has developed eligibility criteria and prescribing requirements for the antivirals.

"The authorization of these new medications provides another important tool to help fight the virus," said Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director. "Due to limited availability of these antivirals, health care providers will need to determine the best course of treatment for their patients based on eligibility criteria. We ask Michiganders to be patient as providers will prioritize people at highest risk for developing serious illness from the virus. We are committed to distributing these pills equitably across the state, and access will increase as Michigan receives more allocations from the federal government."

Priority Eligibility Criteria for therapeutics, including antiviral medication and monoclonal antibody therapy (mAb), will remain in effect until supply is able to meet demand and will be periodically reviewed as appropriate.

MDHHS continues to strongly recommend getting vaccinated and boosted for the best protection against the virus.

"It's important to remember these drugs are not a substitution for protecting yourself by getting vaccinated and wearing a mask in public places," said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MDHHS chief medical executive. "Getting vaccinated continues to be the best protection against severe illness and hospitalization, and we urge all Michiganders over age 5 to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Continue to wear well-fitting masks over your nose and mouth, test and social distance to prevent the spread of COVID-19, avoid large gatherings and get vaccinated and boosted if you haven't already."

Treatment with mAb continues to be an important therapy for mild to moderate COVID-19 infection and is preferred over treatment with molnupiravir whenever it can be readily accessed. Based on current evidence, mAb therapy is also a comparable alternative to paxlovid for patients who do not have access to the oral medication, have contraindications to the medication (e.g., pregnancy), or are beyond five days (but within 10 days) of symptom onset. Treatment with mAb should be considered for patients who are in eligible lower risk tiers in the Priority Eligibility Criteria.

Paxlovid is indicated for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in patients 12 years of age and older who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death, and who meet the current Priority Eligibility Criteria.

Paxlovid currently has limited availability through the following sites:

Selected Federally Qualified Health Centers and Tribal Health Centers.

Selected Meijer Pharmacies in southeast and east central Michigan.

Molnupiravir is indicated for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults ages 18 and older who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death, and only when alternative COVID-19 treatment options authorized by FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate and who meet the current Priority Eligibility Criteria.

Molnupiravir currently has limited availability through the following sites:

All Meijer Pharmacies (based on supply).

Selected retail pharmacies in areas not served by Meijer (based on supply).

Additional information on oral antiviral medications and monoclonal antibody therapy, including priority eligibility criteria based on MDHHS scare resource allocation principles is available at Michigan.gov/COVIDTherapy.

Michigan residents seeking more information about the COVID-19 vaccine can visit?Michigan.gov/COVIDvaccine.

# # #
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 7, 2022

CONTACT: Lynn Sutfin, 517-241-2112

LANSING, Mich. - Today, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced that the federal government has granted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's request for additional staffing assistance at a fifth Michigan hospital, Henry Ford Hospital in Wyandotte. Under the agreement, a civilian Disaster Medical Assistance Team is being sent to support Henry Ford's doctors and nurses as they treat COVID-19 and other patients.

"Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital desperately needs support and resources to provide the critical care that our neighbors deserve. I've heard from members of the community and providers on a daily basis about a system strained to a breaking point, and now they will get the help they need," said Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12). "These additional health care personnel will help address the rise in COVID-19 cases in Michigan and ensure residents have access to quality, affordable care, I appreciate the Biden Administration's continued assistance and will work closely with federal, state and local partners to ensure that our state's front line health care workers and providers receive the support they need."

"I am grateful to our federal partners for providing critical resources and relief to Michigan's hospitals and health care professionals as we face down the Omicron surge together," said Governor Whitmer. "We have been facing this deadly virus for nearly two years and our health care workers have been working tirelessly on the frontlines through it all. Every Michigander can take action right now to protect themselves and their loved ones, and help our hospitals and health care workers do their jobs. I urge Michiganders to get their safe, effective vaccine, their booster shot, and take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 including testing and masking. We have the tools and I am confident that we can get this done."

"As the Omicron variant is quickly spreading and case rates and hospitalizations in our state are accelerating, I am grateful to our federal partners for continuing to provide much-needed relief to Michigan's hospitals and health care personnel," said Elizabeth Hertel, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director. "The pandemic continues to take a tremendous toll on our health care workers and we are pleading with all Michiganders to do their part to support our state's health care workers by getting vaccinated, wearing a mask in public indoor settings regardless of vaccination status, social distancing and staying home and getting tested regularly."

The 30-member team will include advanced practice physicians, ED and ICU nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, and logistics and supply chain personnel. The team will begin treating patients Monday, Jan. 10 and provide support for the next 14 days. Four Department of Defense teams have already been deployed to Michigan and are providing support at Beaumont Hospital - Dearborn, Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw and Mercy Health Muskegon.

"We are grateful to the federal government and State of Michigan for bringing this much needed support and relief to our team at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital," said Bob Riney, President of Healthcare Operations and Chief Operating Officer at Henry Ford Health System. "The resiliency and determination of our team members throughout the pandemic have been awe-inspiring. But our team members are battle wearied and drained emotionally, mentally and physically. This support couldn't have come at a better time for us, as well as the Downriver communities we serve."

Michiganders are being asked to carefully consider where they seek health care. A primary care office, virtual visit or urgent care may be the best choice as hospital and emergency departments are experiencing high demand. However, for emergency conditions such as stroke symptoms, chest pain, difficulty breathing, significant injury or uncontrolled bleeding, Michiganders should still seek emergency care.

The federal staffing teams come as Michigan hospitals strain due to a spike in COVID-19 patients, the vast majority of whom are unvaccinated. In October, unvaccinated people had 4.3 times the risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and 13.2 times the risk of dying from COVID-19 than people who were fully vaccinated.

From Jan. 3 - Dec. 15, 2021, people who were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated represented: 85.1% of COVID-19 cases, 88.1% of hospitalizations and 85.5% of deaths.

As of Jan. 7, more than 4,500 Michiganders are hospitalized for COVID-19.

# # #
Plan aimed to help state meet 40% nutrient reduction goal

Immediate release: December 17, 2021

Media contacts:

Jennifer Holton, MDARD, 517-284-5724

Hugh McDiarmid, EGLE, 517-284-6723

LANSING, MI - Governor Gretchen Whitmer and departmental leaders today unveiled Michigan's final adaptive management plan serving as the companion document to the previously released Domestic Action Plan (DAP) addressing the causes driving harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie.

"In Michigan, we are defined by our Great Lakes, and we have to work together to protect these precious natural resources for future generations and our economy," said Governor Whitmer. "We know that harmful algal blooms are caused by a number of sources in Michigan's portion of the Western Lake Erie Basin and beyond. While it will be challenging to reach our 40 percent nutrient reduction goal, I know we can get it done. Together, we will make the investments we need to reduce algal blooms and continue working to protect our Great Lakes."

The adaptive management plan informs both state-led and partner supported projects to help reduce the amount of nutrients from fertilizer, wastewater and erosion entering Lake Erie from an array of sources as Michigan works to reach its 2025 goal of 40 percent reduction of both total phosphorus and soluble reactive phosphorus, which fuels algae growth in the lake.

The plan outlines Michigan's three main focus areas: reducing loads from specific outlets and general run-off areas (point and non-point sources); wetland restoration, green stormwater infrastructure, and other land conservation practices in both the rural and urban areas; and engagement with partners and the public.

By reducing nutrient loads such as phosphorus from farmland and urban sources into Lake Erie, the plan will help decrease the events causing harmful algal blooms. Harmful algal blooms are overgrowths of algae which can produce toxins and can affect water quality.

"Michigan has already reached its target of a 20 percent phosphorus load reduction by 2020, but we have a way to go yet to meet our overall 40 percent goal," said Gary McDowell, director, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). "By partnering with our sister agencies, local conservation districts and continuing our outreach with farmers, I'm confident we will make a quantifiable improvement to water quality in the state."

The plan, jointly created by a senior management working group from MDARD and the departments of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), and Natural Resources (DNR), is a learning-based management approach. Michigan's adaptive management framework will work in two ways: evaluate the outcomes of deliberate, measured actions taken to reduce phosphorous; and develop and implement scientifically driven research projects to address gaps and uncertainties in existing phosphorus reduction methods and technologies.

The departments will be hosting a public webinar February 7th from 1:00- 2:30 p.m. Click here to register for the webinar. This webinar will highlight what the Adaptive Management Plan is and how it will be used to take action and track progress. This is opportunity for anyone who wants to know what Michigan is doing to reduce nutrient loading to Lake Erie.

The departments are also working on several joint project initiatives in the Western Lake Erie Basin including the United States Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, helping Michigan's agricultural producers implement conservation practices. They are also encouraging farmers to participate in the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program, a voluntary effort to provide technical assistance to farmers so they can reduce the loss of nutrients from their farm fields.

The adaptive management plan also supports watershed management planning with an emphasis on completing agricultural inventories. EGLE and MDARD are focusing these agricultural inventories in high priority sub-basins in the Bean Creek Watershed (a sub-watershed to the Maumee River Watershed), the S.S. LaPointe Drain Watershed, and the River Raisin Watershed. The agricultural inventory process will collect data to locate and prioritize sites with the potential to address nutrient runoff and that will have a positive impact on water quality.

"Reducing nutrient loads from nonpoint sources to achieve the 40 percent reduction goal by 2025 has proven to be very challenging," EGLE Director Liesl Clark said. "The agricultural inventories in the priority Western Lake Erie Watersheds will provide a more focused approach to identifying the best options for reducing nutrient losses at the field-scale within a watershed."

The plan also focuses on a pilot agriculture wetland restoration effort to reduce phosphorous runoff to Lake Erie.

"Lake Erie provides a highly important recreational resource for fishing and boating," said DNR Director Dan Eichinger. "We look forward to implementing landscape actions, such as wetland restoration, to help address the factors contributing to the harmful algal blooms."

Implementation of the adaptive management plan is being led by the three-department Domestic Action Plan Team. The team is working through a two-year work plan process, and they will also be seeking annual input and feedback from an external, science-based advisory group that is expected to include both rural and urban stakeholder sectors in a balanced manner.

For more information on what Michigan is doing in the Western Lake Erie Basin or to view the Adaptive Management Plan, visit Michigan.gov/LakeErieDAP.
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1:33pm: The White Sox have announced the contract. Robert will earn $1.5MM in 2020, $3.5MM in 2021, $6MM in 2022, $9.5MM in 2023, $12.5MM in 2024 and $15MM in 2025.

12:07pm: The White Sox have reached a long-term agreement with center field prospect Luis Robert, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports. The deal includes $50MM in guaranteed money over six years, and it features two club options, per Jeff Passan of ESPN. The max value is $88MM over eight years, including $20MM club options for 2026-27 with $2MM buyouts in each of the two seasons, Passan adds. Its a record-setting accord for a player who hasnt yet debuted in the majors.

This will already be the second lucrative contract for the 22-year-old Robert, whom the White Sox signed out of Cuba for a $26MM bonus a couple months into the 2017 season. Robert has justified his payday since then, as hes now regarded as one of the majors premier prospects. He ran roughshod over the high minors last season, batting .297/.341/.634 with 16 home runs in 223 plate appearances during his first (and maybe only) taste of Triple-A action.

As MLBTRs Mark Polishuk recently noted when exploring a potential extension for Robert, hes the latest White Sox outfielder to land a new deal before ever playing in the majors. The club signed outfielder Eloy Jimenez to a six-year, $43MM pact  then a record for an early career extension  shortly before last season started. Jimenez has more than lived up to the decision so far, having finished 2019 among the majors most successful rookies.

The Robert pact gives the White Sox an extra year of control over him, as theyre now slated to keep him through 2027 instead of 26. Plus, if all goes well, it could tamp down massive arbitration earnings for Robert. Regardless, the White Sox now have at least two-thirds of an extremely enviable young outfield between him and Jimenez. And if recent trade acquisition Nomar Mazara, 24, begins living up to his vast potential, Chicago could possess one of the sports premier outfields for the foreseeable future.

Now that theres no need to manipulate his service time, it seems likely Robert will open 2020 as the White Soxs everyday center fielder. So, for the most part, the teams Opening-Day lineup for the upcoming season appears set. The White Sox also have Jimenez (left), Mazara (right), Yoan Moncada (third base) and Tim Anderson (shortstop) as key members of their young offensive core. Sluggers Jose Abreu and Edwin Encarnacion (DH/1B) and catcher Yasmani Grandal will supplement that group, with a potential-packed rotation set to consist of some combination of Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Reynaldo Lopez, Dylan Cease, Gio Gonzalez, Michael Kopech and Carlos Rodon.

Last decade was one to forget for the White Sox, who havent made the playoffs since 2008 or finished above .500 since 2012. But judging by general manager Rick Hahns actions this winter, including Roberts contract, theyre all-in on changing their fortunes as early as this year.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Rays have re-signed Chris Mazza, the righty announced on Twitter. With big league transactions frozen, its no doubt a minors pact. Mazza was eligible to sign after being outrighted and electing minor league free agency in early November.

Tampa Bay acquired Mazza from the Red Sox over the 2020-21 offseason. The 32-year-old went on to make 14 appearances with the Rays, tossing 27 1/3 frames as a multi-inning relief option. Mazza was a reliable strike-thrower but not an overpowering bullpen arm, posting below-average strikeout and ground-ball numbers. He worked to a 4.61 ERA in the majors but had a more impressive 3.16 mark in 37 frames with Triple-A Durham.

It was the third straight season logging big league time for Mazza, originally a 27th-round draft choice of the Twins. He broke into the bigs with the Mets in 2019, then spent 2020 with Boston. Over his three seasons, the California native owns a 4.89 ERA/4.73 SIERA across 73 2/3 innings. Mazza is out of minor league option years, so if he pitches his way onto the Rays 40-man roster in Spring Training, hell need to remain on the active roster or be exposed to waivers.
08.01.2022 LISTEN

Multifaceted Ghanaian celebrity, Kwadwo Nkansah better known as Lil Win on Thursday, January 6,2022 thrilled music fans at this year's Dope Concert held at the Achimota Mall in Accra.

This years 'Dope Concert was headlined by great artists like Black Sheriff, Kuami Eugene, Kidi, Lil Win among others. The much-publicised event was heavily patronised by a lot of people from the Achimota area and its neighbouring vicinities.

As usual, immediately the MC for the night introduced Lil Win on stage to perform there were tumultuous Cheers from the crowd. The 'Corner Corner' crooner delivered a spirited performance to the admiration of all.

He took to the stage in his well-designed African apparel before taking off the outfit, sweating through his electrifying act. He did not exert much energy while performing his songs as fans grasped each one of them and owned it.

It was extremely amazing how the fans joined him during his performance by dancing and singing alongside as he dropped the back to back hit songs on stage. His technique on the microphone, and his interaction with the tumultuous crowd was pure class.

The actor cum musician who has never disappointed with his energetic performances spent 40 minutes on stage - during which he classically performed his hit songs including 'Corner Corner, Ladder, 'Meyare' ,Oblogo''Mama Boss Papa', Koti Krom and Pepper Dem'.

Fans who spoke with Hotfmghana.com after the show named him as the best performer on the night.

Watch the excerpts of his performance in the video below!

Source: hotfmghana.com
Cwesi Oteng

08.01.2022 LISTEN

Award-winning Ghanaian gospel musician, Cwesi Oteng, has shared his opinion on the controversial 1.75% tax on Electronic Transaction Levy, popularly known as E-Levy, by the government.

In an interview with Zionfelix, Cwesi Oteng said his decision to support government policies is not because he is affiliated with the NPP, but because he believes in the policies and their impact on society.

According to him, development is very expensive and it comes with a price that citizens of any country should be willing to pay. Its an avenue for revenue government can have, he said.

According to Cwesi Oteng, Ghanaians should embrace the proposed E-Levy tax, adding that people dont like paying tax in our country which has reduced the level of development the ordinary Ghanaian deserve.

A lot of people have issues with it but I think that development is expensive. I was in Dubai and I spent $300 just by entering and coming out of a shop.

Sometimes when I talk people think I'm talking for the government, but I speak as a citizen. Whenever I pay Momo and they deduct from my account it makes me happy because I feel like I'm contributing something to the country, he added.

The E-Levy was first announced by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta during his presentation of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government on November 17.

Since then, the levy that seeks to charge a 1.75% tax on financial transactions that exceed GH100 has created a lot of controversies. Although the Majority in Parliament are all for it amid agitations from Ghanaians, the Minority in the House have time and again stressed that they will fight to ensure it is rejected.

---DGN online
Founder and leader of the New Jerusalem Chapel located at Kumasi Sokoban Ampayoo in the Ashanti Region Bishop Dr Dr John Yaw Adu has asked Ghanaians not to entertain self-styled prophets who are fond of death pronouncements.

He stressed that if their prophecies are truly from God, former presidents John Agyekum Kufour and John Dramani Mahama among other prominent citizens of the country would have died by now.

The pastor comments follow the caution issued by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to prophets against death prophecies on 31st December watch night services which often creates fear and panic in the country.

"The IGP was right, l support him 100 percent about his directives," he told his congregants, adding that, the noble work of the priesthood has been dragged into the mud by the so-called three to six months bible studies prophets.

For the fact that prophecy has its good and bad side, he stressed that wisdom is needed in the interpretation of prophecies especially those that are considered as bad or negative.

He referred the fake prophets to what happened to John the Baptist, Nathaniel, Elijah among others when they tried to joke with prophecy in the ancient days.

That notwithstanding, he indicated that there are true prophets in the country who are preaching the gospel accordingly.

The major challenge, he stated is that Ghanaians and particularly politicians have turned the self-styled prophets into NDC and NPP pastors for making prophecies that favours them politically.
The Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson said the Attorney Generals office cannot determine when and how he should react to the sinister plot to needlessly tarnish his reputation and rob him of his liberty.

In a press release on Wednesday, January 5, 2022, signed by a Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Diana Asonaba Dapaah, the Office said the press conference held by Ato Forson was laden with factual misrepresentations and calculated at scandalizing the criminal proceedings pending in the High Court against the Member of Parliament and exposing the Attorney-General to prejudice and hatred.

Responding to the press release issued by a Deputy Attorney General on Wednesday, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson posted: I have noted a statement issued by a Deputy Attorney General claiming that by speaking out against the malice and deliberate political persecution inherent in the decision to prosecute me, I am exposing the Attorney General to hate and prejudice.

He added, I wish to state that the Attorney Generals office cannot determine my reaction to the sinister plot to needlessly tarnish my reputation and rob me of my liberty simply because I remain implacably opposed to the poor economic policies of this government and in particular the E-Levy.

It is the Attorney General who is driven by hate, prejudice and demagoguery! He is the one abusing his prosecutorial powers to silence critical political opponents.

"For instance, on Paragraph 7 of the AGs statement issued yesterday, it was claimed that;

"As stated in the facts of the case filed in court on 22nd December, 2011, cabinet endorsed an executive approval of a joint memorandum submitted to cabinet by the then Minister for Health and the first accused Cassiel Ato Forson, then Deputy Minister for Finance, for the purchase of 200 ambulances out of a medium term credit facility of 15,800,000 between Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited and the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Finance."

He stressed, For the avoidance of doubt, the Cabinet memo for the purchase of the Ambulances was submitted in December, 2011. I became a Deputy Minister on the 2nd of May 2013."

"How could I have signed a cabinet MEMO in December 2011?" he quizzes.
The Executive Director for Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, has alleged that the children of President Akufo-Addo's relative used the presidential jet to go for Christmas shopping in the UK.

According to him, the 10-day shopping trip took place between the 20th and 30th of December last year.

"So between the 20th and 30th of December, 2021..during the Christmas, the children of a close relative of the President took Ghanas Presidential Jet the Falcon EX jet on a trip to the UK just for Christmas shopping," Mensah Thompson wrote in a Facebook post sighted by this portal.

He also noted that the children of the relative of the president didn't go on the fun-filled trip alone, but in the company of their friends.

"They didn't go alone, they went with their friends and partied in the sky all through the trip, taking snap videos and flaunting their lucky adventure," he added.

The outspoken government critic further called on some state institutions such as the National Security Ministry, Ghana Air Force, and the Defense Ministry to provide answers to why the presidential jet was put at the disposal of these "spoilt youngsters."

"The Ministry of National Security, the Ghana Airforce and the Civil Aviation Authority would have to provide answers to the good people of Ghana why a national security asset like the Presidential jet was left at the mercy of spoilt youngsters who went partying around the world playing in Ghanas Presidential jet...," he emphasised.
Government has declared its intention to construct fire academy and training schools in four regions as part of its efforts to modernize and raise the Service to international standards.

The training schools would be constructed at Duayaw Nkwanta in the Ahafo Region, Kyebi in the Eastern Region, Ejura in the Ashanti Region, and Mion in the Northern Region.

The Deputy Minister for the Interior, Mrs Naana Eyiah, made this known at the graduation ceremony of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Cadet Intake XX, in Accra.

She said Ghana's firefighters were one of the best trained and best-equipped on the Continent, capable of managing any form of disaster anywhere and therefore the need for the additional schools to enhance its capacity.

"As a result, Government is helping to upgrade facilities at the Fire Academy and Training School in Accra and will help put up new Fire Academy and Training Schools", she added.

She said one of the critical pillars of the Government's Developmental Agenda was human resource development and therefore entreated the Management of the Service to have a strategic Human Development Plan to direct their manpower needs.

The Deputy Minister also charged the GNFS to include new concepts in their fire prevention and management training programmes to ensure appropriate training was provided to personnel.

She said globalization had led to rapid technological advancement and the GNFS could not allow itself to be left behind hence, the need for a new direction in terms of the training to meet this new development.

Mrs Eyiah urged the graduating class to take great pride in their hardwork and entreated them to appreciate the Command of the Service, for their support and sacrifice in their training.

She said there were enormous challenges with public safety, and urged the personnel to use the knowledge they had acquired at the Academy to help find solutions to such problems.

The Deputy Minister pledged government's continuous support to the GNFS to ensure that it delivered on its mandate.

Cadet Intake XX were serving officers of the GNFS who were eligible for promotion into Senior Officer Corps having passed their promotion examination and selection process after embarking on a six-week refresher course.

Cadet Intake XX, which had a total of 370 Officer Cadets (OCs), comprised of 142 females, and 228 males.

The training programme exposed the OCs to managerial, skills and tenets of officership required at the Senior Officer Corps of the GNFS.

These officership skills and concepts were delivered across subjects such as Public Speaking and Media Relations, Public Finance, Organisational Behaviour, Command, Leadership and Management, Works Ethics, Corporate Image Building, Staff Duties, GNFS Regulations and Mess Ethics.

In all four OCs who distinguished themselves were awarded for the overall best, best in academics, best in foot drills and the Commandant's award.

GNA
Winners of the 2021 National Science and Math Quiz (NSMQ), Prempeh College have visited President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House.

The 2021 NSMQ Champions were at the Jubilee House to present the trophy to President Akufo-Addo on Thursday, 6 January 2022.

They were accompanied by former President John Agyekum Kufuor who is also an old student of Prempeh College.

The Ashanti region school won the 2021 NSMQ held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology for the 5th time on Friday, 26 November 2021.

The grand finale of the quiz competition was contested by Prempeh College, Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (PRESEC) from the Greater Accra Region, and Keta Senior High Technical School (KETASCO) from the Volta Region.

Although PRESEC was leading the contest in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds, the table turned in favour of Prempeh College in the 4th and 5th rounds.

At the end of the contest, Prempeh College won with 53 points while their contenders, PRESEC had 49 and Keta SHTS secured 30 points.

Declaring Prempeh College as winners of the competition, the Quizmistress, Prof Elsie Effah Kaufmann expressed gratitude to the team members for a good show.

A member of the winning team for Prempeh College, Oppong Evans, expressed happiness that they had won the contest.

Some students and teachers of Prempeh College who also spoke to the media were elated about their win.

 classfmonline.com
Some Oguaa residents say they do not see the significance of the government's declaration of January 7, as a statutory public holiday.

The day has been instituted as Constitution Day and has since 2019 been observed as a public holiday but not many people appear to understand why.

Mr. Elvis Amoako, a teacher, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, said every holiday was to give rest to the general populace especially workers.

I just know today is a Constitution holiday but honestly I simply have no idea of its relevance and my attention has not been drawn to that yet because education on it is minimal."

Madam Irene Biney, a Project Coordinator of an NGO, said although she knew the essence of the Constitution to the Ghanaian society, she was yet to come to terms with why it should be made a holiday.

Madam Sabina Ocran, an Administrator said there was the need to intensify public education as people had only been enjoying the holiday day without knowing the significance of the day.

Mr. Abubakari Alhassan, another teacher, said the day was to serve as a reminder for all to be patriotic and to uphold and defend the Constitution of the land.

I have always known the essence of today probably because I teach it all the time , more education is needed amongst the general populace.

The education must reach everyone, that notwithstanding everyone must know the core value of the Constitution.

GNA
The Ellembelle District Security Council (DISEC) and Management of Adamus Mines have met opinion leaders of Anwia-Teleku-Bokazo communities to help deescalate tension over the alleged burning of an illegal small scale miner to death by security guards of the mining company.

The miner, Michael Dery, popularly called Budo, was said to have been doused in petrol and set on fire by the security guards after he was caught digging for gold in the concession of the company, but this has been denied by the company.

He suffered severe burns and he was admitted at the Saint Martins De Porres hospital at Eikwe and later transferred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital where he died.

Mr. Kwasi Bonzoh, the District Chief Executive (DCE), assured the people that there would be thorough police investigation to establish the full facts.

He added that there would not be any cover up and that anybody found to have acted wrongly would be made to face the law.

The people in Teleku-Bokazo and Anwia have been demanding justice for Dery and want the operations of the mining company suspended until the outcome of the police investigations is known.

They are also asking that the company should cede part of the mining concession to the people for community mining.

Mr. Bonzoh called for everybody to remain calm and avoid doing anything to disturb the peace.

Meanwhile, the executives of SHARP Africa Foundation have visited the family of the deceased and donated a wheelchair to his father who has had his leg amputated and is on admission at the St.Martin's De Porres hospital.

A statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Clement Blay, said it would continue to monitor the situation till justice was served.

GNA
08.01.2022 LISTEN

Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has expressed sadness over the demise of the immediate past Greater Accra Regional Minister, Ishmael Ashitey.

The Vice President in a Facebook post expressed his condolences to the family of the former Minister and Chairman of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Greater Accra region ahead of the 2016 elections.

He write on his timeline that My condolences to the Ashitey family on the passing of Mr. Ishmael Ashitey, who was an ex- Minister of State, former Tema East MP and NPP regional chairman. My thoughts are with them at this difficult period.

May Hon. Ishmael Ashiteys soul rest in peace.

The former Greater Accra Regional Minister and Member of Parliament, Tema East, passed away Friday evening January 7, 2022 at International Maritime Hospital (IMaH), Tema.

He left behind a wife and four children.

Until his death, he was lacing his boot to contest for National Chairman of the party in the forthcoming NPP primaries.

DGN online
Lesbian couples and single women in France hailed victory this summer when, after two years of ferocious parliamentary debate, a law was finally passed allowing them access to assisted reproduction (MAP). But the health system is unable to cope with the surge in demand and long delays mean many women continue to seek treatment abroad.

Since 29 September, 2021, all women aged 43 and under can access fertility treatments such as IVF and artificial insemination  treatment previously reserved for heterosexual couples.

The legalisation of MAP for all women was one of Emmanuel Macron's campaign promises and since becoming president it remains his only major social reform.

But it's got off to a disappointing start as the country's fertility clinics struggle to cope with demand.

By end of November last year, 2,750 MAP requests had been made by single women or lesbian couples, triple the usual number.

It's far more than we imagined, said health minister Olivier Veran at the time.

The waiting game

In two months we had two or three times more requests from women couples and single women than we got from infertile couples over a whole year, professor Catherine Guillemain from Marseille's Hopital de la Conception told RFI.

Guillemain heads up the hospital's egg and sperm donation centre (Cecos) and says they are overwhelmed with calls, and that it's a similar story in the other 28 centres across France.

As a result waiting lists are long, assuming anyone picks up the phone.

For the moment some centres can't even fix an appointment, in others we're talking about a six to 12 month delay, says Eloine Fouilloux, vice-president of Enfants d'arc en ciel  a support group for lesbian couples and single women seeking MAP.

It's frustrating and many women are continuing to go to Spain or Belgium... it's quicker and going more smoothly there.

It's a costly process though, unlike in France where treatment is free for women up to the age of 43.

Faced with the log-jam, the only thing we can do is get organised little by little, but that only works when staff are ready and have time to process the requests, said Guillemain.

This subject first featured in the Spotlight on France podcast. Listen to the interview with Eloine Fouilloux.

Staff shortages

LGBT groups argue the government should have anticipated the surge in demand and prepared for it.

In an attempt to speed up waiting times, health minister Veran announced in early October an additional 8 million euros for extra staff and equipment for fertility clinics.

But the impact won't be immediate. France's hospitals are understaffed and health professionals say it's especially hard to recruit biologists, gynaecologists and psychologists.

Hiring staff takes time, says Fouilloux, who also fears that in cash-strapped hospitals the funding might not end up where it was intended.

If the hospital is short of money, hiring a medical secretary is obviously not going to be a priority, she sighs.

It's a transition period, and an uncomfortable one, recognises Dr Claire de Vienne from France's state-funded Agency of Biomedecine.

De Vienne told RFI the problem was not lack of sperm.

We have the stocks of sperm straws, we have the donors, she said, but we have to be able to give these women appointments. We need to recruit trained staff and that takes time.

Sperm and egg shortages?

There may be enough sperm for the moment, but it's far from sure that donations will keep up with the increasing demand.

France forbids the importation of foreign sperm and the Biomedecine Agency's most recent figures show donations are on the decline  just 317 were made in France in 2019, 18 percent less than previous year.

Women were more generous, despite a much more invasive medical procedure. 836 women gave eggs in 2019, 7.5 percent more than in 2018.

From September 2022, sperm and egg donation will no longer be anonymous, allowing children born from a donation, once adults, to find out their donor's identity.

Some fear this could deter potential donors, especially men.

Fouilloux, mother of two children born through IVF in Belgium, is full of praise for donors who gave us the most beautiful gift" but insists they are "donors, not parents.

Unfortunately, she says, many people in France see things differently.

Even people who are not opponents of MAP still say that a sperm donor is 'a father that the children don't know', and that's a very problematic way to think. It makes it difficult to talk about sperm donation and difficult to find donors.

Ad campaign

In a bid to get more donors, France launched an information campaign last autumn, with ads online, in the media and in cinemas encouraging people to donate sperm and eggs.

Fouilloux says this should have been done years ago and the taboo around donation has led to being seen as "something rude, even dirty.

More open discussion should also help to shift the way French society sees filiation.

There is this feeling in France that biological procreation is more valuable than parenting, but I don't think that's true, Fouilloux says.

I have no biological link to my son and he's my son. He knows how he was created and he knows that none of my genes are in his body. But who cares!
The Accounts Officer of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Awuni Akyireba has been fired.

The hospital dismissed the Accounts officer for what it described as a major misconduct, on his part.

The Disciplinary Committee of the Hospital Board has established that your allegation that COVID-19 donations to KATH had been used to buy luxury vehicles had no foundation and therefore, a total falsehood, the hospital noted in a letter addressed to Mr Akyireba and signed by its board Chairman Nana Effah Ampenteng.

It further noted that: Again it is true that the official Vehicle for the medical director was involved in an accident but police report on the incident indicates the driver as Prof Baafuor Opoku, the Medical Director not his wife as you alleged.

The letter continued that: By choosing to go to the media with matters of KATH without authority renders you guilty of a major misconduct under the disciplinary code of KATH Section 13:02 xii (misconduct).

Besides, a content analysis of your response to the query given you clearly indicates that you willfully used abusive language on your superior, contrary to the Disciplinary Code, section 13.01 I (poor performance) and ii (misconduct).

According to the KATH the accounts officers failure to appear before its Disciplinary Committee despite glaring evidence that he saw the invitation means he has committed a major offence under the code.

By a decision of the Hospital Board, you are accordingly dismissed with immediate effect, the letter added.

The Accounts Officer had accused the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Dr Oheneba Owusu Danso, of misappropriating funds meant for COVID-19.

He had also intimated that the funds were used to procure luxury vehicles.

He therefore petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the CEO.

classfmonline.com
The Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has applauded the move by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to have 11 of its staff sacked for their involvement in examination malpractices during the 2020 BECE and WASSCE.

The management of Ghana Education Service through a letter dated September 24, 2021, directed various education directorate heads to interdict 11 staff pending a final decision to terminate their contracts.

Speaking on the decision in an interview with Starr FM on Saturday, January 8, 2022, the Programs Officer for Africa Education Watch, Kwesi Nimo Jnr says the move by GES is in the right direction.

Its notable to commend this very action because its been quite long since we had these occurrences, usually these oness go unpunished. But this particular directive is an indication that going forward stringent measures are going to be put in place to at least ensure that people are deterred from engaging in examination malpractices in a way to curb the malpractices themselves, he said.

According to Kwesi Nimo Jnr, GES should consider prosecuting the affected officials should a criminal case be proven.

..we believe that primarily this move is okay enough punishment. Otherwise, if the investigation proves that there were other criminal activities that they were engaged in, in this regard we believe that prosecution is another action to explore, he added.

The 11 officers include one from Oti Region, one from Bono Region, five from Greater Accra, four from Ashanti Region.
The chair and leader of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Nana Akosua Frimponmaa has called on the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Adampare to investigate last years recruitment into the force.

The Ghana Police Service in 2021 opened application for new recruits into the service. At the end of the smooth process that received commendation, a number of applicants could not qualify.

Concerned for Ghanaians who struggled to raise money to buy the application forms but still failed to get in, Nana Akosua Frimponmaa has appealed to Dr. George Akuffo Dampare to look into the recruitment process.

I will like to commend the IGP for the work he has done so far since he came into office but I have one appeal to him.

Recently, we all saw the number of people who applied to enter the Police.

These young ones paid huge fees but werent recruited and so my appeal to him is to investigate this matter and refund their moneys to them, the CPP leader said in her new years message to Ghanaians.

Over the years, there have been reports of some illegalities in the recruitment process where there are said to be the use of protocols to favour some applicants over the others.

Nana Akosua Frimponmaa want these and more to be investigated in last years recruitment to ensure there is fairness and no cheating.
08.01.2022 LISTEN

Report reaching this portal indicates that former Director-General, Police Professional and Standards Bureau (PPSB) of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP) Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah has been appointed Executive Director of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).

Her appointment letter from the Presidency, DGN Online learnt was dated January 5, 2022 states that the former head of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police resumes work on Monday January 10, 2022.

She takes over from Steve Raymond Dapaa-Addo, a consummate lawyer who may be elevated to chair the EOCO board.

Maame Yaa Tiwaa was released from the Police by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr. George Akuffo Dampare to the Presidency for her latest assignment.

A letter dated December 13, 2021 from the Police Service, signed by COP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, Director General, Administration to Maame Tiwaa said I am directed by the Inspector General of Police to release you from your current schedule and report to the Chief of Staff at the Presidency to be re-assigned

Please accept the compliments of the Inspector General of Police.

COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Danquah, a former Director General of CID was later appointed Director General Welfare and member of POMAB, the highest decision-making body in the police, outside the Police Council which is chaired by the Vice President.

Until her latest appointment she was shoved to PPSB known as PIPS by the current IGP, a move that was seen as a demotion.

Maame Tiwaa was recruited into the Ghana Police Service on July 27, 1990, and rose through the ranks by dint of hard work and her desire to achieve higher academic laurels.

When she passed out, she was first posted to the Police Hospital Accounts Section as a constable.

After the 18 months probation, she was promoted to the rank of a Sergeant in 1992 because she enlisted with a Diploma in Business Studies Accounting Option which she obtained at the Kumasi Polytechnic between 1988 and 1990.

Having been promoted to Sergeant, she enrolled with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana in 1995 and passed the Level Two examinations successfully and was promoted to Chief Inspector. This granted her a direct entry to the Police College in October 1998.

In May 1999, out of a class of 48 (46 men and two women), she was adjudged the All Round Best Cadet and the Best Student in Humanities making her the second female to take that award at that time.

In recognition of her remarkable accomplishment, a special staff of honour was ordered from the United Kingdom (UK) by the then Inspector General of Police (IGP) which was presented to her by the late Professor Evans Atta Mills who was then the Vice President.

Along the line, she was made the administrator at the Police Hospital when the person in charge went on a Peace Keeping Mission.

Later, she also had the opportunity to go on a Peace Mission in Kosovo where she acted as the Logistics and Finance Officer for Missing Persons Unit.

With her international peacekeeping operations experience in Kosovo under her staff belt, she was posted to the Police Headquarters Finance section.

She was granted a three-year study leave to pursue a programme in the UK with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

COP Yaa Tiwaa, who by this time had demonstrated a knack for excellence in the academic area, passed all her papers before the stipulated time and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2006.

---DGN online
08.01.2022 LISTEN

Babu Emmanuel Lokiri, a 24-year-old man sentenced to death for killing the three siblings at Rock City in Juba in South Sudan on August 1, 2020.

He has been hanged to death.

The President of the High Court High Court, Ogwili Kuot announced the execution on Friday, January 7, 2022, saying that Babu was hanged in the afternoon in Juba, the South Sudanese capital.

Babu was first condemned by the court to death in August 2020 after the court discovered that he slaughtered the three children.

Babu, 24, was found guilty of the gruesome killing of 9-year-old Naomi, 7-year-old Blessing and 4-year old Nor Edward.

Judge Kuot says Babu was killed after all the court procedures were completed that mandated his hanging.

Emmanuel Babu Lokiri was hanged today 7th Jan, 2022 at around 2pm, Judge Ogwili Kuot told Eye Radio on Friday.

The process was done according the prison procedures. Nobody is hanged without approval form the President of the Republic.

The convict was tried by Justice Douth Kulang, who found Babu, guilty of the gruesome killing of 9-year-old Naomi, 7-year-old Blessing and 4-year old Nor Edward.

The court has found that the accused person is guilty of charges of murder under Section 206 of the Penal Code Act 2008, Judge Kulang announced.

According to Article 206, premeditated murder is considered if the act that caused the death was committed with the intention of causing the death or if the perpetrator of the act knew that the death was a probable result rather than merely a possible result of an act or any bodily harm that was intended to cause it with the same act.

Babu used a machete to end the lives, the court heard.

At the final session, the court asked the defendant's lawyer, Gamer Elden Mohamed Al Hassan, if he had any reasons to reduce the penalty.

Mohamed said his client  a medical student  should get a leaner sentence given that he could help the country through his work when he graduates as a doctor.

But Boutros Yai, the public prosecutor, rejected the request  arguing that the accused has another brother and that he depends on his parents and he does not support any person.

Then the judge consulted the victims' parents on whether they would forgive Babu, who earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges.

However, they refused and requested the court to punish Babu with any sentence harder than hanging.

The convict, Babu Emmanuel Lokiri, will be hanged by the neck till death, he added.

The case was taken to the Supreme Court for confirmation after 15 days of appeal.

The judge also ordered that the murder weapon be destroyed in the criminal court by the court police.

The murders angered South Sudanese all over the world, including President Salva Kiir who promised to ensure that the killer faced justice.
The General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party, John Boadu, has described the death of the former NPPs Greater Accra Regional Chairman, Ishmael Ashitey, as a great loss to the party.

Ishmael Ashitey died at the International Maritime Hospital on Friday evening after a short illness.

Speaking to Citi News after leading a party delegation to the residence of the former Greater Accra Regional Minister in Tema, John Boadu, said the party will liaise with the family to give him a befitting burial.

We are saddened by this and want to use this opportunity to get the family to take heart.

As a party, we are going to play our part to ensure that our friend, brother and mentor gets a befitting burial for the work he has done not only for the party but for the nation as well, the General Secretary said.

Mr. Boadu remembered Mr. Ashittey as easy going and friendly and an effective manager.

We would have wished that such a person stayed a bit longer to help us continue to mobilise the people of Accra to support the party to ensure a total victory in 2024.

Since joining the NPP in 1992, Mr. Ashitey served as the Tema East MP from 1996 to 2008.

In Parliament, he served on the Mines and Energy, Foreign Affairs, Government's Assurances and the House committees, and also served as a Minister of State at the Ministries of Food and Agriculture and Trade, Industry & President's Special Initiatives under the Kufuor administration.

---DGN online
La Adonten Mantse, Nii Kwade Okropong I, has donated GHS10,000 to Advocates for GaDangme Languages (AGDLa) - a non-profit organisation to support seven young SHS graduates to study Ga and Dangme languages at the tertiary level.

The move is to enhance the teaching and learning of Ga and Dangme languages in the basic schools as well as equip Ga and Dangme teachers with the requisite competencies: knowledge, skills, attitude and experiences in the learning and teaching of the languages.

Speaking after the donation, the La Adonten Mantse, stated that it is very important for capacity of Ga and Dangme teachers to be built to help improve the teaching and learning strategies of the languages in the Greater Accra Region.

He called on fellow Ga and Dangme Chiefs and philanthropists to support the Advocates for GaDangme Languages to achieve its goals of sustaining and promoting the Ga and Dangme languages in Ghana.

On his part, the founder and the coordinator of Advocates for GaDangme Languages Mr John Mensah Anang (Nii Mensah Anang-Yakah), the immediate past Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, revealed that there is a great number of teachers who are Ga-Dangme citizens, but they are not willing and ready to teach Ga in schools.

"Most of us do not understand the chemistry of the school system hence we make unfounded accusations and blame game - instead of coming out with innovative ideas and best practices to help solve this problem scientifically," he stated.

He reiterated the need for well-meaning Ga-Dangme citizens to team up with AGDLa to fight this knowledge war by getting more SHS graduates who are willing to study and teach the Ga and Dangme Languages at the pre-tertiary level.

This he said would help sustain and protect the Ga and Dangme Languages in the Greater Accra region.

He cited the example of Valley View where the school said it will no longer teach Ga due to lack of teachers which compelled him to come out with this initiative.

He added that the support of seven young people to study the Ga and Dangme languages at the tertiary level will give those who wish to project and protect the Ga and Dangme Languages the opportunity to contribute their quota to the Ga state.

Most of the schools in the Greater Accra region, according to him do not have Ga and Dangme Language teachers, yet learners are expected to write Ga or Dangme in BECE.
08.01.2022 LISTEN

Many continue to question the attitude medical professionals display at work these days and continue to wonder if the profession is still a calling for those who desired to serve their fellow men and women on their sick beds as it was in the days of Hippocrates and other forebears of medicine.

Growing up, I had the impression that, to become a medical Doctor you need to be the most brilliant kid until I got to Australia in the year 2003 I completed Bsc. nursing in one of the prestigious Universities in Ghana with Second Class Lower after several years of struggle due to financial constraints. After completion I sat for the NMC licensing exams and passed but had to relocate to that country with the help of uncle Ato Akorful who was residing there for over 15 years. Arriving in Australia I decided to rekindle my childhood ambitions of becoming a Medical Doctor. I discussed it with Uncle Ato and he assured me of his support so I applied to Western Sydney University the following year. To my surprise I had admission to the School in the year 2007. The mode of teaching and learning in that country was modest, practical and interesting. In short I had a wonderful experience as a medical undergraduate student in that country and now a proud Physician Specialist which would never have happened if I had remained in Ghana.

Whiles these developed countries continue to preserve medical training for the average and dedicated students willing to save lives, and preserving engineering for the most brilliant kids, we in Africa where patient to Doctor ratio remains very high with maternal and child mortality always skyrocketing. Not to talk of the unmet MDG goals, we decided to adopt the opposite.

I have also been told of how Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of blessed memory used taxpayers money and fully funded training of Doctors both in and outside Ghana in his days. I will also not forget the late Jerry John Rawlings and former President John Mahama who in their quest to improve patient to Doctor ratio in Ghana, decided to send many Ghanaians to Cuba to be trained as medical Doctors and nurses. Many of those trained in the days played and are still playing various roles in the Ghanas health sector to improve healthcare delivery.

It will interest readers to know that the story has changed, medical education in Ghana today has become the preserve of the rich and privileged with foreign students especially Nigerians dominating the schools many of who leave the country after training, thanks to the greed of the Authorities paid with our taxes to manage the schools. The entry requirement to our medical schools have changed from good grades and willingness to save human life to ability to pay the fees and whom you know. Today its either you have a presidential protocol or have a good bank statement and willing to pass on a brown envelope filled with cash. In fact you must prove your ability to pay the exorbitant fees charged by the schools before the likes of University Ghana Medical school will sell forms for their Graduate entry program to you. One wonders if governments over the years have stopped sponsoring medical education in the country because we have enough Doctors or its the greed and corruption that has eaten into the moral fabric of Authorities paid with our taxes to manage the schools.

Readers would wonder what monies collected by the schools are really used for, since Government still pays the lecturers teaching in the schools whiles students unlike in the days of Nkrumah, buy their books and other items needed for their training

Though we are made to believe the kids needed to make straight As in the secondary school exams in order to qualify for admission to the schools the reality on the campuses is different.

I personally had to engage five private teachers for my daughter months after he secured admission to one of the prestigious SHS in Central Region and paid them termly.

I went ahead and set up a personal library for her. She was a child I so much loved and wanted her to follow my steps. She was a brilliant kid so with the help of these teachers the child got selected to represent that school in the 2019 National Maths and Science quiz competition where their team put up an outstanding performance. It was not surprising when She completed SHS and scored straight As.

I made her apply to University of Ghana Medical School and KNUST Medical schools same year just to ensure she doesnt miss her chance of getting admission to a medical School.

Then came the shock of my life where I was exposed to what it really takes to get admission to a medical school in Ghana.

The child had a notification from University of Ghana Medical School alerting her of an entrance exams scheduled 3 days from the day of the notification and was made to pay GHC150 for the exams. She reported for the exams, took part and was shortlisted for an interview. She went for the interview and was asked if she has any member of the family who has ever been a medical Doctor and how she intends to finance her medical education? She answered the dad is a Physician Specialist. She was later asked how she got selected as National Maths and Science Quiz contestant and She answered. Then She was discharged and told congratulations you will hear from us" but was never called.

Then came later a call from KNUST inviting her for an interview. She went for the interview and was successful but was admitted as a fee paying student. I went out to pay the fees 3 days later and was told by the cashier that the payment is not going through because the admission number on the provisional admission letter had been inactivated. I called the school only to be told because I delayed in paying the fees within 24 hours of issuance of the admission, the slot was given to another applicant.

When i called the school of Medicine KNUST to enquire why such a development, I was told they had a lot of applications and had issued too many provisional admissions that year and many had paid so their classrooms are full and cannot take any more child.

At this point I decided to started making calls to friends in politics who I think can help. Eventually i was linked to one powerful man in the country who promised to help. Few days to matriculation my daughter had admission as a regular medical student not fee paying as stated in the previous admission letter. Her fees had reduced from over GHC 11,000 to GHC1,900 and i paid. She got to the school and to her surprise, her class is full of Nigerians and other Ghanaians whose SHS results cannot be compared to hers yet I had to go extra miles to get her admission to the school.

Then I remembered what a friend told me about his experience. This guy completed University of Ghana Nursing School with first class and applied for graduate entry medicine in same school. He went for the interview and was asked, being a nurse and now coming to do medicine, where will his loyalty be if he becomes a medical Doctor and he replied his loyalty will be with his new profession. This was the only question he was asked yet he was denied admission. He has since given up his ambition of becoming a medical doctor and working with a foreign IT firm.

I recently saw a provisional result slip of a Youngman who happened to represent Bishop Herma College in the 2020 National maths and science quiz competition of which the guy had straight As yet was unable to gain admission to UGM and KNUST medical schools, thanks his old students who contributed to pay his fees, he is currently a student at the department of pharmacy at the KNUST doing Doctor of pharmacy.

The exorbitant fees charged by the medical schools alone is enough to make any poor but brilliant Ghanaian child with the calling to be come a medical doctor to rethink and opt for marketing instead. The story is not too different from those seeking admission to nursing and Physician Assistant training schools where students pay fees in excess of GHC5000 (FOR GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS) and GHC6000 or more per annum for private schools (accommodation exclusive).

I recently advised a friend to consider sending his son to a private medical school other than public if he seriously want the child to become a medical Doctor. Checks revealed the schools are charging between $10,000 (GHC 65, 000) to $12,000 (GHC78, 000) as fees annually excluding accommodation fees and the schools are more interested in Bank statement of financiers of the students other than their academic qualifications and their calling into the medical profession.

Readers at this point might be wondering what the exact requirements for admission into our medical schools are and if the issue of inadequate classrooms is factual.

Many Youngmen and women in an attempt to avoid these frustrations as regards admission to Ghanaian medical schools, decided to travel outside to train and on return write licensing exams supervised by the Medical and Dental Council of Ghana. Each of the applicants who sit for this exams is made to pay over GHC4,000 as exams fees of which many are failed at the end though most of these students studied in countries with more advanced medical facilities and robust teaching tools and more experience teachers, so why are they failing the exams?

Could it be that there is a cartel that is making sure that Ghana does not have enough Doctors so to maintain the status quo and to ensure we continue to praise the few Doctors in the system at the disadvantage of the poor Ghanaian?

It will interest readers to know that most of the foreign train Doctors who relocate to other countries do perform excellently in those countries and are saving lives, whiles we in Ghana continue to cry for inadequate number of Doctors with the consistently high maternal and child mortality rates with unmet MDGs goals, so what exactly is our problem as a nation?

We have inadequate classrooms and learning materials in our medical schools to admit qualified Ghanaian child but same schools are admitting Nigerians and other foreign nationals who we train with our resources after which they leave for their respective countries.

The health profession is no more a calling but a preserve of the rich and privileged in Ghana it is the reason why that surgeon you visited the last time will not want to give you a listening ear unless you are able to pay the GHC10,000 he is charging as cost of your surgery.

It is the same reason why your gynecologist decided to charge you GHC3,000 for that cesarean section though you presented your NHIS card at the hospital.

The same reason why the Doctor you went to see the last time instructed his nurse not to bring him more than 20 folders of which you missed out and had to return home

The reasons listed above are some of the reasons why that newly qualified Doctor has refused to be posted to Kpandai Health post but would prefer to be in the cities.

Same reason why that Doctor at the Cardio Thoracic centre in Korlebu will decide to Charge that poor boy with hole in heart GHC70,000 as cost of his surgery such that the parents had to seek help from the public throw TV3 in order to raise the money for the surgery

It is these same reasons why most Doctors would prefer to create artificial traffic at surgical and maternity wards so they can transfer unsuspecting patients to their private hospitals so to make additional income. If you think this is lie just pay a visit to Asamakese Government hospital, Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital at Mampong Akuapem, the almighty Korlebu teaching Hospital, KATH, etc and see for yourself.

It is the same reason why most Doctors at our district hopitals will decide to spend all the working hours at the theatre where they pocket every pesewa they collect from every patient they operate on (eg. Akim Oda Government Hospital) whiles leaving work at the OPD for Physician Assistants who often become overburden with workload yet paid peanuts at the end of the month because they did not attend medical schools.

It is my hope the powers that be will take steps to tackle the rot in the health system starting with the training institutions

Lets be citizen and not spectators. God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.

By...... DESMOND APPENTENG
08.01.2022 LISTEN

If we enter into the world hall of fame, we will see an impressive list of names of people who accomplished great things: some of them were great political leaders, military leaders, spiritual leaders, inventors, scientists, and philosophers. Nevertheless, all of these people had one thing in common. They were here one time, but they are no longer here. Death is the common denominator for all humankind. Despite all the advances we have chalked in medical science in recent years, one thing is certain that science can prolong life but cannot prevent death. Science will never cure the aging or the dying process. For our bodies are subject to decay. The Bible declares that "just as man is destined to die once, after that to face judgment."

David wanted to know the end of his wretched life that he might begin to reckon the days till death brings it to an end. He learned that there is an end to life's sorrow, which is the hope of all who have hope beyond the grave. He describes the shortness as a handbreadth. A handbreadth is one of the shortest natural measures, being the breadth of four fingers; such is the brevity of our lives on earth. We should know that our lives hang on so small a thread. Charles Spurgeon declared, "That the least gnat in the air can choke us, as it choked Pope Adrian of Rome; a little hair in our milk can strangle us, as it did a councilor in Rome; a stone of a raisin can stop our breath, as it did the breath of Anacreon." Death is closer to us every day than we think.

We must hasten towards the goal or fulfill our purpose by the shortest and most decent path possible. The possibility that at any moment from now, we might not be here anymore should prompt us to ponder on how we have behaved concerning God, our families, our friends, our workers, the people under our care, and our stewardship to the community resources placed under our care.

It has been said of a wise Eastern monarch that hired an officer in his house, whose sole duty was to remind him of his immortality, by calling out every morning at an agreed time, "Remember king, thou shall die!!!" One will ask why someone would pay a person to stand before him to alert him that he would die one day. This wise king had learned that power, wealth, popularity, intellectual advancement, heroism, military prowess, and conquest cause us to forget that we are here today, but a time will come when we will be here no more. This reminder helped him to be humble to his subject all the time. A deeper reflection on our lives' brevity and the uncertainty of our present station moved Solon of Athens to advise his generation to fix their eyes on the end of life.

Another wise king, Solomon, after he proved that secular wisdom has no superiority to folly in bringing true happiness to man, sought his happiness differently and gave himself up to cheerful enjoyment. Nevertheless, he concluded that worldly joy is unsatisfying: All is vanity, the vanity of wealth gathered with care and privation. We all try to reach the top of the mountain, but we realize that there is nothing at the top when we get there. Marcus Aurelius said the only wealth we will keep forever is those we give away. Our value is not determined by the things we hoard or accumulate, but rather our wealth is measured by what we give away, not what we collect.

A reflection on our finitude must cause us to put a break to all our schemes to get ahead of others or amass extreme wealth at the expense of others and help us regulate our lives. Any man or woman who begins every day with a serious reflection that they are born to die would not undertake or prosecute anything wicked. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and a philosopher reflecting on the imminence of death and the ideal of the "good man," offered these words, "Do not live as if you were going to live for ten thousand years. The inevitable is hanging over you. As long as you are still alive, and as long as it is still possible, become a good man." Thinking about the brevity of life should cause us to think about how we live our lives, and the sense of agency does not allow us to waste our time by concerning ourselves with what others do or say.

The things that disturb us or deprive us of our happiness are our desires, griefs, and fears, and to all these, considering our mortality is a particular and adequate remedy. Epictetus was right in saying that we should think about poverty, banishment, and death, and we would never indulge in violent desires or give up our hearts to mean sentiments. We imagine or focus our attention on the pleasures of some future possession and suffer our thoughts to dwell attentively upon it, till it has wholly engrossed our imaginations and caused us not to conceive any happiness but its attainment, or any misery but its loss. Everyman has experienced vanity when a sharp or tedious sickness has set death before his eyes. How do we live before the face of God, knowing that we live in a world where living people weep for the dead and themselves wept over shortly afterward? Corruption of leaders profiting from power or stewardship for their pleasure is the height of ignorance.

For the Greco-Roman philosophers, our shared humanity or reason should direct us to seek for the common good of all. Our lives are intrinsically linked together. So leaders who deprive other community members of what is due them will one day receive their due recompense. For great philosophers like Plato, evil stems from not knowing the good. How can you educate Ghanaian leaders to know that it is not in their interests to steal from what is meant for the whole community? They may build mansions with the money meant for road construction, resulting in driving on dusty roads, triggering asthma that may kill them.

The extensive influence of greatness, the glitter of wealth, the praises of admirers, and the attendance of supplicants, had appeared vain and empty things when the last hour seemed to be approaching; the same appearance they would always have if the same thought was always predominant. We should then find the absurdity of stretching our arms incessantly to grasp that we cannot keep and wear out our lives to add more wealth. When the foundation itself is shaking and the ground on which it stands is moldering away, we will understand that we are here for a short time. Why can't we be humble and know we have a shared fate?
As Ghana celebrates Constitution Day, much is expected from both duty bearers and citizens on how to consolidate the growing constitutional democracy the country is enjoying which has become the envy of many countries across the globe.

Interestingly, the role of Parliament is considered paramount in achieving this goal.

In 2006, during the Parliamentary Week Celebrations, Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, then an Associate Professor of Leadership and Governance at the Graduate School of Leadership and Public Management of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration (GIMPA), at a symposium organised by the Parliament of Ghana gave a touching speech which is relevant today as the country celebrates its Constitution Day.

Speaking on the theme; "Parliament, The Bastion of Constitutional Democracy: Effecting a Meaningful Relationship With the Citizenry, he said it is the responsibility of citizens to address the problems that frustrate, frighten or distance them from one another.

He added that when citizens get involved and organized, they achieve progress.

Meanwhile, he said Parliament on the other hand, has a responsibility to foster a sense of public spiritedness in every Ghanaian since good and effective citizenship does not come about naturally or by chance either; they require preparation. To better engage with the citizenry and enhance their relevance in contemporary Ghana, MPs must consider making it their business to ensure that Preparation for Citizenship is incorporated in every level of our formal education.

He said Parliamentarians must give due recognition to the vital role of civil society in preserving and strengthening democracy in Ghana.

According to Prof. Attafuah, Parliament needs a strong partnership from both sides and that should reflect an enduring image of our Parliament.

The recent incident in Parliament where the Minority and the Majority virtually fought over the e-levy, is nothing but an indication of a breakdown in such partnership and collaboration towards a common good of the country.

According to Prof. Attafuah, the incidents highlighting partisanship are probably few and far between, by their ferocity and widespread media coverage, they serve to provide a caricature of parliamentary discourses, and what crystallizes in the public consciousness is not the occasional failure of the House to achieve a compromise, but rather the image of perennial partisanship.

He urged strong collaboration between civil society and Parliament so as to build a strong but humane society.

In short, let them work together to ensure security, comfort and freedom."

In this 2006 seminal lecture, he highlighted the respective obligations of Parliament and the citizenry in quickening the sense of public duty and transmitting to the next generation of Ghanaians a nation not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.

Prof. Attafuah condemned the pit-bull partisanship that had become an enduring image of our Parliament which insults the intelligence and sense of decency and fairness of the discerning observer of Parliamentary proceedings and their subsequent media coverage.

He urged MPs to individually and collectively win and retain the respect of the citizenry by moderating the incidence, frequency and fire of partisanship in the House ... improving the quality of civility in Parliamentary debates and discourses  promoting civility and lawfulness in the wider society, including the promotion of civic journalism, and promoting civic engagement.

In addition, Prof. Attafuah outlined several strategies for strengthening the role of Parliament in Ghanas democracy, and emphasized the crucial need for MPs to maintain relevance and to push the frontiers of participatory democracy.

He reminds MPs of their duty to the electorate to be the best public officers in their respective constituencies, charging them to evince a solid commitment to public service and good governance through the ordinary principles of public service, including integrity, devotion to duty, efficiency, punctuality, courtesy, neutrality in public service delivery, impartiality, and attentiveness and sensitivity to the needs of the diverse publics they serve.

Prof. Attafuah also shared several thoughts on how to grapple with the challenge of building an effective Parliament and strengthening constitutionalism in Ghana.

Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah is currently the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority(NIA).

Below is the full Address he delivered:

2006 Parliamentary Week Celebrations

Symposium

Organized By Parliament of the Republic of Ghana OnParliament, The Bastion of Constitutional Democracy: Effecting a Meaningful Relationship With the Citizenry.

Notes for Speech

By Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, Ph.D. Barrister & Solicitor

Associate Professor of Leadership and Governance Graduate School of Leadership and Public Management Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration (GIMPA), Greenhill, Accra

Date: 16th January 2006

Venue: British Council Hall, Accra

Parliament: The Bastion of Constitutional Democracy: Effecting a Meaningful Relationship With the Citizenry

We think about how dependent the public is on good government but we lose sight of how much good government needs a good public -- David Mathews

The Rt. Honourable Speaker of Parliament and Chairman, Mr. Begyina Sekyi-Hughes

Members of the Council of State

Honourable Ministers of State

Members of Parliament

Nii Mei, naa mei

Leaders and representatives of various political parties

Members of the Diplomatic Corps

Your Excellencies

Journalists and students

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:

Permit me to begin with three preliminaries. First, I want to register my profound gratitude to the leadership of Parliament, including the Parliamentary Service, for this rare and fine opportunity to address the House outside the House through this Symposium that starts this years Parliamentary Week Celebration. On a personal level, this is my last public speaking engagement before I leave the country for my new assignment as the UNs International Technical Advisor to, and Member of, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, as the Rt. Hon. Speaker informed you in his introductory remarks. Second, and in this regard, I am particularly happy that the focus of the symposium is how to deepen civic engagement between Parliament and civil society in order to invigorate the capacity of Parliament as the bastion of constitutional democracy in our beloved country. Third, I take for granted the validity of the presupposition that Parliament is the bastion of constitutional democracy. While the judiciary and civil society are critical defenders of constitutional democracy and constitutionalism, the centrality of the role of Parliament  the elected representatives of the people in whom the legislative power of Ghana is vested  is indubitable in this all-important enterprise. The focus of my remarks then is on how Parliament can effect a meaningful relationship with the citizenry, and to some extent, the reverse.

On any fine day in a constitutional democracy, the relationship between the law maker and the citizenry is a dynamic one involving a two-way street of lobbying and advocacy, coaxing and cozying-up together, irritation and annoyance, confrontation and consultation, confusion and consensus, and hatred and love. The power to elect a politician as a Parliamentarian to represent a community, or to vote a parliamentarian out of office, is always a delicious one exercised by the citizenry in appreciation or in sweet vengeance.

And these, Mr. Speaker, are two of the most delightful human pleasures: to glorify a person with sweet victory, to confer power on them and to salute them with a warm welcome because we appreciate and love them, or to dismiss the person from office because we loath them or despise their performance. Of course, there are a number of middle-ground pleasures and motives for electing persons into, or voting them out of, political office. But the thrilling and energizing power of periodically becoming a king-maker, every four years or so in our country, and of holding elected representatives to account, is a power coveted by those living under a dictatorship. In the Province of British Columbia, Canada, this power once found expression, in the early 1990s, in the passage of legislation entitling the constituents to recall, at any time before the next general elections, an incompetent Member of the Legislative Assembly with the signatures of 60% of the constituents who voted in the last elections!

On the other hand, many a Parliamentarian views the citizenry as largely docile, impressionable and sufficiently gullible enough to persuade with promises in exchange for votes. They view many party functionaries with suspicion, seeing them as persons waiting in the winds for the next rich contestant to emerge on the political scene.

As far back as 1777, the renown English political philosopher, Thomas Paine, advised that Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it. The responsibility for supporting the freedom enterprise rests with the citizenry. The Akans of this country say that Se adehyee anko a, nkoa dwane. In literal terms, this means that when royals cease fighting, slaves flee (i.e., when royal warriors slack in war, slave warriors desert the military campaign). Citizens are the beneficiaries of the dividends of citizenship and democracy, and it is they who bear the burden, preferably, though not necessarily, through the instrumentality of civil society organizations, of undergoing the fatigue in support of the democratic state.

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, it is the responsibility of citizens to address the problems that frustrate, frighten or distance them from one another. Contemporary history is replete with examples of the triumph of civil society over political and social problems, including governmental ineptitude, alienation and crime. The evidence is increasingly clear that when citizens get involved and organized, they achieve progress. Research after research confirms that even the terror of crime yields to organized citizen outrage and action.

That, Mr. Speaker, is what the citizens of the Italian city of Palermo, Sicily, did when, led by the civic initiative of their women, they took back their city in the last quarter of the last century from feeble municipal politicians and the terrorist control of the Mafia and the anarchic violence and extra-judicial killings and maiming to which the ordinary people had been subjected for so painfully long. With white banners and white bed-sheets hanging from the banisters and railings of their balconies, they washed the flowing blood of the city in white, and their kids saved a penny each a day from their school lunch money and used the proceeds to restore the ruins of the abandoned and dilapidated temples to their past glory. They sent away the Godfather and brought back to the courtrooms the blindfolded woman with the scales of justice in her hands, and they returned Sicily to its legendary tourist status.

As many of us probably know, Mr. Speaker, Palermo is the birthplace of Civitas, the great international consortium of civic educators committed to the promotion of citizenship, democracy and human rights education around the world! And, Mr. Speaker, I still think Palermo is the second most beautiful city in the world after Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where Take-back-the-night campaigns by women have pushed prostitution away from residential neighborhoods where kids live and play, and, thereby, restored community safety, pride and dignity, along with property values!

Thus, it is no longer tolerable today for communities to fail to organize themselves to confront the menace of crime and drugs, instead of expecting the police alone to take the fight to the criminals. Yet, this is not a call for vigilantism, but rather for properly organized, police-supervised community policing and Neighbourhood Watch programmes in which citizen cooperation with, and tip-offs to, the police produce positive results in the fight against crime. Citizens in the many rich but socially-disorganized suburbs of our cities must wake up to their social responsibilities of building connected communities by, among other measures, organizing themselves, getting to know each other, pulling resources together to improve education, drainage and sanitation standards, enhance safety and security in our cities by getting police assistance in forming viable, professional and sustainable neighbourhood watch committees.

Quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, there is simply no other way around the problem of crime in the neighbourhoods, unless these measures are pursued by the citizenry, working in tandem with their elected representatives at the district, municipal and national levels to improve day-care facilities, educational opportunities, stay-in-school programmes, and to provide avenues for viable employment and self-development for the youth. This is the challenge of citizenship, grass-root democracy and development in our country: articulating a vision for development and mobilizing the enduring support of the citizenry behind it. That is why, Mr. Speaker, despite their notable shortcomings, I miss the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong!

And yet, Mr. Speaker, when we look into history, we find copious examples of well-articulated visions of citizenship and development that failed woefully because the visionaries and the citizenry did not evince a demonstrated commitment to working to support and maintain the agenda for development. I think Athens provides us with the best example of the worst kind: In the Athenian Code is found the following:

We will ever strive for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many: we will unceasingly seek to quicken the sense of public duty: we will transmit this city not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.

Lofty and attainable though these aspirations were, the Athenians failed to remain loyal to the noble purpose of citizenship, democracy and development. In The Moral Foundations of Society, published in the Conservative Consensus, Seattle, Washington, 1995, p.2, former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, cites Edward Gibbon as noting that,

In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life and they lost it all  security, comfort and freedom.  When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.

That, Mr. Speaker, is why President John Fitzgerald Kennedy throws that historic but timeless invitation to Americans (and us Ghanaians) to Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country! And then, Ill say, Proceed with it!

Mr. Speaker, what is clear from studies of citizenship and patriotism is that a society comprising citizens who want to give of their best to the nation can have it all  security, comfort and freedom. These concepts have an intricate interrelationship. Security is the dividend citizens enjoy from committing themselves to the vigilance of serving and protecting the nation, and serving and protecting their communities, their homes and their workplaces. Security is about protecting the integrity of the state, the public good and private and public property. From that security comes all manner of freedoms, including the freedom to strive lawfully for the best in anything. For, as Cicero once observed, Freedom is participation in power, and, therefore, Mr. Speaker, those who have no power over their lives, those who are located outside the centres of relevance and the spheres of power, those who have no control over their own destinies, those who obey the tides and the waves and the winds like kites or feathers in the sky  those, in short, who do not participate in power, are not free! Such persons  and there are countless numbers of them in our society  are in bondage to irresponsible politicians and the captains of commerce and industry who can and do exploit them.

That freedom of enterprise, in turn, gives rise to comfort and comfort begets vigilance (or the duty to secure the state in both its material and ideational forms). That security deriving from vigilance is also freedom. In the absence of security and freedom, the head that wears the crown always lies uneasy.

Understanding the foregoing dynamic interrelationship between security, comfort and freedom, and striving in a balanced pursuit of them, is neither easy nor automatic. That, Mr. Speaker, is where Parliament enters the picture. As the elected representatives of the people, Parliament has a duty to assist the citizenry to appreciate that good citizenship is the anchor of security, comfort and freedom. And good citizenship demands commitment to what Professor Ali Mazrui calls the three ts of training in nationhood: tolerance, toil and teamwork. These core cementing values hardly bear elaboration, for they are the obvious foundations of any cohesive, peaceful and prosperous society.

Building Effective Citizenship

Mr. Speaker, fostering a sense of public spiritedness in every Ghanaian should be a prime concern of every Parliamentarian. Good and effective citizenship do not come about naturally or by chance either; they require preparation. To better engage with the citizenry and enhance their relevance in contemporary Ghana, MPs must consider making it their business to ensure that Preparation for Citizenship is incorporated in every level of our formal education. They must give due recognition to the essential role of civil society in preserving and strengthening democracy in this country.

In this regard, it is important for Parliament to rediscover civic literacy as a national priority for all Ghanaians, and to support and collaborate with the Ghana Education Service, the National Commission for Civic Education, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, among others, in expanding the scale of civic knowledge, civic acceptance and civic behaviour in our dear land. Parliament, in short, must deepen the public focus on the link between effective societies and active and influential citizens.

Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen: it was Aristotle who said in 340 B.C. that, If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. The obligation to share in the government to the utmost rests with the individual. However, in a largely preliterate society such as ours, government and the elected representatives of the people bear a duty to assist the citizenry in devising mechanisms to broaden the capacity of, and opportunity for, effective citizen participation in governance.

Elected leaders are generally well-placed to do this because, at minimum, they command the respect of the electorate (i.e., where they won the elections freely and fairly as assessed or perceived by the people, not just the international community and expert observers); they are better educated in the ways of the polis than the generality of the populace and appreciate the nature of the public good or the common good; they are the servants of the people and are often elected with the assurance that they can mobilize the resources and sentiments of the people and cement them for development. It is the duty of an MP to mobilize and mentor the constituents for progress and prosperity, which guarantee peace. MP = Mobilizer for Progress, Mobilizer for Peace!

And so, Mr. Speaker, there are a number of simple, practical things an MP can do to cultivate and engage the citizenry in achieving progress and peace. Helping to set up a community civic centre or to invigorate a local youth advocacy group, for example, is always a good start. Indeed, either of these projects serves to draw the people together, help them visualize development (which implies comparison with conditions external to them), and enables them to focus their energies internally for the common good. That, Mr. Speaker, is the essence of effective or good citizenship. But building effective citizenship requires that elected representatives of the people connect more deeply with the people, not necessarily more personally, but imperatively more usefully and more visibly.

Mr. Speaker: One of the essential preconditions for Parliamentary effectiveness is the deliberate cultivation of the respect of the citizenry. Among other purposes, the pomp and majesty of the parliamentary proceedings and the immunities and privileges enjoyed by MPs are all designed to secure the respect of the populace for the House. But respect for Parliament hinges on two fulcrums: the conduct of individual members, and the behavior of the House as a collective. The exercise of sound judgment, tact and diplomacy in ones personal affairs  the manifestation of mature, disciplined and honorable conduct  is but the most elementary expectation of an honourable representative of the people, whether in New Drobo, New Edubiase, New Abirem, Newfoundland or New York.

Mr. Speaker, pit-bull partisanship is an enduring image of our Parliament. While the incidents highlighting partisanship are probably few and far between, by their ferocity and widespread media coverage, they serve to provide a caricature of parliamentary discourses, and what crystallizes in the public consciousness is not the occasional failure of the House to achieve compromise, but rather the image of perennial partisanship. Yet, it must be conceded that Ghanas Parliament is not in a special league in regard to partisanship. Yet again, Mr. Speaker, the reality is that many a good citizen has often been dismayed by what seems so obviously wrong in our Parliament from time to time: rabid partisanship that insults the intelligence and sense of decency and fairness of the discerning observer of Parliamentary proceedings and their subsequent media coverage.

Individually and collectively, Mr. Speaker, MPs must win and retain the respect of the citizenry by:

Moderating the incidence, frequency and fire of partisanship in the House. While appreciating the centrality of the party in our liberal democracy, the citizenry will wholly welcome such a development.

Improving the quality of civility in Parliamentary debates and discourses by positively and purposively shifting the character and flavour of such deliberations from the occasional anger and petulance that, unfortunately, often gels in the minds of the public as the defining characteristic of Parliament, to the maturity that MPs often admonish student leaders to exhibit in dealing with schoolyard conflicts with their colleagues and superiors.

Promoting civility and lawfulness in the wider society, including the promotion of civic journalism.

Promoting civic engagement via the following:

Radio and television broadcasts of parliamentary proceedings

Establishing linkages with the electorate

Focusing state attention on innovative strategies for civic education

Strengthening Parliament

Mr. Speaker, while there are clear, historically well-grounded and understandable reasons for the situation whereby half of the members of the House are also members of the Government, the practice serves to weaken the legislature as the first arm of government. High levels of absenteeism of legislator-ministers serve to cripple the business of Parliament. In my view, it is a constitutional arrangement that urgently warrants a review.

Similarly, I think the idea of an MPs Common fund, which promotes the idea of the MP as the bringer of material development, needs a careful review after twelve years of practice. The uncommon practice of giving a pittance to MPs to assist in the common good of their constituents appears to distort the reality of the role of the MP in the social and economic development of the country. The MPs primary responsibilities of law-making, of ensuring executive oversight and accountability, of developing appropriate policy framework for the nations social development, and of mobilizing the collective sentiments, energies and resources of the constituents for progress, appear to be overwhelmed and overrun by the demand on the MP to directly and personally initiate, fund and facilitate development projects  to bring comfort and security to the people. While MPs complain that the money is woefully inadequate, the public believes, often without any credible empirical foundation, that MPs routinely embezzle or misapply huge chunks of their share of the common fund allotted for the common good. If this peculiar arrangement, borne out of a hasty compromise in balancing the role of the District Assembly with that of the MP in social development, is to be maintained, then the size of the fund per MP must be increased considerably. Alternatively, the pittance should be thrown into the coffers of the District Assembly and disbursed according as they see fit.

Maintaining Relevance and Pushing the Frontiers of Participatory Democracy

At minimum, each Parliamentarian owes a duty to the electorate to be the best public officer in his/her constituency. Public office holders, particularly MPs, must evince a solid commitment to public service and good governance through the ordinary principles of public service, including:

Integrity

Devotion to duty

Efficiency

Punctuality

Courtesy

Neutrality in service delivery

Impartiality, and

Attentiveness and sensitivity to the needs of diverse publics

Mr. Speaker, online campaigning, online activism, and online lobbying and advocacy are dependable methods of civic engagement in many parts of the modern world. They are among the commonest manifestations of the electronic democracy and electronic governance that are now a fact of life in many countries around the world. In nation after nation, Mr. Speaker, online political news, online citizens group discussions and online citizen dialogue with their elected representatives is a taken-for-granted reality.

In an age in which electronic governance and electronic democracy are rapidly taking root in many nations worldwide, it is embarrassingly anachronistic that our Parliamentarians still rely, almost exclusively, on face-to-face contact as the primary mode of interaction with their constituents. This, of course, is a reflection not only of our relative ICT backwardness and limited spread of ICT resources in general in our beloved country, but also of the limited levels of mastery of ICT, beyond the most rudimentary uses of the mobile phone, i.e., making calls, sending and reading text messages, and taking generally poor quality photographs and video shots. Indeed, very few of our people, including our MPs, even use the calculator function of their mobile equipment, which, in any event, often informs callers that it is either switched off, or out of coverage area!

Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen: It behooves Parliament to invigorate the national effort to expand the scale of citizen appreciation of the value of ICT, the spread of ICT, and the competent use of ICT in this country. In short, Parliament must assist the populace to meaningfully experience the totality of the emerging democratic tradition in our country. This goal can be accomplished through the following measures, among others:

Each Parliamentarian setting a personal goal to become ICT proficient within six months, acquiring and using a personal computer within 12 months

Establishing a non-partisan, first class ICT centre in his/her constituency office staffed with technicians without naked political character.

Institutionalization of e-governance and e-democracy

Towards An Effective Parliament

Training

It is trite that in our system of government, long periods of majority government tend to reinforce executive dominance. Power gravitates to the President and his key advisors at the expense of MPs. Through periodic national elections and occasional by-elections, new members join the House. Both new and veteran MPs occasionally need new skills and new orientations to enable them better discharge the duties of their office.

Time Management and ICT Literacy

MPs are often inundated with committee assignments, House duty, urgent requests from constituents, multiple invitations from lobbyists and interest groups, and trips to their constituencies. In these circumstances, MPs opportunities for civic engagement with their constituents may be gravely reduced. Yet, the ability to remain in contact with constituents is a fundamental requirement of MPs  before, during and after elections.

Mr. Chairman, while time is a fixed variable that cannot be increased, efficiencies can be increased in the use of time. A basic course in time management for all MPs is an obvious beginning, where they have not previously benefited from such training.

Mr. Speaker, there has been, in recent times, an upsurge in the modalities for engaging the citizenry in parliamentary democracy. In addition to traditional methods such as town-hall meetings, MPs today have a wealth of technology-based means to solicit the views of constituents: the use of mobile phones, faxes, e-mail and chat-lines. Yet there is no single tried-and-true method for legislators to engage Ghanaians effectively, owing to the poverty and limited spread of technological know-how, funds, and electronic equipment such as computers to support such possibilities. Compounding this uncertainty, MPs are faced with other challenges, including decreasing levels of voter turnout, growing alienation among young people, and extra-parliamentary processes such as citizens assemblies.

The Challenge of Building An Effective Parliament

Mr. Speaker, effective parliaments are dynamic, efficient, productive and relevant to the needs and aspirations of the citizenry. Effective parliaments command the respect of the citizenry. As a House, Parliament has a duty to win the respect of, and stay engaged with, the citizenry. The question, however, is: How can we cultivate a more effective parliament? This goal can be accomplished if each MP is effective, people-centered and results-oriented. It seems to me that the following are among the strategies that can be pursued to ensure that we have more effective members in an effective Parliament:

Offering inspirational leadership in their communities: Each Parliamentarian is a community leader, and they owe it to their constituents to demonstrate a fair understanding of their problems and a commitment to working together with them to explore and implement solutions in a manner that inspire trust and further community engagement.

Attending meetings of the District Assembly: For the politicians at the district level, your participation in the meetings of the Assembly is an index of your engagement with the locals.

Taking advantage of the expanding frontiers of e-democracy and e-government, as I have already outlined and elaborated on.

Learning to stay grounded: MPs must remember, the average tenure of a Parliamentarian is short; do not lose touch with family, friends, and former interests and occupations.

Choosing a few issues and specializing: Select two issues  one familiar and one completely new  and stick with them for the life of a parliament. MPs who want to engage with the citizenry at large must spend time listening, learning and looking for ways to contribute to the House and the political process. They must use committees both to impart and to gain knowledge on these issues.

Being careful not to overextend committee work: Without focus, MPs can become easily diverted from their core activities by other needs and interests.

Being accurate and staying informed: MPs must remember that reputations can be ruined by sloppy work. It is important to ensure that speeches and other public remarks are factually correct and well presented.

Seeking avenues outside politics to learn new ideas: Attending conferences is one of the best ways to develop knowledge and expertise. As much as possible, an MP should prefer conferences to funerals; this is not only because the former brings knowledge (and with some luck some per diem) and the latter saps time and financial resources, but primarily because knowledge grants power in persuading, in motivating, in mobilizing, and in showing results. Constituents are more likely to vote for an MP who attends funerals infrequently but who meets with them to discuss their problems, and to assist in finding solutions to them. Of course, funerals are in themselves a great arena for showing support to family and friends in times of grief, if you can work out an efficient means of doing so without spending endless hours under baking canopies listening to extra-loud music that almost damages your tympanic membrane or ear drum!

Working on reaching your own goals: As an MP, it is important to think about what you would like to accomplish while in the House and then budget enough time to enable you to fulfill your objectives. Remember that enormous pressures are placed on your time and energy, and constituents will understand if you are sincere in addressing their needs.

Learning the rules of the House: In parliamentary democracy, compromise is often the best strategy. When compromise is not possible, turn to procedure and use the rules of the House to your advantage.

Consulting the Speaker and the Clerk: MPs must recognize their limitations and not hesitate to consult the Speaker when they face serious issues within their own party. Of course, this will depend on the extent to which the Speaker runs the office with dignity, majesty and welcome. Generally speaking, Speakers are experienced parliamentarians who can offer sage counsel on a variety of political challenges. When it comes to administrative matters such as staffing, MPs should feel free to consult the Clerk.

Understanding the mechanics and politics of caucus: Often, the most important debates are those that take place behind the closed doors of caucus. It is important for MPs to take time to learn how to be effective in caucus, for effectiveness in the House is directly related to the ability to influence caucus.

Using constituencies as laboratories: Constituencies are laboratories to determine the effectiveness of government programs and services. As such, MPs must take an active role in dealing with constituents concerns about programmes and service delivery.

Avoiding obsession with media coverage: It is extraordinarily difficult for backbenchers to receive widespread publicity unless they attack their leader or do something outrageous. An MP must resist the temptation. Whatever the media say, whatever critics say, whatever people from other political parties or affiliations might say, MPs are the key to democratic government. Everything Members do  as legislators, representatives and committee members  has an impact on the House and the country.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, although Parliament is vibrant, it appears stale, boring and unknown. While the Hansard  the record of Parliamentary proceedings  is there to prove the vibrancy and diligence of the House in discharging its constitutional obligations, the widespread public disregard of, and cynicism toward, the House, except for the party loyalists and favour-seeking sycophants, prove the latter. Parliament must reinvent and reinvigorate itself, and fora/forums such as this one are, to use a common Ghanaianism, a step in the right direction.

It appears that, beyond its core business of legislating for the state, there is a decreasing relevance of the House to the national development agenda, and that Parliament is not widely perceived as being adequately proactive. This perception is an unfortunate one that derives, in my view, from an inadequate appreciation of the impact of the largely Executive Presidential system of government in our country  a presidential system that is a creature of our history and, of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution, and that is largely hegemonic and ubiquitous, no matter who operates the statecraft.

Even so, the electorate expects the House to provide sterling leadership in some key areas. Among these are:

Serving the interests of the constituent  monitoring government spending patterns, lending support to government where warranted and courageously exercising ones freedom of conscience and duty to oppose what they do not believe in, following up on issues, and ensuring that the taxpayer gets good value for money spent on public officials and public projects;

Serving as an engine of social and economic development, and Cementing or unifying the diverse blocs in the constituencies.

For many reasons, not all of our MPs succeed in meeting these legitimate expectations of their constituents. Some of the reasons are financial and logistical, while others relate to deficits in self-confidence, leadership, organizational competence and time management. Yet others are grounded in lack of vision, inability to articulate goals, to inspire a loyal but educated following, and to inspire others to embrace diversity and the new frontiers of change and relevance.

Mr. Speaker:

To those who lack, let them be given what they need  offices, personnel, library, computers, vehicles, etc.

To those who need, let them acquire the knowledge, skills and orientations necessary for effective statesmanship within the Parliamentary context.

To those who must supply the resources, let them get on with it, and get ready to account. For verily, verily I say unto you, the day of reckoning is always near!

Conclusion

Now, therefore, in conclusion, Mr. Speaker, let the citizenry hold their elected leaders to the stringent standards of accountability, but not with a pull her down mentality, but with a love-of-country orientation. And we must remember: accountability on radio, or what I call FM accountability, may be high-sounding and populist alright, but it is not necessarily effective accountability.

Let civil society and Parliament collaborate to build a strong but humane society. Let them cultivate, grow and expand the business sector and the middle class even as they work to reduce poverty, protect the environment and strengthen the capacity of the state to promote and ensure easy and inexpensive access to social services such as education, healthcare, and a viable pension scheme. In short, let them work together to ensure security, comfort and freedom.

And let the citizenry celebrate good service from their Parliamentarians just as the employer reveres the hardworking employee.

Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen: The note accompanying the invitation to me to speak at this symposium asked me to focus, among other things, on ways of deepening the relationship between Parliament and the citizenry. I hope that I have provided some useful suggestions on how this goal might be accomplished.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you, the august House and the Parliamentary Service for the honour of inviting me to address this symposium. Let us go out there and unceasingly seek to quicken the sense of public duty; let us strive to transmit this country to posterity not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.

Thank you once again.

Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah

No 8 Castle Road Ridge, Accra

Monday, 16th January 2006

Source: Emmanuel Bekoe/Kingdomfmonline.com/2022
The Ghana Optometric Association (GOA) has warned the public to stop breastfeeding infected eyes as the unscientific method of dropping breastmilk on the eyes as a form of medication.

.

This could rather worsen the infection leading to complications. There is an orthodox belief that if lactating mothers drop some breastmilk on the eyes of their baby's eye when it turns red or there is evidence of infections it would be healed.

Dr Alfred Gardemor, Public Relations Officer of the Association gave the advice when answering a question on the effect of using breastmilk as eye drops during the launch of Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Office and the Ghana Optometric Association flagship initiative GNA-GOA: My Eye! My Vision!

The initiative is a collaborative public education advocacy campaign to promote the need for people to access eye care and also to draw attention to vision health.

The GNA-GOA: My Eyes! My Vision! The initiative also seeks to challenge the public and policymakers to focus on vision as a health issue, which forms a critical component of mankind's wellbeing but is often neglected.

Dr Gardemor who is also a medical officer at the Nsawam Government Hospital said breastmilk was for the exclusive feeding of babies as it had some components that helped fight infections, but it was unhealthy to assume that it could also cure eye infections.

He added that the eye especially that of babies was delicate and therefore must not be experimented with use of breastmilk and seawater as medications.

He also cautioned the public against purchasing concoctions and other products purported to be medications to heal piles popularly known in Ghana as 'koko' on the eyes as he stated that piles do not grow on the eyes.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dr Remi Ninkpe, National President of GOA, on his part called on government, corporate organizations, and individuals to join in the GNA-GOA: My Eyes! My Vision! Campaign to promote preventable measures to blindness as about 75 per cent of people with eye diseases risked going blind for not seeking early intervention.

DSP Ninkpe who is also a medical officer at the Police Hospital in Accra said Let empower every single Ghanaian with accurate information so that we all can make excellent decisions when it comes to health care.

If we are all well-informed then we can make better choices and be more proactive with respect to our eye health specifically and general wellbeing.

He added that a lot behooved on Ghanaians to take their visual health seriously as some conditions that might lead to irreversible visual loss or blindness were easily preventable when detected early.

Mr Albert Kofi Owusu, General Manager of the Ghana News Agency commended the GOA for partnering the Agency to project eye-related issues, as he noted that the wide reach of the Agency would help set the agenda for discussions on the topics to be treated under the campaign in subsequent weeks.

Mr Francis Ameyibor GNA Tema Regional Manager explained that as part of GNA-GOA: My Eyes! My Vision! We are combining the forces of our professional calling as Optometric Physicians and Communication Experts to reach out to the public with a well-coordinated message.

He said the collaboration would serve as a major platform to educate the public on vision and also serves as a critical stage for the association to reach out to the world.

GNA
A man, believed to be in his early 40s, has allegedly committed suicide, at Awudome Cemetery, in Accra.

The deceased, who had a well-shaved hair and beard, dressed in a pair of black trousers with a grey pullover and wearing a pair of black slippers, was found hanging from a tree at the cemetery.

He wore what appeared to be a wedding ring, while a dagger's cover hung out of his back pocket and had his tongue protruding out of his mouth.

A few residents of Awudome Estate, in Accra, and passers-by, rushed to the scene in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the body at about 6:40am.

While some of the onlookers suspected foul play, others opined that he might have ended it all to run away from the pressures of life.

Some motorists, who operate around the vicinity, said the deceased was not familiar to them.

The Kaneshie Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Edward Faakye Kumi, confirmed the incident to the media yesterday.

He said the police at about 7:00am received information about the suicide, and a team of experts from the Criminal Investigation Department at the police headquarters was deplored to the scene.

ACP Kumi said the team found the deceased hanging from a tree at the cemetery and conveyed it to the Police Hospital mortuary for investigations.

He said no identity card, mobile phone, or suicide note were found on the deceased, and gave the assurance that efforts were underway to trace the relatives of the deceased.

ACP Kumi appealed to the public to provide reliable information on the deceased to the police.

---DGN online
Two investigations have found serious deficiencies in safety procedures in South Africa's Parliament building that was seriously damaged by fire this week. Police are also looking into whether the attack on the Constitutional Court building was connected to the alleged arson.

The 138 year-old building has been handed back to the political authorities by the Cape Town Fire Brigade.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothabo said more than 300 firefighters using 60 specialist pieces of equipment had displayed unspeakable courage in extinguishing the blaze on Sunday which reignited on Monday.

Cape Town Station Commander J.J. Williams produced a report of his own observations for Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula and Cape Town Mayor Gordon Hill Lewis.

Williams found the fire doors had been latched open allowing the free spread of flames throughout the building.

He also found that the sprinkler system had not been serviced and that some sprinklers had been turned off.

Independent audit

An independent audit in 2018 found Parliament did not meet occupational, health and safety standards.

OHSA Health and Safety Consultants found little had been done to protect the building in the event of the fire.

The consultants carried out a security, health and environment study in terms of the Occupational Health and Security Act and found that no approved safety policy was evident nor had any safety management system been identified.

Parliamentary authorities had not met deadlines to rectify this.

A 49-year-old man from Khyeletisha, Zandile Mafe has been charged with arson, theft and housebreaking in connection with the fire.

His case has been postponed until February 11.

On Wednesday, Paul Makaula, 36, was arrested after police fired on him when he broke a window and glass doors at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg.

Both this attack and the fire have been condemned by President Cyril Ramaphosa as assaults on the rule of law, a comment echoed by acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.

Convicted murderer

Makaula appeared in the Hillbrow Magistrates' Court on Friday. the court was told he was a parolee who was convicted for murder in 2010.

His case has been postponed until February 24 and he has not sought bail.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwana says authorities in Johannesburg and Cape Town are investigating whether there are any connections between the two attacks.
Yao Papa Domie, age 31, is assisting the Police at Kpeve in the murder of a fellow hunter at Vume in the South Dayi District of the Volta Region, when they went on hunting expedition, on Thursday.

The suspect told Police he mistook his colleague for a game and shot him.

According to the Police statement, copied to the Ghana News Agency in Ho, the victim, Eric Sonka died instantly.

The deceased body has been deposited at the morgue of the Peki Government Hospital for preservation and autopsy.

Suspect is currently in Police custody and would be charged court as soon as investigation was completed.

GNA
08.01.2022 LISTEN

A pressure group, Economic Fighters League, has added its voice to calls for a review of the 1992 Constitution.

The leader of the pressure group explained that the constitution in its current form does not represent the aspiration and developmental agenda of Ghanaians.

Four political parties have already reiterated the need for the 1992 Constitution to be amended to improve the governance system of the country.

According to the parties, the review of the Constitution was long overdue to enhance the country's democratic process, after 30 years of the birthing of the 1992 Constitution.

Speaking to Citi News , the Leader of the Economic Fighters League, Ernesto Yeboah said current developments in Ghana's democratic dispensation call for a constitutional review.

Our Constitution does not represent us. Thats what we have been saying all the while that we need a constitution that represents us, our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Is this too much to ask? If they are going to make these peaceful avenues we are employing fruitless, we will be triggered to go all out to get our sentiments addressed.

He also noted that any review of the constitution should allow the permissible age to run for the presidency at 18 years and above.

If an 18-year-old is capable of voting and choosing who becomes leader of the nation, that 18-year-old should equally have the opportunity to be elected and at the end of the day it is not going to be imposed. It is the people who are going to decide.

---citinewsroom
South Africa's ruling ANC marked its 110th anniversary Saturday in low-key fashion as the country reels from the devastating fire in parliament, last year's deadly riots and emerging details of corruption.

In the stands of a stadium in Polokwane, in northern Limpopo province, a few hundred party members sporting the African National Congress signature yellow, green and black dotted the terraces.

It was a far cry from the noisy and large crowds of supporters traditionally bused in for the annual festivities, thanks to Covid-19 restrictions limiting outdoor gatherings to just 2,000 people.

And the speech from President Cyril Ramaphosa, in which he referred to acts that had had "the effect of subverting our constitutional democracy", further dampened the party atmosphere.

President Cyril Ramaphosa listed the challenges the country had faced over the past year. By Phill Magakoe AFP

"These acts include blatant acts of state (corruption) and criminality... the concerted campaign of public violence and destruction that took place in July last year, as well as ongoing theft, destruction and obstruction of infrastructure," Ramaphosa told party loyalists.

"This anniversary takes place just a few days after a devastating fire swept through our parliament in Cape Town.

"The entire country has been shocked, outraged and saddened by the destruction because the institution of parliament is a repository of our democracy -- and symbol of democratic stability of our people," Ramaphosa said.

His government was, he said, "reforming our law enforcement agencies, our security sector, so that it's better positioned to defend the gains of our democracy".

Corruption report

The state suffered other setbacks over the past year.

The state security agency was roundly criticised after police stood by watching when the jailing of Ramaphosa's predecessor Jacob Zuma sparked an orgy of rioting and looting in July that claimed more than 300 lives.

Zuma was sent to prison for refusing to cooperate with corruption investigators.

The party of Nelson Mandela, which led the liberation of South Africa from the shackles of white-minority apartheid rule, has been weakened by historically poor electoral showings, factionalism and corruption.

Party officials are haunted by the possibility of an outright defeat in the 2024 general election. By Phill Magakoe AFP

On Tuesday, Ramaphosa received a report of more than 800 pages containing nearly four years of testimonies collected by a judicial panel on corruption.

Its authors accuse the ANC of having turned a blind eye to graft in state-owned companies that play a significant role in the South African economy.

Many of the plundered state companies were headed by CEOs whose appointments had been approved by the ANC.

The party had been guilty of ignoring "acts of indiscipline", he said.

"Those who are guilty of corruption, ill-discipline, factionalism and undermining our democracy find no home" in the ANC, said Ramaphosa.

He hoped the investigators' recommendations "can help to enhance the fundamental renewal and rebuilding" of the ANC.

'ANC is bleeding'

In last November's local elections, most registered voters did not bother to cast votes, and the ANC's support at the ballot box fell below 50 percent for the first time ever.

Now party officials are haunted by the possibility of an outright defeat in the 2024 general election.

"The ANC is bleeding," said party supporter Themba Ubisi, 40, after the celebrations. "Either we renew the party or we perish."

Other supporters were more optimistic.

In comments to AFP, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola denied reports from one source that the party was broke. By Phill Magakoe AFP

"The party is self-correcting," said 45-year-old Khathu Mathoho. "There's a will to do things differently, but (some) elements are resisting change."

Ramaphosa vowed the party would be renewed. "Let us cleanse the ANC," he said.

One of the half-a-dozen clergymen who offered prayers, prayed for the ANC to make South Africa "great again".

But adding to their problems, the party's finances are in shambles.

One political source confirmed that the ANC was indeed "broke" and that in addition to unpaid taxes, the party had a deficit of at least 400 million rand ($26 million, 22.6 million euros).

However Justice Minister Ronald Lamola insisted to AFP that the party's finances were "stable".

In what was a wide-ranging speech Ramaphosa also tacked the issue of vaccine hesitancy, renewing his call for people to be inoculated against Covid to enable the recovery of the pandemic-battered economy.

"The ANC urges government to finalise a policy on the introduction of vaccine mandates for particular settings and activities," he said.
Ghana is part of third world counties, though recent statistics project Ghana and other few African countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda, Gabon, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and Angola are in the path of being alleviated to Second World Countries. Per the publications carried by Institute For Economic And Peace (IEP), 2021. The country Ghana has her poverty rate to be 3.57 million and majority are from the rural area, estimated to be 3.3 million whiles the remaining 278,000 are in urban area and subsequently works done in this area by UNICEF indicates 40% of this bracket are children.

According to publications made by UNICE, over one million children in Ghana are orphans and only 45 thousand out of the lots are hosted by orphanage Homes. The questions I pose to million Ghanaians out there is who takes care of the remaining orphans? There are few orphanage Homes scattered across the Regions of Ghana and almost all this orphanage Homes are doing their possible best to resolve the problem of orphans, that has engulfed the country for some time now. The country has some few known orphanage Homes such as the Osu Childrens Home, Christ Mission Orphanage and Charity Home, Spintex Orphanage and few not mentioned which had received gifts both local and international, but it must be on records that such gifts are not enough and more can be done by individuals within the country in helping this known Orphanage Homes to continuing taking care of this orphans. Apart from the known orphanage Homes mentioned in this article, there are few wonderful Orphanage Homes doing great works, with the little resources they get and needs the attention of Ghanaians to be able to do more for the remaining who are still roaming on street and homeless. Orphanage Home like Mama Lardis Children Home Centre and Centre for Child Development in Upper East Ghana, needs more attentions from philanthropist both in Ghana and outside Ghana to enable them to host more orphans within the Upper East enclave.

In my conclusion remarks, I urge all Ghanaians whether young or old to cultivate the habit of giving towards the running of orphanages, irrespective of what you give it would go a long way to help take out someone from street or one becoming homeless. I would never shy away to the fact hasnt been the help of a kind heart I would have been on street or who knows in bad situation now. It took a single kind heart in helping me as a person to realize my dream and I belief when all of us emulate this gesture the country Ghana would be a better place for all. The bible says in the book of proverbs 19;17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deeds and in Proverbs 22;9 the generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

To pay back society I founded my own NGO with my wifes support, which is duly registered, and I have been giving out gifts to deprive family and Orphanage Homes and urge all meaningful Ghanaians whether home or abroad to come on board to help someone out of street or becoming homeless.

MICHAEL YIRAN
When Fidelis Adele, the CEO of Freetown-based Solid Graphics, a printing and communications company, needed to order some printing equipment from Nigeria in September, he paid an extra $165 on top of a $10,000 bank transfer to the seller. Yet it took three days for the money transferred in Sierra Leone to be credited to the beneficiarys account in Nigeria.

I paid $30 as transfer fee, $35 as SWIFT charges and another $100 bank charges, Mr. Adele told Africa Renewal. SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, a global network that processes international payments.

Mr. Adele did not attempt to use financial services companies such as Western Union or MoneyGram because the exchange rate for those companies is just bad.

The other option would have been to fly to Lagos, a three-hour journey, carrying the physical cash along. I have done that a few times, he said, but it is not cost-effective unless its a huge amount, and it is risky.

Traders across Africa experience similar ordeal paying for goods or services across borders. In the process they lose valuable time and money.

This cumbersome and time-consuming process costs us [Africans] about $5 billion in [money transfer] charges each year, according to Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), in an interview with Africa Renewal. We are a poor continent. We shouldn't waste money like that.

Payment system launched

To address the situation, Afreximbank has partnered with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to launch the Pan-African Payments and Settlement Systems (PAPSS), a platform that facilitates instant cross-border payments in local currencies between countries.

The PAPSS has been piloted successfully in the six countries that make up the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ)Nigeria, the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Guinea. Because of its multi-currency and bi-lingual makeup, WAMZ is considered a microcosm of the continent.

On using WAMZ for the pilot, Prof. Oramah says: The six WAMZ countries have different currencies. One of the countries is Francophone and the others are Anglophone. You have a big economy like Nigeria and then you have smaller economies. So anything that can go wrong in other parts of Africa would have gone wrong in the WAMZ, and we will have been able to address it during the piloting phase.

The operational rollout of PAPSS was announced at the end of September, meaning that countries central banks, which will be the clearing agents, can now coordinate with Afreximbank, which is the main clearing agent and provider of settlement guarantees and overdraft facilities.

Afreximbank doled out $500 million to service West Africa and intends to provide a further $3 billion for an Africa-wide PAPSS operation.

Analysts expect African traders, especially those in West Africa, to begin to take advantage of the platform by the end of 2021.

Mr. Oramah, who is based in Cairo, Egypt, explains the hurdles faced by African traders in personal terms: I want to transfer money to Nigeria from Egypt. It goes through a corresponding bank in a country outside of Africa before it arrives in Nigeria. I pay charges before the person in Nigeria gets it.

And it takes time. Sometimes it takes weeks. So, we [Afreximbank] calculated how much that costs the continentforget about the timeit costs Africans $5 billion yearly.

Also, if I am in Egypt, and I want to watch my favourite Nollywood movies, I probably have to remit in US dollars. But the PAPSS changes that for you. All you need do is pay the Nigerian producer in Nigerian Naira.

The CEO of PAPSS Mike Ogbalu says that during the piloting phase in West Africa, bank accounts in different countries were debited and credited within 10 seconds. He has assured of a robust technology that can handle large transactions.

How PAPSS works

Sending money using the PAPSS is a five-step process:

The first step is when an individual issues a payment instruction to their local bank or payment service provider.

Second, the bank or the payment service provider sends the instructions to PAPSS.

Third, PAPSS validates the payment instruction.

Fourth, upon successful validation, PAPSS will forward the instruction to the beneficiarys bank or payment service provider.

Lastly, the bank or payment service provide pays the transferred funds, in local currency, to the beneficiary.

In announcing the rollout of PAPSS, Afreximbank says that by simplifying cross-border transactions and reducing the dependency on hard currencies for these transactions, PAPSS is set to boost intra-African trade significantly. Intra-African trade is currently at a meagerly 17 per cent.

The PAPSS is also expected to lead to increases in value addition to products, jobs creation and more earnings for traders.

Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of AfCFTA Secretariat, said PAPSS will lead to efficient cross-border trade transactions and put Africa on a new economic trajectory.

"There are 42 currencies in Africa. We want to make sure that a trader in Ghana can transfer Ghanaian cedi to a counterpart in Kenya who will receive Kenyan shillings," Mr. Mene told Africa Renewal in an earlier interview.

Mr. Adele agrees that PAPSS will help his business. If I can take the Leones to a bank here [in Sierra Leone] and pay for printing products in Nigeria, and the money is instantly deposited in the beneficiarys account in Nigeria, that would be extraordinary, he says.

Until briefed by Africa Renewal, Mr. Adele was not aware of the PAPSS, underscoring the communication challenge of raising intra-African traders awareness about the platform.

Mr. Oramah notes, however, that a campaign is underway to market and promote the PAPSS, hoping that by the end of the year African traders will be informed enough to use the system.

For more information on COVID-19, visit www.un.org/coronavirus

Africa Renewal
President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom on behalf of the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) last week endorsed an ambitious 10-year agreement (2021-31) to protect the Congo Basin rainforest  the world's second largest.

The DRC's forest represents 10% of the world's tropical forests. Its peatlands cover 100,000 km2 and are the largest in the world. Its ecosystem offers a carbon absorption service equivalent to 10 years of global emissions. The many commitments reflected in the new Letter of Intent demonstrate DRCs high level of resolve to establish a low-deforestation green economy.

Supported by European countries, the Republic of Korea, the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) is a United Nations Trust Fund and policy dialogue platform that aims to support six Central African countries in pursuing a low-emission development pathway that ensures economic growth and poverty reduction while protecting the forests and natural resources, on which people depend.

CAFI thus combines investments and high-level policy dialogue to help its six partner countries implement the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, fight poverty and develop sustainably while being aligned with the post-2020 biodiversity framework.

The Central Africa's tropical rainforest is under pressure. While trends and causes vary widely across national contexts, forest loss represents more than 6 million hectares of primary tropical forest since 2001, equivalent to about 6 million rugby fields.

Home to more than 10,000 plant and animal species, many of them endemic, the Central African rainforest is an indispensable source of food, energy, shelter and spirituality in countries with some of the lowest human development indexes and the largest number of people in urgent need of food security assistance in the world.

The Congo Basin is one of the last regions in the world to absorb more carbon than it emits. Its forest, the second largest in the world, absorbs nearly 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year or 4% of global emissions.

The agreement will unlock on-the-ground multi-donor investments of US$500 million for the first five years.

With its forests, water and mineral resources, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a genuine "Solution Country" to the climate crisis. To protect our forest and promote its sustainable management, our priority, backed by this new partnership, is to strengthen governance and transparency across all land use sectors. The Partnership will also support our ambition to respond to the dual challenge of food security and climate change through sustainable agriculture, primarily in the savannahs, said President Tshisekedi.

All sectors of the DRCs economy have joined in this landmark agreement to undertake actions that could change land use practices that date back millennia. These concerted efforts are essential in a country the size of Western Europe with one of the lowest human development indices in the world, and that loses nearly half a million hectares of forest every year.

Through this new multi-year partnership, the DRC aims to first cap forest cover loss at its 2014-2018 average and ensure that deforestation continues to decline. The partnership will also promote the regeneration of 8 million hectares of degraded land and forests, and place 30% of national areas under a protection status, including areas where local communities undertake efforts to manage forests sustainably.

Lord Goldsmith, UK Minister for Pacific and the Environment declared: The UK is proud to be signing this ambitious ten-year Letter of Intent with the Central African Forest Initiative alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is a crucial step forward in our efforts to protect and restore the countrys precious forests, as well as providing sustainable livelihoods and alleviating poverty."

Exacerbated by extreme poverty, forest loss in the DRC is mainly due to a growing population lacking livelihood opportunities outside the forest and relying mostly on fuelwood for cooking, all that in the absence of land use planning. Any solution proposed to stem forest loss in the DRC must therefore focus on rural development, poverty reduction, and better food security.

CAFI's support of $500 million over the first five years more than doubles the $190 million provided under the first Letter of Intent (2015-2020), whose objectives were delivered through a portfolio of close to twenty programmes that supported large-scale reforms in agriculture, land-use planning and land tenure; directed agricultural activities towards tens of thousands of hectares of savannahs; and improved the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people.

The announcement at COP26 concludes months of discussions between CAFI donors and DRC Ministers, in which national civil society was fully involved. In a communique, Guy Kajemba, National coordinator of the umbrella civil society organisation Groupe de Travail Climat REDD+ Renove declared:

"We welcome this renewed partnership. It will help us closely monitor commitments taken, including the steps that will lead to a responsible and progressive lifting of the moratorium, the publication of contracts in all sectors linked to the use of land and the commitment taken by President Tshisekedi to cancel all dubious contracts of forest concessions. We are particularly encouraged by the mobilisation of all sectors committed to protect our High Value Forests and peatlands.

12 CONCRETE OBJECTIVES OF THE DRC-CAFI LETTER OF INTENT 2021-2031

High value forests, peatlands and community forest concessions are systematically incorporated into land-use plans, with the aim of maintaining the important role they play. The proportion of unsustainable wood energy (e.g. charcoal) for cooking is halved in the main urban centers (note: 97% of Kinshasa 13 million inhabitants use fuelwood daily for cooking and consume over 17 million tons of wood per year, mainly sourced in an unsustainable manner). No agro-industrial concessions will be allocated in high value forests and peatlands. Transparency in natural resources governance is enhanced through the legal review of existing agriculture, logging, mine and oil concessions, the cancellation of illegal ones, as well as the publication of all contracts (linked to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - EITI). Transparent allocation procedures are followed for agriculture and logging concessions. Forest governance is improved through stronger control and an ambitious 5 million hectares target of community forestry, doubling the original national target, along with a legal and regulatory framework adopted to protect the rights of indigenous peoples. The signature of the Decree lifting the moratorium will be adopted only after the realization, on the basis of a consultative process, of the geographical programming of future allocations. In line with the global 30 x 30 commitment, the DRC commits 30% of the country to be under various forms of protection status by 2030 while respecting the right to free prior and informed consent and ensuring the voice of marginalized communities are heard. This includes areas that communities themselves dedicate to protection through a local-level zoning process they lead. Eight million hectares of degraded lands and forests will be restored, as per the pledge of the DRC under the Bonn Global Challenge on restoration of degraded and deforested landscapes. The new and innovative tenure law and policy are adopted and implemented, with the deployment of a decentralised tenure information system that include community-level tenure registries. New social and environmental standards are implemented to reduce the impact of mining and oil investments on forests and biodiversity, with reinforced measures in high value forests and peatlands. Any activity incompatible with conservation objectives in Protected Areas is banned. A national population policy that is rights-based, evidence-informed and gender-responsive is implemented to promote a demographic transition that stimulates economic growth and reaches development objectives. A model of forest-friendly special economic zone is piloted to support a low-deforestation green economy, and takes into account high value forests, peatlands and land planning processes.

For more information on COVID-19, visit www.un.org/coronavirus

Africa Renewal
President Nana Akufo-Addo, has directed the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to suspend the planned implementation of the reversal of the benchmark value discounts introduced to cushion Ghanaians against price hikes.

At a meeting with officials of the GRA and other stakeholders, the President gave a deadline of January 17 for all consultations to conclude.

The President says the move will help all players understand the policy before it is rolled out.

The GRA on January 4th announced the implementation of the policy despite stiff opposition from industry players.

About benchmark value reduction

The benchmark value, which is the amount taxable on imports, was reduced by 50 percent for some goods.

The import value for cars was also reduced by 30 percent.

The government's hope was that easing the import regime would make Ghana's ports competitive by increasing the volume of transactions and increasing revenue generated at the ports.

But as the government pushed its industrialisation drive, critics, like the Association of Ghana Industries, also called for a review of the benchmark value reduction policy.

It argued that imports that compete with locally manufactured products must be exempted from the policy as part of a cushion for local products.

The Ghana Union of Traders Associations had earlier called on its members to oppose the development.

The union argued that importers had to contend with increases in exchange rates, the cost of freight, among others.

---citinews
Gerson da Cunha is no more.

A terse announcement on national news on NDTV on the evening of 6 January 2022!

Given the dramatic life he had led, he died suddenly and quietly, in an ambulance that was taking him to the hospital. It was surely an undramatic exit for someone to towered over the world of advertising and theatre at one time; but he had remained active right until the very end, concerned about his beloved Mumbai and the forthcoming civic elections.

Gerson was and integral part of the Bombay scene for decades. He was born in Bombay, went to school and college here, started his career as a journalist before moving into advertising, finally heading Lintas, then Indias leading advertising agency. After Lintas, he joined UNICEF to head their mothers milk is best programme in Brazil, where he spent two decades.

On returning to Mumbai in retirement he teamed up with DM Sukhtankar, retired Chief Secretary DM Sukhtankar and Julio Ribeiro, Mumbais best-known police commissioner to start AGNI (Action for Good Governance and Net Working in India) a movement to get people from every ward involved in local civic affairs and, hence, get better services from the municipal corporation!

An obituary notice on Gersons passing in the newspaper today covers this briefly and yet completely. It says, Advertising legend, Theatre veteran, Parent to Mumbai city through AGNIyour legacy lives on.

I first met Gerson in 1957, when I was still in college and he was already a journalist. Later, since I went into marketing and he, into advertising, our paths crossed at regular intervals - at meetings, presentations and seminars. We did not meet often, but when we did, it was a close connection.

There are many others, who are perhaps better qualified to talk about his role in advertising, about his excellence as a stage actor, his impressive personality and the stentorian voice, that was easily recognisable on stage and on radio over the years. For me, Gerson was a contributor to my life because he taught me two important lessons.

The first was - never speak negatively about anyone.

In 2004, this became a chapter I had authored in a book titled Self Development For Sure Success, compiled by Dr P N Singh. I had listed 13 life lessons that I had learnt. The 8th lesson was looking for the positives in each person. Heres what I wrote: I have known Gerson da Cunha for over 40 years. As a well-known advertising professional, he knows hundreds of people. We have never been close friends, but we have met often enough, and discussed ideas, events and people. In all these 40 years, I have never known Gerson to say an unkind word about anybody. There were obvious crooks that we talked about. But Gerson would focus on the good points and choose to ignore the shortcomings. But you know, Walter, Zee has some unusual strengths" and he would continue, focusing on the plus points of Zee which very few had known or identified .

Gerson taught me that you can spend a whole lifetime looking for the positives in every human being and purposefully ignore the negatives. I find this very difficult to do with as much flair as Gerson does. But I keep trying with the guiding star principle that none of us are perfect.

The second important lesson was extend the helping hand. If I ever asked him, when he was in Lintas, if he could help someone I knew, who was desperately looking for a job, he would never say no. There may be no vacancies in Lintas, but Gerson would take a copies of the biodata and send it to the large number of people (appropriate to the situation) who he knew.

Obviously, he had no time to do a systematic follow-up; but, invariably, somewhere, somehow, there would often be success. It also worked the other way round. He found an advertising manager for me at a company that I worked for at one time. I studied how this system works rather closely and wrote an article titled Pass them on. Gerson always did what he could, and when he could not, he did not hesitate to ask for help from those who could. In that sense he was a giver and a taker.

My last close interaction with Gerson was in 2019 in Goa. He was visiting the state with his wife, Uma, who was attending the International Film Festival.

Gerson himself was on a holiday, and coincidentally, so was I. We both took time off to ride through the old quarter of Panjim together, reconstructing the past, based on what we remembered from our visits with our respective parents in our youth. I saw he was enjoying Goa - his and my original native land! It remains a delightful, happy memory for me .

Goodbye Gerson. Yours was a life well lived till 92getting and giving till the last on 6 January . MANY of us will miss youbut ALL of us will remember you fondly!
Update:

Kaelynn Bixby has been located and is safe according to an updated Missing and Endangered Person Advisory.

At this time the advisory has been canceled.

Previous coverage:

MISSOULA - The Missoula Police Department has issued a Missing and Endangered Persons alert for 13-year-old Kaelynn Bixby. She was last seen at school on December 15th. The Montana Department of Justice says her family has not been cooperative in the investigation.

Kaelynn is described as Native American, standing 5 feet tall, and weighs about 120 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes.

MPD says there is concern for her wellbeing and safety. If you have any information on where she is, call (406)552-6300 or 911.
Crude prices again approached pre-pandemic levels during the first trading week of 2022, buoyed by resilient demand, though some analysts worry the raging omicron variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus could still impact demand.

West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose four of five trading days, including a $1.61 jump Thursday, to post a 5 percent gain for the week. Prices slumped 56 cents Friday to close at $78.90, up from $76.08 at Mondays close. The posted price ended the week at $75.38, according to Plains All American.

Natural gas prices on the NYMEX rose three of five trading days, including a 16.5-cent jump Wednesday and 10.4 cent rise on Friday to end the week at $3.916 per Mcf, up 10 cents from $3.815 at Mondays close.

Top executives of leading independents like Pioneer Natural Resources and Diamondback Energy told a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. energy conference webcast they dread the thought of oil prices reaching $100 or more.

Our philosophy is in line with that, Steve Harris, vice president and chief executive officer of Abraxas Petroleum, told the Reporter-Telegram in a telephone interview, saying $100 oil is not good for the consumer. He said the industry stands to benefit if prices remain rangebound in their current range of $65 to $75 a barrel.

More challenging to producers than prices is the current administration, whose actions are keeping prices artificially high by limiting domestic producers ability to develop resources, he said.

Producers can figure out high and low prices, Harris said. They cant cope with an administration out to eradicate the industry.

Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, said industry leaders have a good feel for circumstances impacting the industry both nationally and internationally.

Prices are subject to pandemic issues, international conflicts, and weather, among other issues, he told the Reporter-Telegram by telephone.

His association, he continued, is focusing on maintaining a healthy state and national environment where producers can create jobs and invest in their operations.

We want a healthy industry  upstream, service companies, the midstream sector needs to be strong and our domestic refiners and LNG companies. Its an integrated system and everyone benefits when all sectors are working well, Staples said.

The current environment is stronger than the last couple of years, he said of the oil and gas industrys economic health. He did note that production costs are beginning to rise  along with the cost of about everything else  so operators will have a fine balancing act to be able to get product to market to meet demand.

Current prices are strong enough to let operators get their balance sheets in shape, return money to shareholders and work with the investment community on the future of the industry and how it can create jobs and invest in developing production and research projects to improve efficiencies and the industrys environmental footprint, he said.

Oil and gas is integral to everyones lives. Energy demand will continue to grow and oil and gas will be called on to meet that demand. (But) the industry does need certainty, Staples said.
Courtesy of SAPD

An AMBER alert for a missing San Antonio girl was suspended Friday. No reason was provided as to why the Department of Public Safety discontinued the alert for 3-year-old Lina Khil, who went missing from her apartment complex on December 20.

In a January 7 press release, the San Antonio Police Department stressed that Khil, who was last seen at the Villas del Cabo apartment complex on Fredericksburg Road, is still missing and that search efforts remain a priority for the department.
Muskogee, OK (74401)

Today

Thunderstorms, some strong early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low around 50F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some strong early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low around 50F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Icy cold wind and some rain didnt freeze the enthusiasm of hard-core birders who were out making history Monday morning.

Jill and Ted Falasco of Bucksville had expected to spot as many as 60 different birds, but were happy with about 49 that they identified as they rounded Lake Busbee before heading to the nearby Grand Strand Waste Water Plant where they hoped to spot more.

The couple, along with about 13 other birders, were making history, according to Conwayite Sudie Thomas, who was the instigator of Conways first participation in the states annual bird count.

As for Conways first count, Thomas points to the seriously poor weather for the day. However, she said, typically short of snow or other storms, organizers stick to the chosen day because a lot of planning has gone into it and some people have already arranged to take the day off.

She credits the poor weather with the birders not seeing as many birds as they had expected; however, they did have a total count of 107 different species.

But still they made history Monday, and not just because it was Conways first official count. Chris Hill, the ornithology professor at Coastal Carolina University, who helped Thomas plan the day, spotted a slaty-backed gull, a gull that had never before been documented anywhere in South Carolina. Hill made his monumental sighting at the Solid Waste Authoritys landfill, a spot known for its circling gulls.

Hill alerted others to his spotting by posting it on eBird, which sent other birders headed to Conway to see it, Thomas said.

Some people are that interested, she said. They want to see it.

Thomas and her medical doctor dad, Reggie Daves, an equally avid birder, have participated in the bird count since about 2000. For many years, they were assigned to Sandy Island.

But this year, Thomas said she just thought it was time for Conway to become an official count site.

This area has lots of birding hot spots like the Cox Ferry area and Waccamaw River Park, she said.
Although some groups have resumed meetings, others schedules may have changed because of pandemic restrictions. It is recommended you contact the group in advance to verify details. Any changes in meeting schedules can be emailed to JJCsocial@myjournalcourier.com.



ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

217-370-4002

Jacksonville locations:

 First Baptist Church, 1701 Mound Ave. Wheelchair-accessible.

 Club HOW, 638 S. Church St.

Monday

 Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at First Baptist Church. Bowen Group.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

Tuesday

 Open discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Womens open meeting, 5:30 p.m., First Christian Churchs Fireside Room.

 VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 7 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, Main and Washington streets.

 ROODHOUSE: Closed discussion, 12-step/12 traditions, 8 p.m. at Grace Center, 114 W. Palm St.

Wednesday

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

Thursday

 Closed discussion, 7:30 a.m. at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW.

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. Newcomers Group.

Friday

 Closed discussion, noon at Club HOW. TGIF Group.

 Closed discussion, 5:15 p.m., Big Book Study at Club HOW.

 VIRGINIA: Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 401 E. Broadway Ave.

Saturday

 Open speaker, 8 p.m. at Club HOW.

 Open meeting, noon at Club HOW.

Sunday

 Closed discussion, 8 p.m. at Club HOW. 12 & 12 Group.

 Closed discussion, 10 a.m. at Club HOW. (Second Sunday is open)

 SPRINGFIELD: AA for Women, 10 a.m. at Discovery Club, 313 W. Cook St.



AL-ANON

Meetings are nonsmoking and open to anyone. The only requirement is that there be a problem of alcohol with a loved one or friend. 217-248-6434.

Wednesday

 Al-Anon, 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church, 331 E. State St. (use Morgan Street entrance).



NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS

All meetings are nonsmoking. Not affiliated with any religious organization.

Jacksonville locations:

 First Christian Church, 2106 S. Main St. (enter through far southeast door). 217-883-1975.

 Lutheran Church for the Deaf, 104 Finley St. (enter through back door). 217-883-1975.

Wednesday

 Open discussion group, 8 p.m. at Lutheran Church for the Deaf.

Friday

 Open discussion group, 7:30 p.m. at First Christian Church.



OTHER MEETINGS

Monday

 Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. at Faith Tabernacle, 571 Sandusky St. Use side entrance to church hall.

 PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 7-8 p.m. in the basement of Subway in Pittsfield. 1-800-323-1388.



Tuesday

 American Legion Post 279, first Tuesday of every month, 7 p.m. at 903 W. Superior Ave.



Wednesday

 Breastfeeding support group, 6 p.m., Passavant Area Hospital, Meeting Room 2.

 ROODHOUSE: Women with Hearts of Love (WWHOL), 6-7 p.m. at House of Restoration, 208 W. Franklin St. 217-602-1670.



Thursday

 Jacksonville Area Chess Club, 6-9 p.m. at Jacksonville Public Library. 217-370-0882.

 St. Johns UCC Grief Group: 7 p.m., St. Johns UCC, 216 North St., Brighton. Free | Support group for those grieving the loss of a loved one.

 Jacksonville Kiwanis Club, noon at Hamiltons.

 WHITE HALL: Addicts Victorious, teens 5:30-6:30 p.m.; adults 7-8 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of New Life Church, 626 Curtis St.



Friday

 Jacksonville Rotary Club, noon at Hamiltons.

 PITTSFIELD: Addicts Victorious, 6 p.m. at Assembly of God, 575 Piper St. 800-323-1388.



Saturday

 Jacksonville Amateur Radio Societys Net, 9 p.m. Transmitted on K9JX repeater. K9JX.com.
Mariposa County Public Health Message View Photo

Tuolumne County Public Health reports 75 new Covid-19 positive cases identified since yesterday, 73 are community cases with 48 unvaccinated and there are two are Sierra Conservation Center inmate cases. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) reports 23 currently active inmate cases (see below). Tuolumne Countys active community cases decreased 22 to 232 including 12 people who are hospitalized, four people in the hospital with Covid-19 are vaccinated. The 14-day average for Covid-19 hospitalized patients remains at 11 from the prior 14-day total. The state reports five ICU beds available in Tuolumne County out of six total.

The newly reported community cases include 10 cases age 17 or younger and 10 cases age 60 or older. The new Covid cases by gender and age: five girls age 11 or younger, four girls and one boy age 12 to 17, five women and two men age 18 to 29, seven women and two men in their 30s, 11 women and 11 men in their 40s, 11 women and four men in their 50s, four women and three men in their 60s, and one woman and two men in their 70s.

Tuolumne County Public Health restates While our COVID response team continues case investigation and contact tracing efforts, due to the large increase in cases that we are experiencing, we will not reach everyone. If you receive a positive test result, they state you will likely receive a text or email from a Virtual Agent that will provide information on what to do next. Health Officials say, You can help slow the spread of Covid-19 by responding to texts, calls, or emails, and self-isolating when you have symptoms or a positive test result. Also notify any close contacts youve had from 2 days before you became ill or got tested. Any close contacts should follow current quarantine guidance and get tested 3-5 days after exposure. If you are at high risk of severe disease or hospitalization, you can contact your doctor to discuss potential treatment options. If you are not symptomatic, have not tested positive for COVID-19 recently, and are not in quarantine, get vaccinated or boosted.

There have been 1,635 inmate cases at the Sierra Conservation Center, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) reports the SCC manages 3,219 inmates with 82% vaccinated including all the southern fire conservation camps and has tested 37% of the prisons population in the past 14 days.

The total current case rate, a 14-day average for Tuolumne County increased to 71.6 from 63.4 per 100,000 population yesterday. The case rate reached a low of 15.1 on December 17th. A total of 94 individuals were released from isolation, in all 6,735 have been released from isolation. The number of active cases has been above 60 since near the end of July, the first three Delta cases were identified July 2nd active cases peaked August 16th at 407, with the lowest active cases since July being 62 on November 29th. The county sends samples from residents for sequencing which takes time, so far the Omicron Covid-19 variant has not been detected yet. A total of 59% of the population eligible to get vaccinated has been vaccinated.

Calaveras County Public Health reports 31 new cases since yesterday. There are five more active cases for a total of 73 active cases including two Covid hospitalizations. Five of the new cases are age 17 or younger and five are age 65 and older, in total 863 under age 17 and 813 over 65 have been identified with Covid. There are 26 more counted as recovered for a total of 4,638 cases and 55.8% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated in the county. According to the state, Calaveras 14-day average for Covid hospitalized patients is two with no increase or decrease and there remain five ICU beds available of 12.

Information about Omicron from Mariposa County Public Health was detailed here Tuesday.

Mariposa Health officials report 60 new cases today with 80 active cases. They summarize from January 4th to the 7th there were 107 cases with 35 of those unvaccinated, 22 fully vaccinated, 3 cases did not respond, and 47 cases are under investigation. They note We have a very high number of cases for this week. It is important that our community remember that we have effective tools to reduce the impact of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant. Both vaccines and non-pharmaceutical interventions  masking, handwashing, social distancing, testing regularly, and staying home when sick  help to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our community. For those who are taking those actions, please continue to stay vigilant. For those who have not yet been vaccinated and/or booster or who are not closely following non-pharmaceutical interventions, we urge you to take action now to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community. 

Mariposa shares that people with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms can appear from 2-14 days, and with the Omicron variant seem to most often appear 2-4 days. Here is what they recommend to do if you have any symptoms or feel sick:

Stay home. Most people with COVID-19 have mild illness and can recover at home without medical care. Do not leave your home, except to get medical care.

Do not visit public areas.

Take care of yourself. Get rest and stay hydrated. Take over-the-counter medicines, such as acetaminophen, to help you feel better.

Stay in touch with your doctor. Call before you get medical care. Be sure to get care if you have trouble breathing, or have any other emergency warning signs, or if you think it is an emergency. Details are at cdc.gov.

The US Food and Drug Administration is warning people of fraudulent coronavirus tests as detailed there.

COVID-19 Testing Public health recommends scheduling an appointment to get tested 5 days after possible exposure and if you are having any symptoms, to get tested right away. The Tuolumne County State testing site schedule is 7 days a week from 7 AM to 7 PM at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds. Appointments can be made at www.lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 888-634-1123. Testing is also available at pharmacies, at Rapid Care, and the hospital emergency department if you are experiencing any symptoms, or contact your healthcare provider. More details are here.

COVID-19 Vaccine appointments and booster vaccine shots are recommended. The CDC is recommending that moderately or severely immunocompromised 5 to 11-year-olds receive a Covid vaccine booster 28 days after their second shot. The CDC also now recommends people receive a booster shot if they completed a Pfizer series at least five months ago, or the Moderna series at least six months ago, or a J&J vaccine at least two months ago. Vaccine appointments for children ages 5 to 11 can be made through myturn.ca.gov, or by calling 833-422-4255, or through local pharmacies more details are here. For ways to manage a fear of needles or a phobia and help others with it, view the CDCs information guide here. Learn more about self-care strategies by visiting namica.org

County

Date

New

Active (Hospital)

Total 2022 All Cases (All Deaths) Amador 1/6 20 165 (9) 119 4,093

(62) Calaveras 1/7 31 73 (2) 170 4,805

(94) Mariposa 1/7 60 80 (12) 152 1,900

(18) Mono 1/7 109 161 286 2,123

(5) Stanislaus 1/6 601 3,735 (119) 2,354 87,327

(1,486) Tuolumne 1/7 75 232 (12) 461 8,752

(150) Reported cases at end of 2021 and 2020
Dec. 28, 2021

An assault was reported at the 300 block of Elm on Dec. 28.

An 18-year-old man was arrested on Dec. 28 at the 1500 block of N. I-27. Officers were called to the location in reference to shoplifting and found an individual who attempted to pass the point of sale with $437.90 worth of merchandise. He was arrested and charged with theft of property valued to at least $100 but less than $750.

Shoplifting was reported on Dec. 28 at the 1500 block of N. I-27.

Dec. 29

A stolen vehicle was reported at the 3000 block of W. 19th St. on Dec. 29.

Three individuals were arrested on Dec. 29 at the 100 block of W. 10th St. when officers served warrants at the location after finding marijuana. The arrestees include a 22-year-old man, a 20-year-old man and a 14-year-old individual. The first two individuals listed were arrested and charged with several outstanding warrants between them including one for DOC fighting, three for failure to appear and one for assault causing bodily injury. The 14-year-old was charged with possession of marijuana.

An assault was reported at the 820 block of N. Broadway on Dec. 29.

Plainview police arrested 27-year-old Steven Joshua Ascencio on Dec. 29 at the 1300 block of Nassau. Officers initially responded to the location in reference to a welfare concern. While at the scene, one individual was found to have a warrant. Ascencio was placed under arrest for an active felony warrant for assault/impeding breathing.

Dec. 30

A hit-and-run crash was reported at the 1000 block of N. I-27 on Dec. 30.

Police were dispatched to the 4000 block of Olton Road in reference to a vehicle hitting a building. Officers noted damage to the side of the building upon arrival to the CEFCO and found the suspect vehicle had already left the scene. There were no injuries and officers cleared the scene after taking a report. The vehicle and driver were later identified and found. It was found that a misunderstanding between the driver and the store clerk resulted in the driver thinking everything was OK and leaving the scene.

Shoplifting was reported at the 2400 block of Dimmitt Road on Dec. 30. Two individuals walked out of a store and took beer without paying for it.

Dec. 31

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 800 block of the west frontage road of N. I-27. No injuries were reported at the time of the incident.

A theft was reported at the 3500 block of Olton Road on Dec. 31. The reporting party noted theft of propane cylinders. Officers spoke to a store employee upon arrival who told police two unknown suspects had already left the scene.

A 32-year-old man was arrested on Dec. 31 at the 300 block of Elm. The individual was arrested for a warrant for theft.

A crash was reported at the intersection of W. 28th and Joliet. Upon investigation, it was found that one vehicle traveling north at the 2800 block of Joliet failed to yield right-of-way to a vehicle turning onto the 1100 block of 28th and struck that vehicle causing damage.

Jan. 1, 2022

A person struck another vehicle with their own and left the scene on foot without sharing their information. The incident occurred at the 600 block of W. 20th St. on Jan. 1.

Plainview police were dispatched to the 1400 block of Holliday St. on Jan. 1 in reference to a man with a gun. Upon arrival, officers were told an assault had occurred. The suspect also made threats of killing himself or others. It was known that there was a 3-year-old child at the house and when officers made entry, they found the child alone inside. The toddler was taken to safety and the suspect was not located. The child and victim were taken to the hospital where they underwent a medical evaluation.

Criminal mischief was reported at the 1400 block of Milwaukee on Jan. 1. Damage to a vehicle was reported.

An assault was reported at the 1500 block of Oakland St. on Jan. 1.

Damaged property was reported at the 700 block of Fresno St. on Jan. 1. An unknown person hit a truck with a rock causing $1,000 worth of damage at the location.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 400 block of W. 5th St. on Jan. 1.

A crash was reported at the 3000 block of N. I-27 on Jan. 1. No injuries were reported, though there was vehicle damage. Icy road conditions are believed to be a contributing factor to this crash.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 800 block of N. I-27.

A crash was reported at the 2300 block of N. Columbia on Jan. 1. Vehicle damage was reported.

Jan. 2

A crash was reported at the intersection of W. 5th and Joliet on Jan. 2. Vehicle damage was reported.

Officers were dispatched to the 300 block of Ennis St. on Jan. 2 in reference to criminal mischief that occurred on Jan. 1. The incident involved a red Dodge pickup allegedly driving recklessly on the grass yard of private property.

A hit-and-run crash was reported at the intersection of W. 24th and N. I-27 on Jan. 2. Upon arrival to the scene, officers found a damaged fire hygrine but the vehicle that struck it was no longer in the area.

Jan. 3

A hit-and-run crash was reported on Jan. 3 at the 2000 block of W. 21st St. Vehicle damage was reported.

Officers responded to the 600 block of W. 11th St. in reference to an aggravated assault.

A hit-and-run crash was reported at the 700 block of W. 24th St. on Jan. 3. The vehicle struck a power line and caused damage creating loss of electricity to surrounding businesses and residences. The vehicle had already left the scene by the time officers arrived.

Jan. 4

Possession of marijuana was reported at the 1700 block of W. 4th St. on Jan. 4.

A 24-year-old man was arrested on Jan. 4 at the 600 block of W. 11th St. after officers responded to the location in reference to an assault. A wanted individual was arrested and charged with assault and with an active warrant for striking a fixture/highway landscape.

A scam via electronic mail was reported to officers on Jan. 4.

Police arrested 22-year-old Miguel Angel Rodriguez on Jan. 4 at the 800 block of Denver St. the individual had two active felony warrants out of Randall County.

A hit-and-run crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 3700 block of Olton Road on Jan. 4.

A 33-year-old woman was arrested on Jan. 4 at the 1500 block of N. I-27 for theft of property. Officers responded to the location in reference to shoplifting. The woman was observed returning unpurchased merchandise at Walmart for cash and also taking merchandise from the store without paying. The individual was arrested and booked into the Hale County Sheriffs Office.

Theft of a vehicle was reported to police on Jan. 4. The vehicle was reported stolen from the 2600 block of Quincy.

Jan. 5

AN 18-year-old man was arrested at the 200 block of S. Broadway on Jan. 5 and charged with consumption of alcohol by a minor.

A 21-year-old woman was arrested on Jan. 5 at the 200 block of S. Broadway. The individual was charged with criminal trespassing.

A 23-year-old woman was arrested at the 700 block of N. Columbia on Jan. 5 during a traffic stop at the location. The individual was arrested for two active warrants for failure to maintain financial responsibility and for driving with no license.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the intersection of W. 8th and N. Columbia on Jan. 5.
Photos have surfaced online that claim to show the body of Micah Johnson, the shooter who killed five police officers and injured nine others and two civilians in downtown Dallas last Thursday night, after he was killed by police.

RELATED: Images from the aftermath of the killing of 5 Dallas police officers

The two photos were posted to LiveLeak anonymously Sunday with the headline "Micah Johnson dead" one of a bloodied body and another of a semi-automatic rifle. The body is in tact, with no missing limbs, and sits in the middle of what appears to be broken pieces of cement. The gun also sits on a pile of rubble, much like the body.

The Dallas Police Department and FBI will not confirm that photographs being circulated are from the crime scene in downtown Dallas, according to an email from the department sent to MySA.com Monday.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters Monday that 11 officers used their firearms against Johnson and that two of them used the robot that killed him with explosives inside a downtown parking garage .

The Daily Mail spoke to Bryan Woolston, a former senior explosive ordinance disposal technician with U.S. Army, who said the photos are consistent with the device that was used to kill Johnson.

RELATED: Surviving Dallas officer recounts trying to save colleagues

He said that the Remotec ANDROS Mark V-A1 robot that was used, which had a claw and arm extension with an explosive device attached, would result in Johnson dying from "catastrophic" internal injuries.

In the photo, Johnson, if it is in fact him, does not have any limbs missing, and Woolston said the "most significant injuries would have resulted from the blast over pressure generated by the detonation."

He said that "This would have created a blast wave of pressure far higher than normal atmospheric pressure, causing catastrophic injuries to the cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal organs and other soft tissue. These injuries alone could cause death."

RELATED: Front pages from newspapers covering the Dallas police shooting that left 5 dead

Woolston said he saw no obvious reasons to believe the photos are fake and that "additional injuries would have resulted from the secondary fragmentation created by the blast."

The Dallas Police Department is sifting through 170 of body camera footage from Thursday night and are conducting more than 300 witness and officer interviews.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5
Photo taken by the rover Yutu 2 on Jan 11, 2019 shows the lander of the Chang'e 4 probe. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's Yutu 2 lunar rover has traveled more than 1 kilometer on the moon and is still working well, according to the China National Space Administration.

The administration said on Saturday that the distance traveled by the rover reached 1 km on Thursday evening. As of late that night, the robot had moved about 1,004 meters on the lunar soil.

It added that Yutu 2, the second Chinese rover on the moon, is now in its 38th lunar-day working session and is in normal condition.

A lunar day equals 14 days on Earth, a lunar night the same length. During the lunar night, the temperature falls below minus 180 C and there is no sunlight to provide power to the craft.

By now, Yutu 2 has been operating for 1,101 Earth days, cementing its status as the longest-working rover on the moon. Before it, the record was held by its predecessor -- Yutu -- which worked on the moon for 972 days, far outliving its designed life span of three months.

Yutu 2 is part of the ongoing Chang'e 4 robotic probe mission; humanity's first endeavor to land on and closely observe the far side of the moon. The mission was launched by a Long March 3B carrier rocket in December 2018 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.

The probe made a soft landing on the far side on Jan 3, 2019, and then released the Yutu 2 to roam and survey the landing site in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the largest and deepest known basin in the solar system.

In late November, Chinese scientists at the State Key Laboratory of Space Weather under the Chinese Academy of Sciences' National Space Science Center published a major scientific finding enabled by Yutu 2 in the November issue of Nature Astronomy.

They said that they found remnants of carbonaceous chondrites on the moon's far side in hyperspectral images in the visible and near-infrared range taken by the rover.

Carbonaceous chondrites are meteorites originated in the asteroid belt near Jupiter and have been believed to be among the oldest objects in the solar system. Their existence on the moon may still act as a source of water on the barren, silver sphere, according to the researchers headed by Liu Yang.
Shelley Luther, a Republican candidate for Texas House and hairdresser who became a hero of the anti-lockdown movement during the coronavirus pandemic, recently said in a since-deleted tweet that Chinese students should not be allowed to attend Texas colleges.

Chinese students should be BANNED from attending all Texas universities, Luther said in the Wednesday tweet. No more Communists!

In a follow-up tweet that is still online, Luther said the state's taxpayers "should not be subsidizing the next generation of CCP leaders," referring to the Chinese Communist Party. In a subsequent tweet, she said it is "common sense" that CCP members "should not have access to our schools."

On Friday, state Rep. Gene Wu, a Democrat from Houston who is Chinese-American, condemned Luther's comments and asked her to publicly apologize.

"Luthers statements are ignorant, hateful, and incite violence against not only Chinese Americans, but all Asian Americans," Wu said in a statement. "To casually conflate all Chinese students in America with actual registered members of the ruling party in the Peoples Republic of China is not only ignorance of an extreme nature, it is also the type of rhetoric that drives anti-Asian hate crimes."

Asked for comment Friday, Luther declined to apologize and attacked Wu, who was among the House Democrats who broke quorum and went to Washington, D.C., last year in protest of Republicans' priority elections bill.

"It doesnt surprise me that a socialist Democrat who doesnt even know how to show up to work thinks the position that communist Chinese citizens should not access taxpayer funded state institutions is racist," Luther said in a statement to the Tribune.

Luther's comments came as anti-Asian hate crimes have been on the rise. They increased by more than 73% in 2020, according to recent FBI data, far outpacing all hate crimes, which increased 13%.

Luther is challenging state Rep. Reggie Smith, R-Sherman, in the March primary. The district favors Republicans, so whoever wins between Smith and Luther is set to hold the seat after November.

Luther became nationally known at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 when she refused to shut down her Dallas salon in defiance of emergency orders. She was sentenced to a week in jail but was released after only a few days, via a motion granted by the Texas Supreme Court.

She became a vocal critic of Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican, and ran unsuccesfully for a state Senate seat in a special election later that year.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
One year ago, hours after a swarm of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and briefly stopped Congress from ratifying the 2020 election results, 17 Texas Republicans voted against certifying Joe Biden as president.

This week, The Texas Tribune reached out to all those members asking if they accept the 2020 election results as legitimate a year later.

None responded.

The mob that day attacked police officers and caused millions of dollars of damage to the historic structure. The lawmakers and staff inside hid in fear for their lives as protesters breached the building carrying zip ties and wearing tactical gear.

Texas own Sen. Ted Cruz was objecting to certifying Arizonas election results when the Capitol was overrun. His speech that day and his misleading comments in the weeks before that cast doubts on the election led to calls for his resignation.

But this week he was taking heat from the political right for a speech acknowledging the solemn anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol where we saw the men and women of law enforcement  risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol.

Many conservatives have spent the past several months downplaying the seriousness of the attack, which led to thousands of injuries and five deaths.

What the hell is going on here? Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show. Youre making us think that maybe the Republican Party is as worthless as we suspected it was.

A year ago, on the floor of the Senate, Cruz said he was not arguing for setting aside the results of the election, but he was objecting because of concerns about how many Americans believed fraud had occurred.

Even if you do not share that conviction, it is the responsibility, I believe, of this office to acknowledge that it is a profound threat to this country and to the legitimacy of any administrations that will come in the future, he said shortly before he and his colleagues were evacuated from the Senate chamber because rioters had breached the police line.

When the Tribune asked whether Cruz believed the 2020 election was legitimate, his office did not respond.

In total, 147 Republican lawmakers voted against certifying the election results that day, a move that has since taken the form of a multiyear campaign led by former President Donald Trump to convince the American public that the election was stolen. It wasnt. His own attorney general, Bill Barr, has said repeatedly that the election was secure. Multiple election reviews in states have confirmed the results, including Texas recent review of votes in four of the largest counties.

Here are the Texans who voted to object to certifying the election results on Jan. 6, 2020.



With the exception of Van Duyne, those lawmakers voted to object to the results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania. Van Duyne split her vote, supporting the certification of Arizonas results but not Pennsylvanias.

Republican Reps. Van Taylor, Dan Crenshaw, Michael McCaul, Chip Roy and Tony Gonzales voted against objecting to the results. Taylor is now the focus of a primary challenge from Republicans seeking to oust him from office over his vote.

Republican Reps. Kay Granger of Fort Worth and Kevin Brady of The Woodlands had been diagnosed recently with COVID-19 and did not vote.

All the Texas Democrats voted against objecting.

Democrats on Thursday acknowledged the anniversary and the ensuing efforts to undermine the election results.

It was a day that should have been a symbolic, peaceful transfer of power. However, it sadly resulted in chaos and division by right-wing extremists, said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, in a statement. Unfortunately, a vengeful Donald Trump and many Republicans have perpetuated a Big Lie about election fraud  stirring up anger, fear, and resentment in a lot of Americans.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, pointed the finger at Republicans in a tweet Thursday.

January 6 was a tragic and shocking day for America. It was nothing less than an attempt to overthrow the government. And now we know that it was much more than a day: It was at least two months of Trump and his gang plotting a coup, he said.

On Wednesday, Politico reported that days before the insurrection, Capitol Police intelligence analysts were worried that Gohmerts public comments could encourage violence in response to the 2020 election results.

The Capitol Police intelligence report notes that on Jan. 1, 2021, Gohmert told Newsmax, a conservative media company, that letting the will of the voters stand would mean the end of our republic, the end of the experiment in self-government, Politico reported.

The ruling would be that you got to go to the streets and be as violent as Antifa and [Black Lives Matter], Gohmert said on Newsmax.

Representative Gohmert then seemed to encourage violence as a means to this end, the assessment says, according to Politico.

Gohmert, who is running for Texas attorney general, tweeted the day of the insurrection, Please people; no violence. That only hurts our cause.

Disclosure: Politico has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
San Antonio's country music radio station Y100 will debut a new morning show Monday called "Frito and Katy," but the addition means an exit for beloved personality Beth Boehm.

The final day for Boehm, who was part of San Antonio mornings since 2013, was Wednesday, January 6, KCYY (Y100) Program Director Christi Brooks confirms to MySA.

Boehm's peppy morning banter and approachable presence at the rodeo and popular station events like the Eight Man Jam made her a Y100 staple.

A news release says the Tucker "Frito" Young and Katy Dempsey has a successful run in College Station before San Antonio. Young and Dempsey are both graduates of the University of Texas.

The new show hosts shared on Facebook that they are "ready" to join San Antonio. The duo posted a photo of themselves standing in front of the Alamo to share the news.

I am so excited to add the award-winning Frito & Katy show to the Y100 lineup, KCYY Program Director Christi Brooks says in the announcement They bring authenticity and incredible passion for serving our local community and entertaining morning listeners in San Antonio. I cant wait to see the new heights well achieve with our already successful Y100 team."

In an email to MySA, Brooks added that San Antonio listeners will see that the new hosts "are going to wrap their arms around San Antonio and our surrounding area."

Boehm, originally from Florida, started in San Antonio with Jeff Miles, then co-hosted the show with J.R. Jaus. Joe Pesh took over for a little more than a year before announcing his "tough" exit in September 2021. Boehm has not publicly addressed her departure.
Yves here. This post doesnt reach a conclusion so much as talk through an issue. What classical means in many fields and how that shifts over time is food for thought. But Rosser posits the counterpoint as revolution, when I imagine some shifts away from what would have been considered classical were incremental. And isnt the opposite of classicalism usually modernism?

By Barkley Rosser, Professor of Economics at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Originally published at EconoSpeak

For those of you of a branch of Orthodox Christianity still using the Julian calendar, such as the Russian branch, Merry Christmas! I am tempted to comment on the situation in Kazakhstan, but I think we do not know what is going on there yet, so not now.

Instead somehow I have been thinking about something that has something to do with economics, but I am going to look at it in other fields, namely the relationship between classicalism and revolution. That this is complicated in that in economics we think of classical economics as something that is old and out date, the economics of Adam Smith, highly conventional if somewhat simplistic. But then we usually identify Karl Marx as being a classical economist, but then he was also a revolutionary. However, modern neoclassical economists use this classical label to dismiss him as out of date, even as they retain the ideas of Adam Smith to some extent.

Anyway, I want to look at the use of this term in other disciplines and where it came from and how this curious relationship has operated. If one examines the origins of the term, it came from French, classique, with this connected to class. In older French something classique is of a higher class in some way, and thus presumably of a high quality. However from at least the 1620s in English the term also came to be applied to things that are from or inspired by the Greek and Roman civilizations. Most of this discussion in English at that time applied to literature, especially poetry.

Probably the earliest movement that sought to revive Greek and Roman models was in architecture and happened not long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This was in architecture and started after 800 CE when Charlemagne founded the Holy Roman Empire, which indeed consciously attempted to revive the Roman Empire and its models. For the next 200 years what is known as Carolingian architecture dominated northwestern Europe, especially in Germany and France, which consciously imitated styles from the late period of the empire such as those found in Ravenna. A supreme example is the cathedral in Aachen, Germany, where Charlemagne is buried. It would be succeeded by the Romanesque style.

The Renaissance would see another round of this in architecture. This was stimulated by the discovery of the writings of the great Roman architect, Vitruvius, whose ideas became the foundation for much of architecture from that period on.

As it is the field where I see the dynamic between classicalism and revolution is in music, where none of this has anything to do with ideas from Greece or Rome, much as is the situation in economics. So what is called classical music is something very broad, the music that is not popular music, rock or jazz or country or whatever. In recent decades the divisions between these have at times been fuzzy, but we still generally know what is in what category. And even in the past when classical music was very clearly identified, classical composers would often draw on folk music or tunes as inspiration for their compositions. But that is not the crucial issue.

Within classical music itself there is a subset of it that is called the Classical school or period. This is a style most prominently associated with Josef Haydn and Wolfgang Mozart, who mostly composed in the latter part of the 18th century, with Haydn actually lasting to 1809 while Mozart died young in 1791. This style and period followed the Baroque period, whose most famous members were J.S. Bach and Handel, although it originated earlier in Italy with Arcangelo Corelli with Antonio Vivaldi also a leading part of it. The Classical school would be followed the Romantic school, led by Beethoven, a student of Haydns, who started out in the Classical style but moved on, with the Romantic style dominating pretty much of all the nineteenth century.

So Beethoven is seen as a revolutionary who modified and liberated music from a rule-dominated and formal school before him. Indeed, not just the Romantic school, but modern twentieth century classical music and beyond went further, breaking more and more of the rules and structures that Haydn and Mozart followed, being in a key, certain numbers of movements in symphonies and concerti, and especially the use of the sonata allegro form within movements, with two themes and variations. This almost became Freudian, with Haydn being called Papa Haydn, whom all these later classical composers would rebel against, more and more, going to polytonality and atonal forms.

But then we have this other fact: in creating the Classical school, Haydn and Mozart themselves were revolutionaries who created new forms. Some of these were actual types of pieces or sets of instruments, such as the string quartet. Mozart, of course, was a star all his life, a prodigy who performed for royalty from age 5. But it is not well known that Haydn spent much of his career in obscurity at the Esterhazy estate in Hungary, toiling away on his composing. It was actually fairly late in his life that he was really discovered, helped out ironically by Mozart when he was finally able to get to Vienna in the 1780s, with his real triumph coming in the 1790s when he spent time in London, on the verge of Beethovens beginning to undo the structure he and Mozart had established.

Ironically possibly the most revolutionary core of the Classical school came from somebody else, someone famous and successful in his day, but who has been if not completely forgotten, pushed way down with his important role not known by many. This was the person Haydn and Mozart called Papa Bach, the person who actually invented the sonata allegro form. No, this was not the great Baroque composer, J.S. Bach, but the most important of his sons, Karl Phillip Emmanuel Bach. He was the actual revolutionary who founded the Classical school, with both Haydn and Mozart drawing off him. But he would become forgotten both because he was superseded by Haydn and Mozart, but also in the nineteenth century after Mendelssohn revived the father, J.S. Bach, Somehow between his father and his followers, the real revolutionary who created the Classical school of classical music has been largely forgotten.
Yves here. This otherwise comprehensive piece has an odd lapse. It does not mention the original US sin with respect to the modern Russia: that of welching on a commitment made to Gorbachev in the negotiations over the dissolution of the USSR. The US (Secretary of State James Baker) promised not to expand NATO into the former Warsaw Pact countries. The then USSR regarded this as a firm commitment, but the US did not, since it was not incorporated into any treaty. Confirmation of this pledge came indirectly, via the reaction of experts when the Clinton Administration initiated the move of NATO east. None other than cold warrior nonpariel George Kennan said that this would prove to be the biggest foreign policy mistake the US ever made. And here we are.

By James Kurth Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Senior Research Scholar, Swarthmore College. Originally published at the Institute of New Economic Thinking website

In December 2021, Russia demanded of the United States and NATO that they sign a formal agreement that they would cease their activities to bring certain countries, particularly Ukraine and Georgia, into NATO membership and to place offensive weapons, particularly missile systems, within a broader range of countries within Central and Eastern Europe.1 As news headlines around the world proclaim, the Russians have backed up these demands by deploying 100,000 troops near Russias border with Ukraine.

This ultimatum represents by far the most fundamental and gravest Russian challenge to the way that NATO has conceived of its mission and conducted its activities since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the accompanying end of the Cold War. The actual content of Russias demands, however, is not at all new. Ever since the first post-Cold War expansion of NATO eastward in 1999 (i.e., the admission to membership of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary), Russia has been clear and consistent in objecting to NATOs expansion to the East as a threat to its vital security interests. They have been especially sensitive to any expansion into the former republics of the Soviet Union. These include not only Ukraine and Georgia, which are the current subjects of dispute, but also the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which became full members of NATO as early as 2004.

By now, NATOs further expansion to the Eastbe it in the form of new full members or merely in the form of increased military activitieshas been the consistent objective and policy of five successive U. S. presidential administrations those of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, even Donald Trump, and currently Joe Biden. Successive stages in this long march of NATO have been the full membership of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary in 1999; of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria in 2004 (this simultaneous admission of seven new members truly being a great leap forward); of Croatia and Albania in 2009; of Montenegro in 2017; and of Northern Macedonia in 2020.

From the perspective of American domestic politics, the two political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, have become completely polarized, to the point that the political system has become immobilized, and increasing civil violence can be expected. From the perspective of American foreign policy, however, the continuing agreement of both parties on a policy of NATO expansion eastward, ever eastward, is a striking example of bipartisanship, equal in its robustness to the height of bipartisan foreign policy achieved in its golden age during the high Cold War.

But from the perspective of the Russian security elite, precisely this bipartisan consistency and continuity causes them to believe that NATO expansion to the Eastand toward Russiais a truly national policy of the entire American security elite, and that it is increasingly a threat to the vital security interests of Russia. And although the United States for almost thirty years has thought that it could ignore the perspective of the Russian security elite, it is now in a position to demand, even command, attention, and with its ultimatum to the United States and NATO it has done so.

How did this dire situation come about? In this essay, we will examine the deep structure and ongoing dynamics of the long-standing U.S. policy which has promoted ever-more eastward expansion by NATO. And we will see that this policy is indeed a national policy of the entire American security eliteand of the American economic, political, and media elites as well.

Although the first post-Cold War expansion of 1999 (that incorporating Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary into NATO) was disputed by Russia, a more-or-less stable equilibrium then ensued. It was the next round of expansion, the second expansion in 2004 (that incorporating the Baltic states into NATO), that transformed NATO expansion from a stable equilibrium into a destabilizing dynamic, a dynamic that has now produced the crisis that the United States and NATO find themselves in today.

The Great Debate That Never Happened2

In 1951, Washington, D.C. was the scene of what was then called the Great Debate. The issue was the conversion of the rather spare North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 into something that would be much more of an American military commitment: an integrated military organization under an American supreme commander and the permanent stationing of U.S. troops in Europe. Thirty years before that, Washington was the scene of an even more famous great debate. In 1920, the issue was U.S. membership in the League of Nations and a permanent U.S. security guarantee to Britain and France.

In June 2001, President George W. Bush proposed in a major address in Warsaw that Europes new democracies, from the Baltic to the Black Sea and all that lie between be admitted into NATO, with invitations for some to be issued at the forthcoming NATO summit soon to be held in Prague. Although Bush did not mention specific countries, it was taken for granted that he had the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in mind. Other nations that had applied to become members of NATO and that were being given positive consideration were Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Although the admission of these countries into NATO would entail an extension and transformation of U.S. military commitments as serious as that at issue in 1951 and in 1920, there was little sign of any Great Debate, just as there was no great debate during the late 1990s over the admission of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.3 This lack of interest was all the more curious, given that great powers traditionally have considered their alliance obligations and military commitments to be at the heart of their foreign policies and that both the First World War and the Second World War began because particular great powers were honoring such commitments. NATO was supposed to be a military alliance, but there was almost no public discussion about the implications of NATO enlargement for its military strategy. And although there was much talk about not drawing a new line, which would divide Europe like the old Yalta agreement did, the whole point of a military alliance is to create an alignment, to draw a line.

It seemed clear enough that the line that would be drawn by NATO expansion would be one between Europe and Russia. Russia had consistently argued that it should be defined as part of Europe, and it had frequently proposed that it be admitted into NATO. Conversely, the United States had referred to almost every other country in Europe as a prospective member of NATO, but it had consistently refused to include Russia among them. This refusal, however, had not been based upon a Russian military threat to NATOs prospective new members.

In the minds of the U.S. foreign policy leadership, NATO expansion has not really been about the expansion of a military alliance but about something else. Its real purpose has been to consolidate Europe into a coherent and integral part of the American vision and version of global order; it was to make of Europe not a Festung Europa but a kind of American fortress in the global struggle that was now developing over the grand American project of globalization. But because NATO itself has remained a military alliance, its expansion had, and will have, serious military and strategic consequences.

Globalization and Its Limits

During the 1990s, the grand project of the United States in world affairs had been globalization. Indeed, globalization had been so central to the United States, and the U.S. had been so central to world affairs, that it had given its name to the new era that has succeeded the Cold War; more than anything else, the contemporary period was being defined as the era of globalization. Globalization itself had been defined by American leaders as the spread of free markets, open borders, liberal democracy, and the rule of law (e.g., the incessant mention of the liberal order of rules and norms), of a world governed by what Thomas Friedman called the electronic herd and the golden straitjacket.4 Most accounts of globalization had assumed that the phenomenon was indeed global in its scope or that it would soon become so. In fact, this assumption was mistaken, and the awareness that globalization is not global and that it probably never will be would itself later become widespread.

After three decades of experience with globalization, we can see a greatly variegated map of the globe, and the reality that it presents is not a linear and smooth progression, but a lumpy and jagged construction. It is a pattern of uneven development, uneven acceptance, and uneven resistance. When even the U.S. State Department  one of the most enthusiastic promoters of globalization  identifies several dozen countries (including such major ones as Pakistan, Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela, and even much of Mexico) that Americans should avoid entirely because of war, crime, anti-American hostility, or simply chaos, it is clear that globalization still has a great distance to travel.

Indeed, vast areas of the globe are less integrated into the global economy and a world order than they were fifty years ago. This is the case with most of Africa, most of Southwest Asia, and parts of the Andean region of South America. These three regions add up to a vast realm where globalization has already failed and where it is highly unlikely to succeed anytime in the foreseeable future. In fact, no one has offered a credible plan or even hope for turning these regions into stable parts of the global economy and global order. On the contrary, they have created their own perverse and underworld version of the global economy, consisting of a global traffic in narcotics, diamonds, weapons, and human beings and run by global criminal or terrorist organizations.

Furthermore, major powers, in particular China and Russia, have declared that they oppose the American version of globalization. China is probably the biggest single winner from globalization, and Russia may well be the biggest single loser, but they can agree on one thing: they are not going to be globalized in the American way. There are also those rogue states, especially Iran and North Korea, which persist in trying to thwart the American project.

The regions where the American way of globalization has succeeded are actually rather few, and together they add up to much less than half the area of the globe and much less than half its population. These regions include almost all of Europe, much of Latin America, some of the peripheral countries of East Asia, and of course Australia and New Zealand. As it happens, these four regions largely correspond to the U.S. system of alliances as it already existed by the early 1950s (NATO, the OAS, a series of bilateral treaties with Asian countries, and ANZUS). The extent of globalization today is not that different from the extent of the Free World back then.

There is one big difference, of course, and that involves what was then Eastern Europe, the communist Europe, and what is now once again Central Europe, a liberal-democratic and free-market Europe. This is also the region where the first round of post-Cold-War NATO expansion occurred in 1999 and where the second round of expansion was proposed in 2001 and occurred in 2004. It is in this difference that can be found the link between the American way of globalization and the American project for NATO enlargement.

Globalization and Americas Europe

The United States of course wanted to expand and secure its new trade and investment relations with Central Europe. More fundamentally, however, it sought to consolidate all of Europe  Western, Central, and Eastern  into a secure core of the American way of globalization. It was crucial that this European core be integrally joined with the American one (which had recently been defined by NAFTA) and that Europe accept American leadership on matters of major importance.

It might seem odd to imagine that Europe would accept American leadership, at a time when much of the European media was criticizing Americans on issues ranging from the death penalty to the global-warming treaty and when many young Europeans were demonstrating against globalization. But in fact, there was now a vast realm of Europe that was willingly recreating itself in the American image. This was especially the case with people engaged in the new information economy and the technical professions. It was also especially the case with the peoples of Central Europe and of the Baltic states. It is true that many of the peoples there were not enthusiastic about NATO, but they did want to be part of an American alliance, even of something that would be akin to an American commonwealth. They loathed the Russians, were suspicious of other Europeans, and were attracted to the Americans, and these features have largely continued to be the case down to the present day. For these Central and Eastern Europeans, it has been true since the 1990s what was true for many Western Europeans in the 1950s-1980s: the purpose of NATO is to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.

With its project of NATO expansion, the United States sought to influence the economic and diplomatic policies of European states and to balance the weight of the European Union, which was dominated by Western European countries, within the wider European continent. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe were less critical and more accepting of America than those of Western Europe, and the U.S. objectives would best be met by bringing in the former as a balance to the latter. This would be furthered by the expansion, and dilution, of the European Union; it would be furthered with even more assurance by the expansion of NATO. The result of NATO expansion would be the consolidation of Europe under American leadership and its transformation into an embodiment and expression of the American way of globalization. The inclusion of the Baltic states would consolidate this American-led European core up to the frontier where the American project of globalization met one of its principal opponents  Russia. The inclusion of the Balkan states would consolidate this core up to the frontier where the American project meets another set of opponents  the rogue states of the Middle East.

NATO Expansion: A Default Position

What might be the ideal form of organization for this American-led Europe, which would be characterized by all the goals of American-style globalization  free markets, open borders, liberal democracy, and the rule of law, all within a security community or zone of peace? It would actually be some sort of American Commonwealth of Nations. It would be rather like the British Commonwealth of Nations of the first half of the 20th century (composed of Britain and the dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). But, of course, this ideal form was not a practical possibility. The idea of an American Commonwealth would seem too close to the idea of an American Empire, and it would be unacceptable to both most Europeans and most Americans. Since the beginning of the 20th century, it has always been a distinctive feature of the United States to actually be an empire, while always denying that it is one.5

There was only one American-led organization for Europe that could have legitimacy among the major states of Europe, and that was NATO. The fact that NATO was supposed to be primarily a military alliance made it a poor form for organizing all of the complex relations between Europe and America, which added up to something that was actually as dense as an American commonwealth. On the other hand, it was because NATO is supposed to be a military alliance and it provides useful military benefits to the Europeans that it could remain legitimate, while actually furthering other purposes and performing other functions. But of course the military character of NATO, which makes it more legitimate with the Europeans, makes it at the same time illegitimate with the Russians.

The expansion of NATO to include the Baltic states, however, brought this American military organization, indeed an American commonwealth of nations, right up to the Russian border. Of course, this was not the first time that an American military alliance had immediately abutted a Russian border. NATO, with Poland, had bordered the Kaliningrad region of Russia since 1999; NATO, with Norway, had bordered the Kola Peninsula of Russia since 1949; and the United States itself has bordered eastern Siberia at the Bering Sea since it purchased Alaska in 1867. From the Russian perspective, however, the admission of the Baltic states into NATO produced a quantum leap in the strategic significance of their vulnerable border regions, with Estonia being only 150 kilometers from St. Petersburg and with the three Baltic countries together located astride the military approaches to all of Russia lying between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Moreover  and crucial for Putin and the Russian national-security establishment  the admission of the Baltic states was the first time NATO expansion extended to former constituent republics of the Soviet Union.

In the early 2000s, some international-affairs analysts argued that there were better ways to provide for collective security in the Baltic region than by NATO expansion. One alternative was to follow the example of Finland, a Baltic state that was a member of the European Union but not a member of NATO. Finland was clearly in the Western sphere in regard to politics, economics, and culture, even though it was practically in the Russian sphere, at least as a buffer state, in regard to security. Another alternative, plausible at the time, was to admit Russia itself into NATO. This would have redefined NATO from an American military alliance into a European collective security system. It would have dissolved the line dividing Russia from Europe.

There was something to be said in favor of each of these two (very different) alternatives to NATO expansion.6 Clearly the Russians preferred them, but many West Europeans did so as well. However, just as clearly the Baltic states themselves much preferred NATO expansion, as did the United States. From the perspective of the Baltic states, only NATO membership would consolidate their hard-won national independence. From the perspective of the United States, only NATO expansion would consolidate Europe into a secure core of the American way of globalization. This is why the United States pressed forward in 2001 with an expansion of NATO that focused upon the Baltic nations, which had progressed so far and so successfully along the American way.

A Tale of Three NATOs

Almost all discussions of NATO speak of it as a homogenous alliance with its different members integrated into the organization in similar ways. In fact, however, NATO has always included a wide variety of forms and degrees of integration. It might be helpful, particularly if there might be any serious negotiations with the Russians in the future, to distinguish between three quite different NATOs, to be found respectively on the Central Front, the Northern Flank, and the Southern Flank.

The Central Front: High NATO . During the Cold War, the highest, fullest degree of integration of NATO was reached on the Central Front, especially in regard to West Germany but also at times with the Netherlands, Belgium, and Britain. High NATO was distinguished by three major features: (1) U.S. troops were permanently stationed on the members territory; (2) U.S. nuclear weapons were positioned on the members territory; and (3) the member possessed serious and substantial military forces, which were integrated with U.S. military forces in regard to strategy, planning, and command. The ideal type or model for NATO was West Germany. Given the central importance of West Germany and the Central Front during the Cold War, it was natural to think of this model when thinking of NATO. But even in regard to the Central Front, France provided an exception after 1967, when President de Gaulle had France, including French forces in West Germany, withdraw from NATO as an organization, while remaining within the North Atlantic Treaty as an alliance.

The Northern Flank: Low NATO . A very different NATO existed on the Northern Flank, particularly in regard to Denmark and Norway. Here, none of the three features of high NATO was present: (1) U.S. troops were never permanently stationed on Danish and Norwegian territory (although they did engage in periodic exercises there); (2) U.S. nuclear weapons were never positioned in these countries, and U.S. naval ships carrying nuclear weapons normally did not visit their ports; and (3) the military forces of Denmark and Norway were hardly serious and substantial  in reality, they were more like a national guard  and they were not integrated with U.S. forces in any operationally important way, even though symbolic joint exercises were at times held. For all practical purposes, the NATO of the Northern Flank was neither an integrated organization nor even an alliance of equivalent powers; it was essentially a unilateral military guarantee given by the United States. Yet, Norway actually bordered upon Soviet territory (for about a distance of 80 kilometers along the Kola Peninsula).

The Southern Flank: Pseudo NATO. Yet another very different NATO existed on the Southern Flank, particularly in regard to Greece and Turkey. Here, each of the three features of high NATO was present but in a greatly reduced form: (1) U.S. air forces were permanently stationed on Greek and Turkish territory, but U.S. ground forces were not; (2) U.S. nuclear weapons were occasionally positioned in these countries, but they were rather peripheral to U.S. nuclear strategy (and even expendable, as was the case with the Jupiter missiles in Turkey on the occasion of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962); (3) the military forces of Greece and Turkey were large but not modern, and have always been more of a threat to each other than to the Russians; they could not be integrated with U.S. forces in any substantive way. For all practical purposes, the NATO of the Southern Flank was neither an integrated organization nor an alliance of equivalent powers; it was essentially a loose military coalition grouped around a leading power, the United States.

These three fronts or versions of NATO during the Cold War can help us in thinking about NATO expansion in the contemporary era, even though no one today thinks in terms of the old Central, Northern, and Southern fronts.

If there were a successor to the old Central Front in todays NATO, it would seem to be Central Europe, especially those three members admitted in 1999  Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. But these countries have been integrated into NATO, not like the high NATO of the old Central Front, but instead like the low NATO of the Northern Flank: (1) no U.S. troops are permanently stationed upon the territory of these three countries (or even on the territory of the old East Germany  the six eastern states of united Germany); (2) no U.S. nuclear weapons are positioned in these countries; and (3) the military forces of these three countries are not really fully-modernized and have not been integrated with U.S. forces in any substantive way. Of course, the United States can decide to transform one or more of these three features of low NATO into a feature of high NATO. To do so, however, will entail breaking yet another agreement between the United States and the old Soviet Union (in this case, the agreement that led to the reunification of Germany). It was a transformation in the Soviet threat (evidenced by the outbreak of the Korean War) that led to the transformation of the original NATO of 1949 (merely a military alliance) into the NATO of 1951 (with all the features of high NATO on the Central Front). On the other hand, despite the ups and downs of the Soviet threat over the forty years from 1949 to 1989, the United States never seriously attempted to transform the Northern Flank from low NATO to high NATO.

It was a serious change, therefore, when the United States installed U.S.-manned Patriot anti-missile batteries in Poland (and also in Romania) in the late 2000s. The Russians interpreted this initiative as a major degradation of the earlier U.S.-Russian agreement on the military status of Central Europe. This has contributed greatly to the downward spiral in U.S.-Russian relations in the 2010s and 2020s.

The Baltic States as Low NATO

When NATO was expanded in 2004 so as to include the Baltic states, this could have been interpreted as an expansion of NATOs new central front, i.e., an extension of Central Europe. The historical connections between Poland and Lithuania lent themselves to such an interpretation. Alternatively, the inclusion of the Baltic states could have been interpreted as an expansion of NATOs old Northern Flank, i.e., an extension of Northern Europe. The historical connections between Estonia and Latvia, on the one hand, and Finland and Sweden, on the other, lent themselves to such an interpretation. In either event, however, the expansion to the Baltic states could have been merely the expansion of low NATO. By itself, a version of low NATO could be made more acceptable to the Russians than the notion of NATO in general. They had already accepted a version of it on their Norwegian border for many years. And until the late 2000s, i.e., until the United States in 2006 pressed for the expansion of NATO to include Ukraine and Georgia and until violent conflict began in Ukraine in 2013, Russia more-or-less accepted the Baltic states being members of NATO.

Before 1945, what is now the Kaliningrad oblast or province of Russia was the northern half of East Prussia, a province of Germany. East Prussia was rich in its history (it had been a center first of the Teutonic knights and then of the Junker class), but poor in its economy (the Junkers grain-producing estates could not compete in an unprotected market). The city of Kaliningrad itself was then Konigsburg, known as the home of Immanuel Kant and also for its beautiful buildings and promenades. But between the two world wars, East Prussia was best known for being a strategic anomaly, separated from the rest of Germany by the famous Polish corridor. As such, it was a perpetual irritant in Polish-German relations; along with the city of Danzig, the Polish Corridor provided the occasion for the beginning of the Second World War.

The Soviet Union conquered East Prussia in 1945, annexing the northern half while giving the southern half to Poland. Virtually every German living in the Soviet portion was either expelled or killed, and virtually every building in Konigsburg was either destroyed or demolished. The Soviets renamed the city after Mikhail Kalinin, who served as the titular president of the Soviet Union for Stalin, and they rebuilt it as an especially ugly and dreary example of the typical Soviet style. They also made of the Kaliningrad region a vast military complex, which included the headquarters for the Soviet, and now the Russian, Baltic Fleet. Today, the province (whose population is about 900,000 and whose area is less than that of Connecticut) represents a miniature version of the worst aspects of contemporary Russia; its rates of narcotic abuse, infectious diseases (particularly AIDS, environmental pollution, and criminal activity are among the highest in the Russian Federation. Its condition, and its contrast with the three Baltic states and with the old East Prussia, is a vivid reminder of what a mess Russians can make of a part of Europe when they are utterly free to be themselves.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Kaliningrad province has been separated from the rest of Russia by the territory of independent Lithuania, by a sort of Lithuanian Corridor. Across this corridor there runs a military railroad line, which supplies the Russian military forces in the province. The strategic anomaly and dismal slum of Kaliningrad is a black hole located right at the center of NATOs military commitment to the Baltic states.7

During the Cold War era, West Berlin was a Western island and strategic anomaly, which was surrounded by a Soviet sea. For many years, it was a crisis in waiting, and indeed it became an actual crisis in 1948-1949 and again in 1958-1961. When the Baltic states were admitted into NATO, Kaliningrad became a Russian island and strategic anomaly surrounded by a NATO sea (along with the Baltic Sea itself). In its earlier incarnation during the interwar era as East Prussia, it was similarly a German island and strategic anomaly; it was also a crisis in waiting, and it became an actual crisis in 1939. Given these historical and geographical antecedents, it should not be surprising if, in what is supposed to be the new era of globalization, this obscure and backward place should also become a crisis in waiting, a blast from the past.

Of course the very vulnerability of Kaliningrad might make it into a hostage for Russian good behavior in international affairs, particularly their behavior in the Baltic region (rather like the vulnerability of West Berlin was a factor in restraining U.S. behavior on occasion). On the other hand, the Russians already have in place a nuclear tripwire in Kaliningrad (dozens of nuclear weapons), which makes the territory more like a landmine than a hostage.

Since the time of Peter the Great, no European power had ever made a commitment to defend the Baltic countries from Russia. As different as they were from each other, Sweden, Prussia, France, Germany, and Britain all concluded that the risks and costs of guaranteeing the independence of the Baltics from their massive Russian neighbor were beyond their interests and their capabilities. When the United States in 2004 made such a commitment to the Baltics, it was therefore doing something that was not only unprecedented in American history (the closest prototype had been the U.S. commitment to defend Norway and Denmark), but it was unprecedented in European history as well. This historical leap by the United States rested upon the then-current American conviction that, for decades to come, America would remain as strong and as committed as it was then and that Russia would remain as weak and as feckless as it was then. In the minds of the globalizing U.S. elites of the early 2000s, what is now the current balance (or imbalance) of American and Russian military power in the Baltic region was inconceivable, or at least they did not want to conceive of it. As such, they demonstrated that it was they, and not the Russians, who were weak and feckless.

Slovakia and Slovenia as Strategic Consolidation

The admission of Slovakia into NATO in 2004 actually removed a strategic anomaly, one that was created with the admission of only Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. This left Slovakia as a geographical wedge inserted between the other three states. When Slovakia joined, this wedge was transformed into an integral component of a neat and compact bloc of four.

The admission of Slovenia removed yet another strategic anomaly. Of course, many Americans confuse Slovenia with Slovakia (the two countries not only have similar names but nearly identical flags), and many others think that Slovenia is in the Balkans (it is actually geographically closer to the Alps and culturally closer to Austria). However, Slovenia had made more progress in establishing a liberal democracy, free market, and the rule of law than any other country then being considered for membership. Its admission also provided a direct geographical connection and transit route between Italy (and NATOs southern region) and Hungary, making NATOs central region even more coherent. (Of course, it also meant that Switzerland and Austria, two non-NATO states, were now completely surrounded by NATO members).

The Balkan States as Pseudo NATO

The expansion of NATO to include the Balkan states brought with it another set of anomalies. The hope of U.S. foreign policy elites was that the Balkan region would become an American sphere of influence. For most of the period since the middle of the 19th century, however, the majority of the Balkan countries had been in a Russian sphere of influence. This had been especially true of peoples that were both Orthodox in their religion and Slavic in their ethnicity, i.e., Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro. However, Romania (Orthodox but not Slavic) had often been in the Russian sphere. Of course, NATO has had an Orthodox member, Greece, since 1952, but Russia could always interpret Greece as an anomaly, more of a Mediterranean country than a Balkan one. Similarly, they could interpret Croatia (which was Roman Catholic in its religion and which was admitted into NATO in 2009) as being more of a Central-European country than a Balkan one. (The Croatians certainly think of themselves in this way.) However, the admission into NATO of Bulgaria and Romania in 2004 and then Albania in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and Northern Macedonia in 2020 have demonstrably put an end to any semblance of a Russian sphere in the Balkans. As for the American role in the Balkans, it is now an extreme version of pseudo-NATO, to the point that it is a sort of Potemkin NATO.

The Balkan states have never achieved political stability in the same way as the other members of NATO, be they in Western Europe or in Central Europe. Indeed they are hardly states in the European scene at all. They are the heirs to very different religious traditions (Orthodox or Islamic rather than Roman Catholic or Protestant) and to a very different imperial history (Ottoman rather than Habsburg), and their political cultures reflect this. If Greece and Turkey have been difficult and troublesome members of NATO, the Balkan states could prove to be so as well.

America in the Baltic States: Interests, Ideals, and Identity

The issue of the second round of post-Cold War NATO expansion and of concomitant American military commitments did not produce a new Great Debate in Washington, but it did represent a new chapter in an old and ongoing debate over American foreign policy. This is the perennial great debate which is variously defined as being between interests and ideals, between realism and idealism, or between conservatism and liberalism (recently joined by neo-conservatism as well). A conflict between these two perspectives can now arise over any of the countries which were admitted into NATO in the second round of expansion, but it will be especially intense and serious in regard to the Baltic states.

From the realist (and conservative) perspective, there are no U.S. national interests at stake in the Baltic states. These three small countries together add up to an area that is only 50 percent of Finlands (whose admission to NATO has never been seen as a U.S. national interest) and a population that is only 50 percent more. The United States has no significant strategic or economic interests in these countries, and certainly none that are anywhere near as weighty as the very substantial strategic risks and costs that come with a U.S. military commitment to them. When the Baltic states are weighed in regard to U.S. interests and when NATO is defined as a military alliance, their admission into NATO simply seems to have been reckless and irresponsible.

Conversely, from the idealist (and both the liberal and neo-conservative) perspective, there are fundamental American values at stake in the Baltic states. Over a period of more than seven centuries and in at least four successive incarnations, these countries have represented the easternmost extension of Western civilization; they have long seen themselves, and have been seen by other Europeans, as the East of the West.8

(Just as, ever since they were acquired by Peter the Great, they have been seen by the Russians as their window on the West, the West of the East.) Today, thirty years after the heroic restoration of their national independence, the Baltics have been extraordinarily successful in establishing and embodying the American values of liberal democracy, the free market, and the rule of law. If any countries ever deserved to become members of NATO by virtue of their achievements by American standards, these did. It was fitting indeed that, after one decade of national independence, they were welcomed into what expected to be many decades of American protection. When the Baltic states weighed in with regard to American values and when NATO is defined as a liberal-democratic and free-market community, their admission into NATO seems to be one of those truths that we hold to be self-evident.

In reality, what is at stake in the Baltic states is not just American interests or American ideals. It is American identity, in particular the reinvention of American identity by American political, business, and cultural elites to make it fit their new era of globalization. When America was by far the strongest power and the largest economy on the globe, these elites thought that it was no longer enough for America to be located only on the American continent and to be composed only of American citizens; that definition of America was now obsolete. However, when America was far from being the only strong power and the only large economy, it was not yet possible for America to be located equally on every continent and to be composed equally of every people on the globe; that definition of America was then premature. From the perspective of American elites, the definition of America that best fits the contemporary era  the era of globalization as an ongoing project, rather than the merely international era of the past or the fully global era of the future that they envision  is one that includes Europe, the continent that it most advanced along the American way, as part of the new and expanded American identity. When American elites have come to define America as the free market, the open society, liberal democracy, and the rule of law, they have come to define Europe as being, in all important respects, America. And this American Europe extends to the Baltic states.

In the twentieth century, America met and won three great challenges presented by the old international era  the First World War, the Second World War, and the Cold War. It did so because of its great military power and economic strength, to be sure, but more important were the sophistication and the determination with which these assets were deployed by successive generations of American statesmen. When either the sophistication or the determination lapsed, as with the Korean War and the Vietnam War, all of Americas military and economic assets could not prevent a debacle or a defeat.

The extension of an American military commitment to the Baltic states, up to the very border of a sullen and resentful Russia that was armed with a sense of historical entitlement and 5,500 nuclear weapons, presented to the United States a strategic and diplomatic challenge with particular complexities which were unprecedented. At the same time, the integration of the Baltic states into Americas Europe represented the culmination of an American calling, of a 225-year project of spreading American values and re-creating Western civilization in the American image until it has at last reached its easternmost frontier, the East of the West. To bring both the challenge and the calling into a stable synthesis, to create a Baltic order distinguished by both peace and justice, will require of the American statesmen of the 21st century a level of sophistication and determination that would have amazed those of the 20th.

From the Baltic States to Georgia and Ukraine

As we have seen, the last several countries admitted into full membership in NATO have been in the western Balkans, with this occurring one or two at a time. However, the United States inaugurated a whole new theater for NATO expansion as early as April 2008, when the George W. Bush administration pressed for the admission of both Georgia and Ukraine, two more former constituent republics of the Soviet Union. As states which border both on the Black Sea and on Russia itself, each is considered by the Russian security elite to be a potential threat to Russias vital security interests, and with Ukraine, even to Russias vital identity.

The Bush administrations choice of Ukraine is not wholly surprising, given its large area and population and its central location between Eastern Europe and Central Europe. However, the choice of Georgia is something of a puzzle. For what it is worth, in July 2008 I was having a conversation with the leading foreign-policy advisor to John McCain, the Republican candidate for president that year, and he explained that Vice President Dick Cheney had pressed to include Georgia, because it could be the location of a vital pipeline, transporting oil from the Caspian Sea region to the Black Sea and on to Europe, and in a way that would bypass and outflank Russia.

The reaction of Russia to the Bush administrations Georgia initiative was immediate and effective. In August 2008, it invaded Georgia and de facto annexed two of its provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This essentially made it impossible for NATO to admit Georgia into NATO membership because NATO rules specified that states with disputed borders are not eligible for membership.

As for Ukraine, the Bush administrations initiative immediately elevated Ukraine, and political and strategic developments within it, to the highest level of attention and scrutiny within the Russian security elite. Thus, in 2013, when the Obama administration began a large-scale program of support for anti-Russian political groups within Ukraine, the Russians began to prepare an effective response. The U.S. efforts culminated in March 2014 with the overthrow of the Russia-leaning president of Ukraine, and Russia immediately proceeded with the de facto invasion of two of Ukraines provinces or oblasts in the Donbas region  Donetsk and Luhansk  and with the actual formal annexation of the entire Crimea region. This too essentially made it impossible for NATO to admit Ukraine into membership.

In the midst of this March crisis, Henry Kissinger, the very exemplar of the realist approach toward American foreign policy, published an opinion piece in the Washington Post.9 In it, he argued that the future status of Ukraine should be a version of what has been the actual status of Finland during the Cold War. Kissingers article and policy proposal were knowledgeable, discerning, and wise. Consequently, it was utterly ignored by the Obama administration, which was driven by its own version of the globalization project and which was the very exemplar of the idealist approach toward American foreign policy. The administration continuously legitimated its globalization policy with repeated references to the idea of the liberal international order of rules and norms.

Despite all of the lurching back and forth in American domestic politics from the Obama, to the Trump, and to the Biden administrations, the general thrust of U.S. policy toward Ukraine has remained the same, right down to the current crisis arising from Putins ultimatum, backed as it is by Russias deployment of 100,000 troops near Ukraines border. Throughout this succession of U.S. administrations and continuity of U.S. policy, the whole Russian national-security establishment has been watching, and now, amidst the cumulating political disfunctions of the Biden administration, the Democratic Party, and the U.S. political system, it thinks that its moment of opportunity, its moment for laying down the red line, has come.

And so, the whole epic journey of the NATO expansion project since the end of the Cold Warfrom the Baltic to the Black Sea and from Central Europe right up to the vulnerable borders of Russia itselfis now reaching its endpoint, and its moment of truth. Will it all end with a negotiated settlement, allowing for the Russian vital security interests, but also for the American vital ideals of political, economic, and cultural liberties? Or will it end with either a bang, or a whimper, orif the latterwhose whimper will it be? This time, the whole world is watching.

____________

1. For the full text of the Russian demands, see The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Press release on Russian draft documents on legal security guarantees from the United States and NATO, December 17, 2021. This provides links to the two documents, Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on security guarantees and Agreement on measures to ensure the security of the Russia Federation and member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. For a relatively thorough and objective analysis, see Yale Macmillan Center, U.S. and NATO to open talks with Russia over Ukraine security guarantees, December 22, 2021.

2. An earlier version of the next several sections originally appeared as chapter 9, Europe: NATO Expansion versus the Russian Sphere, of my book, The American Way of Empire: How America Won a World  But Lost Her Way (Washington, D.C., Washington Books, 2019), pp. 215-230.

3. There was a debate of sorts, one between leading traditional scholars and practitioners of U.S. foreign policy, on the one hand, and the Bill Clinton administration and almost all of the U.S. political and economic elites, on the other, but the latter utterly ignored and marginalized the former. At the time, George Kennan, then the exemplar of the traditional realist view, stated that expanding NATO would be the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold-War era. George F. Kennan, A Fateful Error, The New York Times, February 5, 1997.

4. Thomas L. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree (New York: Anchor Books, 2000), chapters 6-7.

5. Kurth, American Way of Empire, especially chapter 1.

6. I proposed the Finnish model in my To Sing a Different Song, The Choices for the Baltic States, The National Interest, Summer 1999, pp. 81-87.

7. Ted Galen Carpenter, Is NATO Provoking the Russian Military Build-Up in Kaliningrad? Responsible Statecraft, December 14, 2020.

8. James Kurth, The Baltics: Between Russia and the West, Current History, October 1999, pp. 334-339.

9. Henry Kissinger, To Settle the Ukraine Crisis, Start at the End, Washington Post, March 5, 2014. (Also How the Ukraine Crisis Will End, Washington Post, March 6, 2014.)
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New York City School Operations Crumble Under Omicrons Weight Bloomberg. As more or less predicted.

Justices Hear Case on Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers C-SPAN

Sounds like the NYT is telling its readers the Biden OSHA vaccine mandate is going down Alex Berenson. To be very clear, Berenson is more wrong than right on the science re Covid (but then he annoyingly finds research thats been ignored that is important, so he isnt always wrong, but a problematic amplifier given his record). But as former NYT reporter doing a media interpretationthats within his skill set.

Citi warns US employees theyll be fired if they dont get COVID vaccine New York Post

Insurrection has led to dereliction of duty Dennis Laich and Lawrence Wilkerson, Military Times. On vax refusniks.

The CDC is facing a real crisis of trust. They can help restore trust by changing processes. Be transparent about how decisions are madewhats driven by science vs practicalities. Also, begin w draft guidelines & allow stakeholder input. Its not too late but a reset is needed. pic.twitter.com/ShXK255Wou  Leana Wen, M.D. (@DrLeanaWen) January 7, 2022

Our normally polite and measured IM Doc has had it:
(Natural News) Brussels Airlines reportedly made around 3,000 ghost flights, or flights with little to no passengers on board, over winter to avoid losing take-off and landing rights at European airports. The air carrier is expected to make many more by the end of March 2022.

Lufthansa Group, the airlines parent company, confirmed that there had been around 18,000 flights flown empty, including the 3,000 carried out by Brussels Airlines, which is Belgiums biggest air carrier.

European airlines are normally forced to operate at least 80 percent of their scheduled take-off and landing slots under regulations, or else they will lose their privileges. The rule was suspended by the EU at the height of the coronavirus pandemic but reintroduced at 50 percent level last spring. In December, the European Commission said that the current threshold will be raised to 64 percent for the April to November summer flight season.

Landing and departure slots for popular routes in large airports are very precious commodities in the industry, which is why airlines have to guarantee a high percentage of flights to keep their privileges. This is also why loss-making flights need to be maintained to ensure that the companies can keep their slots.

The use it or lose it practice has been accepted despite pollution concerns, but the pandemic, which put a slump in air travel, put the practice in question.

A spokesman for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that despite their urgings for more flexibility, the EU approved the 50 percent use rule for flights held for the winter, although it has clearly been unrealistic in the EU during the winter season due to the current crisis.

Belgian Federal Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet said that the standards set by the EU could only lead to failure, both from an ecological and economic standpoint. He also said that he has already written to the European Commission to demand that the rules be relaxed further to keep empty planes on the ground, adding that the EU needs to show more flexibility, given the significant drop in passengers and impact of omicron numbers on crewing the planned plane schedules.

However, Daniel Ferrie, a commission spokesman, said that the reduced demand was already reflected in the adjusted 50 percent threshold. He said that the Commission expects that operated flights follow consumer demand and offer the much-needed continued air connectivity to citizens.

With high vaccination rates and a standardized EU health certificate, Brussels still plans to raise the threshold to 65 percent as they are expecting a recovery in air travel. The Commission is hoping to take another step toward the return to normal over the summer, although it said it would monitor the drop in flight bookings linked to omicron.

European countries tighten travel rules

Other European countries such as France and Italy have tightened travel rules because of omicron, but governments seem to have virtually given up on the said restrictions. Britain, for instance, is moving to restore softer measures of last autumn.

IATA also said it is time for Britain to remove testing requirements entirely for vaccinated people, with director general Willie Walsh saying that its clear the extra measures had little to no impact on the spread of the new variant.

Major airlines like Lufthansa, Air France and KLM say that they are still counting on further flexibility and further decreasing of threshold level on the time slots.

More flexibility in the short term is required, not just in summer but also in the current winter schedule. Without this crisis-related flexibility, airlines are forced to fly with planes almost empty, just to secure their slots, a statement from Lufthansa said. (Related: COVID-19 hits aviation industry: American Airlines grounds fleet, suspends flights.)

This move, however, will put EU in a bind. On one hand, it needs to ensure that airport slots are open to fair competition, but on the other hand, it wants to keep polluting planes away from flying as much as possible, considering that EU held bold promises of environmental action, with Brussels hoping to reduce carbon emissions from the transport sector by 90 percent by 2050.

Watch the video below to learn more about what the new normal is for airplane travel:

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

Read more at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

RT.com

Stuff.co.nz

GoodWordNews.com

TheNationalNews.com
(Natural News) The Associated Press has declared, via its fact checkers, that the mistreatment of hundreds of people still in prison for being involved in the January 6th Capitol incident is a conspiracy theory.

(Article by Steve Watson republished from Summit.news)

Journalist Andy Ngo noted that there have been ongoing reports of abuse of those still incarcerated without trial, but that the AP says it isnt true because they get fed.

.@DavidKlepper, how did this pass the quality check for fact checking at AP? Claim: Jailed Jan. 6 riot suspects are mistreated. Klepper: False. Authorities say they get food. pic.twitter.com/JbUIz9eGpa  Andy Ngo ???? (@MrAndyNgo) January 5, 2022

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, the AP declares.

The piece also asserts that the so called QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley was even given organic food after requesting it.

Attorneys of some of the prisoners have previously alleged that they are regularly being denied access to their clients, who are being subjected to torture in jail.

The inmates and some of their lawyers have alleged that they are being held in solitary confinement and have been subject to beatings, threats and verbal abuse by guards.

One attorney described his client Ryan Samsels face as looking like a tomato that was stomped on, after a beating by correctional officers that left him blind in one eye, [with] a skull fracture and detached retina.

Inmate Ronald Sandlin has also alleged that minority guards are targeting the mostly white inmates with racial abuse, specifically noting that one guard shouted I hate all white people and your honky religion.

Attorney Joseph McBride appeared last year on CNN in an infamous interview where he vociferously alleged that his client and others are being brutally tortured five miles from the White House.

Watch:

Even CNN itself ran a piece regarding the mistreatment of at least one prisoner who had cancer and was released owing to unsafe conditions in prison.

Lawmakers including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar have spoken out on the matter:

.@RepGosars Full Remarks On The Horrible Treatment Of January 6th Defendants What is being described by these political prisoners is nothing short of human rights violations. The silence from the ACLU & Amnesty International is deafening. pic.twitter.com/Bt2NTMJ5Bi  The Columbia Bugle ?? (@ColumbiaBugle) December 7, 2021

Read more at: Summit.news
(Natural News) The scientist responsible for developing the AstraZeneca Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine voiced out his opposition to booster shots. Dr. Andrew Pollard, who also chairs the U.K.s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, said it was unsustainable to inject vaccine boosters twice a year.

During a Jan. 3 interview with the Telegraph, Pollard argued that injecting people with booster shots every four to six months is an unsustainable endeavor. We cant vaccinate the planet every four to six months. Its not sustainable or affordable. [If] your goal [with boosters] is to stop all infections, that is wrong, he said.

Instead, the scientist from the University of Oxford argued that vaccine rollouts should target the vulnerable instead of boosting entire populations. The future must [focus] on the vulnerable and make boosters or treatments available to them [in order] to protect them. Pollard and others from the Oxford Vaccine Group tied up with the drug manufacturer to create the AZD1222 adenoviral vector vaccine.

Pollard also said that subsequent shots after the third booster dose should be put on hold unless there is strong evidence that they are needed. His comment on fourth booster doses onward came amid several countries such as Israel authorizing a fourth vaccine dose.

We know that people have strong antibodies for a few months after their third vaccination. But more data [is] needed to assess whether, when and how often those who are vulnerable will need additional doses, he said.

In March 2021, the AstraZeneca vaccine became the center of controversy after it was linked to several instances of blood clots and low platelet count in vaccinated individuals. Because of this, a number of European countries temporarily halted the use of AZD1222. While some nations later resumed its use, a few permanently stopped using the vaccine on their populations. (Related: New research points to link between AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots.)

Pollard shares his thoughts on the unvaccinated, lockdowns

Pollard said during his interview with the Telegraph that he is not a huge fan of compulsory vaccination. Instead, he argues that clearer information is a better tool than vaccine mandates to convince people. [Compulsory vaccination] would make more sense in some Eastern European countries, where a quarter of the population is vaccinated, he explained.

The Oxford scientist classifies unvaccinated people into three particular groups  those unable to physically access clinics, those who have hesitations regarding the vaccines and those ardently against vaccination. He feels that the relatively small and young second group could benefit from a conversation with community leaders or a trusted person such as a physician.

Meanwhile, Pollard says the staunch anti-vaccine group may hold unshakable views and [may] be harder to impact. He adds that he is troubled by the supposed misinformation spread by people who belong to this group. Misinformation risks peoples lives. Its highly likely that people became seriously ill and died because of vaccine misinformation, he told the Telegraph. (Related: British media says hardcore vaccine refuseniks are terrorists that need to be deradicalized.)

According to Pollard, misinformation also played a role in the criticism lobbied toward the AstraZeneca vaccine. Some of this misinformation came intentionally from individuals against vaccinations, and others came from the unintentional effects of comments from politicians. Lets just say that comments made in mainland Europe affected people in Africa, he said.

He also expressed agreement with the prevailing opinion that the omicron variant causes less severe disease than the earlier delta strain. Furthermore, Pollard thinks lockdowns are not needed to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

At some point, society has to open up. When we do open, there will be a period with a bump in infections  which is why winter is probably not the best time. But thats a decision for the policymakers, not the scientists.

He nevertheless lauded the U.K.s plan B restrictions put in place by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a necessary response  to limit [COVID-19] cases and allow the National Health Service to stay afloat.

Watch the video below about Pollard claiming that herd immunity is impossible and seemingly referencing the omicron and delta variants, which are transmitting in vaccinated populations.

This video is from the WalkInVerse channel on Brighteon.com.

Vaccines.news has more about criticism of frequent vaccine booster doses against COVID-19.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

Telegraph.co.uk

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Some of the worlds most powerful leaders are continuing their campaign against those who refuse to take the experimental and dangerous Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron recently made waves and sparked intense criticism after he said the five million citizens of France who remain unvaccinated do not deserve their citizenship. He added that he wants to piss them off.

I am not about pissing off the French people, said Macron in an interview with the French daily newspaper Le Parisien. But as for the non-vaccinated, I really want to piss them off. And so we will continue to do so, to the bitter end. That is the strategy.

He declared that the worst enemies of French democracy are people who fall for what he called the lies and stupidity of vaccine skeptics. He then declared that his government is exerting as much pressure as it can on the unvaccinated by limiting, as much as possible, their access to activities in social life.

According to Macron, only around 10 percent of French citizens remain unvaccinated. He promised to reduce that number in the future by introducing even more restrictions against their ability to live freely.

How do we reduce that minority? We reduce it  sorry for the expression  by pissing them off even more, he said. So we need to tell them, from Jan. 15, you wont be able to go to the restaurant anymore, you wont be able to down one [at the bar], wont be able to have a coffee, go to the theater, the cinema.

At Macrons urging, the French parliament is currently deliberating a new restriction that would only allow the fully vaccinated to be eligible for the countrys health pass. The health pass acts as the countrys vaccine passport, and is required for access to most social venues and to be able to ride long-distance public transport. Currently, anyone who presents a recent negative COVID-19 test can use the pass. (Related: Vaccine passports DEACTIVATED for French citizens who fail to get THIRD shot the obedience demands never end.)

Even without these new COVID-19 vaccine restrictions, life for unvaccinated people in France remains difficult. Josh Sigurdson, the host of the World Alternative Media show, said that he was recently in France without a test, without a jab, and it was unbelievably torturous and is one of the worst experiences of my entire life.

I was losing my mind, he said during the Jan. 6 episode of his show. We saw women getting beaten by a group of heavily armored police for not having a vaccine walking through a mall. It was absolutely insane.

And [Macrons] not alone. Were getting interestingly similar comments from other globalists worldwide.

Biden tells parents to keep their kids away from unvaccinated people

In the United States, President Joe Biden recently ordered parents to not let their children anywhere near the unvaccinated. Biden said this from the Oval Office as he talked about the spread of the post-vaccine omicron variant of the coronavirus in the U.S.

And for parents with kids too young to be vaccinated, surround your kids with people who are vaccinated, he said. And make sure youre masking in public so you dont get COVID and give it to your kids.

For the parents of children who have yet to get vaccinated, he urged them to look out for their interests, and claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to protect them.

Only around 15 percent of children between the ages of five and 11 are vaccinated. This data strongly implies that Biden wants parents to keep their children away from a vast majority of children their own age, including many of their friends.

Unvaccinated kids are at risk, yet the vaccinated are going to have a way to protect them, he said. Get vaccinated. If youre vaccinated, get boosted.

Furthermore, Biden also ordered parents to make sure that their children follow social distancing protocols everywhere in school, from their classrooms to their school buses.

For Gods sake, please take advantage of whats available, he said at the end of his remarks, urging parents to give their children the deadly vaccine. Please. Youre going to save lives  maybe yours, maybe your childs. Please take advantage of what we already have, okay?

Watch the full Jan. 6 episode of World Alternative Media with host Josh Sigurdson and learn more about Macron and Bidens plans to discriminate against the unvaccinated:

Watch more videos from World Alternative Media on its channel on Brighteon.com.

Learn more about plans to discriminate against the unvaccinated in France, the United States and other parts of the world by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

ZeroHedge.com

NationalFile.com

BusinessInsider.com

Summit.news

RealClearPolitics.com
(Natural News) While reporting the news live the other day, Brazilian television reporter Alterosa Alerta Sul de Minas suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed.

The incident occurred just one week after the presenter of Jornal das 7 took a booster shot for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19). While speaking, Minas fainted suddenly and had to receive care from the Mobile Emergency Care Service (Samu) before being taken to the nearest hospital.

While on the way to the hospital, Minas suffered another five cardiac arrests, reports indicate. He is now at an intensive care unit (ICU) at Humanitas Hospital in Varginha.

Minas is said to have been extubated and is now conscious and talking.

He talked to his mother, his brother, even asked to go to the bathroom, reported Kadu Lopes during the Alterosa Alerta show following the incident. His recovery is the best possible. We are very happy with this news.

Minas previously bragged about getting injected, said he felt sorry for the unvaccinated

Back on December 28, Minas went on social media to brag about how he received his booster shot in obedience to the government.

Long live the third dose, Minas wrote, praising the jabs from Operation Warp Speed. Im sorry for the people who didnt have this opportunity. Vaccines save lives.

They apparently do not save your heart, though, as Minas has now learned the hard way.

The presenter who filled in for the Alterosa Alerta broadcasts also ran a segment about the conspiracy theories surrounding Minas sudden illness.

Many people doing politics about vaccination said he had had this sudden illness because of the third dose, the presenter said.

According to experts, it has already been discarded. The suspicion, according to the doctor who is attending him, is that Rafael has a congenital heart disease, the suspicion is that he was born with this heart problem, that no one knows and no one had identified. From now on, he is having all the service in the world.

A study published in the journal Circulation found that getting jabbed for the Fauci Flu increases ones risk of cardiac incidents by more than double.

Pregnant women, the same study found, also have a 29 times increased risk of suffering a stillbirth due to the injections.

Amazingly, the experts currently evaluating Minas claim that his sudden series of cardiac arrests had absolutely nothing to do with the booster shot.

Their lame suspicion is that Silva has a genetic congenital heart disease that he was born with it and no one knows, says The Gateway Pundit (TGP).

It is hard to imagine who is still buying the narrative that all of these post-injection injuries somehow have nothing to do with the injections. No matter what, we are expected to believe that the shots are safe and effective always, even when our own eyes tell us differently.

Amazingly, after having five cardiac arrests on the way to the hospital, it was announced to be not in any way associated with the booster shot he got last week, but rather due to his heart condition  it was normal, wrote one commenter at TGP.

Nothing to see here, move along. Hold on, last week I was offering to take a shot for $5 million, todays price is $10 million and climbing, this person further joked.

Another suggested that very soon there are going to be a lot of vacant properties at bargain prices due to all of the vaccine deaths that are soon to come, to which another responded that the CDC recently removed all stats on deaths from heart attacks from its database.

More of the latest news about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine damage can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) According to social media posts from the family and an obituary web page, a 13-year-old boy from New Jersey suddenly died from a heart attack on January 4, 2022, just seven months after his second Covid shot.

(Article by Kelen McBreen republished from Infowars.com)

A June 6, 2021, Facebook post from the childs mother, Jennifer ODrain, shows him giving a thumbs up from a doctors office along with the caption, Sec shot done.

Fast-forward less than seven months and Jennifers husband Trent wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post, Dear family and friends. Our son Jack had an unexplained cardiac arrest on New Years Eve shortly after the ball dropped while playing with his friends.

He is on life support at Childrens Hospital in Philadelphia, the father continued. Jennifer and I have been by his side, holding his hand and praying for healing and hope. The outpouring of support has truly been what is keeping us going. I love you all and please pray for our son. God help us.

Days later, Jack tragically passed away.

His obituary page reads, Jack will always be remembered for his big heart, love of learning and loyalty to family and friends. He was extremely bright; he attended Voorhees Middle School and was a part of the Science Olympiad Organization. Jack enjoyed playing the saxophone and practiced at the NJ School of Music in Medford. He loved the outdoors; hiking, camping and fishing were some of his favorite activities. Jack loved game nights playing monopoly, rummy 500 or watching a good movie but most of all it was the time he spent with his family and friends that he treasured the most.

According to an October 2021 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Males between 16 and 29 years of age have an increased risk of developing heart problems after receiving a second dose of coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNtech or Moderna.

One such heart problem that has been directly attributed to the experimental jabs is myocarditis, or the inflammation of the heart.

The CDC admits, Cases of myocarditis reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)external icon have occurred: After mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), especially in male adolescents and young adults. More often after the second dose.

Additionally, the Mayo Clinic states, The inflammation can reduce the hearts ability to pump and cause rapid or irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias). Severe myocarditis weakens the heart so that the rest of the body doesnt get enough blood. Clots can form in the heart, leading to a stroke or heart attack.

While Jacks untimely passing has not been declared a vaccine-related death as of now, an investigation is warranted and the world needs to be made more aware of the horrific adverse reactions the experimental shots can induce.

Infowars reached out to Jennifer ODrain for comment and has yet to receive a response.

Read more at: Infowars.com
(Natural News) Georgia officials have launched an investigation into Democratic ballot harvesting during the 2020 presidential election and subsequent U.S. Senate runoff, according to a report by Just The News.

(Article by republished from TheNationalPulse.com)

The Secretary of States office is also considering issuing to subpoenas to secure the evidence, detailed in a complaint filed by the voter integrity group True the Vote from November 30th.

The group assembled evidence that scores of activists worked with nonprofit groups to collect and deliver thousands of absentee ballots, often during wee-hour operations, to temporary voting drop boxes distributed around the state during the pandemic. The effort is at odds with Georgia laws that prohibit third-party activists from picking up and delivering ballots on behalf of voters.

Just The News summarized the voter integrity groups findings, including surveillance footage of activists dropping off batches of ballots and an individual admitting he was paid to harvest ballots in Atlanta:

The group informed the secretary its evidence included video footage from surveillance cameras placed by counties outside the drop boxes as well as geolocation data for the cell phones of more than 200 activists seen on the tapes purportedly showing the dates and times of ballot drop-offs, according to documents reviewed by Just the News.

The group also said it interviewed a Georgia man who admitted he was paid thousands of dollars to harvest ballots in the Atlanta metropolitan area during the November election and the lead-up to Jan. 5, 2021 runoff for Georgias two U.S. Senate seats, which were both captured by Democrats and ended GOP control of Congress. The group has yet to identify the cooperating witness to state authorities, referring to him in the complaint simply as John Doe.

The group does not allege the ballots delivered by couriers were fraudulent. Nonetheless, lawful ballots delivered by third parties to drop boxes would run afoul of Georgias law.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed in an interview aired Tuesday on the John Solomon Reports podcast that his office has deemed the allegations credible enough to open an investigation and possibly seek subpoenas from the State Election Board to secure evidence, adds the report.

That will be one of the processes were looking at if we have people that dont want to come forward for whatever concern, because we really need to get to the bottom of it, Raffensperger said during the interview. We just cant let it sit there and lie. So if it comes to that, then thats probably the next step that wed be looking at.

Read more at: TheNationalPulse.com
(Natural News) The southeastern European nation of Kosovo imposed a ban on cryptocurrency mining to reduce its energy consumption. The ban enacted Jan. 4 came amid the former Yugoslavian territory facing its worst power shortage in decades.

In a statement, Kosovar Economy and Energy Minister Artane Rizvanolli said: All law enforcement agencies will stop the production of this activity in cooperation with other relevant institutions that will identify the locations where there is cryptocurrency production. She added that the decision to ban crypto mining was done following the recommendation of Kosovos Technical Committee on Emergency Measures for Energy Supply.

These actions are aimed at addressing potential unexpected or long-term lack of electricity production capacities, transmission capacities or distribution of energy in order to overcome the energy crisis without further burdening the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, Rizvanolli explained.

Kosovo has become a favorite spot for young crypto miners in recent years due to its relatively affordable energy prices, with one miner who owns 40 graphics processing units among them. He spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity that he pays 170 ($192) per month for electricity. In turn, he earns a monthly profit of 2,400 ($2,713)  more than 14 times his monthly power bill.

Crypto mining has also been on the rise in northern Kosovo. The area is heavily populated by Serbs who do not recognize Kosovos independence and refuse to pay for the electricity they use. Serbia itself disputes the countrys legitimacy, claiming it as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.

Home to 1.8 million people, Kosovo currently imports more than 40 percent of the power it consumes. Winter often causes demand for energy to spike as people mainly use electricity for heating. However, Kosovar authorities introduced power cuts in December 2021 amid outages of coal-fired power plants and high import prices for energy.

Also in December 2021, the country declared a 60-day state of emergency. The declaration sought to allow the Kosovar government to allocate more money to energy imports, introduce extra power cuts and impose other tough measures to help the country tide over the energy shortage.

Kosovos ban follows Chinas crypto crackdown

Kosovo is not the only country that has officials crack down on domestic crypto-related activities. Several other countries  with China most notable among them  fully banned them in phases last year.

The communist country first banned financial institutions from engaging in any crypto transactions in May 2021. The Peoples Bank of China (PBOC)  its central bank  summoned several officials from financial entities the following month. Representatives from payment service provider Alipay and four big banks appeared before the PBOC, where they were reminded of the ban on crypto transactions. (Related: Chinas central bank calls on top executives to reinforce crypto ban.)

In a Jun. 21, 2021 statement, the PBOC reiterated that crypto activities disrupt financial order and also breed risks of criminal activities [such as] illegal cross-border asset transfers and money laundering. The five entities summoned pledged to step up scrutiny into crypto-related activities and immediately discontinue services meant to facilitate crypto trading.

China later imposed a total ban on all crypto in September 2021, citing concerns about the environmental effects of crypto mining and its possible criminal use. Because of Beijings insidious crackdown, several crypto miners in the country were forced to either sell out or go abroad to continue operations. Reuters talked to some of them in June 2021. (Related: Chinas Central Bank bans all cryptocurrency transactions.)

Many miners are exiting the business to comply with government policies. Mining machines are selling like scrap metal, Sichuan-based crypto mining farm operator Mike Huang said. Formerly the No. 2 crypto mining hub in China after Xinjiang, Sichuans local government issued a ban on the practice.

Huang Dezhi, another crypto mining farm operator in Sichuan, said his team is mulling a move overseas. If the government doesnt reverse the policy, we will have no other choice. You cannot defy central government decisions, he explained. Yunnan-based crypto mining project operator Liu Hongfei meanwhile said: If the government doesnt allow it, I just have to quit. You dont fight the Chinese Communist Party.

On the other hand, crypto mining firm BIT Mining quickly spirited away its machines to neighboring Kazakhstan. It said that its rigs were delivered to the Central Asian country in three batches, and the company has invested in crypto mining data centers located in Texas.

We are accelerating our overseas development for alternative high-quality mining resources, BIT Mining CEO Xianfeng Yang said.

Watch the video below about Chinas crypto ban.

This video is from The Morgan Report channel on Brighteon.com.

BitcoinCollapse.news has more about countries like Kosovo and China banning crypto-related activities.

Sources include:

TheNewAmerican.com

GazetaExpress.com

Bloomberg.com

Reuters.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) A team of Canadian lawyers is pursuing justice against the countrys highly oppressive Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions and mandates.

They put together a petition called The Free North Declaration that outlines a pathway forward to return Canada back to the freer country it used to be before the plandemic.

We are Canadian lawyers, the Declaration explains.

In our country, civil liberties are under unprecedented attack. Governments, public health authorities, universities, public and private employers, municipalities, and businesses are trampling Canadians rights and freedoms. Our free society is at risk.

Canadas extreme restrictions are impeding the ability of citizens to work, shop, travel and socialize, the document further states. And all of this is being strategically done, the lawyers contend, to erode civil liberties in such a way as to avoid run[ning] afoul of the law or to trigger protections in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms such as liberty and security of the person, the freedoms of association, assembly, expression, conscience, religion, and mobility rights.

Where Covid rules appear to have violated the Charter, courts have deferred to the state to take whatever measures it deems necessary, whether demonstrably justifiable or not, it further states.

Trading liberty for security is a fast-track to tyranny

Canada has even gone so far as to introduce concentration camps for the Fauci Flu where Canadians can be sent for cleansing from the virus.

Those camps are currently said to be voluntary, but as we noted, restrictions that have started out voluntary (i.e., masks and vaccines) quickly became mandatory once government officials realized that many people are blindly pledging their allegiance to the plandemic with their compliance.

Legislatures have passed statutes that delegate broad discretionary powers to unelected public health officials, who then create draconian legal restrictions by fiat, without public scrutiny or open debate, the Declaration says.

These directives give private and public employers cover to suspend and dismiss workers who insist on their right to decide their own medical treatments. In our system of law, no principle is more important than the right to control your own body and to make your own medical and health decisions.

Because many people were driven into a frenzy by media hysteria and government propaganda, selling such tyranny was apparently easier than anticipated. This is why it continues to expand, especially in more left-leaning areas where the populace has been groomed and brainwashed into submission.

An anxious populace, swept up in a deliberate campaign of fear, now believes that individual liberties upon which our liberal democracy is founded are dangerous and selfish, the Declaration further warns. A growing collectivism that demands safety at the expense of autonomy shapes public policy.

Even the court systems have been radicalized into covid fascism, despite the fact that they are supposed to neutrally defend peoples constitutional rights. Like the United States, Canada has its own constitution that delineates the rights of its citizens, and many of these rights are now being trampled in the name of saving lives.

Access to justice and the rule of law are now at risk, the Declaration adds.

Unvaccinated persons are banned from juries, throwing into question the ability of all to obtain a fair trial heard by a jury of their peers. Irrational policies born of panic affect no one more than disadvantaged communities who already suffer from lack of access to justice.

The situation is serious, both in Canada and here in the United States. What these lawyers are doing is valiant and worthy of support. Take some time to read the full Free North Declaration to learn more.

You will also find other stories about this topic at Fascism.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheBurningPlatform.com

FreeNorthDeclaration.ca

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The acting health commissioner for New York state admitted to over-reporting the number of children being hospitalized due to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). Dr. Mary Bassett defended her actions as a way to encourage children to get injected with the COVID-19 vaccine.

Bassett made this admission during a Dec. 28, 2021 press conference. She said that only a small number of children being admitted to hospitals have COVID-19, and there was no epidemic of infection at all. However, a handful of rare pediatric hospitalizations were lumped in the actual count  increasing the total reported number of children sent to hospital for COVID infection.

The numbers that we gave on pediatric admissions werent intended to make it seem that children were having an epidemic of infection. These were small numbers that we reported in our Health Alert [and were] based on 50 hospitalizations. It really is to motivate pediatricians and families to seek the protection of vaccination, she said.

Bassetts admission appeared to paint a different picture compared to a press release issued by her department on Christmas Eve. The New York State Department of Health warned of an upward trend in pediatric hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in its Dec. 24 press release. The department zeroed in on New York City, which recorded four-fold increases in the number of children being admitted for COVID-19 starting on the week of Dec. 5 through the week of Dec. 24.

The press release also pointed out that for the week of Dec. 19, the children hospitalized for COVID-19 were not fully vaccinated. On the other hand, only a quarter of hospitalized children aged 12 to 17 were fully vaccinated. These startling trends underscore the critical importance of protecting our children from COVID-19, the statement said. (Related: STUDY: Vaccinating children against COVID makes zero sense; more children are harmed by the vaccines than from COVID.)

The risks of COVID-19 for children are real. We are alerting New Yorkers to this recent striking increase in pediatric COVID-19 admissions so that pediatricians, parents and guardians can take urgent action to protect our youngest New Yorkers. We must use all available safe and effective infection control, prevention and mitigation strategies, Bassett said in the press release.

COVID hospitalization rates often overcounted

Bassetts admission comes less than a month after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul named her as the new health commissioner. She replaced her predecessor Howard Zucker, who resigned in September 2021 following a similar issue on COVID-19 numbers.

Zucker stepped down from his post following backlash of his handling of the pandemic in the state, particularly when he agreed with former Gov. Andrew Cuomos decision to downplay the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

It remains unclear whether the children hospitalized for COVID-19 were actually admitted because of the virus. Even National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged this issue during an interview with MSNBC. (Related: Leaked video reveals doctors, hospital officials discussing how to inflate COVID-19 numbers to scare people into getting vaccinated.)

According to Fauci, many children are admitted to hospitals with COVID compared to because of COVID. He added that the latter is being over-counted because of hospital protocol that require children to be tested for COVID-19 despite being there for a different illness.

If you look at the children that are hospitalized  many of them are hospitalized with COVID as opposed to because of COVID. If a child goes to [the] hospital, they automatically get tested. They get counted as a COVID-hospitalized individual when in fact  they go for a broken leg, appendicitis or something like that.

Watch the video below about COVID-19 vaccines being the actual cause of childrens hospitalization and death.

This video is from the Freedom Spirit Power channel on Brighteon.com.

Deception.news has more about the over-counting of COVID-19 hospitalizations in children.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

Health.NY.gov

NBCNewYork.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, director of the medical ethics program at the University of California Irvine, has been fired after nearly 15 years at the university. His only crime was refusing to get the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

In a blog post, Kheriaty revealed that he never could have imagined that the university would dismiss him and other doctors, nurses, faculty, staff and even students for the arbitrary and capricious reason of being unvaccinated. Everyone at the university seemed to be a fan of my work until suddenly they were not, he said.

He said that once he challenged the universitys policies, he immediately became a threat to the health and safety of the community. He also accused the university leadership of being uninterested in scientific debate or ethical deliberation, saying that no amount of empirical evidence about natural immunity or vaccine safety and efficacy mattered to them.

Kheriaty filed a lawsuit against the University of California Board of Regents and the systems president, Michael V. Drake, in August in the U.S. District Court, on behalf of those who were not in a position to stand up and assert their rights, such as medical students, residents, nurses and staff who dont have the credibility that comes with being a physician at the hospital. He also said that he was seeking to block the vaccine mandate and seek a return-to-work order despite being unvaccinated. He also requested the court to declare the mandate unconstitutional.

In the lawsuit, Kheriaty said that the policy is illogical and cannot withstand strict scrutiny or rational basis test, because naturally immune individuals like himself have at least as good or better immunity to the virus than those who are vaccinated.

U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna, however, ruled against Kheriaty, stating that the UC system vaccine mandate is rationally related to the spread of COVID-19.

Kheriaty appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, noting that there are some legal questions that the court needs to answer regarding the limits of the mandates during public health emergencies.

Kheriaty, a vocal opponent of the systems vaccine mandate, has penned several opinion articles on the topic for different publications. He said that forcing those with natural immunity to be vaccinated introduces unnecessary risks without commensurate benefits and violates their rights guaranteed under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. While he does not oppose vaccination, Kheriaty stated that individuals should have the right to decide whether or not they get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the UC system adopted a policy that requires all students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus before they are allowed on campus, in a facility or in an office. Further, these individuals are required to show proof of vaccination.

The policy stated that employees who choose not to be vaccinated and have not been approved to exemption, accommodation or deferral, can put other peoples health at risk, and may face disciplinary actions. The policy has also been updated to require booster shots for students, faculty and staff alike.

Kheriaty focuses on natural immunity

The lawsuit claims that Kheriatys exposure to COVID-19 back in 2019 has given him superior immunity against the virus compared to those who have been vaccinated. He noted in the complaint that natural immunity prevents a virus from replicating; in contrast, vaccines only appear to reduce symptoms in some, but may still infect an individual and transmit the virus. (Related: The insane vaccine industry now wants you FIRED from your job if you arent vaccinated.)

The suit also cited an email, reportedly from a UCI dean to medical school faculty and residents, that stated there had been a substantial increase in breakthrough infections among vaccinated health care workers in the university.

On December 17, he announced his formal dismissal from UCI after being placed on investigatory leave since October. Kheriaty said that the UC system officials refused to allow him to use his accumulated paid time off after he was placed on an unpaid suspension that did not allow him to contact students or patients.

He also said that he was ordered to stay off-campus for being unvaccinated, but he could not take a vacation at home for the same reason. In violation of every basic principle of just and fair employment, the university tried to prevent me from doing any outside professional activities while I was on unpaid suspension, he wrote. (Related: 175 Employees fired from multi-state healthcare system for not getting vaccinated.)

He also said that the university is pressuring him to resign by restricting his ability to earn an income in and out of the university.

Despite lawsuits, Kehriaty said he isnt bitter over the matter, as his colleagues were not responsible for his firing, Meanwhile, he believes that the people at the top of the UC system are simply misguided in their stance.

Im moving forward and moving on and looking for other professional opportunities, he said.

Watch the video below to learn more about vaccines and natural immunity:

This video is from the The New American channel on Brighteon.com.

Read about how governments and institutions are forcing people to get vaccinated and more at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

OCRegister.com

MedPageToday.com
(Natural News) Unvaccinated residents living in Australias Northern Territory (NT) are now prohibited from exercising or going to work. The new measure  another example of medical tyranny in the country  comes as the state reports 256 new Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) infections on Jan. 6, with 27 cases of community transmission.

NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner confirmed the new measures, which would run from Jan. 6 until Jan. 10. He told SBS News on Jan. 6: Todays escalation in case numbers is concerning. Our community transmission rate has grown in recent days.

The fully vaccinated can continue as they were. For people who are not vaccinated, lockdown rules will apply to everyone aged 16 and above. Unlike previous lockdown rules, unvaccinated people will not be able to leave home to go to work or for exercise, he added. Those partially vaccinated  people who only had their first shot of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine  are also subject to the restrictions.

Under the Jan. 6 mandate by Gunner, unvaccinated NT residents will be prohibited from traveling further than 30 kilometers from their residents. However, the ban on the unvaccinated would not apply under three circumstances  if they will access medical treatment, purchase essential goods and services and provide care and support for a family member or person unable to support themselves.

Aside from this, Gunner also implemented a lockout for excluded areas in the territory from Jan. 6 to Jan. 10. It will then transition to a vaccine passport system once the lockout expires. Only residents and essential workers will be allowed to enter the excluded communities with the NT, with a negative rapid antigen test required of them.

The chief minister said during a Jan. 6 press conference: COVID is often an exponential problem. One positive case in the community usually sees more than one person affected. There has been plenty of time for people to get vaccinated. People who are not vaccinated present the greatest risk of spreading the virus, and are the most at risk of becoming seriously ill if they get the virus. (Related: Australian northern territory chief minister states he is not harming aboriginal people, he is protecting them with forced vaccinations.)

Gunner gunning for vaccine passports in the Northern Territory

The chief minister defended his move to impose a vaccine passport system in the territory during the press briefing. He argued that it was not radical to do so, seeing that other Australian states have implemented the same measure.

Were doing this early as a sustainable measure that provides the best ability to control community transmission and who ends up in our hospitals, Gunner said.

Under the system, patrons will need to show proof that they are fully vaccinated by either a vaccination certificate issued by Australias Medicare universal health insurance system or the Territory Check-In app. The vaccine passport is mandatory before residents can enter high-risk hospitality settings. These include pubs, casinos, restaurants, cinemas and ticketed events.

According to Gunner, the vaccine passport system set to be implemented in the NT is meant to keep residents as safe as possible while eating at a restaurant or drinking at a pub. He emphasized that the responsibility of presenting vaccine passports before entry lies with individual customers, but managers can ask for proof of vaccination if need be.

I know there are unvaccinated people who can be impolite; I have experienced that. I do not want our hard-working front line workers to experience that. If there are troublemakers who try to breach this direction, call the police. (Related: ZERO FREEDOM: Zero COVID strategy will see Australians lose freedoms, face jail time for entering shops without a vaccine passport.)

The mandates Gunner implemented in the NT have no relation whatsoever to the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations  only 23 people  across the entire territory. Only two people are in intensive care, with one of them on a ventilator.

Watch the video below about Gunner doubling down on the no vaccine, no freedom message for workers.

This video is from the Tim Truth channel on Brighteon.com.

MedicalMartialLaw.com has more about draconian measures against the unvaccinated in Australia.

Sources include:

InfoWars.com

SBS.com.au

SkyNews.com.au

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Dozens of lawmakers have signed onto an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to toss out Joe Bidens unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal workers, contractors and many private businesses.

As reported by LifeSite News, 183 lawmakers have signed the friend of the court brief urging the justices to toss the mandates, which were issued through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in November.

[OSHA] was never meant to be the health police, the lawmakers wrote, according to the outlet. Moreover, mandatory vaccinations do not stop individuals from contracting and transmitting COVID-19.

Vaccinated workers can still contract and transmit COVID-19, including the new Omicron variant. Given that fact, imposing masking and testing restrictions only on unvaccinated workers makes no sense because all workers regardless of vaccination status remain potential carriers and transmitters of the virus, the lawmakers added.

The letter came ahead of oral arguments before the high court this week in a case brought by Ohio and the National Federation of Small Businesses, both of which are suing over OSHAs mandate for companies with 100 or more employees requiring workers to either be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

In addition, the justices heard arguments in a case pushing back on the federal mandate for healthcare workers who work at facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding.

Congressional members have an interest in the powers they delegate to agencies not being abused, the lawmakers noted in the brief. The legislative authority vested in the federal government belongs to Congress, not the Executive branch. In this case, the promulgation by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) of a sweeping, nationwide vaccine mandate on businesses intrudes into an area of legislative concern far beyond the authority of the agency.

The letter also cites the Biden regime for exploiting OSHAs seldom-used emergency temporary standard provision to issue the mandates, saying it falsely creates a guise of legality and adding that OSHA has never had such authority and none has been delegated to the agency, implicitly or explicitly, by the Legislative Branch.

In short, there is no mouse hole in which Congress could have even tried to hide the elephant of the ETS mandate here, they wrote.

In addition, the lawmakers said that there are serious, legitimate concerns with the efficacy of the various vaccines, but that even if they were more reliable and effective, mandates and such have historically rested with states, not the federal government, and certainly not the Executive Branch.

Without clear congressional authority in the regulatory scheme for such an expansion of agency authority into the realm of state police powers, it may not be assumed to exist, they wrote.

Moreover, the sudden discovery of authority under the OSHA Act confirms that it was never intended to displace state authority in this area, the lawmakers added.

During oral arguments this week, two of the courts liberals made some false assumptions regarding the virus and vaccines, as The Federalist reported:

Justice Elena Kagan suggested that getting the vaccine reduces the spread of COVID-19, a dubious claim thats contested by the rapidly rising number of breakthrough cases worldwide. Kagans opinion is that this is the policy that is most geared to stopping all this.

Theres nothing else that will perform that function better than incentivizing people strongly to vaccinate themselves. So, you know, whatever necessary means, whatever grave means, why isnt this necessary and grave? she asked.

We do not contest that COVID is a grave danger, National Federation of Independent Business attorney Scott Keller responded. But when the power for it to be necessary an agency has to consider and explain alternatives.

Justice Stephen Breyer also appeared to suggest that being vaccinated would stop the spread of the virus, claiming the argument that more people would leave the workforce due to the mandates was invalid because more may quit when they discover they have to work together with unvaccinated others because that means they may get the disease.

Sotomayor also falsely claimed that hospitals are almost all full capacity, adding that more than 100,000 children are hospitalized with COVID and on ventilators.

The current national pediatric COVID census per HHS is 3,342. Many/most incidental, American Commitment chair Phil Kerpen noted in response.

This is just absolutely astonishing. 100,000 children in serious condition, per Sotomayor. Where do these people obtain their misinformation? The current national pediatric COVID census per HHS is 3,342. Many/most incidental.  Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 7, 2022

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

Pandemic.news
(Natural News) If leftists truly wish to crack down on COVID misinformation, the internet would currently be flooded with fact-checks rating the recent statements of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as false.

(Article by Michael Austin republished from WesternJournal.com)

On Friday, the Court began its oral arguments in the case of the National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, which asks the Court to find whether or not it is constitutional for the Biden administration to enforce a vaccine mandate on private employers.

During oral arguments, Sotomayor forwarded various statements concerning COVID and the omicron variant that are demonstrably false.

Here is Justice Sotomayor saying that hospitals are almost all full capacity and there are over 100,000 children hospitalized with covid many on ventilators. None of those things are true. Not even close. pic.twitter.com/MqWEL2UvJg  Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 7, 2022

We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators, Sotomayor said, referring to the alleged effects of the omicron variant of COVID-19.

We have over 100,000 children, which weve never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators.

J. Sotomayor says Omicron is as deadly as Delta. #SCOTUS  Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) January 7, 2022

Sotomayor also claimed that omicron is as deadly as delta, according to Fox News journalist Shannon Bream.

Sotomayor seems to have pulled the 100,000 children statistic from out of thin air.

According to the Washington Examiner, the current national pediatric COVID census conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services shows there to be roughly 3,342 children with COVID in hospitals.

The outlet goes on to note that this number is merely the children hospitalized with COVID, which is very different than being hospitalized by COVID.

This is just absolutely astonishing. 100,000 children in serious condition, per Sotomayor. Where do these people obtain their misinformation? The current national pediatric COVID census per HHS is 3,342. Many/most incidental.  Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 7, 2022

More broadly, Sotomayors claims that omicron is deadly and more dangerous to children appear to be utterly baseless.

The majority of mainstream news outlets  including even the left-leaning New York Times  have reported the exact opposite.

For example, on Dec. 28, the outlet reported that, while child hospitalizations are on the rise, preliminary data suggests that compared with the Delta variant, Omicron appears to be causing milder illness in children, similar to early findings for adults.

Another report from the Times published on Tuesday found that while hospitals are filling up, ICUs are not, suggesting the omicron variant is likely much less lethal when compared with other variations of COVID-19.

Setting aside her unabashed liberal agenda, Sotomayor is undoubtedly an intelligent, professional woman at the top of her field.

That reality only makes this story all the more shocking. These are simple and easy things to check. The fact that such a woman would so blatantly spread COVID-19 misinformation to push a government agenda is appalling.

Of the two explanations for why Sotomayor would spread these falsehoods, its hard to know which is more terrifying  that she did so willingly to prop up an authoritarian federal mandate or that a sitting Supreme Court justice was so completely ignorant of the facts of a case she is ruling on.

Read more at: WesternJournal.com
Brazil has some of the world's most spectacular sights, from the Iguazu Falls to the Lencois Maranhenses National Park.

One of the most beautiful sites in Brazil appears to be Ilha da Queimada Grande, located about 90 miles off the coast of So Paulo.

The island is well-known to most Brazilians, but few would consider visiting because it is home to up to 4,000 golden lancehead vipers, one of the world's deadliest snakes.

Mystery Behind the Snake Island

These venomous snakes can kill a human in less than an hour, and there are countless local legends who tell of what happened to people who ventured into Snake Island, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

A fisherman is said to have made the mistake of landing on the island in quest of bananas, only to be found dead in his boat, drenched in blood and bitten by snakes days later.

There are those who think pirates hide their wealth in snakes, although the island's snake population has grown steadily for thousands of years without human interference.

Sea levels rose enough to cut off Ilha da Queimada Grande from the rest of Brazil about 11,000 years ago, forcing the snake species that inhabited on the island-most likely jararaca snakes-to diverge from their mainland counterparts.

On Ilha da Queimada Grande there were no ground level predators for the snakes, allowing them to reproduce at a high rate.

Slithering upward in search of prey, the snakes pounced on the island's seasonal influx of migrant birds. Once their prey has been bitten, snakes wait for the poison to take effect before hunting again.

Due to the fact that golden lancehead vipers are unable to locate the birds they bite, they have evolved venom that is three to five times stronger than the poison found in mainland snakes and is capable of rapidly killing most prey (and melting human flesh).

Also Read: Serpent Anatomy: Unique Markings Reveal Slithery Snakes' Evolutionary History

Is the Snake Island Worth Visiting?

Visitors to Ilha do Queimada Grande are rigorously monitored by the Brazilian authorities. The island of Ilha da Queimada Grande is unlikely to be a popular tourist destination even if it weren't for the government prohibition, since each square meter on the island has one snake in it.

Even with treatment, victims still have a 3% risk of dying from a bite from a golden lancehead, which carries a 7 percent death rate. In addition to renal failure and necrosis, the venom of the cobra can also cause brain hemorrhaging and intestinal bleeding.

Visiting the island without a doctor is prohibited by Brazilian law, in case of an unfortunate encounter with the native population.

Threats Facing the Snakes

To study the golden lanceheads, biologists and researchers have been given permission to visit the island on a particular basis.

Wildlife smugglers, also known as biopirates, have been known to frequent Ilha da Queimada Grande because of high black market demand from scientists and animal collectors. The snakes are caught and sold illegally; a single golden lancehead can fetch between $10,000 and $30,000.

The snake is presently designated as critically endangered on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as a result of high demand.

Related Article: Viral Snake Photo on Instagram Led to Discovery of Previously Unknown Species From Himalayas

For more news, updates about snakes and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Farmers in England will be granted taxpayers' cash to rewild their land under proposals for large-scale nature recovery initiatives outlined by the government. As a result, enormous expanses of land will be re-managed to protect species, provide habitat for wildlife, and restore river and stream health.

Early Days

During the first two years of the initiative, bids are being accepted for 10-15 prototype projects, each encompassing at least 500 hectares and up to 5,000 hectares, for a total of nearly 10,000 hectares - almost ten times the size of Richmond Park in London. Complete rewilding or other kinds of management focusing on species recovery and wildlife habitats might be used in these experiments.

Sand lizards, water voles, and curlews will be targeted to improve the status of nearly half of England's most endangered species.

This summer, a final decision on which should go ahead will be made, but the actual financing has not been announced since bids will be compared to establish value for money. However, the total money available for such initiatives will likely reach 700m to 800m a year by 2028. By 2042, the government hopes to have similar "landscape rehabilitation" programs covering up to 300,000 hectares of England - nearly the size of Lancashire.

Ministers also intend to provide subsidies to English farmers in exchange for "local nature recovery." Planting more trees, rehabilitating peatlands or wetlands, and allowing room for wildlife habitats are some of the smaller-scale initiatives they may take on their farms. These payments, announced later this year, are expected to reach 800 million per year by 2028.

Related Article: Experts are Working on a More Inclusive Definition of 'Green Infrastructure'-

Wildlife Conservation Effort

According to George Eustice, the secretary of state for environment, food, and rural affairs, the objective is for wildlife and nature conservation to be a matter of course for most farms alongside food production. "We want to see viable farm companies generating healthy food and backing a flourishing rural economy, where nature is recovering, and people have greater access to it," he is due to address farmers at the Oxford Farming Conference on Thursday. Through our new programs, we are going to collaborate with farmers and land managers to reverse the reduction in species, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, enhance forest, improve water and air quality and create more room for nature."

As well as the two new programs - landscape recovery and local nature recovery - farmers will also be able to apply for incentives to assist them in safeguarding their soil and implementing other basic environmental protection measures under proposals unveiled last year. As part of the post-Brexit revamp of the 2.4 billion-a-year farming subsidies into a system of "public money for public benefits," funding for these initiatives will also reach around 800 million each year. This implies that farmers are compensated for improving the environment rather than the land they grow.

Stopping Wildlife Loss

By 2030, the government hopes to stop the loss of wild species abundance, manage 30% of land for the good of nature, and ensure that farmers contribute to the climate crisis rather than add to it. Green campaigners were skeptical about whether the new payments would be enough to meet the government's goal of halting the loss of wild species abundance and managing 30% of land for the good of nature. The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, and National Trust organizations said clarification on how the initiatives would function was still missing.

Trajectory

As a result, green groups are skeptical that the new subsidies will be adequate to accomplish the government's goal of preventing the loss of wild species abundance and managing 30% more land for the welfare of nature by 2030, as well as guaranteeing that farmers contribute rather than add to the climate catastrophe. The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, and National Trust organizations said clarification on how the initiatives would function was still missing.

The plans would fail unless more were done to assist farmers transition away from intensive techniques, said Jo Lewis, the policy and strategy director of the Soil Association. This might involve setting aggressive objectives for lowering pesticide and fertilizer use.

Also Read: Environmental Justice: How and Why Environmental Activism Became Mainstream

For more news update about Environmental Action, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have successfully trained goldfish to drive a small land vehicle.

Their publication in Behavioral Brain Research outlines how the fish were trained to use the vehicle, as well as their navigational skills. By swimming in specific directions in a tank fitted in place of a driver's seat, the creature may control a Fish Operated Vehicle.

Testing Navigational Ability of Goldfish

In the past, it has been discovered that some animals, such as rats, have a surprising ability to drive around in their own little rat automobiles. Goldfish were shown to have the same talents as humans in this new study.

To gain a better understanding of navigational abilities in general, the team in Israel worked on their project.

Additionally, the researchers were interested in learning more about the domain-transfer process used by goldfish and other species to adapt their navigational abilities to new surroundings, according to Physorg.

Researchers wanted to remove a single species out of its natural habitat and put it to the test in a completely new setting. There were six goldfish placed in the vehicle's water tank in the middle of the test arena for the experiment.

The fish had a target on the walls of the little arena made of colored corrugated boards.

Also Read: Young Boy Caught a Massive "Foot-Long" Goldfish, Proving Invasive Goldfish Epidemic

Further Research on Navigational Skills

Fish-operated vehicle (FOV): a small fish tank set on a wheeled frame was developed to investigate. An LIDAR system was also attached to the FOV along with a pole-mounted camera and a processor.

LIDAR and a camera were used to locate the fish in its aquarium, as well as the orientation of the tank in relation to the surroundings. The data was analyzed by the processor to determine which direction the field of view should be moved in. The FOV was set to move in the direction of the target when the test fish pointed at it.

When the fish were left alone in their small fish tanks, the researchers observed how the fish's movements affected their field of view (FOV). After that, they added objectives for the fish, which would reward them with food if they achieved one.

Research Findings

The researchers observed that over time, the fish learned that their behaviors may influence the FOV in a desired way, leading them to a sweet reward. A new setting was introduced, with fish driving their FOV in both indoor and outdoor arenas, as well as with different objectives and obstacles in each location.

To their delight, they discovered that the fish had little trouble adapting; they headed straight for their prize, exhibiting their navigational prowess with the FOV.

There is a good chance that the fish did not realize that they were piloting an automobile, despite their ability to travel to the goal. They may not have even known they were on land. These ideas may be tested in the future by changing the FOV, according to the researchers.

This isn't the first time a fish has gotten behind the wheel of a vehicle. As far back as 2014, a Dutch design team designed a goldfish-powered car that was steered by the fish's swimming movements. However, that effort was not intended to be an experiment or to put the fish to the test.

Related Article: Goldfish Dumped in Lakes Grow to Monstrous Size, Turning Into Invasive Species

For more news, updates about fishes and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Archaeologists in Peru reportedly found a perfectly preserved cadaver within an abandoned mausoleum. The mummy was rope-bound and in a cradle posture, with its palms concealing its face.

The corpse was discovered roughly 1,000 years ago in the Peruvian town of Cajamarquilla. Along with it was the bones of an Andean mammal and what looked to be the corpse of a canine.

The Discovery of Underground Tomb in Peru

"The latest finding of a pre-Inca mummy in excellent shape has led to reaffirmed attempts to improve revealing the secrets buried in one of the most comprehensive civilizations on the Lima coast," the historians stated in a release in Spanish.

Cajamarquilla was a bustling metropolis placed on the right side of the Rmac stream approximately 16 miles inland at the period the mummy was placed, and it was a site where residents from Peru's marine and highland territories participated in commerce, experts said in a report.

According to the experts, more than 10,000 individuals may have resided in the town at the time.

Per the experts, the well-preserved body was discovered in an abandoned tomb with a seven-step stairway going down to it.

They remarked that the corpse looks to be a male and was placed in a technique that was prevalent at the period for individuals who dwelt in hill slopes around Cajamarquilla.

The mummified, a person between such ages of 18 and 22, was discovered draped in a cloth, their limbs bound in twine. A customary procedure at the period for individuals who resided in hilly places adjacent Cajamarquilla, according to the experts.

The remnants of a dog and an Andean guinea pig, as well as maize and the remains of other vegetables, were discovered alongside the mummy, according to Pieter Van Dalen Luna, an archaeological instructor at the State University of San Marcos who headed the research.

Also read: Meet Kane Tanaka, World's Oldest Living Person Who Recently Turned 119!

Mummy Found By Experts

According to the experts, the deceased guy died between 1,200 and 800 years ago and may be the son of a former businessman.

Relatives could had paid visits to his grave following his interment to offer prayers.

"There are continual festivities and operations after the cadaver is deposited in the mausoleum," Van Dalen Luna told CNN. "

That is, their ancestors have returned for several years, leaving food and sacrifices, notably mollusks.

He mentioned that llama remains were discovered outside monument and that they might be prepared by guests who delivered the remains as a gift.

"The relevance of this historical compound resides in its judicious application, as a regulator and source of engagement of intergovernmental interactions," the authors note.

It is situated in the region of Lurigancho-Chosica, on the opposite bank of the Rmac River's middle countryside, and is surrounded by a vast array of human dwellings.

The mummy is presently on exhibit in the gallery of the National University of San Marcos, and is still being studied today. At the time of publishing, Van Dalen Luna had not responded to calls for remark.

Also read: Mysterious 'Brain Tsunamis' Occuring Moments Before Death Observed in Humans
According to a study, storm frequency has increased over 30 years, mainly due to land-use changes.

During the last 30 years, the frequency of thunderstorms in certain fast-growing African coastal towns has doubled, with much of the rise attributed to the influence of deforestation on the local climate, according to research.

It is well recognized that removing vegetation increases precipitation runoff and the likelihood of mudslides, such as the one that killed 1,100 people in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, in August 2017.

More frequent storm activity in coastal regions is a second, previously unknown, manner in which deforestation can enhance flooding, according to research headed by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).

Related Article: Rewilding Wildlands: Farmers in England are Given Incentives to Participate in Nature Recovery Programs



Investigating Three Decades of Data

The study investigated three decades of satellite data in southern West Africa to demonstrate how weather patterns have been altered due to deforestation through changes in heating and moistening of the atmosphere.

The researchers discovered that the destruction of vast tracts of woodland has considerably increased the consequences of global warming in coastal portions of the region, including Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria. Storm frequency has doubled in deforested areas since 1991, whereas wooded regions have increased by roughly 40%.

Storms and the resultant rains harm urban and rural regions, although the deforested land had been handed over for agricultural and cooking fuel to sustain rising populations.

"The extent of increase in coastal storm activity is likely to vary in different regions, depending on the local climate, but we would expect deforestation to have a similar effect in other coastal deforested areas," says Professor Chris Taylor of UKCEH, who led the study, which was published in the journal PNAS.

"According to United Nations data, almost 40% of the world's population lives within 100 kilometers of the shore, thus increases in flash floods interrupt millions of people's lives." As a result, our findings serve as a warning to fast-growing coastal towns all around the world."

Habitable Areas

Large numbers of people live near the sea because of the food and economic benefits it gives.

Large tracts of coastal tropical forest are being lost in Africa and Southeast Asia. Global climate change is already affecting people, and drainage and other infrastructure are frequently ill-equipped to deal with significant flooding. Residents of Freetown, in particular, are already feeling the consequences of climate change, including severe temperatures and storm-related flash flooding.

"Deforestation is increasing the consequences of climate change in some of the world's least resilient cities, making it more difficult for these populations to deal with extreme weather events," Professor Taylor adds.

Deforestation has been associated with lower regional rainfall in Amazonia in previous studies. On the other hand, the ocean has a significant impact on local weather patterns, and this is the first research to look at the effects of deforestation on storm activity in coastal regions.

The study's co-author, Dr. Cornelia Klein of UKCEH, said that "sea breezes drive local weather patterns, and deforestation enhances these winds that deliver moisture inland, generating greater afternoon downpours."

Flash Flood

Flash flooding is becoming more widespread in West Africa during the rainy season. The study was part of continuing research by UKCEH and collaborators into past, present, and anticipated future climate change in West Africa. Global warming was blamed for a tripling in the frequency of severe Sahel storms in just 35 years, according to a study headed by Professor Taylor in 2017.

Also Read: Study Warns US Residents to Prepare for Stronger Hurricanes in Next 100 Years

For more news update about Environmental Action, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Daryl Dickson listens for a shower of drops shaken loose from the leaves above if there has been rain and it is after dark.

When everything is dry, it might be the faint sound of bloodwood flower caps dropping on her roof that sends her running for a torch in search of one of her elusive marsupial friends.

"I don't think there's anything more beautiful than watching a large mahogany glider fly above your head. She says, "I just think they're gorgeous."

Dickson had no idea she was sharing her home with a rare creature when she came to Meunga Creek in Cardwell in far north Queensland about 30 years ago.

She discovered that her block is not the "rubbish scrub," as her real estate agent described.

Instead, it is a prime and fragile habitat for the mahogany glider, living a precarious presence on Earth on a tiny but fragmented stretch of coastal woods just 120km long.

Gliding Marsupials

There are seven possum-like gliding marsupials in Australia, but the mahogany is the most endangered.

One of the first known specimens was obtained by a Queensland Museum collector near Cardwell in 1886. It languished in a drawer without being classified as a distinct species.

Staff questioned if this much bigger specimen may be a different species when the museum moved in 1986. After going to the spot again, employees ultimately recovered the glider four years later. The term mahogany stems from its hue and the swamp mahogany tree - one of the key species in its ecosystem.

The gliders, which grow up to 28cm long and have tails up to 41cm in length, reside in tree hollows and appreciate open wet forests and tea-tree swamps, but roughly 80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed.

Related Article: Mass Extinction Hits Australia With The Death of 13 Species

Displaced Species

What's left is extensively divided by agriculture and human development. The glider habitat has now been fragmented into about 1,000 parts.

The final assessment stated no more than 2,000 humans remained. Before Cyclone Yasi in 2011, one of the state's most violent known cyclones, which destroyed the glider's small bolthole, that count was taken.

"Since typhoon Yasi, we're not sure how many there are," says Andrew Dennis. He oversees a five-year mission to conserve the glider at Terrain NRM, an environmental management company.

"It's challenging to catch them." They eat mainly on nectar and tree sap, and it's relatively hard to get them attracted to the bait."

Tracking

Raspberry cordial has proven to be the finest bait for the mahogany gliders thus far. Dennis explains, "We have to spray quite a bit of it around the camera and the cages."

Gliders might have been hidden for a few thousand years on Hinchinbrook Island, a remote national park less than 10 kilometers off the shore, undiscovered by humans.

According to Dennis, modeling the glider's habitat reveals the island offers "excellent grade mahogany glider habitat."

A crew put up 20 camera traps on the island for six weeks and brought them in the right before Christmas.

A sugar glider, a smaller near relation of the mahogany, was sighted in the final hours before the cameras were removed, but there were no mahogany gliders spotted.

Over thousands of years of seclusion, how much might the gliders have changed? Could they have made it out alive? She believes she'll be able to research the questions.

Hinchinbrook might be a possibility in the future as a haven for certain mahogany gliders to live without many of the risks that they experience on the mainland, even if mahogany gliders are not present on the island, Dennis adds.=

ALSO READ: Study Showed How The Human Brain Grew After Large Animals Went Extinct

For the most recent updates from the animal kingdom, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
TAKOMA PARK, MD - MAY 17: Carpenter ants tear apart the carcass of a Magicicada periodical cicada after it emerged from its nymph stage shell on May 17, 2021 in Takoma Park, Maryland. Animals and other insects will feast on the billions of periodical cicadas -- members of Brood X -- that are set to emerge in the eastern United States after living underground for 17 years to molt, mate and die within a matter of weeks. (Photo : Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Ants initially originated on Earth between 140 and 168 million years ago, during the Jurassic era, when dinosaurs ruled the planet and plant life consisted of cone- and spore-bearing species like pines and ferns.

They are social insects that live in groups. The colony, also known as a formicary, consists of one or more egg-laying queens and many female "worker" ants that care for her, build, and maintain the nest, seek food, and care for the young. In comparison to its size, the ant is one of the world's most powerful organisms.

A single ant can carry 50 times its mass, and they will even cooperate to move larger things as a collective.

The Unintentional Discoveries of High School Students in Panama

Alex Wcislo, a high school student, shot a 9 mm ball of clay through a Cecropia tree, leaving a clean hole, but he did not anticipate the holes to be entirely mended before 24 hours. Wcislo and five of his student friends continued their studies by drilling holes in additional trees to observe how they would be patched up.

The ant repairs were repeated multiple times as it happened over and over again. The trials were subsequently documented and published as part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's (STRI) volunteer program in Panama.

Azteca ants and the trees they live in have a well-established symbiotic or mutually beneficial relationship. The ants will guard the trees against herbivores and predators in exchange for nourishing oily secretions from the leaves to consume and refuge within hollow stems.

If their tree buddies' shelter is jeopardized, the ants also repair the damage. According to current study, this appears to happen more frequently when the colony's eggs, larvae, and pupae are in danger.

Repairs are created utilizing material found within the plant stem, but this is not always the case 14 of the 22 drilled holes were repaired. More research may be needed to figure out why this is so.

Also read: Kingdom Animalia's Weirdest Eyes and How They View the World

The Azteca Alfari Ants





Azteca alfari is an ant species belonging to the Azteca genus. The species was first described in 1893 by Carlo Emery and is found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. They are endemic to the Neotropics, both tropical and subtropical. From Mexico through Bolivia, Paraguay, and northern Argentina, it can be found. It forms colonies in the hollow stems of evergreen trees of the species Cecropia as an obligate parasite. These trees may be found in wet lowland rainforests, riparian forests, the Cerrado, forest clearings, and secondary forests.

The naturally segmented stalks of trumpet trees are used by these ants as separate rooms to grow their young, store food, rest for the ant workers, and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship between the ant and the tree.

"This work gives us a glimpse into the housekeeping of one tropical ant species. And that housekeeping appears, at least given the evidence to date, to be more microbially sophisticated than anything we do in our human homes," said by Professor Rob Dunn

They actively influence the microbial ecosystems in a room, just like people, by doing activities that encourage good microorganisms while suppressing unfavorable microbes.

Also read: Beavers Head Towards the Arctic Tundra as Heat Due to Climate Change Rises
zooFrom the fish used for feed to the excrement from the grazing herbivores, the air at a zoo is full of odors, but we now know it is also packed with DNA from the animals who live there. Two research groups released independent proof-of-concept studies in the journal Current Biology on January 6th, showing that collecting air from a local zoo can capture enough DNA to identify the animals there. This might be a proper, non-invasive way to track biodiversity.

Airborne DNA

"Capturing airborne environmental DNA from vertebrates allows us to identify even species that we can't see," explains University of Copenhagen researcher Kristine Bohmann (@kristinebohmann), who leads the team.

Directly via camera and in-person observation, or indirectly by what they leave behind, such as footprints or excrement, terrestrial animals can be tracked in various ways. These approaches have the disadvantage of necessitating extensive fieldwork and requiring the animal to be physically present. For example, knowing where to place the cameras on the animal's route, sorting through hundreds of photographs, and sometimes a little luck is all required for animal monitoring via camera.

Related Article: Soil Samples in Yukon Revels How Long Mammoths and Wild Horses Survived

Monitoring DNA

As Bohmann explains, "Earlier in my career, I traveled to Madagascar intending to see a lot of lemurs. In actuality, I only saw a few and largely heard them leaping away through the canopy." "As a result, detecting many species by direct observation may be a lot of labor, especially if they are elusive and reside in highly confined or inaccessible environments."

"Monitoring airborne DNA is extremely, really challenging compared to what people discover in rivers and lakes since the DNA appears super diluted in the air," explains Elizabeth Clare, chief researcher of the Queen Mary University of London team (Clare is now at York University in Toronto). "However, for various samplers, genes, locales, and experimental methodologies, none of our zoo investigations have failed. All of it worked and shockingly effectively."

Bohmann and Clare lean primarily on their previous research to monitor wildlife by collecting different forms of DNA shed by animals as samples. This is known as "environmental DNA," or eDNA, and it is a well-established technology for sequencing eDNA from water samples to monitor aquatic species.

"Air surrounds everything," says Bohmann, "and we sought to eliminate contamination in our samples while enhancing actual animal DNA detection." "Our most recent work with airborne eDNA entails doing what we normally do when processing eDNA samples, but with a few tweaks."

Collecting Samples from Zoos

At a nearby zoo, each research group collected samples from inside walled-in enclosures like the tropical house and indoor stables and outside sections in the open air to perform their study. According to Christina Lynggaard (@lynggaardc), first author and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen, "to gather airborne eDNA, we utilized a fan, similar to the one you would use to cool down a computer, added a filter to it, and then let it run for some time."

While the researchers haven't pinpointed the source of genetic material from the zoo and its environs, the fan sucks in air from the zoo and its surroundings. This air might carry genetic material from any source, including breath, saliva, hair, or excrement. As Lynggaard puts it, "it might be anything that can get airborne and is tiny enough to continue floating in the air." "After air filtering, we extracted the DNA from the filter and used PCR amplification to produce a large number of copies of the animal DNA; after DNA sequencing, we processed the millions of sequences and compared them to a DNA reference database to identify the animal species," says the researcher.

The fan draws in air from the zoo and its surroundings; however, the researchers haven't determined the source of genetic material and its environs. This air might contain genetic material from breath, saliva, hair, or feces, among other things. "It could be anything that can get airborne and is small enough to continue floating in the air," Lynggaard says. "After air filtering, we extracted the DNA from the filter and used PCR amplification to produce a large number of copies of the animal DNA; after DNA sequencing, we processed the millions of sequences and compared them to a DNA reference database to identify the animal species."

Also Read: Humans 10x Better Than Chimps and Macaques When It Comes to Temperature Control

For more biological news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
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Champaign, IL (61820)

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Longview, TX (75601)

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Ontario saw nine times more emergency department (ED) visits per month for cannabis poisonings in young children under the age of 10 after Canada legalized recreational cannabis, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. While single hospitals have reported on child cannabis poisonings before, this is the first study to look at an entire region.

"We saw more frequent and severe ED visits due to cannabis poisoning in children under 10 following the legalization of cannabis, and the legalization of edible cannabis products appears to be a key factor," said lead author Dr. Daniel Myran, a family physician, public health and preventive medicine specialist, and postdoctoral fellow at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa Department of Family Medicine.

The research team looked at all ED visits in Ontario during three periods; pre-legalization, after flower-based cannabis products and oils were legalized in October 2018, and after commercial cannabis edibles (e.g. gummies and chocolates) and other products were legalized and became available for sale in late January 2020.

During the entire study period (January 2016 to March 2021), there were 522 ED visits for cannabis poisoning in children under 10. The average age of these children was three years, nine months.

While there were no deaths, 171 (32.7%) visits required hospitalization and 19 visits (3.6%) required intensive care unit (ICU) admission. ED visits for cannabis poisonings increased the most after commercial edibles were legalized, and more of these visits required hospitalization compared to the other two periods (39% compared to 25%).

Study results:

Pre-legalization (January 2016-September 2018)

Total ED visits: 81

Average number of ED visits per month: 2.5

Percentage of ED visits that were hospitalized: 25%

Legalization of cannabis flower, seed and oil (October 2018-January 2020)

Total ED visits: 124

Average number of ED visits per month: 7.8

Increase in average monthly ED visits compared to pre-legalization: 3 times

Percentage of ED visits that were hospitalized: 24%

Legalization of edibles and other products (February 2020-March 2021)

Total ED visits: 317

Average number of ED visits per month: 22.6

Increase in average monthly ED visits compared to pre-legalization: 9 times

Percentage of ED visits that were hospitalized: 39%

The researchers noted that cannabis legalization in Canada overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that while ED visits for pediatric poisonings of any kind decreased in Ontario during the pandemic, visits for cannabis poisonings increased during this time. After commercial edibles became available, nearly 10% of all ED visits for poisonings in children in Ontario were related to cannabis.

Canada's approach to legalization was intended to prevent increases in child cannabis poisonings through policies limiting the strength of cannabis edibles, requiring child resistant packaging and education for parents and caregivers. Unfortunately, the rates we saw in our study suggest the approach has not met that goal." Dr. Daniel Myran, Lead Author

"As more places around the world consider legalizing recreational cannabis, we need to learn how to better protect children from cannabis poisoning," said Dr. Myran. "More education is a start, but we may need to consider other measures to reduce cannabis edibles' appeal to young children, such as much stricter limits on what edibles can look and taste like after they are removed from their packaging."

If your child has accidentally consumed cannabis, contact the Ontario Poison Control Centre at 1-800-268-9017. Cannabis poisoning in babies, children and youth is a medical emergency. Call 9-1-1 if your child is ill and/or has difficulty breathing. Caregivers can prevent poisonings by keeping cannabis products in a locked container away from other food and drinks, and out of children's reach. Learn more about the risks of cannabis and how to prevent unintentional poisoning.

Researchers at ICES, Bruyere Research Institute, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction and The Hospital For Sick Children (SickKids) also contributed to this study.
A philosophy team from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB) and the University of Antwerp analyzed the role self-deception plays in everyday life and the strategies people use to deceive themselves. In the journal Philosophical Psychology, Dr. Francesco Marchi and Professor Albert Newen describe four strategies used to stabilize and shield the positive self-image. According to their theory, self-deception helps people to stay motivated in difficult situations. The article was published on 6 January 2022.

Four strategies of self-deception

All people deceive themselves, and quite frequently at that. For instance, if a father is convinced that his son is a good student and then the son brings home bad grades, he may first say that the subject isn't that important or that the teacher didn't explain the material well." Albert Newen, RUB Institute of Philosophy II

The researchers call this strategy of self-deception the reorganization of beliefs. In their article, they describe three more frequently used strategies that come into play even earlier in order to prevent unpleasant facts from getting to you in the first place.

This includes selecting facts through purposeful action: people avoid places or persons that might bring problematic facts to their attention, such as the parent-teacher conference. Another strategy is to reject facts by casting doubt on the credibility of the source. As long as the father hears about his son's academic problems only indirectly and does not see the grades, he can ignore the problems. The last strategy is what Newen and Marchi call generating facts from an ambiguous state of affairs: "For instance, if the kind mathematics teacher gently suggests that the son is not coping, and the father would have expected a clear statement in case of difficulties, he may interpret the considerable kindness and the gentle description as a positive assessment of his son's abilities," Francesco Marchi elaborates on the example.

The researchers describe all four strategies as typical psychological thinking tendencies. Self-deception is neither unreasonable nor detrimental to people in the short term, but always in the medium and long term. "These are not malicious ways of doing things, but part of the basic cognitive equipment of humans to preserve their established view of themselves and the world," says Newen. In normal times with few changes, the tendency to stick to proven views is helpful and also deeply rooted in evolution. "However, this cognitive tendency is catastrophic in times of radically new challenges that require rapid changes in behavior," adds the Bochum researcher.

An example from the coronavirus situation

Newen gives an example from the coronavirus situation: "If people in the early stages of a pandemic are skeptical about whether a vaccine will still show unexpected side effects, this is understandable caution that people can initially compensate for by strictly adhering to precautionary rules. Self-deception can also help to avoid panic reactions," he explains. "However, if it becomes clear in the medium term that the side effects of the vaccine are clearly limited, then doubt is unreasonable and turns into direct danger to oneself and others. Self-deception also entails distorted risk assessments, because the health risk of foregoing vaccination is much greater than that resulting from vaccination. Self-deception can therefore stabilize the self-image, established ways of thinking and motivation to act in normal times, but becomes detrimental in times of crisis that require radical rethinking and new ways of acting, and puts society at risk."
The Supreme Court on Friday took up one of the most contentious issues of the covid-19 pandemic, hearing a series of cases challenging the Biden administration's authority to require workers to get a covid vaccine or be tested for the virus regularly.

The issue in the cases, which challenge rules set in November by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is not directly whether the rules are legal but whether they can take effect while the cases are heard in detail by courts of appeals. The arguments lasted more than 3 hours. A decision by the justices is expected within days.

The OSHA rule says that businesses with more than 100 employees must require their workers to either be vaccinated or wear masks and undergo weekly testing. The CMS rule requires that health care workers in facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid funding be vaccinated, recognizing that they work with vulnerable patients.

Lower courts have split on whether the federal government has the authority to issue such rules and whether they can take effect while the cases are argued. Although the Supreme Court has generally upheld state-level vaccine requirements, whether it will allow the federal government to impose such rules isn't clear.

"It's not our role to decide public health questions," Justice Neil Gorsuch said. "But it is our role to decide who should decide."

Notably, Friday's arguments were held in a Supreme Court chamber with even stricter anti-covid rules than those at issue. The court is closed to most members of the public, masks are required for everyone other than the justices, and lawyers and journalists must maintain physical distance and have negative tests. As the omicron variant surges in Washington, D.C., Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who has diabetes, opted to participate remotely from her chambers at the court. Also participating remotely were two of the six lawyers, including Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers, who tested positive for covid after having a mild case over the holidays.

Conservative members of the court pressed lawyers about whether the administration overstepped its authority in issuing the rules, while some of the liberal justices grilled the rules' opponents on why the government should not move quickly and forcefully when faced with a massive public health issue. But how the justices might rule wasn't clear from the questions they asked.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wondered why few hospitals or nursing homes are protesting the CMS rule for health care workers. "Where are the regulated parties complaining about this regulation?" he asked the state officials who have sued to block the rule.

Lawyers for the Biden administration argued that the federal government has ample power to protect worker safety in issuing its rule, which is technically an emergency standard. "This lies in the heartland of OSHA's regulatory authority," Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices.

Similarly, in the CMS case, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian Fletcher told the court that "requiring medical staff vaccination during a pandemic falls squarely within the [Health and Human Services] secretary's authority to protect the health and safety of Medicare and Medicaid patients."

Those challenging the rules, however, argued that although states and individual employers may impose such rules, the federal government cannot. If the OSHA rule takes effect, said Scott Keller, representing the National Federation of Independent Business, "workers will quit."

That is even more likely in the case of the CMS rule, which does not have a testing option, said Jesus Osete, deputy attorney general of Missouri. "Rural America will face an immense crisis," he said. "This mandate will close the doors of many of these rural facilities and will effectively deprive our citizens of health care."

The rules are strongly supported by public health organizations and many medical groups. Opponents are "wrong on the science, they're wrong on the medicine, and they're wrong on the law," Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told reporters in a conference call earlier in the week.

But business groups argue that employers cannot keep their doors open with such sweeping mandates in place. "If employers require vaccination, they will suffer the wrath of their workforce that refuses, for whatever reasons, to get vaccinated," said the NFIB's brief. On the other hand, should employers opt for the testing requirement, the brief said, "in a historically tight labor market, they will be unlikely to pass those costs on to employees without losing them (and in some states and situations they will be prohibited from doing so by law)."

The cases on the OSHA rule are National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor and Ohio v. Department of Labor. The cases involving the CMS rule are Biden v. Missouri and Becerra v. Louisiana.
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(Newser)  Update: The US Department of Labor agrees that an auto body shop shouldn't have settled up with a former employee in pennies. So it filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 30 against Miles Walker and his A OK Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City, saying the dump was retribution after Andreas Flaten complained to the government that he hadn't received his last paycheck, NBC reports. The suit doesn't mention the condition of the coins, which were covered in oil or grease. It gets worse for Walker. The department said it found the shop hadn't been paying overtime it owed employees since at least April 2019. Our original story from March 2021 follows:

Revenge is a dish best served coldor greasy, perhaps. A Fayetteville, Georgia, man tells CBS 46 that he gave his two weeks' notice at A OK Walker Autoworks in November 2020 but hadn't been sent his last paycheck in January as promised, a fact that prodded him to reach out to the Georgia Department of Labor. Andreas Flaten did end up getting the $915 he was expecting, just in a most unexpected format. Flaten says a 500-pound pile of oil- or grease-covered pennies was left on his driveway. He tells Fox 5 Atlanta the pile of more than 90,000 coins was accompanied by an envelope with f--- you written on the outside and his final paystub within.

Fox 5 says the autoshop owner would only confirm that Flaten was paid what he was owed in US currency. As for Flaten, he says he now spends time each night working to rid the 91,515 pennies of their slick coating using a mix of dish soap, vinegar, and water. It's apparently quite the effort: He says working his way through several hundred took 90 minutes, and that he won't be able to cash them until they're clean. (Read more strange stuff stories.)
(Newser)  Update: A Chinese immigrant who was brutally attacked in April while collecting cans in East Harlem has died of his injuries, the AP reports. Yao Pan Ma, 61, died Dec. 31, police said Saturday. The attack drew national attention during the increase in hate crimes against Asian people. Police said they're treating his death as a homicide. Jarrod Powell, 49, of New York City, already is charged with attempted murder, felony assault, and hate crime charges in the case. Our original story from April follows:

The New York Police Department's Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating what the NYPD describes as a "horrific attack" on an Asian man Friday night. Police have released surveillance images and a graphic video of the attack, which left a 61-year-old man in critical condition, NBC New York reports. Police say the attacker approached the victim from behind in East Harlem around 8:20pm, knocked him to the ground, and repeatedly kicked him in the head, reports CNN. No arrests have been made and police have not confirmed that the attack was racially motivated. A witness tells the New York Daily News that the man had been collecting bottles and "minding his business" before he was attacked. (A bill to combat the steep rise in anti-Asian attacks passed the Senate in a 94-1 vote Thursday.)
(Newser)  The Wall Street Journal profiles a hostage negotiator in Nigeria named Abdullahi Tumburkai, though he doesn't hold that role in any official capacity. Instead, the 46-year-old was thrust into the job when his two brothers were kidnapped last year. In phone calls with their abductors, he managed to lower the price and secure his brothers' freedom. As soon as that happened, word spread and people from all over began seeking his help as a negotiator. Tumburkai became the go-to guy when kidnappings went down, which turns out to be quite often. The story details how kidnapping is now a booming business in northern Nigeria, and Tumburkai estimates that he has helped free more than 80 people. However, he was wasn't quite prepared for the phone call he received in March from his own wife, who was among about 40 people abducted from a college.

This particular kidnapping made international headlines, and Tumburkai assumed the role of lead negotiator. He advised the local governor not to use force, and worked with other families to deliver $78,000 to the kidnappers, freeing his wife and the others after about two months. While that story ended well, Tumburkai talks about the tough position he's in. On the one hand, he has to deal with brutal abductors who terrify their victims with gunfire during phone calls to him. On the other, he's facing pressure from government prosecutors who are threatening to prosecute him for negotiating with kidnappers. In theory, he could be charged with financing terror groups. Meanwhile, the kidnappings continue, and authorities seem powerless to stop them. Im scared of the kidnappers and scared of the government, he says. But nobody is helping us. (Read the full story.)
(Newser)  It's not clear whether more children are being hospitalized with COVID-19 because they aren't vaccinated or because they're dealing with more spread in their communities, the CDC director said Friday. Either way, the Hill reports, the hospitalization rates for child COVID patients is higher than it's ever been during the pandemic, said Rochelle Walensky, who issued new guidelines and a plea. "Please, for our youngest children, those who are not yet eligible for vaccination, it's critically important that we surround them with people who are vaccinated to provide them protection," she said. "This includes at home, at day care and preschool and throughout our entire community."

In response, the CDC is tweaking its isolation guidelines for students, staff, and teachers in an effort to keep schools open. The isolation period after an infection is shortening to five days, the same as the recommendation for health workers and the general public. The hospitalization increase was among children 4 and younger, per the New York Times, who aren't eligible for coronavirus vaccine doses. Other age groups have not shown an increase, which has experts wondering if the omicron variant is harder on the youngest children. Data show children who've contracted omicron are still less likely to become seriously ill than adults.

About 16% children ages 5 to 11 have been fully vaccinated, Walensky said in urging that the vaccine be given to everyone who's eligible as soon as possible. One hospital, Seattle Children's, reports that about 21% of children are testing positive for the coronavirus now; the average was about 1% for most of the pandemic, reaching 3% during the delta variant surge. (Read more Rochelle Walensky stories.)
(Newser)  The Navy is adding two weeks to boot camp this year in a major overhaul aimed at improving recruits' war fighting and emergency skills while also focusing on suicide prevention and character issues such as sexual assault, hazing, and extremism in the ranks. Navy officials said Friday that expanding boot camp to 10 weeks will provide more leadership training and ensure sailors are reporting to their jobs in the fleet better prepared for duty, the AP reports. The Navy has grappled with a string of shipboard crises in recent years, including deadly fires and disastrous collisions, and the military struggles with spikes in suicides as well as sexual assaults and other bad behavior.

Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture, who heads the Naval Service Training Command, said the first eight weeks of boot camp include a lot of character development for the recruits. The added two weeks, she said, are meant to reinforce that work. "We're telling our recruits ... here are all of the things that we expect you to do, and here's how we expect you to behave and act," she said, adding that it involves treating people with respect and holding peers accountable. "We believe very strongly that those types of behaviors are directly impacting our fighting readiness and the performance of our sailors."

The military as a whole has been seeing increases in sexual assaults and suicides, prompting congressional criticism and spurring leaders to scramble for ways to address the perennial problems. More recently, the services have been struggling to root out racism and extremism after a number of former and current service members were involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. Couture said quite a bit of the added two weeks will involve "life skills" training on sexual harassment, sexual assault, hazing and suicide. The changes represent the first major restructuring in recruit training in nearly 20 years.

(Read more Navy stories.)
(Newser)  New York City's new mayor, Eric Adams, is getting right to workand right to raising eyebrows, specifically with two new appointments. Getting the most buzz on Friday was the reveal by the New York Post that Adams has appointed his younger brother, Bernard Adams, to be a deputy commissioner for the NYPD. The Post got its hands on an official NYPD roster and spotted Bernard Adams' name listed along with that job description, and the mayor confirmed that his 56-year-old sibling, a retired NYPD sergeant, will serve in that role.

Per LinkedIn, Bernard Adams is currently the assistant director for parking at Virginia Commonwealth University, where his CV notes he's been employed since 2008. In his new NYPD job, which the Post notes typically pays around $242,000, Bernard Adams will oversee governmental affairs. It's not yet clear what that means, but a source tells the New York Times that the mayor's brother will be assigned to the office of new NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

That's not the only appointment that's got people talking: On Friday, City Hall announced that Philip Banks III, a former NYPD chief of departmentthe highest-ranking uniformed position within the organizationwill serve as Eric Adams' deputy mayor. The controversy around Banks' hiring stems from the fact that he resigned from the NYPD in 2014 while he was the subject of a federal corruption probe. He was never charged with a crime, but "evidence reportedly showed he accepted gifts from two businessmen who were trying to bribe public officials," per City & State New York.

The media group also notes Banks' own personal ties that are raising ethics questions: He's the brother of David Banks, the current chancellor of NYC schools. In a New York Daily News op-ed on Friday, Philip Banks announced his own appointment, denying he resigned to avoid a departmental trial and apologizing for spending time with the businessmen accused of bribery. "I love the law and I love this city," he writes. "I want to serve. I know I can help keep this city safe. So I will serve." (Read more Eric Adams stories.)
(Newser)  If you've got tickets for an upcoming cruise, better check with your cruise line. This week, two major operators canceled near-future sailings amid the latest COVID surge, starting with Norwegian on Wednesday, reports USA Today. "Our first priority is the health and safety of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit," Norwegian said in a statement announcing the nixing of various sailings through April on eight of its ships: the Getaway, Pearl, Sky, Jade, Star, Sun, Spirit, and Pride of America. Royal Caribbean followed suit on Friday, announcing three of its shipsSymphony of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas, and Serenade of the Seaswill pause various cruises through March.

In addition, RC's Vision of the Seas, which is currently being used as a quarantine hub for infected crew, will see its return to cruising postponed until March 7. "Despite stringent health and safety measures, including vaccination and testing requirements for guests and crew, and extensive contingency planning, we have had to move forward with this decision," a company spokesperson says.

Meanwhile, the CDC is warning people away from taking any cruise right now, whether travelers are vaccinated or not, as the agency notes that 90-plus cruise shipsevery cruise ship sailing with passengers in US watershas documented COVID cases on board, reports the Washington Post. The agency says that case numbers surged from 162 during the first two weeks of December to more than 5,000 in the final half of last month. Per Tuesday's update, every ship with passengers now meets the threshold to trigger a COVID investigation from the CDC. (Read more cruise lines stories.)
(Newser)  "This isn't like a school or a tourist trip," a judge told Virginia Spencer at her sentencing for her role in the Capitol riot. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly told Spencer she was having a hard time understanding why she took her 14-year-old son with her on Jan. 6, 2021. Police officers and some of the rioters had weapons, the judge pointed out, CNN reports. "It must have been a traumatic experience to witness this kind of violence," Kollar-Kotelly said. "Its a complete lack of judgment on your part." That was reflected in the sentence.

The North Carolina woman, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for illegally parading in the building, as well as three years' probation, per the AP. That's on the long end of sentences imposed so far on rioters for nonviolent misdemeanors; few of whom have received probation as well as jail time. The defense requested a year of probation with community service. Prosecutors recommended a three-month sentence plus three years' probation; the maximum is six months in jail. Their court filings said Spencer entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's offices and was in the mob that tried to get into the House chamber.

Spencer told the judge Friday that she was "very sorry" for her actions at the Capitol. Christopher Raphael Spencer, Spencer's husband and the boy's father, was with them and also was arrested. He hasn't been tried yet, but he's pleaded not guilty to several charges connected with the attack. So far, more than 70 people have been sentenced in the insurrection, the FBI reports, with more than 30 of them ordered to serve time. (One rioter got 63 months.)
Les Gara was a legislator from 2003-2018. Hes worked as an assistant Alaska attorney general on Alaskas civil prosecution of Exxon following the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. His wife Kelly is a hospital wound care specialist. Theyve lived in Fairbanks, and since 1989 in Anchorage.
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TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The Sustainable Energy Authority is working on projects to create grid-tied solar PV power plants on rooftops and car parks and Electric Vehicle charging stations for the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour and Social Development.

The power plant for MoE will be 5MWac, and Labour Ministry will be 2.5MWac. A tender launder by SEA to create the plant on a Build Own Operate and Maintain (BOOM) basis for the MoE attracted four bids.

The bidders are Aradous Energy Generations (BHD .021), Tarsheed energy Consultation and Services (BHD .023), Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo (BHD .031) and Isam Kabbani & Partners (BHD .033). According to the tender board, the lowest bidder may not necessarily receive the contract, as price becomes a principle criterion, only after fulfilling technical and other criteria.

The project for the Ministry of Labour will also be BOOMbased. The 2.5MWac power plant attracted technical bids from Aradous Energy Generations, Safeer For Renewable Energy and Isam Kabbani & Partners.

For both MoW and Labour Ministry, SEA will sign a 20-year contract with successful bidders. A 2021 statistics say less than 1% of Bahraini motorists own an electric car. The report, quoting the Bahrain Insurance Association (BIA), also projects obtaining components for electric cars as a major challenge for these vehicles in the country.

In April 2021, the Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs Wael bin Nasser Al Mubarak and the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA)s CEO Shaikh Nawaf bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa inaugurated the first electric car charging station in the Atrium Mall in Saar. The minister, at that time, said that the station is the first among several stations that would open in various regions of Bahrain.
Agencies | Paris

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

France yesterday reminded Iran that time is running out for salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal, despite making some progress.

The eighth round of talks between Iran and the United States resumed on Monday after adding new Iranian demands to a working text.

We have been heading in a positive direction in the last few days, but time is of the essence because if we dont get an accord quickly, there will be nothing to negotiate, Jean-Yves Le Drian, French foreign minister, told BFM TV and RMC Radio.

Western powers have said progress was too slow, and negotiators had weeks, not months left before the 2015 deal becomes meaningless. Iran refuses to meet directly with US officials, meaning that other parties - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, must shuttle between the two sides.

Western diplomats have indicated they are hoping to have a breakthrough by the end of January or early February, but sharp differences remain with the toughest issues still unresolved.

Iran has rejected any deadline imposed by Western powers. Ready for talks over downed airline: Iran Meanwhile, in another development, Iran yesterday said it was prepared to hold bilateral talks with concerned countries over a Ukrainian airliner downed by its forces in 2020.

Canada, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine said on Thursday they had abandoned efforts to talk to Tehran about reparations for an airliner brought down by Iran and would try to settle the matter according to international law.

Most of the 176 people killed when Iran shot down the Ukrainian airliner in January 2020 were citizens from those four nations, which formed a group aiming to hold Tehran to account.
Last year, after Trump-inspired supporters attacked and trashed the United States Capitol in the invasion of the seat of government, dozens of U.S. corporations pledged to stop or at least delay making political contributions to members of Congress who played a role in the uprising designed to keep Trump in power.

Bloomfield-based insurance giant Cigna was among them, telling employees it would end political contributions for politicians who hindered the peaceful transition of power or who encouraged or supported violence.

Since then, Cigna has written checks totaling tens of thousands of dollars to lawmakers who voted to reject the results of the Electoral College, a research and advocacy organization has found. Those results seated President Joe Biden.

The advocacy group, Accountable.US, based in Washington D.C., issued a report this week charging that Cigna and 29 other publicly traded companies in the Fortune 500 list of Americas largest corporations, or trade groups that represent them, failed to keep their pledges to halt contributions elected officials involved in the uprising.

Connecticuts three giant defense contractors  all with thousands of employees in the state but with headquarters elsewhere  were also on the list.

Among those who reaped renewed contributions from the Cigna Corporation Employee Political Action Committee were U.S. Reps. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.

Nunes got $1,000 from Cigna, while Scalise received $5,000, according to Accountable.US.

Another opponent of the election certification, U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., also got $5,000. In all, the Cigna PAC has contributed $30,000 to members of Congress who voted against accepting the election results, Accountable.US said.

In the report, based on federal campaign finance filings, the left-leaning group based its findings on contributions to members of Congress who voted against the election certification  with money that flowed within a few months of Jan. 6, 2021.

Cignas PAC also gave $15,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, where U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who also objected to the election certification, is the chairman.

Cigna did not respond to multiple requests for comment by phone and email this week. The health insurer and health management company is the largest publicly traded corporation with its headquarters in Connecticut, ranked by total revenue.

The key question is whether Cigna and the others violated their promises by giving PAC money to members of Congrss who voted against the Electoral College certification. Did that, in Cignas case, amount to hindering the peaceful transition of power, or in some other way violate the spirit of what Cigna told its employees?

Accountable.US and election reform advocates in Connecticut say yes, it did.

Major corporations like Cigna were quick to condemn the insurrection and tout their support for democracy  and almost as quickly, many ditched those purported values by cutting big checks to the very politicians that helped instigate the failed coup attempt, said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US.

The report and the start of the calendar year of Congressional elections, coming on the anniversary of the Capitol siege, touched off a new round of debate about the influence of money in politics and what to do about it.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who led the vote against the Electoral College results, reaped $333,5000 from the corporations, while Scalises campaign made $250,5000 by mid-November of last year.

Accountable.US, which calls itself a nonpartisan watchdog organization that shines a light on corporations and special interests, reported that other corporations with operations in Connecticut but headquartered elsewhere, including General Dynamics, which owns Electric Boat in Groton; Lockheed Martin, owner of the Sikorsky helicopter division in Stratford; and Raytheon Technologies, which owns Pratt & Whitney, also first condemned the attacks, then renewed political contributions to members of Congress who voted against the certification.

The defense contractors did not return emails seeking comment Friday afternoon. In all three cases, their public comments did not specifically say they would halt donations to members of Congress who opposed the election results.

In all, the report cited more than $3.3 million in contributions to what it calls the Sedition Caucus since the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Last year it launched a searchable site for the public to track political contributions.

The increasing volume of corporate donations to lawmakers who tried to overthrow the will of the people makes clear that these companies were never committed to standing up for democracy in the first place, Herrig said. Even as democracy continues to be in the crosshairs of powerful purveyors of the Big Lie, these CEOs would rather amass political influence than stand up for their customers, shareholders, and employees.

A total of 147 Republican members of Congress, 139 in the House and eight in the Senate, voted against certifying Bidens win, the report shows. Democratic activists and Accountable.US call the lawmakers the Sedition Caucus.

Shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, CNBC reported on an internal Cigna email setting their standards.

Some issues are so foundational to our core fiber that they transcend all other matters of public policy, John Murabito, the Cigna chief human resources officer, wrote in the memo. There is never any justification for violence or destruction of the kind we saw at the U.S. Capitol  the building thats such a powerful symbol of the very democracy that makes our nation strong. Accordingly, CignaPAC will discontinue support of any elected official who encouraged or supported violence, or otherwise hindered the peaceful transition of power.

Tom Swan, executive director of the consumer advocacy Connecticut Citizen Action Group, said Friday that Cignas tactic, including its apparent refusal to comment on the new report, is telltale. Their flip-flop on this is further proof that no one should ever believe what Cigna says. Its further proof that Cignas total mission is to make profits and they will lie in order to do it.

Cigna seems to be caught in a moral miscue, Cheri Quickmire, executive director of the elections watchdog Common Cause in Connecticut, said.

They werent being truthful when they made that pledge, Quickmire said Thursday. They had no interest. They wanted to get some press and attention by making the declaration. But clearly if it resumes so quickly it wasnt sincere.

Ultimately, the flap should help reduce the flow of money from corporations to members of Congress, some observers say.

I dont know that there are more than two or three CEOs that are happy with their voice in Washington, said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a management expert and senior associate dean for leadership studies, at the Yale School of Management, said during an interview on CNBC Thursday.

His view is that removing corporate money from the equation of politics and public policy in Washington would serve the corporations, not just the public. They shouldnt be spending this money Sonnenfeld said in CNBCs Squawk Box program. A lot of them have permanently put it on hold. Theyre not going back to make congressional commitments for campaigns anymore. IBM has never done it. It hasnt hurt their voice in Washington.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
As an owner of 97 Stony Hill Road in Bethel and 181 Mt. Pleasant Road in Newtown, adjacent properties that are proposed sites for market rate apartments, I watched the Dec. 14 public hearing regarding the 6 Cindy Lane and 112 Old Hawleyville Road applications with great interest.

Both applications are being filed under Connecticuts 8-30g statute that permits affordable housing applications to bypass most local zoning laws. There is certainly a need for more affordable housing in Bethel and Newtown. Just 6.28 percent of Bethels current housing stock is deemed affordable, while Newtowns affordable stock is 2.66 percent.
The Election Commission of India announced the assembly poll dates for Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh today. In the crucial press conference held today, the election body went ahead to announce curbs on political rallies till January 15. The decision came at a time when India is currently facing a massive surge in Covid-19 cases, in what can be seen as the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant.

In the past 24 hours, India has reported 1,41,986 new Covid-19 cases, taking the daily positivity rate to 9.28%. Out of these 1.4L cases, the total number of Omicron cases has jumped up to 3,071. While Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of Omicron cases followed by Delhi, there are 2 Omicron cases in Punjab, 19 in Goa, 31 in Uttar Pradesh, 8 in Uttarakhand and 1 in Manipur.

This year, no physical rallies, nukkad sabha, public meet will be allowed between 8 PM  8 AM. No victory processions will be allowed after results. Only 2 persons will be allowed with the winning candidate and only 5 people will be allowed in door to door campaign. EC has also mandated that all election officials and employees will be considered as frontline workers and will be fully vaccinated with precautionary dose.

Out of the 5 poll-bound states, the BJP is in power in 4 states including Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh. Leaders from all the political parties are campaigning aggressively for months to register their win in the upcoming polls.
GLASTONBURY  Police have charged a New Britain man they say was responsible for a spree of car burglaries in November.

Marquees Rodriguez was arrested Friday on a warrant, charging him with burglary, larceny and conspiracy offenses. The 18-year-old was also charged with credit card theft and illegal use of a credit card, Glastonbury police said in a statement.

Police said the spree began the morning of Nov. 15, 2021, when Glastonbury officers took numerous complaints of car burglaries involving a gray Infiniti sedan.

When police ran the Infinitis plate, they learned it had been reported stolen out of Bloomfield. Shortly after 9 a.m., a woman reported her wallet and credit cards had been stolen from her vehicle while it was parked by a walking trail on House Street, police said.

Multiple fraudulent charges were later made on the cards that were taken, police said.

Glastonbury police and members of the Greater Hartford Regional Auto Theft Task Force located the Infiniti in Hartford later that day with Rodriguez behind the wheel, but he eluded officers, police said.

The task force took Rodriguez into custody on Nov. 23, after he was found with a stolen vehicle and stolen handgun with a high-capacity magazine.

Further investigative efforts identified Rodriguez as one of the teens reported to have burglarized the Glastonbury vehicles, on Nov. 15, Glastonbury police said.

Police said he faces charges in other towns as well.
Niagara Falls, NY (14301)

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Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 42F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will start a visit to Myanmar on Friday for talks with its military rulers, triggering protests across the conflict-torn nation by coup opponents who fear his trip will provide more legitimacy to the junta.

His visit will be the first by a head of government to Myanmar since the army overthrew the elected administration of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, sparking months of protests and a bloody crackdown.

Cambodia is current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has been leading diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar and which adopted a five-point "consensus" peace plan in April.

Other ASEAN countries including Indonesia have expressed frustration at the junta's failure to implement the peace deal, which has fanned divisions in the 10-member bloc.

In Myanmar, opponents of military rule have said Hun Sen is backing the junta by making the trip.

In Depayin, about 300 km north of the capital, Naypyidaw, protesters burned a poster of the Cambodian prime minister and chanted "Hun Sen don't come to Myanmar. We don't want dictator Hun Sen," photographs on social media showed. There were also reports of protests in Mandalay and the Tanintharyi and Monywa regions.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo appears briefly virtually for a court session in Albany City Court before Judge Holly Trexler, as she considers a prosecutor's request to dismiss a fondling case against him Friday in Albany. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink,Pool)
President Barack Obama presents the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Sidney Poitier during ceremonies in the East Room at the White House in Washington on, Aug. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The Lagos State Government says it will seal schools that failed to comply with the stipulated academic calendar in the state. The g...

The Lagos State Government says it will seal schools that failed to comply with the stipulated academic calendar in the state.

The government said the compilation of the names of schools that failed to comply with the directive of the states Ministry of Education that private and public schools should resume on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, was being compiled and disciplinary actions will be taken forthwith.

The Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, made this known in a statement on Saturday.

The statement was titled, LASG Frowns At Non-Compliance With Academic Calendar By Some Schools.

Seriki-Ayeni reiterated that part of the mandate of her office was to develop a harmonised school calendar in conjunction with stakeholders in the education sector and ensure compliance, stressing that the monitoring exercise embarked upon by the officials of the Agency was to appraise the level of compliance with the resumption date, students presence and COVID-19 safety protocols.

Revealing that some schools disobeyed the directive, the DG explained that the Y2021/2022 harmonised school calendar was developed in conjunction with stakeholders in June 2021 to ensure uniformity in the education system.

She said the agreement was communicated to all schools and associations to ensure equal educational standards and learning systems.

During our recent exercise to monitor the level of compliance with Tuesday 4th January, 2022 resumption date, we observed that the level of compliance was low. We are going to seal the schools that have not adhered to the academic calendar with Notice of Non-Compliance stickers and issue letters of invitation to the Administrators to visit our office in Alausa where further disciplinary actions will be taken, Seriki-Ayeni was quoted as saying.

She emphasised the need for all schools, public and private, to comply with the academic calendar in order to ensure that an equal system of learning in all schools in Lagos State is achieved.

Seriki-Ayeni, therefore, urged school owners to communicate effectively with parents to prepare their wards early for resumption, stating that it takes an entire term to prepare for an upcoming term.
The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has vowed to expose persons making false claims about the intelligence community. The spo...





The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has vowed to expose persons making false claims about the intelligence community.





The spokesman, Zakari Usman, condemned their action in a statement at the weekend.





NSA Babagana Monguno noted that the appointment and tenure of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Director General was at the prerogative of the sitting President.





Usman said it was guided by provisions of the instrument establishing the agency under the National Security Agencies Act 1986 (Cap 278 LFN).





The government maintained that the appointment of Ahmed Abubakar as DG was in compliance with the law.





Monguno said comments credited to unnamed NIA directors that he told the National Assembly he was unaware of Abubakars appointment in 2018 was untrue.





In a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari in December, the officials were quoted as noting that Abubakar left service in 2012, six years before he was named DG.





He was compulsorily retired after failing his promotion examinations, from Deputy Director to Director, three (3) times consecutively.





This appointment brought a kind of a very odd and awkward relationship between the DG and directors, it read.





But the NSA recalled that a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Okon Abang dismissed a suit challenging the designation.
Yes. Gov. Hochul chose Mr. Benjamin, and she's stuck with him through the election.

No. The state should have the option to remove someone under criminal indictment.

Vote

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Watertown, NY (13601)

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Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 45F. Winds light and variable..

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For decades the Krewe of Thoth parade has rolled along a unique 15-block path before merging into the more standard Uptown route. The first part of the parade was conceived in 1947 to bring Carnival to several medical institutions in the area below Audubon Park for the benefit of patients and residents who might not otherwise be able to attend parades. The 50-float Thoth parades annual jaunt to Henry Clay Avenue, on the Sunday before Mardi Gras, was its signature.

But in December, City Hall standardized the Uptown parade routes for 2022 because of New Orleans Police Department staffing shortages and other stretched city services, and the uppermost part of the Thoth parade was pruned off. According to a story on the Uptown Messenger neighborhood news website, krewe leaders hoped the city would reconsider, and they proposed another plan.

Krewe of Thoth officials say they are willing to sacrifice the downtown half of their parade to keep their traditional route, the Messenger reported.

But the police department doesnt plan to accommodate the Carnival clubs wishes.

"NOPD Sgt. Richard Blackman has been meeting with representatives from the Krewe of Thoth to hear out their concerns, city spokesman Beau Tidwell wrote in an email on Friday. However, no additional changes to the routes are planned at this time, for Thoth or for other krewes. The routes announced in December will stand for this season.

+19 Mardi Gras 2023, Predicting where and when the New Orleans parades will roll next year Mardi Gras 2023 takes place on Feb. 21, and the traditional Carnival season starts up a few weeks earlier on Jan. 6. We know that for sure. He

The city preserved parts of the singular routes of a few parades. Zulu will still begin in Central City and end in Treme. Endymion was allowed to keep its path from Mid-City to the Superdome, and NOMTOC will remain on the West Bank.

But all parades were trimmed to one extent or another. Zulu lost the Canal Street leg of its route. Endymion will forgo St. Charles Avenue, the venerable Rex parade will begin several blocks closer to the St. Charles Avenue route, NOMTOC will be shortened and Magazine Street was lopped off of Uptown parades entirely.

According to the NOPD, the shortened parade routes are a temporary necessity, not a permanent solution to personnel shortages. On Dec. 21, Police Chief Shaun Ferguson said that in the future, routes would be reassessed, based on our capacity as a public safety team.

Representatives of the Krewe of Thoth did not reply to requests for comment.
It makes perfect sense that chef Seth Temple is cooking in the space that used to be the stage at Le Chat Noir, the former cabaret theater at 715 St. Charles Ave. Temples artful food commands the spotlight, the star of the show that went curtains up in early December.

Temple is an alchemist as much as he is a chef, coaxing big flavors out of farm-fresh ingredients. What he does with hakurei turnips is brilliantly simple  a saute of the small, crunchy vegetable, greens attached, in a miso-fueled umami sauce studded with candied Meyerquats and fronds of bronze fennel. Twirl the turnips like linguine, being sure to get the hybrid citrus in every bite, and the depth of clean flavor is worth a standing ovation.

Temples menu is about 70% locally sourced, and at least half of the dishes are vegan or vegetarian. A wood-fire oven is a focal point of the open kitchen.

The Lake Charles native attended the John Folse Culinary Institute where he earned a scholarship to the elite Institut Paul Bocuse in France. Back in New Orleans, he worked locally in kitchens including Kentons and Couvant before cooking at the Michelin-starred restaurant Lyles in London.

Working at Lyles really changed my perception of ingredients and how I like to eat, Temple says.

Le Chat Noir What Le Chat Noir Where 715 St. Charles Ave., (504) 381-0045; lechatnoirnola.com When Dinner Tue.-Sat. How Dine-in Check it out Refined fare in a renewed St. Charles Avenue spot

Temple is a fan of Dan Barbers focus on vegetables at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Hudson Valley, New York, a style that his own cooking brings to mind. As the global supply chain continues to groan under the weight of the pandemic, sourcing regionally and locally makes more sense than ever.

The chef has connections with local purveyors such as Mushroom Maggies Farm in West Feliciana Parish. He works closely with JV Foods, a Kenner-based food distribution company that sources from producers like Two Dog Farms in Flora, Mississippi, and Matt Ranatza Farms and Saxon Becnel & Sons citrus, both in Belle Chase. Oysters featured at the raw bar are harvested primarily from Louisiana and Alabama Gulf waters, with suppliers like Bright Side Oysters out of Grand Isle farming the bivalves sustainably.

The chef and his team regularly break down whole animals, including heritage pork that arrives two to three times a month from a fifth-generation farmer in Baton Rouge. The menus large plates include wagyu steak with crispy fingerling potatoes and brown butter, and roast pork served with celeriac, fennel and apple butter. Crab fat agnolotti features tender pasta stuffed with scallop and crab mousseline and topped with poached oysters in an Herbsaint cream sauce. Despite the Michelin pedigree, Temple favors approachability.

The sommelier is Kevin Wardell, who moved to New Orleans a few months ago from Healdsburg, California, with his wife and son. The couple ran a popular wine bar called Bergamot Alley before taking the business online.

Wardell has filled the affordable wine list with small, boutique producers and lesser-known grape varietals. Wardell knows his way around Old World and Italian wines. The selection of wines by the glass trots the globe, including a minerally white from Santorini, Greece, and a fruit-forward cabernet franc from the Bourgueil area of the Loire Valley. The restaurants cocktail program spans classics like a Sazerac and a gin-based Fords cocktail, along with originals like the Siesta made with tequila, a bitter aperitif, grapefruit and lime.

Like so many restaurants that opened this year, Le Chat Noir had a few stops and starts. Hurricane Ida was the most recent delay, says partner James Reuter, a 33-year-old restaurateur who owns Bearcat Cafes in Uptown and the CBD. We opened at the worst time for restaurants, the month of December, but we didnt want to wait anymore.

Gene Todaro, the buildings owner, also is a partner. Todaro ran his restaurant, Marcellos Restaurant and Wine Bar, in the space before he relocated it to Covington.

Reuter and Temple ran a dinner series out of Bearcat in the CBD, fine-tuning the menu while the Le Chat Noir space was being renovated. Behind the large windows overlooking St. Charles Avenue, theres a front bar and oyster bar and a smattering of high-top tables. The floor of the bar area is the original black and white tile.

The restaurant is currently open for dinner, and plans are in the works to serve lunch and add happy hour. Temples food, while rooted in locally raised and grown product, is not trying to reinvent traditional New Orleans dishes.

New Orleanians love their fried and smothered dishes, he says. We are just taking a different approach.

Le Chat Noir

715 St. Charles Ave., (504) 381-0045

Dinner Tuesday-Saturday
In Hive, Fahrije tends to a colony of bees. She collects honey to sell at a farmers market in the center of her small town in Kosovo. But few people buy the honey, and worse, she always seems to get stung, never quite keeping bees from getting under her protective gear.

The wounds sting, but are only a hint of what she endures in trying to rebuild her and her familys life. Its been seven years since her husband disappeared during the war in Kosovo. Theres little hope hes still alive, and shes trying to support her children and father-in-law.

Though many other families in the town experienced similar loss, theres little sympathy for her cause, save from a relief group that assists women widowed by the conflict. Whats most jarring, is that while the men in the village dont offer the slightest support  say making a point of buying Fahrijes honey  many of them are hostile to everything she does to help herself.

Hive is a stark drama about loss, perseverance and the cruelty that can arise from patriarchy and sexism. Last year, the film won three major awards at the Sundance Film Festival, including both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. Berta Basholli won Best Director. Hive opens today at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge.

As the film begins, Fahrije realizes she must do more to support her family. Shes taken over the tasks her husband had handled. He built the beehive she now tends. She now fixes leaking pipes. But the small amount she can make selling honey is leaving the family penniless.

Even her disabled father-in-law, who is wheelchair bound, is not supportive. He wont let her sell her husbands table saw, as he clings to hope that hes still alive. He also refuses to give blood for a DNA test that might match remains from a mass grave.

A relief agency is offering to teach women to drive. Many women are afraid to do so, because of the communitys old-world views. The notion of a woman working outside the home or being independent draws harsh rebukes from family members and men of the town. The women fear the rumors that would spread if they were to go out on their own. But Fahrije senses she has no choice.

Soon, she finds an opportunity to sell ajvar, a hot pepper sauce, to a local grocery story. She tries to recruit other widowed women to join her, but its a big step for each of them. Theyre quietly empathetic, but most fear making similar choices.

Fahrije also must endure the backlash within her own home. Her children dont want to give up hope, and they resist the changes that come to their lives. Theres nowhere they want to go that doesnt remind her of her husband, but she cant share that with them.

The Kosovo war was in 1998-1999, and the film is set in roughly 2006. At times its jarring to see the sexism in existence at the time. But its no fiction, Hive is based on a true story. Basholli does not get into many details of the war, save how it affected Fahrijes life. And it makes no broad geopolitical points. It stays narrowly focused on Fahrije tending to her daily life, and the tasks that should be otherwise simple, like driving through town unaccosted.

Albanian actress Yllka Gashi is excellent as Fahrije, balancing steely resolve and her vulnerability. Fahrije rarely smiles, which is understandable, and she doesnt seem like a warm person, despite the suffering shes bottled inside. But everything about her plight is sympathetic.

The drama is tense and gripping, as unthinkable realities stand in plain sight and it seems heroic just to acknowledge them.
The highly infectious Omicron variant is changing the way Louisiana hospitals operate, with canceled surgeries, bottlenecked emergency rooms and more recently a move towards intermingling COVID-positive patients on non-COVID floors, according to doctors, nurses and patients.

There has been welcome news in recent days from studies suggesting the new variant is sending a smaller percentage of infected people to the hospital. But at the same time, because omicron is spreading so fast and infecting so many people, Louisiana's health care workers are facing familiar frustrations.

Effective drugs are in short supply, emergency departments are overwhelmed and employees are falling ill at record rates, creating staffing issues.

All of these factors are "stressing the system to the brink, as it has been many times the past year," said Dr. Joe Kanter, the state's health officer and an emergency room physician.

New cases reached a record high on Friday, with 10,727 confirmed and 4,075 probable cases in the state, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. An additional 109 patients were being treated in hospitals, bringing the total to 1,521. That remains well below the peak of 3,022 hospitalizations during the delta variant, though the number is rising quickly.

Like in earlier waves of the pandemic, the biggest strain on the system is staffing levels, according to several hospital employees and public health officials. Unprecedented numbers of hospital employees are in quarantine due to omicron, which is up to four times more infectious than previous variants.

On a recent night shift in the intensive care unit at University Medical Center, Dr. Kara Ward counted seven nurses out due to omicron. The unit, like all area hospitals, was already short-staffed. The absences meant that the nursing staff to care for very sick patients was 10% smaller than normal. It's an issue that can back up the entire hospital admission process, Ward said.

It creates a bottleneck, said Ward, who specializes in pulmonary critical care and emergency medicine at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. How many casualties are we going to have in the meantime because of that, whether its because staff is out, unable to work, or peoples procedures are being delayed because they couldnt get in?

+5 Omicron makes up 90% of Louisiana COVID cases, fueling infections and hospitalizations Coronavirus infections rose by 10,403 confirmed and probable cases on Wednesday as the omicron strain, which makes up 90% of cases in Louisian

At Ochsner Health, Louisianas largest hospital system, emergency rooms are at double or triple the typical volume. At the health systems flagship location on Jefferson Highway, 461 patients flooded the ER in one day recently, said Dr. Jon Michael Cuba, system chairman of emergency medicine.

More people are seeking tests in emergency rooms, straining the triage process, according to Louisiana ER doctors. Meanwhile, patients who need to be admitted to the hospital are waiting longer in the emergency department because there arent enough nurses to get them to where they would get the correct type of care, said Ward.

Kelly Ortolano, 42, of Marrero, has been preparing for a preventative surgery since October to curtail her risk of developing cancer due to a hormone condition.

Even then, the wait time was several months. Now her surgery at West Jefferson Medical Center next week has been canceled, and the medication she's taking in the meantime isn't safe to be on for long periods of time.

"They can't fill the hospital to capacity because they don't have the staff to service the hospital to capacity," Ortolano said she was told by phone on Thursday. She had already turned in paperwork for an absence at work, gone through pre-op appointments and scheduled a COVID test. Now, her husband has to arrange for more time off work for the rescheduled surgery.

LCMC Health, which operates West Jefferson, didn't respond to a request for details on how many surgeries have been canceled there.

Meanwhile, some coronavirus treatments are in short supply during the current surge of infections. Only one monoclonal antibody treatment, called sotrovimab, works against omicron. Louisiana was well stocked in two other treatments and treating thousands of patients weekly until recently, when evidence showed they don't help with the new variant. Sotrovimab is in short supply across the country, and just 612 doses went out this week in Louisiana.

Archdiocese of New Orleans drops masking in schools as omicron cases multiply The Archdiocese of New Orleans has dropped a mask mandate for its Catholic schools in Orleans Parish, prompting questions and anger from some 

Hospital officials said they are also seeing an increasing number of so-called incidental COVID cases  the number of people hospitalized for something else who also test positive for COVID. Louisiana does not officially track how many incidental cases there are, though it is working to implement a process to do so.

Health news in your inbox Reporter Emily Woodruff shares weekly updates and insights on local health news, including COVID coverage and medical research. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Kanter said that hospitalized COVID patients can be classified into three categories: those who are there primarily because of a COVID infection; those who come in for another reason, such as a car accident, and just happen to test positive; and those who are more difficult to put into one bucket or the other.

Most hospitals will tell you somewhere in the neighborhood of 30%, maybe 35%, of patients are truly incidental, said Kanter. Theres also this middle ground of patients that are harder to categorize.

U.S. Supreme Court considers COVID vaccine rules; Louisiana attorney argues remotely WASHINGTON  Fully vaccinated and mostly masked, the U.S. Supreme Courts conservative majority appeared skeptical Friday of the Biden adminis

The middle ground includes patients who have severe lung issues for whom a COVID diagnosis is likely to worsen their condition, for example.

At some hospitals, asymptomatic or mild cases are being grouped with non-COVID patients, a change from the previous practice of placing all COVID patients in the same unit, said Dr. Robert Hart, chief medical officer at Ochsner Health.

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, which operates Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge, no longer uses COVID wards, said Dr. Catherine ONeal, the hospital's chief medical officer and an infectious disease expert. Instead, they are placing COVID-positive patients in single-patient rooms in the wing of the hospital most suited to their care needs.

If the most appropriate care team for a COVID patient is on a neuro unit because the patient also has a neurologic disease, then we want the patient to get the care from the team that has the expertise for them, O'Neal said.

Hart said that type of change is partly due to staff shortages  at Ochsner, 1,400 workers are currently out due to COVID  and partly due to a change in how hospitals are learning to manage the virus over time.

If you go back and follow the history of viruses, that is a progression that many of them take. They become more transmissible, less deadly, said Hart, who noted that the omicron variant fits this pattern. This is just another step in that progression.

Still, because of the sheer numbers of COVID patients, there are many who become very ill. Childrens Hospital New Orleans reached 28 hospitalized COVID patients on Friday, doubling the number since Monday, according to Dr. Mark Kline, the hospital's physician in chief. Five are in the ICU.

That is the largest number of children we've had hospitalized with COVID on any given day in the entire pandemic, said Kline.

Kline said 20 of those children were hospitalized directly because of COVID, five were incidental and three fell into the middle ground of having other illnesses that COVID is complicating.

Dr. Nirav Patel, chief medical officer at University Medical Center, said that about 30% of the patients who are hospitalized there are incidental cases, but pointed out that the incidental hospitalized group is made up almost entirely of vaccinated people who need care for other chronic conditions.

It important to make that distinction, said Patel. There is nobody in the hospital right now that has been boosted that is hospitalized with COVID.

Employees are coming back quickly after quarantine since the vast majority are vaccinated. But employees are also feeling frustrated and worn down, sometimes having to take off to care for a child or sick family member with omicron, Patel said.

While variants will change, most public health advice remains the same: wear a mask and get vaccinated. Those who see the virus up close are taking on more patients than ever before and said they know this variant wont be the last.

It's just that we keep saying the same things: Help us, help us. Please do your part, said Ward, the ER and ICU doctor. And then no one does. And here we are again.

Staff writer Paul Cobler contributed to this report.
New Orleans 2nd City Court Judge Ernestine "Teena" Anderson-Trahan was indicted Friday on four federal tax fraud charges for allegedly failing to report income for legal work and officiating weddings.

Federal prosecutors accused Anderson-Trahan of failing, for the tax years 2013 and 2014, to report fees she made before she became a judge in 2013.

Anderson-Trahan also failed to tell the Internal Revenue Service about cash she received for officiating weddings, according to the indictment. She typically charged $100 for a wedding at the Algiers courthouse, a practice that attracted controversy when WVUE television reported on it in 2018, because the money went directly to her and other judges instead of to the court's funds.

The judge did not report all the money she made from those cash payments for the 2013 to 2016 tax years, according to the indictment.

Trahan-Anderson is set to be arraigned Jan. 24. She could not immediately be reached for comment Friday night.

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As 2nd City Court judge, Trahan-Anderson oversees small claims disputes and evictions in Algiers.

If convicted as charged, she could be sentenced to as long as 12 years in prison, although maximum penalties are rare in federal court for first offenders.

She is the second sitting elected official in New Orleans now facing tax fraud charges, after District Attorney Jason Williams.
A 20-year-old man was found fatally shot Friday in Algiers' Old Aurora area, New Orleans police say.

Police said they were alerted at 3:14 p.m. after the victim's parents found him dead in a 750-square-foot house in the 100 block of Huntlee Drive. He had been shot multiple times, but the Police Department did not immediately release more details.

Theresa Carroll, who has lived in the area since the 1970s, described it as a quiet melting pot full of nice people.

"We get a lot of speeding, but we haven't had anything like this," she said. "It's pretty upsetting. I'm praying for the people who will be affected."

Police said anyone with information on the killing may call homicide detective Leonard Bendy at 504-658-5300 or Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans Inc. at (504) 822-1111.
A 15-year-old boy shot another teen to death Thursday during an argument in Kenner, police said.

The teens were fighting when one shot the other in the chest inside a home in the 3100 block of Tifton Street in the Lincoln Manor shortly before 1:50 a.m., Kenner police said in a statement. First responders were called out to the home and took the wounded teen to a hospital, where he died.

+2 Woman whose body was recovered from Kenner canal died of drug overdose; cousin faces murder charge A Kenner woman is behind bars on a murder charge, accused of supplying the heroin, fentanyl and other drugs that allegedly led to the overdose

The Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office identified the slain boy as Karnas Coleman, of New Orleans.

People at the home allegedly tried to convince police that Coleman actually shot himself. But officers found evidence contradicting that claim, and the 15-year-old boy admitted he fired the gun that killed Coleman and tried to hide evidence before investigators arrived, police said.

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Officers booked the 15-year-old with counts of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and illegally possessing a handgun as a juvenile. They also seized four pistols from the home, police said.

Police didn't immediately release the name of the 15-year-old murder suspect because he is underage.

If ultimately tried for murder as an adult and convicted, the arrested boy could face life in prison, though he would have the possibility of parole after 25 years because of his age.
An 83-year-old man, tending to a disabled vehicle on the Westbank Expressway in Marrero, was struck and fatally injured early Saturday by a drunken driver's car, Louisiana State Police said.

Authorities said Curtis Williams of New Orleans was standing on the driver's side near the rear of a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica, in the right eastbound lane of the elevated highway near Barataria Boulevard. The vehicle's emergency lights were flashing.

Nonetheless, at about 3:30 a.m, a 2014 Nissan Altima crashed into the rear of the minivan and hit Williams as well, State Police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

The car's driver, Adrian Major, 36, of Terrytown, suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

"Major displayed several indicators of impairment and provided a breath sample" showing the alcohol content in his blood exceeded 0.08%, Louisiana's threshold for drunken driving, said Trooper Kate Stegall, spokesperson for Troop B.

Police booked him at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna with vehicular homicide, which incorporates the impairment aspect of driving, as well as careless driving and driving on a suspended license.
Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexicos tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state's psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing. The big blaze burning near the community of Las Vegas has charred more than 188 square miles. Residents in neighborhoods on the edge of Las Vegas were told to be ready to leave their homes. It's the biggest wildfire in the U.S. and is moving quickly through groves of ponderosa pine because of hot, dry and windy conditions that make for extreme wildfire danger. Forecasters are warning of extreme fire danger across New Mexico and in western Texas.
Wind-whipped flames are marching across more of New Mexicos tinder-dry mountainsides, forcing the evacuation of area residents and dozens of patients from the state's psychiatric hospital as firefighters scramble to keep new wildfires from growing. The big blaze burning near the community of Las Vegas has charred more than 217 square miles. Residents in neighborhoods on the edge of Las Vegas were told to be ready to leave their homes. It's the biggest wildfire in the U.S. and is moving quickly through groves of ponderosa pine because of hot, dry and windy conditions that make for extreme wildfire danger. Forecasters are warning of extreme fire danger across New Mexico and in western Texas.
Norman, OK (73070)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low near 45F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low near 45F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph.
A curious correlation caught the attention of twitter and academic researchers this month: As COVID-19 cases increased in the U.S., the number of bad reviews claiming "no scent" on Yankee Candles increased.

Since the recent surge in COVID-19 cases surrounding the 2021 Holiday season, the review section for Yankee Candles products on Amazon was flooded with complaints from customers claiming they were unable to smell the candles.

Yankee Candle Company is a popular brand of candles based out of Massachusetts. The company is known for producing long-lasting quality candles. Part of Yankee Candle's popularity is the wide variety of scents offered in their candles, so it's not surprising customers would be upset if they were unable to smell their new candle. What is surprising, however, is the link between candle scent complaints and COVID.

People took to twitter to discuss the strange coincidence of bad Yankee Candle reviews and the increase in COVID-19 cases, pointing out that a common symptom of the virus is a loss of smell.

Nick Beauchamp, an assistant professor of political science at Northeastern University, posted a graph showing the increases in smell-related Yankee Candle review side-by-side with increases in COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

Kate Petrova, a research assistant with the Harvard Study of Adult Development at Bryn Mawr College, decided to put the twitter speculation to the test by looking at over 20,000 Amazon reviews of the candles. Her data, published by the Washington Post, supported the theory, showing that before 2020, reviews of the top scented candles hovered between 4 and 4 stars, year after year. Since January 2020, however, those grades have fallen roughly one full star.

While it's unfortunate so many candle customers were unable to enjoy their favorite cozy candles this year, it's also a reminder that COVID-19 can have lasting consequences for those infected. Over 1 million people in the United States have lost their sense of smell, according to the latest data.

So, the next time you decide to light your favorite candle and get cozy, pay attention to your nose. If you can't smell the candle, it may not be Yankee Candle's fault.

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Many colleges and universities in Pennsylvania are changing their semester plans due to concerns over Omicron and case spikes. Each institution adopts a slightly different plan, but generally, institutions base their COVID-19 policies upon the relative cases in their region and the plans of other, similar scale schools.

Pennsylvania State University

On Dec. 30 Pennsylvania State University administration announced a return to in-person instruction for the spring semester.

The decision has been met with backlash from the student body, many of whom have signed on to a petition that now totals over 1,200 signatures, according to the Daily Collegian, the university's student-run newspaper.

The petition calls for either a shift to virtual learning with "gradual and cautious" assessments of return, or a delayed start to the semester while monitoring conditions and altering plans as appropriate, according to the petition.

The petition outlines a "Omicron variant peak" as a guiding point for campus policy decisions. The Omicron variant was detected on the University Park campus as of Dec. 20, Daily Collegian reports.

The University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh will hold virtual classes upon return on January 8, according to The Pitt News, the universitys student-run newspaper. Those living in residence halls will follow a cohort-based arrival system that divides students into smaller groups in order to mitigate spread of the virus.

The college intends to remain virtual until at least Jan. 26, according to The Pitt News. The university Provost weighed in on the decision, according to The Pitt News reports, attributing the change in course to the "highly transmissible" Omicron variant.

Pitt previously implemented a vaccine mandate for all students, faculty, and staff. About 900 exemptions have been approved as of Nov. 19, according to The Pitt News reports.

Franklin & Marshall College, Elizabethtown College

Two Lancaster County colleges, Franklin & Marshall College and Elizabethtown College, are pushing back their in-person start date following case surges in Lancaster County, according to LancasterOnline reports.

F&M will begin spring semester courses virtually, with an intended return date of Jan. 31. Elizabethtown will begin later than intended, delaying their start to Jan. 18.

Find other university updates on their websites.

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Harrisburg -- It can be very difficult to re-enter the workforce after time served, but a recent panel has offered some clarity on the complicated legal process that reentrants must face.

State officials offered an educational panel titled "Women in Reentry: Clemency, Expungement, and Clean Slate." Panelists discussed each process and the impact that they can have on reentrants.

Clemency usually falls into one of two categories: pardons and commutations. A pardon is total forgiveness by the state for a crime that someone has been convicted for, regardless of whether the sentence included time in prison. Applying for a pardon is free, does not require a lawyer, and the application is available online.

A criminal conviction can impact opportunities for employment, housing, and education, and can even restrict parents from volunteering in their childrens activities, said Celeste Trusty, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons (BOP).

Clemency is a critical process in Pennsylvania, providing life-changing second chances for our community members impacted by the legal system. Applying for clemency in the Commonwealth is free, and application materials are easily accessible to the public on the Board of Pardons website. Everyone deserves the opportunity for a second chance, and Pennsylvania is proud to have become a leader in clemency reform under the current administration.

PLSE provides free legal representation to low-income residents of Philadelphia whose criminal records are holding them back; helps seek expungements in criminal court; and helps seek pardons from the Governor.

To help other regions, PLSE created the statewide Pardon Project, which encourages leaders to create localized, community-based hubs to educate people about the pardons process. Currently, only Allegheny, Beaver, Berks, Erie, Lackawanna, Lancaster, and Washington Counties have a local Pardon Project.

There is greater interest in criminal justice right now than any time in recent memory, and we must make sure that women are not left out of this vital conversation, said Taylor Pacheco, Deputy Executive Director at Philadelphia Lawyers of Social Equity (PLSE).

When people are shackled by their criminal records, entire families suffer. Our commitment to reducing the collateral consequences of criminal records through the pardon process is one that has the potential to change the life outcomes of entire generations, and it is work that we can and must all do together as a statewide community.

Expungement is the only way to permanently and completely erase criminal history record information, and it must be completed through a court.

Nearly 1 in 3 Americans has a criminal record, and even a minor record can cause lifelong barriers to opportunity, said Katie Svoboda-Kindle, Senior Staff Attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS).

Clearing those records would allow access employment, housing and education, but 9 out of 10 people who are eligible for record clearing dont get it done. Clean Slate solves this second chance gap using technology that seals eligible records through an automated process.

The Clean Slate Law lets individuals petition the courts for records to be sealed if the individual has been free from conviction for 10 years for an offense that resulted in a year or more in prison and has paid all court-ordered financial debts.

Offenses eligible for Clean Slate include second- and third-degree misdemeanors, and misdemeanors punishable by two years or less in prison; summary convictions; and charges not resulting in convictions. Ineligible offenses include crimes involving danger to persons; crimes against families; and firearm offenses. The full list is available here.

Pennsylvania began implementing the Clean Slate system in 2019, and over a million Pennsylvanians and over 40 million cases have been affected. Community Legal Services of Philadelphia helps people navigate the Clean Slate process to prevent minor offenses from blocking employment, housing, and other opportunities.

Another Women in Reentry panel discussion will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

Previous panel discussions can be viewed on the One Lens Facebook page.

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Napoleon, OH (43545)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Samsung Display has exhibited the Flex G, Flex Note, Flex S and the Flex Slidable at CES 2022, following a similar showcase last year at IMID 2021 in South Korea. All prototypes, the devices offer an insight into how the foldable market could change over the next year or two.

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Samsung has showcased several foldable devices at CES 2022, including the Flex G, Flex S and the Flex Note. Seemingly, these are the same devices that the company exhibited in August at IMID 2021, a South Korean exhibition. Incidentally, Samsung has also announced a new portable projector at CES 2022 and the Galaxy S21 FE just before the conference began.

It is worth stressing that Samsung Display has exhibited these prototypes, not Samsung's Galaxy division. Hence, these displays may end up in devices produced by other companies that work with Samsung Display, rather than as part of the Galaxy brand. Still, the Flex G and Flex S build on the Galaxy Z Fold series. However, both prototypes have displays that fold into thirds, not in half.

Based on the video below, the Flex G could be the more durable of the two designs, with each display third protected by the rear side of the preceding third Samsung Display has also revealed the Flex Slidable, which resembles the Oppo X 2021. The Flex Slidable appears to have a manual slide function, though, compared to Oppo's motorised mechanism in the X 2021.
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AVRO Development, an arm of Valparaiso University, is selling the former campus mail center building to a game accessory manufacturer.

AVRO, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lutheran liberal arts school, is selling the property at 2006 Warbler Drive as part of its Vitalize Valpo land initiative. Valparaiso-based game accessory manufacturer Litko Aerosystems is closing on a deal to purchase the 8,160-square-foot former Valparaiso University Mail Center just off U.S. 30 for an undisclosed sum.

Litko, which makes accessories for tabletop gaming, aims to expand its operations and grow its business.

With our business being in close proximity to Valparaiso University, it gives us the opportunity to collaborate with professors, students, and others on campus. We are looking to attract talent that is interested in being part of a high-tech direct-to-consumer ecommerce operation, said Kenneth Litko, the company's president and CEO.

Litko produces miniature bases, game tokens, movement trays and other accessories used in tabletop, board, war and role playing games. It for instance makes components for popular game systems like Battletech, Gaslands and Warhammer 40k.

The city of Valparaiso continues to support with enthusiasm the growth of small business in our community. We look forward to continued success for Litko Game Accessories in Valpo, said Beth Shrader, the city of Valparaisos director of planning and transit.

AVGO acquired 130 acres of land around the Valparaiso University campus, where it is pursuing a master development plan. The goal is to do real estate deals that will spur more economic development around the campus, such as by bringing in senior living, multi-family development and hospitality projects.

We are excited to play a small role in Litkos ability to grow their operations right here at home in Valpo. This is one of many steps on the path towards maximizing the potential of our expansive real estate portfolio, said Luke Aeschliman, president of AVRO Development.

For more information, visit vitalizevalpo.com.

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VALPARAISO  Porter County's continued uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 has derailed yet another trial, this time one involving a Valparaiso murder case.

The accused, John Williams, 29, was to go to trial Tuesday on the Jan. 29, 2020, stabbing death of his friend, 36-year-old Travis Thompson, of Valparaiso.

But prosecutors filed a motion seeking a delay, in part because of the health threats posed by the current rapid spread of the potentially deadly COVID-19 virus. Porter County has been designated by the state as having a red, or the highest possible, status for the spread of COVID-19.

Prosecutors also said they learned this week that two witnesses in the case are unavailable to appear for next week's trial due to testing positive for COVID-19.

Prosecutors also filed additional felony counts against Williams, accusing him of attempting to push an officer down a set of stairs at the Porter County Jail on Dec. 17.

The new charges are attempted battery on a public safety official with bodily injury, battery on a public safety official and resisting law enforcement, according to court documents.

Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer agreed Friday to postpone next week's trial until Feb. 1 and said it will take place at that time unless the county's red designation has not changed.

He said the Porter County positivity rate is at 22.43%, which means that nearly a quarter of its COVID-19 tests are returning positive.

Clymer declared a COVID-19 emergency for his court, saying he cannot assure the safety and health of potential jurors and others involved in a trial at this time.

A hearing in the case was scheduled for Jan. 28 to determine the county's status and the likelihood of the trial going forward as now scheduled.

The swelling COVID-19 pandemic had derailed this week's trial of Curtis Jones, a one-time Porter County police officer accused of beating his infant son and leaving the boy disabled and with a much shorter life expectancy.

That trial was delayed until April 26 both because of the threat it would pose to participants and because it has already impacted the lead counsel for the defendant, according to court records.

The Willliams' trial has been postponed multiple times, including to allow for negotiations between the defense and prosecutors.

Williams is accused of holding down and battering a man at the man's Valparaiso apartment while his friend, Thompson, searched the unit for marijuana and THC wax, police said.

During the encounter, the man being held down grabbed a knife and, while targeting Williams, wound up stabbing Thompson, according to police.

After making a failed attempt to get Thompson into his vehicle, Williams and a woman drove away, leaving him behind bleeding profusely in the 700 block of Elm Street, police said. Police and paramedics were unable to revive Thompson, and it was later determined he died as a result of blood loss caused by a stab wound on his upper left leg that severed the femoral artery.

Williams is charged with murder, two counts of robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, two counts of robbery resulting in bodily injury, aggravated battery when assault poses a substantial risk of death, two counts of robbery and one count of battery resulting in serious bodily injury, court records show.

A habitual offender enhancement was also filed against Williams, which claims he had three or more unrelated felony convictions prior to this most recent case.

Police said they learned during their investigation that Williams and the woman "discussed taking Thompson's body to an abandoned residence in Gary, however, they did not, based upon how fast he expired."

The woman with Williams later told police they discarded the clothes Williams was wearing on a burn pile. The clothes were later retrieved by police.

A witness reportedly told police Williams and Thompson went to the apartment without money and with the intention of stealing drugs.

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CROWN POINT  A Lake Criminal Court judge sentenced a man Friday to a maximum of 20 years in prison under his plea agreement for stabbing a man about 20 times and dumping the man's body in a pond.

Christian O. Mora, 21, of East Chicago, was on probation for pointing a firearm at a man in January 2019 in Lake Station when he killed 34-year-old Erik Lozano on Dec. 1, 2019, in the parking lot of a BMO Harris bank branch in East Chicago.

Police later found Lozano's body submerged in shallow water in Grand Boulevard Lake in Lake Station. The body had been doused in bleach and wrapped in garbage bags, court records state.

Mora initially was charged with murder, but he pleaded guilty in October to voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony. Lake County prosecutors agreed to a cap of 20 years on his possible prison sentence.

Defense attorney Marc Laterzo and Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Keith Anderson said further investigation after charges were filed led them to agree that voluntary manslaughter was a more appropriate charge in Mora's case.

Voluntary manslaughter is a lesser included count to murder.

Mora admitted in his plea agreement he was acting under sudden heat when he stabbed Lozano "many times" while the two argued about money.

Judge Salvador Vasquez said he's not a cynical person, so he did not expect Mora would go on to kill someone six months being placed on probation for 1.5 years in 2019.

"This is a close-range, significant act of murder," Vasquez said.

The judge said he found Mora to be manipulative of not only the court system but also his family.

Mora's grandmother and mother told the judge Mora had a good heart, but his grandmother didn't know about the case that led to his 2019 conviction.

"So you go to prison, leaving your family wondering what person you could have been," he said. "How horrible is that?"

Lozano's brother, Ruben Lozano, accepted apologies from Mora's mother and grandmother and pleaded with Mora to think about his crime and leave prison a better man.

"Twenty years ago, I was in your shoes," Lozano said.

Lozano said he ran with gangs and was caught with drugs and an automatic rifle in his parents' home. He, too, stood before Vasquez 15 years ago, he said.

"By the grace of God, I'm a pastor now," he said.

Lozano said it was painful to learn his brother had been stabbed 20 times, including once through the heart, and "disregarded as nothing." He asked Mora how he would feel if someone did that to his family.

"My brother was a good guy," he said. "He's going to be missed."

Lozano said his family and Mora's both took a loss.

"We pray for you and that you will make this right with God because the blood of my brother is on your hands," he said.

Before sitting down, Lozano shook hands with several of Mora's family members in the gallery.

Mora said he had a lot of time to think during his two years of incarceration at Lake County Jail while awaiting a resolution in his case.

"I'm very remorseful for my actions," he said. "Eric had been a friend of mine."

Mora said he wished he could change what happened. He moved a lot as a child and was never really able to build any lasting friendships, he said.

The judge said Mora's criminal history was a significant factor, and a sentence of any less than 20 years would have been inappropriate.

Laterzo said Mora would further consider his right to appeal his sentence.

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GARY  Following the discovery of a dead 6-year-old boy near an abandoned home, the child's mother, brother and another juvenile sibling are facing charges.

On Saturday afternoon, the mother, Jannie M. Perry, 38, was charged with first-degree murder, concealment of homicidal death and obstruction of justice, the Lake County (Illinois) state's attorney's office said in a news release.

The child's 20-year-old brother, Jeremiah R. Perry, has been charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm to a child under 12, concealing a homicidal death and obstruction of justice.

A juvenile sibling, who has not been identified, faces unknown charges. All three family members have been in police custody since Friday night.

Damari Perry, of North Chicago, was reported missing Tuesday near north suburban Skokie, Illinois, said North Chicago Police Department Chief of Police Lazaro Perez.

Damari Perry was found 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the 700 block of Van Buren Street in Gary by police and FBI agents.

Family members initially provided a false story to police, Perez said. Family members told investigators that Damari Perry was last seen Tuesday evening, stating he may be missing in Skokie, Illinois.

Perez said the account family members told police about Damari Perry going with his sister to a party in Skokie and then disappearing were found to be false upon further investigation.

Damari Perry's sister allegedly told police she had several drinks and fell asleep at a party at an unknown residence, and when she woke up two hours later, the child and the man who is known as "Wacko" were not in the apartment, according to a report from NBC Chicago. Then she told police a woman drove her back to North Chicago.

During the course of the investigation, the FBI and North Chicago detectives and Department of Children and Family Services brought the child's family members to the Lake County state's attorney's Children's Advocacy Center.

On Thursday and Friday, agents, detectives, case workers, prosecutors and forensic interviewers interviewed multiple children in the family.

From there, authorities focused their investigations into Damari Perry's mother and adult siblings. Information from witnesses led police to the location of the child's body in Gary. Prosecutors and police worked through Friday and Saturday to finalize criminal charges.

Once the autopsy is complete and the investigation continues, more charges are expected to be filed.

Damari Perry's remains are in the care of the Lake County coroner's office, where an autopsy will be performed, Perez said. The coroner's office said the autopsy will be conducted at their facility on Monday in Crown Point.

"Coroner David J. Pastrick would like to thank the city of North Chicago Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Indiana State Police for their assistance," said Yvette Manfredy, chief deputy coroner. "No further information is available at this time."

In addition to the three family members being in police custody, Perez said all other juveniles in the family are in the care of the DCFS.

The police chief stated that he and his agency, along with agencies in Lake County and the Illinois state's attorney's office, worked together to press charges against those responsible for the child's death.

"Our hearts ache over the murder of 6-year-old Damari Perry," said Lake County (Illinois) State's Attorney Eric Rinehart. "We would not have reached the awful truth of this case without the work of the FBI, the North Chicago Police Department and the investigators and staff at the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center."

Rinehart said the family was charged with obstruction of justice due to their "completely false" story of the party in Skokie, and said that no Skokie residents were involved in the incident.

"Prosecutors, investigators and victim support professionals worked late into the night and into the early morning to make sure we understood this tragic crime now, because of their rigorous and detailed investigation, we will be able to bring Damari's killers to justice in a courtroom," Rinehart said.

The family members are scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing Sunday morning.

Police asked anyone with information to call 847-596-8740.

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EAST CHICAGO  One man is in custody after a 34-year-old Chicago man was found bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound in his stomach, police said.

The victim was found early Thursday of a gunshot wound in the 3900 block of Elm Street in East Chicago, Lake County Coroner David Pastrick said. His death was ruled as a homicide.

At 3:47 p.m. Thursday police responded to report of a man unresponsive near an outside stairway, said East Chicago Police Department Deputy Chief Jose Rivera.

The man, identified by police as Ronald M. Crawley, of Chicago, was found bleeding heavily from his torso area, and medics were called to assist.

When medics arrived, they could not detect any vital signs and the Lake County coroner's office responded and pronounced Crawley dead at the scene.

River said it appears Crawley died from a gunshot wound in the left side of his stomach.

Police said at 8:45 p.m. the same day, a man went to the East Chicago Police Department station to report an alleged home invasion at 3909 Elm St. The man had blood on his shirt and was found to be in possession of a 45-caliber semi-automatic handgun that had been reported as stolen in 2008 out of Columbia, Tennessee.

Authorities took the man into custody to be interviewed by detectives.

The East Chicago Police Department and Lake County Crime Scene Investigations are continuing to investigate the case.

Anyone with information is asked to contact East Chicago Detective Isaac Washington at iwashington@eastchicago.com or at 219-391-8318. To remain anonymous, tipsters can contact the police tip line at 219-391-8500.

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Bob Kasarda Porter/LaPorte County Courts and Social Justice Reporter Bob is a 23-year veteran of The Times. He covers county government and courts in Porter County, federal courts, police news and regional issues. He also created the Vegan in the Region blog, is an Indiana University grad and lifelong region resident. Follow Bob Kasarda 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
GARY  A infant and 20-year-old woman were killed Friday after the driver of a car in which they were riding fled from Lake County sheriff's police and crashed on Interstate 80/94, Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said.

The driver, Eric White, 20, is currently in Lake County Jail after being released from the hospital and criminal charges are pending against him. White's last known addresses include Gary and Calumet City.

Martinez said White had been arrested in connection with a pursuit in November.

White was taken to a local hospital with head injuries after officers began chasing him about 11:30 a.m. and he crashed on westbound I-80/94, between the Burr Street and Cline Avenue exits, police said.

After receiving medical treatment, White was expected to be arrested on suspicion of illegal possession of a firearm and other charges, Martinez said.

"Any loss of life in such horrifying circumstances is tragic, but the loss of a child is especially disturbing," Martinez said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives."

Sheriff's police attempted to stop a driver in a black 2010 Audi A5 for speeding and disregarding a traffic signal near 25th Avenue and Broadway in Gary, according to Martinez and Indiana State Police.

The driver sped off south on Broadway and got on westbound I-94, according to a news release.

The officers briefly lost sight of the car before discovering the crash at the Colfax Street bridge, he said.

The 20-year-old Matteson, Illinois, woman riding with the driver was killed instantly when he rear-ended a semitrailer, Martinez said. An infant, who was in a car seat, also was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

Neither of the crash victims have been identified by officials as of Friday night.

Indiana State Police assisted with a crash reconstruction investigation and determined the driver of the Audi lost control and rear-ended a semitrailer in the right lane, Sgt. Glen Fifield said.

"After striking the trailer, the Audi spun across all lanes and drove into the median wall," Fifield said. "After hitting the wall, the Audi then continued back across the lanes in front of the same semi that it had rear-ended and was struck on the passenger side by the front of the semi."

The Audi came to rest wedged under the front bumper of the semi, he said.

The woman suffered fatal injuries during the initial impact with the trailer and was ejected, Fifield said.

"A small child who was in a car seat on the rear passenger side of the Audi also suffered fatal injuries," he said.

Martinez said the crash scene likely was traumatic for emergency crews who responded.

"Police officers are faced with tragedy daily, but considering the circumstances with this incident, we are offering to help officers cope, the sheriff said.

After the crash, police learned the driver previously had been arrested in connection with a pursuit, he said.

White was arrested on Nov. 24 by Lake County Sheriffs Department police officers following a traffic stop. White was taken into custody for resisting, police said.

Traffic delays on the Borman Expressway lasted for about four hours.

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HAMMOND  In 1959, Annie Burns Hicks was refused hiring as a teacher at her former school. Sixty-three years later, her name is going on the building.

The School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to rename Maywood Elementary School for Annie Burns Hicks, the School City of Hammonds first black teacher.

One day after the vote, the Maywood website featured the new name.

Superintendent Scott E. Miller commented, After reading her story, Im all in favor of renaming the school.

Trustee Carlotta Blake King, who made the motion to rename Maywood, called Hicks a civil rights pioneer, an educator, an innovator  the type of woman who demanded academic excellence.

After graduating from Hammond, including elementary and junior high years at Maywood, Hicks attended Ball State Teachers College. After student teaching in Gary, she applied for a teaching job in Hammond, only to learn Hammond is not ready for a colored teacher at this time.

That was in 1959, five years after the landmark Brown vs. the Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that dismantled segregation in schools.

Speaking in a documentary about her life, Hicks recalled, I never saw a person like me in the classroom. I decided, well, I want to be a teacher, and that stayed with me.

Roland Parrish, an entrepreneur and philanthropist from Dallas who was educated in Hammond, is producing that documentary, entitled This Wall Must Come Down.

Miller reported that a survey about the school renaming garnered 510 respondents, most of them community members. Tallies were 2-to-1 in favor of renaming, the superintendent said.

Sometimes as a leader, you need to get out of the way, Miller said, adding that the renaming for Hicks makes all the sense in the world.

Miller called Hicks a pioneer for civil rights, education, and the African-American community. He added, Im absolutely thrilled to have a school named after one of our champions.

Hicks successfully took her case to the federal level. Defending her in his first case was future Gary Mayor Richard G. Hatcher.

An educator for 35 years in Hammond, all at Maywood, Hicks developed kindergarten curriculum for the school city. She also later taught in Michigan. Today at 84, Hicks lives in Indianapolis. Her mother, Mary, turns 100 this year.

Also in the documentary, Mary Burns recalled her familys early years in Mississippi. Her husband, then working in a cotton mill, saw two young black males lynched along the road coming home. He decided the family had to move.

Hicks was not at the board meeting, but two siblings, Mary Cartwright, of Hammond, and Albert Burns Jr., of Gary, expressed their excitement over the renaming.

Shes one of the sweetest people Ive known, always caring about other people, said her brother.

She was an amazing woman, amazing, her sister added. She was a very strong woman and she loved her students and she believed in education. She pushed for the best in children.

Hicks only taught kindergarten and first grade and did not want to go any higher, family members recalled.

Among those promoting Hicks cause has been Maxine Simmons, a longtime friend of the family and member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, where Hicks father, the Rev. A.R. Burns, ministered.

She is a lady with a lot of character and passion, Simmons said. She wanted to educate kids that looked like her.

Simmons recalled her sister had Hicks in kindergarten and she fell in love with Mrs. Hicks.

Trustee Cindy Murphy requested a timetable for the name change. Simmons said more information on the renaming would be announced at the citys Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King service Jan. 17.

Parrish added that a screening of his documentary will be held April 28 and, depending on her health, Hicks will return to Hammond for the event.

Parrish described Hicks as a quiet warrior and a catalyst for the community. Her eventual hiring as a Hammond teacher led to the citys first black police officer, firefighter, and school trustee, Albertine Cherry Dent.

She was told no by the system, Parrish said, but she started a plan that involved the community, church, and others.

Located at 1001 165th St., Annie Burns Hicks Elementary has 715 students in preschool through grade 5. The school, originally opened in 1926, moved into its newer building in August 1992.

Le Terra R. Smith, principal at the elementary, feels its important to acknowledge Hicks and her journey.

She paved the way for African-American educators and for women, Smith said. Mrs. Burns Hicks story is a great example for our students and our children.

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LAPORTE  Shaw Friedman has been reappointed LaPorte County government attorney in a split decision Wednesday by the county commissioners.

The same commissioners who voted for and against Friedman last year did not change their positions.

Friedman will work under a written contract at the same rate of $150 per hour.

A written contract was called for last year by Commissioner Joe Haney and agreed to in a legal settlement last month with LaPorte County Auditor Tim Stabosz, who withheld payment to Friedman on more than $2,000 in work that he believed was not legitimate.

Haney and Stabosz believed a contract with boundaries on the work performed by Friedman would eliminate future billing questions.

They had no say in drafting the terms of the contract, which Haney called extremely vague with absolutely no guard rails to make sure Friedman doesnt step outside the legal scope with his duties.

During public comment, Stabosz said work on Friedmans claims he disputed last year ranged from engaging in political activity such as lobbying and community organizing to media relations director for the commissioners.

Otherwise, acting as county manager, he said.

In response, Commission President Sheila Matias said an attorney working for local government needs flexibility to effectively address a wide array of issues.

She also said Friedman, whos been county attorney for a majority of his near 40-year legal career, has made himself available to her at all times even for phone calls to render advice.

To give him guardrails, doesnt make any sense. We need the ability to run this county and make sure were staying out of a liability situation, she said.

After the meeting, Matias said Friedman submitted a proposed contract.

Matias said amendments were made until she and Friedman along with Commissioner Rich Mrozinski agreed to the final terms.

In February, Friedman filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Stabosz for alleging he runs county government by controlling elected officials.

Attorney William Jonas, whos representing Friedman in the still undecided case, spoke highly of his clients reputation during the meeting.

He also cited a Dec. 7 decision by a judge not to grant Stabosz request for dismissal of the case.

Elkhart Superior Court 2 Judge Stephen Bowers ruled Stabosz failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate his claims against Friedman.

Jonas said the repeated allegations of wrongdoing and name calling against Friedman, Matias and Mrozinski last year from Stabosz and Haney were politically motivated.

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PEPPERED as we are by government warnings about the potential health hazards of eating and drinking just about everything, it was refreshing (and perplexing) to see a widely respected food writer assert recently that people are unnecessarily afraid of bacteria in the kitchen.

In April, Michael Ruhlman, author of Ratio and The Elements of Cooking and co-author of books by Thomas Keller and other chefs, said on his blog that he likes to make chicken stock and leave it out on the stovetop all week, using portions day to day to make quick soups and sauces.

But what about the harmful microbes that could grow on foods if they were not kept either chilled or hot? Once your stock is cooked, its safe to eat, Mr. Ruhlman wrote. If there were bad bacteria in it, youd have killed them. After the stock has cooled, simply reheat it, he continued, and any bacteria that landed there and began to multiply will be dispatched well before the stock hits a simmer.

Sounds plausible, and Mr. Ruhlman and his family are alive and well. But after checking with an independent expert on food safety, I wouldnt follow this recipe without slapping a biohazard label on my stockpot.
Attending a cuddle party was one of my fear-conquering New Years resolutions for 2016. My other resolutions  I had a long list  included speed dating and taking a hike with a mountaineering club.



I never got around to speed dating or hiking, but by August I had worked up the courage to sign up for a cuddle party. And thats how I found myself lying on a foam pad on a strangers floor with my head on the shoulder of a strange man. Strange in that I didnt know him, of course, but also strange in that he was so thin and bony that cuddling with him was no comfort at all.

Soon a young woman settled in on his other side and asked if she could hold my hand.

O.K., I said feebly.

We reached out and clasped hands across the mans chest. I felt rigid, tense, terrified.

A sea of foam pads and quilts and stuffed animals covered the expanse of the one-room carriage house. Even so, I felt the unrelenting pressure of my hipbone against hardwood. How long would I have to lie like this? What is the acceptable length of time to seem open to experience while also preserving my dignity?
BANGKOK  Only a small child when the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975 and soon made her an orphan, Theary Seng has two enduring memories from that time in Cambodias tortured history.

In one, she had fallen asleep in the arms of her mother only to wake up to find her gone. It was my first spiritual experience, she said, when I knew without anyone telling me that my mother was not on this earth.

The other is a sensory memory.

I remember the stink of human flesh, very, very clearly, she said. Thats a personal memory, the stench of death. I was 7 years old. My job was to pick up cow manure for fertilizer. I would wander the fields, and the fields were just covered with graves.

Four decades later, Ms. Theary Seng, a human rights lawyer who now holds an American passport, is back in Cambodia and confronting a new ordeal: She has been charged with treason.
SATURDAY PUZZLE  Shiver me timbers, right? Thats what I thought when I skimmed through the entire set of across clues to this grid and came up with a big fat goose egg. An unfilled grid like this one yawns especially widely, because there are 116 open squares (empty boxes that do not touch a black square) and only 21 black squares, or blocks, breaking up the void. This puts Freddie Cheng in rare company; according to Jeff Chen at XWord Info, the quest for the lowest block count in a 15x15 grid is the most famous, and most controversial, record in Crosswords.

This is Mr. Chengs 13th puzzle for The New York Times and his first Saturday grid. It goes without saying that the geometry in a puzzle like this puts a lot of constraints on its fill, but I think the content in the grid is really terrific overall  well worth the trouble I had actually getting through it.

Tricky Clues

I would have fared better at the beginning if the trivia had been anywhere near to up my alley, but no such luck. I didnt know SACHA Gervasi, or the WILLA Player story (which is certainly underappreciated online, unless Im missing a famous reference); I did know that turpentine comes from pines, which are conifers, as is the LARCH (which I did not know). I wrote in a couple of misdirects at the top and the southwest corner  surer instead of TRUER and man for APE pointed me to USA maps instead of ATLASES, all of which slowed me down a bit in that spot. There were some cute puns, too, slow burners for me: SAFE and PH TEST.

1A: If youre mathy (as defined in Mr. Chengs notes) then youll love this debut entry, which refers to PASCALS TRIANGLE. This is a beautiful construction: a triangle that starts with a 1 at a point and follows a simple equation to expand itself outward that helps visually solve an array of problems such as the powers of 2, the Fibonacci sequence and the probability of any combination. The concept was illustrated in China long before Blaise Pascal wrote a treatise that explained the triangle to 17th century Europe.
Black artists in this country bear the curious, hilarious burden of history. Their work has to advance; to answer, to question, sit with, and not know. To take on, to risk. To do not only more, but often the most. It must also counteract and dispel; it must undo. Mr. Poitier was American arts great undoer.

In the movies, Black characters were jolly statuary  hoisting luggage, serving food, tending children  meant to decorate a white Americans dream. Acting could be a carceral affair. Mr. Poitier arrived at the start of the civil rights movement, in time to spring the Black image from the prison of the antebellum and minstrelsy eras. He was scarcely the first to try. He just led more people farther down the road than any other artist. Of course, what ensued instead was complicated: a kind of prisoner swap.

This undoing business is tricky. The undoer must be both historic and a vessel of history. So Mr. Poitier was accused of being all kinds of Uncle Tom, because the task of undoing has tended to require collaboration with white people. Its what they did or what was carried out in their name that needs to be undone. The collaborative act opened all parties to the opprobrium of their respective people. On Sept. 10, 1967, at Mr. Poitiers apogee, this newspaper ran a scathing piece by Clifford Mason that asked, Why Does White America Love Poitier So?

Mr. Poitiers very best friend was Harry Belafonte; even he had his concerns. Sidney radiated a truly saintly calm and dignity, Mr. Belafonte wrote in his memoir, My Song. I didnt want to tone down my sexuality, either. Sidney did that in every role he took. I dont want to put the full rap on race. Sidney is a wonderful actor, and he mesmerized audiences with all his performances. But he knows as well as I do that these nuances were fundamental to his success. That saintliness was the exquisitely bitter joke of John Guares Six Degrees of Separation  that a sure way for a con man to enter the hearts and homes of Manhattans white elite was to pose as the preppy son of Mr. Poitier, the father of six daughters.
Student workers at Columbia University gave their tentative blessing on Friday to a new contract that raises their wages and improves their health benefits, ending a 10-week strike that disrupted some classes and strained relations with administrators.

Those on both sides of the bargaining said they were pleased that the standoff had ended.

It has been a really, really long road, said Lilian Coie, 27, a doctoral student in neurobiology and a member of the bargaining committee for Student Workers of Columbia, which represents about 3,000 graduate and undergraduate students. Even though the agreement isnt perfect, were very happy with it.

With the tentative contract agreement in hand, union representatives said that about a third of their members had voted on whether to end the strike and that more than 90 percent of those who voted supported doing so. A formal vote to ratify the contract, which runs for four years, is set for later this month.

In a statement, Mary C. Boyce, Columbias provost, said there is no doubt that this has been a challenging period for the university.
New York will require health care workers to get a booster within two weeks of becoming eligible for one, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Friday, as hospitals contend with crippling staff shortages amid the Omicron wave.

The state is averaging about 70,000 new cases daily and is experiencing an alarming rise in hospitalizations, particularly of unvaccinated children.

Weve already seen whats been happening in our health care environments, Ms. Hochul said. Staff is getting sick, theyre leaving. We need them to get well, we need them to have the best fortification they possibly can, and that means getting a booster shot.

The governor said that the state health commissioner, Mary Bassett, would recommend the change to a state advisory council on Tuesday, and that they anticipated swift approval. The requirement would apply to all health care workers who do not have a valid medical exemption.
For a company that has had its share of bad weeks, Cyber Ninjas, the Florida firm behind the widely derided review of Arizonas 2020 presidential vote, may finally have hit bottom.

On Thursday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in Phoenix delivered a detailed four-hour livestreamed rebuttal of all the firms claims, showing that all, except one involving 50 votes, were either mistaken, misleading or outright false.

That same day, a superior court judge cited the company for contempt after it refused to surrender records of its vote review to The Arizona Republic, which is seeking them under a freedom of information request. He levied a $50,000-a-day fine on the firm until it produces the records.

By weeks end, lawyers said the firm was insolvent and had laid off its employees, including Doug Logan, its chief executive and onetime proponent of a baseless theory that the states voting machines had been rigged.
Oregon will deploy up to 500 National Guard members in the coming weeks to support health care workers as Covid hospitalizations rise in the state, Gov. Kate Brown said on Friday.

Ms. Brown said that beginning next week, a first deployment of 125 personnel would go to work at hospitals, providing logistical support such as moving equipment and assisting with testing.

With more than 500 current hospitalizations and daily record-breaking numbers of Covid-19 cases, we are at another critical point in this pandemic, Ms. Brown said in a statement. Her office said the state would work with hospital systems to monitor the need for additional National Guard deployments.
Denouncing Mr. Cruz, Mr. Carlson declared that by no definition was Jan. 6 a terror attack. But Congress has enacted a statute that defines domestic terrorism as criminal offenses that are dangerous to human life, lack a foreign nexus and appear to be seeking to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.

According to that definition, some of the events of Jan. 6 were acts of domestic terrorism, and thats accurate regardless of whether it applies to each individual, said Mary McCord, who served as a senior Justice Department national security official in the Obama administration and into the early Trump era.

She added, We are talking about acts that were dangerous to human life and that were in violation of criminal laws, and they were certainly done to influence government policy because they were trying to prevent the counting of Electoral College votes.

Did all the Jan. 6 rioters commit life-endangering crimes?

No. More than 700 people have been charged to date in connection with the Capitol attack, and they are accused of a spectrum of crimes. Just as only some have been charged with conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding, only some have been charged with violent offenses like assaulting police officers and destroying government property. Others have been charged only with nonviolent crimes, such as illegally entering a restricted building.

Mr. Cruz told Mr. Carlson that at the Senate hearing this week, he was not saying that the thousands of peaceful protesters supporting Donald Trump are somehow terrorists. Rather, he contended, he was merely using that term for people who attacked police officers  an explanation that Mr. Carlson, who agreed that such people should go to prison but maintained that they were not terrorists either, rejected.
WASHINGTON  In a pandemic high for the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the hospital there on Friday reported 69 confirmed coronavirus cases among about 6,000 residents on the base.

None of the infected people required hospitalization, medical evacuation or monoclonal antibody treatment, said Dawn Grimes, the spokeswoman at the base hospital, which serves both the community and the detention operation holding 39 wartime prisoners.

She did not comment on whether any of the prisoners or roughly 1,500 military members and civilian employees who staff the operation had tested positive.

Nearly all of the 69 people who tested positive for the virus had been fully vaccinated, Ms. Grimes said. A few were partly vaccinated. One of the 69 included a 10-year-old child who is either fully or half vaccinated, said a base spokeswoman, Nikki L. Maxwell, on Saturday. No other details were available.
Marilyn Bergman, who with her husband, Alan Bergman, gave the world memorable lyrics about misty watercolor memories and the windmills of your mind and won three Academy Awards, died on Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 93.

A spokesman, Ken Sunshine, said the cause was respiratory failure.

The Bergmans lyrics, set to melodies by composers like Marvin Hamlisch and Michel Legrand, were not everywhere, but it sometimes seemed that way. For many years their words were also heard every week over the opening credits to hit television shows like Maude, Good Times and Alice.

The Bergmans and Mr. Hamlisch won the 1974 best-song Academy Award for The Way We Were, from the Robert Redford-Barbra Streisand romance of the same name. (The album of that movies score also won the Bergmans their only Grammy Award.) Their other best-song winner, The Windmills of Your Mind (Round, like a circle in a spiral/Like a wheel within a wheel), was written with Mr. Legrand for the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair. Their third Oscar was for the score of Ms. Streisands 1983 film Yentl, also written with Mr. Legrand.
Robert J. Birnbaum, who as president of the New York Stock Exchange was credited with helping to navigate a major financial crisis during the U.S. stock markets plunge on what became known as Black Monday in 1987, and who later helped design market circuit breakers to head off future panics, died on Dec. 23 at his home in Boca Raton, Fla. He was 94.

His son, Gregg Birnbaum, said his death followed a long illness.

Mr. Birnbaum spent his career on Wall Street as one of its most reliable stewards. After studying the mechanics of marketplaces in the mid-20th century as a member of a special team at the Securities and Exchange Commission, he helped reshape stock exchanges while presiding over two of them: the American and the New York ones.

When U.S. stock prices fell more than 22 percent on Oct. 19, 1987, Mr. Birnbaums clear public comments on how long trading on the New York exchange would be halted  it was frozen that day but reopened on a normal schedule the next day  helped soothe investors and prevent a frenzied sell-off from continuing.

In the days that followed, Mr. Birnbaum played a crucial role in bringing together the leaders of various exchanges, including the Chicago-based options marketplaces, to hash out what had happened and how such a crisis could be averted in the future. With other exchange leaders, he developed a series of rules governing when to stop trading  and for how long  in the event that prices fell too far and too quickly.
These policy changes not only will, in and of themselves, make us safer; they also will free up prosecutorial resources to focus on violent crime, Mr. Bragg said in his memo.

The directive on resisting arrest was among those that Commissioner Sewell expressed most concern about. She said that it would send a message to police officers and others that there was an unwillingness to protect those who are carrying out their duties.

I strongly believe that this policy injects debate into decisions that would otherwise be uncontroversial, will invite violence against police officers and will have deleterious effects on our relationship with the communities we protect, she wrote.

Mr. Bragg has also instructed his prosecutors not to seek jail time for gun possession without an accompanying charge. The commissioner strongly objected to that policy, saying that it affords people the opportunity to continually possess guns without consequence, and calling it the issue that most directly affected officers safety.

Commissioner Sewells email, sent at about 8:30 p.m. on the Friday of Mr. Adamss first week in office, capped a whirlwind day for the citys top criminal justice officials. Earlier in the day, the new mayor announced a deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks III, only after Mr. Banks made the appointment public in an opinion piece in The Daily News.

Mr. Banks had faced significant scrutiny given his history as a subject of a federal corruption investigation that resulted in prosecutors naming him as an unindicted co-conspirator. Also on Friday, Mr. Adamss brother, Bernard Adams, was named as a deputy police commissioner. Bernard Adams retired as a sergeant for the New York Police Department in 2006, and he has more recently worked as an operations manager and parking administrator at Virginia Commonwealth University, according to his LinkedIn profile.

It is unclear what Mayor Adamss role in the commissioners memo might have been. Commissioner Sewell, an outsider to the N.Y.P.D. who had been the chief of detectives in the Nassau County Police Department, a far smaller agency, was his choice for police commissioner after a nationwide search, and she reports to him and to Mr. Banks. As mayor, Mr. Adams has the ability to dictate police policy and he has, throughout the campaign, maintained that he has every intention of using that power.
An Asian immigrant in New York died last week after he was left in a coma by a brutal assault in April that the police said was a hate crime, officials said.

The man, Yao Pan Ma, was pushing a grocery cart full of bottles and cans that he had collected on April 23 when he was suddenly approached from behind and attacked in East Harlem. He fell onto the sidewalk, was kicked in the head and stomped on several times, the police said.

Mr. Ma, 61, was placed on a ventilator and remained hospitalized since the assault occurred near 125th Street and Third Avenue. He had severe head injuries and there was bleeding in his brain, officials said.

The man arrested in the attack, Jarrod Powell, 49, was charged with attempted murder and two counts of assault as a hate crime at the time. The police said on Saturday that upgraded murder charges were expected to be filed.
Yet Im still one of the critics who thought the movie failed in the end, because its impulse to indict everyone, from TV news to social media, is in tension with its desire to deliver a pious message about Listening to Science. The latter impulse ensures that its satire is gentlest when it takes on the expert class, the academic-industrial complex. And its plot ultimately turns on a single terrible decision by a populist president, the systemic critique sacrificed to ideological point-scoring.

But since the movie is almost the comprehensive portrait of decadence we need, Im going to offer some script doctoring, and give you the cut of Dont Look Up that might have been, had somebody hired me to consult. Here goes:

Act 1: The comet is discovered by amateur astronomy geeks who comb telescope footage the government collects but doesnt bother to examine. Their findings are hyped by a mix of doomsday preppers and tech bros, while academic authorities dismiss the claims as misinformation and Twitter censors users who insist the comet is going to hit Earth.

Act 2: A group of Harvard astronomers confirm the comets dire trajectory, and suddenly the media turns on a dime and begins hyping the threat. But the president, a right-wing populist aiming for re-election, prefers to postpone dealing with it, so she hypes an obscure Bible-college astronomer who thinks the chance of impact is under 10 percent.

Act 3: After protests roil the country, the president reverses course and announces a massive nuclear strike. However, the head of NASA, a media darling, insists that blowing up the comet will rain down fragments and kill too many people and you need a more limited strike  the subject of his own dissertation, as it happens  that knocks it off course. Fox News vilifies him, but the mainstream media insists his strategy is simply Science and no serious person could oppose it. So the United States tries his plan  and it fails completely, because his dissertation was actually based on fraudulent experiments that were never replicated outside his lab.
FRONT PAGE

An article on Sunday about the inaccuracy of some prenatal tests for rare disorders misstated the location of the company Sequenom. It is based in San Diego, not Silicon Valley. Although many of the noninvasive prenatal blood tests currently in use were developed in Silicon Valley, not all of the testing firms have current headquarters there. The article also referred imprecisely to projected numbers from the test maker Nateras newest algorithms. Natera said those figures were included in its clinical studies.

NATIONAL

An article on Friday about an effort by Virginia Democrats to block Andrew Wheeler, the former chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, from taking a similar role in Virginias administration described incorrectly one of the positions held by Michael Catanzaro. Although Mr. Catanzaro has worked as a lobbyist, he is no longer registered to do so.

METROPOLITAN

The Sunday Routine article this weekend on Page 2 misstates Jona Tajoneras ethnicity. She is Filipino, not Latino.

ARTS

An article on Friday about Alice Childresss play Trouble in Mind erroneously attributed a distinction to LaChanze and her daughter Celia Rose Gooding. LaChanze and Gooding were not the first mother and daughter to perform on Broadway as leading actors in the same season. (Jennifer Ehle and Rosemary Harris both starred in Broadway productions in 2000.)
Royal Caribbean International announced on Friday that it was suspending some of its upcoming cruises because of concerns over the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

The company, one of the worlds biggest cruise operators, said that it was taking the step out of an abundance of caution. This is the second time this week that Royal Caribbean has called off voyages.

We regret having to cancel our guests long-awaited vacations and appreciate their loyalty and understanding, the company said in a statement on its website. Our top priority is always the well-being of our guests, our crew and the communities we visit.

Royal Caribbean said it had called off planned trips on three ships  Serenade of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas and Jewel of the Seas  and pushed back the return to cruising of another, Vision of the Seas, to March.
Following reports that the actor Alec Baldwins cellphone had not yet been turned over to officials investigating the fatal shooting on the Rust film set  weeks after a search warrant was granted  Mr. Baldwin said on Saturday that any suggestion that he was not complying with law enforcement was a lie.

The police in Santa Fe, N.M., obtained a search warrant more than three weeks ago granting it access to information on Mr. Baldwins phone related to the October shooting, during which a gun that Mr. Baldwin was rehearsing with fired a live round, killing the movies cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding its director, Joel Souza.

The sheriffs office and district attorney of Santa Fe County investigating how a live round got into the gun told media outlets this week that the authorities did not yet have Mr. Baldwins phone, prompting the actor to respond in a video posted to his Instagram page.

Filming himself from the drivers seat of a parked car, Mr. Baldwin said the process for recovering information from his phone takes time and involved the authorities in New Mexico coordinating with the authorities where he lives.
A worker was fatally injured in a mine collapse in Fayette County, Pa., on Friday afternoon, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement.

The department said it suspected that a portion of the mines roof had fallen onto equipment the miner was working with. The agency declined to identify the miner, but said that the persons family and next of kin had been notified.

No one else was caught under the collapse, Lauren Fraley, a spokeswoman for the department, said on Saturday.

On Friday afternoon, the Department of Environmental Protection received a report of a roof collapse and a trapped miner at Laurel Aggregates Lake Lynn Quarry in Springhill Township, on the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to the statement. A rescue team from the departments Bureau of Mine Safety responded to the accident.
In July, President Biden announced that he intended to nominate Deborah E. Lipstadt, a renowned Holocaust scholar, to lead a new office at the State Department assigned to battle soaring antisemitism around the globe.

The decision drew praise from more than 20 liberal and conservative Jewish groups, all of whom were impressed with Dr. Lipstadts sterling credentials and her reputation for standing up to antisemitism wherever she saw it, whether it was neo-Nazi marches in Charlottesville, Va., or a liberal icon in Congress.

Yet nearly six months later, Dr. Lipstadts nomination remains in limbo, thwarted by Senate Republicans who have complained that she criticized some of them on Twitter.

Dr. Lipstadt is among the most prominent of hundreds of Biden nominees whose bids for Senate-confirmed jobs have languished because of partisan dysfunction or personal pique. In a rare though hardly shining example of comity, members of both parties agree the confirmation system is a contentious mess, owing in part to what Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, has called turf problems.
The officials declined to say whether the United States was prepared to cut Russia off from the SWIFT system, which executes global financial transactions between more than 1,100 banks in 200 countries. But European officials say they have discussed that possibility  something most major European powers had declined to consider until recently, for fear that Russia might retaliate by attempting to cut off gas and oil flows in the winter, even briefly.

The SWIFT cutoff has been used against Iran with some success. But Cynthia Roberts, a professor of political science at Hunter College, noted that Russia had learned a lot about global sanctions-proofing, and she expressed doubt that the country would suffer as much as American officials contend if it were disconnected from SWIFT.

They would definitely take a big hit, she said at a seminar held this past week by the Center for the National Interest. But she noted that Russia had stockpiled hundreds of billions in gold and dollar reserves and that the Bank of China had joined Russias own domestic version of SWIFT. That raises the possibility that Russia and China, as part of their expanding partnership, might join forces to help Moscow evade the Wests action.

The bottom line, she said, is that sanctions have a very poor coercive track record.

The technology sanctions would target some of Mr. Putins favored industries  particularly aerospace and arms, which are major producers of revenue for the Russian government. The focus would be on Russian-built fighter aircraft, antiaircraft systems, antisatellite systems, space systems and emerging technologies where Russia is hoping to make gains, like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Similar export controls have been surprisingly effective against Chinas leading producer of cellphones, Huawei, which for a while was among the top providers of smartphones to the world. That part of its business has all but collapsed in the past year because it cannot obtain advanced chips. But the Russian economy bears little resemblance to Chinas, and it is not clear that it is equally vulnerable to an embargo of semiconductors and other microelectronics that are critical to Chinese manufacturing.

There are other options under consideration that go well beyond merely banning the sale of computer chips. In one additional step, according to American officials, the Commerce Department could issue a ruling that would essentially ban the export of any consumer goods to Russia  from cellphones and laptop computers to refrigerators and washing machines  that contain American-made or American-designed electronics. That would apply not only to American makers, but also to European, South Korean and other foreign manufacturers that use American chips or software.

Unlike China, Russia does not make many of these products  and the effects on consumers could be broad.
Few American cities have labor politics as fraught as Chicagos, where the nations third-largest school system shut down this week after teachers union members refused to work in person, arguing that classrooms were unsafe amid the Omicron surge.

But in a number of other places, the tenuous labor peace that has allowed most schools to operate normally this year is in danger of collapsing.

While not yet threatening to walk off the job, unions are back at negotiating tables, pushing in some cases for a return to remote learning. They frequently cite understaffing because of illness, and shortages of rapid tests and medical-grade masks. Some teachers, in a rear-guard action, have staged sick outs.

In Milwaukee, schools are remote until Jan. 18, because of staffing issues. But the teachers union president, Amy Mizialko, doubts that the situation will significantly improve and worries that the school board will resist extending online classes.
We are uncertain where this letter has been for the past seven-plus decades, but it arrived at our facility approximately six weeks ago, the letter read, according to WFXT-TV, which reported on it.

Citing the letters age and significance to your family history, the Postal Service said that delivering this letter was of utmost importance to us.

Kim Frum, a Postal Service spokeswoman, said she could not comment on the letter without additional details.

In many cases like this, it does not involve mail that had been lost in our network and later found, she said. What we typically find in cases of old letters and postcards is that they are sometimes purchased at flea markets, antique shops and even online and re-entered into our system.

Ms. Gonsalvess oldest son, also named John Gonsalves, said that postal workers had been trying for weeks to track down the family so they could deliver the letter. The original recipient, Mr. Gonsalvess mother, died decades ago, and her old address in Woburn is no longer a family home.

In November, Mr. Gonsalves said, he received a phone message from a postal employee in Pittsburgh who said he wanted to speak to him about his father. Since his father had died years ago, he said, he had assumed the call was a scam.

A secretary at the church where Mr. Gonsalvess funeral had been held also received a call from the postal employee, the son said, and had relayed the message to Ms. Gonsalves. She, too, assumed it was a scam.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan  The former head of Kazakhstans powerful intelligence agency was arrested on suspicion of treason, officials said on Saturday.

Karim Masimov, the former leader of the agency, has been regarded as a key ally of the former long-serving president, and the announcement seemed to be another sign of the infighting among the countrys political elite that appears to have contributed to this past weeks violence.

The intelligence agency, a successor to the Soviet K.G.B., said in a statement that Mr. Masimov was arrested on Thursday, a day after the Kazakh president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, dismissed him from his post, replacing him with the head of his own security detail. The agency also provided no details of what the government was basing its accusations of treason on.

Several other officials were also arrested, the statement said, but it did not identify them or give any further details.
Hundreds of thousands of students in the nations third-largest school district missed three days of class last week after members of the Chicago Teachers Union voted to stop reporting to work amid concerns over the rapidly spreading Omicron variant.

School district officials, who have insisted that classrooms are safe, declined to move to online instruction, as the union suggested. Ms. Lightfoot has repeatedly accused the union of inconveniencing working families and harming the academic and social progress of children.

Most American school districts have forged ahead with in-person instruction, as the Biden administration has urged, even as the Omicron variant has shattered local and national case records. Some large school districts, including in Cleveland and Milwaukee, have moved classes online. But the dispute in Chicago, where there has been no instruction of any sort since class was dismissed on Tuesday, has been notable for its acrimony and for the day-to-day uncertainty for parents, teachers and students.

Under the plan the union outlined on Saturday, Chicago teachers would have distributed equipment and materials for online instruction and helped parents sign up for virus testing on Monday and Tuesday, then taught students remotely for the rest of next week.

The union had already said that members planned to return to schools on Jan. 18, after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a date that did not change under the new proposal. The union also continued to push to have all children enrolled in Covid-19 testing unless their parents opted them out, a move that Ms. Lightfoot has opposed. Currently, students are tested through the schools only if parents proactively give permission.
LONDON  On the evening of Dec. 21, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared from 10 Downing Street to tell anxious Britons they could go ahead with their Christmas plans, despite a surge in new coronavirus cases. At nearly the same moment, President Biden took to a White House podium to give Americans a similar greenlight.

It was a striking, if unintended, display of synchronicity from two leaders who began with very different approaches to the pandemic, to say nothing of politics. Their convergence in how to handle the Omicron variant says a lot about how countries are confronting the virus, more than two years after it first threatened the world.

For Mr. Johnson and Mr. Biden, analysts said, the politics and science of Covid have nudged them toward a policy of trying to live with the virus rather than putting their countries back on war footing. It is a highly risky strategy: Hospitals across Britain and parts of the United States are already close to overrun with patients. But for now, it is better than the alternative: Shutting down their economies again.

A Conservative prime minister trying to deal in a responsible way with Covid is very different than a Democratic president trying to deal responsibly with Covid, said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster in Washington. And yet, he said, their options are no longer all that different.
This story has been updated. Visit the latest Ukraine map.

Russian forces now surround Ukraine on three sides, and Western officials fear a military operation could start as soon as this month.

10,000 5,000 Troops Artillery Armored vehicles Tanks Other military or air installations 1,000 Moscow Yelnya POLAND Around 100,000 Russian troops have been deployed near the Ukrainian border. Klintsy BELARUS Pochep RUSSIA Pogonovo Kyiv Forces deployed north of Ukraine could stretch the countrys forces thin and threaten its capital, Kyiv. Soloti Boguchar KAZAKHSTAN UKRAINE Luhansk Volgograd MOLDOVA Donetsk Approximate line separating Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. Persianovskiy Nearly 20,000 troops are near two breakaway provinces, where Ukraine has been locked in a grinding war with Russian-backed separatists since 2014. ROMANIA Rostov-on-Don SEA OF AZOV CRIMEA Korenovsk Novoozerne CASPIAN SEA BULGARIA BLACK SEA 10,000 5,000 Troops Artillery Armored vehicles Tanks Other military or air installations 1,000 Moscow Yelnya POLAND Klintsy Around 100,000 Russian troops have been deployed near the Ukrainian border. BELARUS Pochep RUSSIA Pogonovo Kyiv Forces deployed north of Ukraine could stretch the countrys forces thin and threaten its capital, Kyiv. Soloti Boguchar KAZAKHSTAN UKRAINE Luhansk Volgograd MOLDOVA Donetsk Approximate line separating Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. Persianovskiy Nearly 20,000 troops are near two breakaway provinces, where Ukraine has been locked in a grinding war with Russian-backed separatists since 2014. ROMANIA Rostov-on-Don SEA OF AZOV CRIMEA Korenovsk Novoozerne CASPIAN SEA BULGARIA BLACK SEA 10,000 5,000 Artillery Armored vehicles Tanks Other installations Troops 1,000 Moscow Yelnya Around 100,000 Russian troops have been deployed near the Ukrainian border. POLAND Klintsy BELARUS Pochep RUSSIA Pogonovo Kyiv Forces deployed north of Ukraine could stretch the countrys forces thin and threaten its capital, Kyiv. Soloti Boguchar KAZAKHSTAN UKRAINE Approximate line separating Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. MOLDOVA Luhansk Volgograd Donetsk Persianovskiy ROMANIA Rostov-on-Don CASPIAN SEA SEA OF AZOV CRIMEA Nearly 20,000 troops are near two breakaway provinces, where Ukraine has been locked in a grinding war with Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Korenovsk Novoozerne BULGARIA BLACK SEA Artillery Other installations 10,000 5,000 Troops Armored vehicles 1,000 Tanks Moscow Yelnya BELARUS Around 100,000 Russian troops have been deployed near the Ukrainian border. Klintsy RUSSIA Forces deployed north of Ukraine could stretch the countrys forces thin and threaten its capital, Kyiv. Kyiv Luhansk UKRAINE Donetsk CRIMEA Nearly 20,000 troops are near two breakaway provinces, where Ukraine has been locked in a grinding war with Russian-backed separatists since 2014. BLACK SEA 10,000 Artillery Other installations 5,000 Troops 1,000 Armored vehicles Tanks Moscow Yelnya Around 100,000 Russian troops have been deployed near the Ukrainian border. Klintsy Kyiv UKRAINE Luhansk Donetsk RUSSIA CRIMEA BLACK SEA Source: Rochan Consulting . Yelnya image from Planet Labs; December 29, 2021. Novoozerne image from Maxar; October 18, 2021. The New York Times

A build-up of Russian forces near the border with Ukraine has raised concerns among Western and Ukrainian officials that the Kremlin might be preparing for significant military action, possibly an invasion. This map, compiled by The New York Times, shows troops, tanks and heavy artillery moving into positions that threaten to widen the conflict in Ukraines east as well as potentially open a new front on Ukraines northern border, closer to the capital, Kyiv.

Russia currently has about 100,000 troops on the Ukraine border, according to Ukrainian and Western officials. U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that the Kremlin has drawn up plans for a military operation involving up to 175,000 troops that could begin in the coming weeks. While it is not clear whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has decided to launch an attack, analysts say the country is well on its way toward constructing the architecture needed for a significant military intervention in Ukraine.

On Monday, representatives from the United States and Russia will meet in Geneva for talks aimed at de-escalating the crisis. Mr. Putin has said that Russia wants what he calls security guarantees, which would, among other things, bar the United States and NATO from expanding eastward into regions the Kremlin deems as within its sphere of influence.

This map represents a snapshot of current Russian positions, as well as broad estimates of the number of troops and kinds of equipment deployed within striking distance of Ukraine. It is based on information obtained by Ukrainian and Western officials as well as independent military analysts and satellite imagery.

Much of the build-up so far, according to officials and military analysts, has involved troops and equipment that take time to deploy, including tanks and heavy armor, some of which have traveled by train from bases as far away as Siberia.

Before launching a significant military operation, however, Russia will likely need to deploy reserve soldiers and logistical infrastructure, like field hospitals, that currently appear to be missing from positions near Ukraine, analysts say. These elements along with additional troops could be deployed rapidly should a decision be made to attack.

Much of the attention so far has been directed at the build-up of forces near two breakaway provinces in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, where since 2014 the Ukrainian military has been at war with Russian-backed separatists. The separatist forces, which include Russian troops and Ukrainian fighters opposed to Kyivs rule, amount to about 30,000, according to an assessment by the Ukrainian military.

Eastern Ukraine 10,000 5,000 1,000 UKRAINE Troops Artillery Armored vehicles Tanks Other military or air installations Luhansk Motorized infantry unit Approximate line separating Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. Military analysts say Russian troops deployed to Ukraines east could be used to seize additional territory from Ukrainian control, beyond what has already been taken by Russian-backed separatists. 32,000 troops in Eastern Ukraine Donetsk Motorized infantry unit RUSSIA Persianovskiy Two tank units Motorized infantry unit Rostov-on-Don Motorized infantry unit Artillery unit Southern Military District Army Corps SEA OF Azov 10,000 5,000 1,000 UKRAINE Troops Artillery Armored vehicles Tanks Other military or air installations Approximate line separating Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. Luhansk Motorized infantry unit Military analysts say Russian troops deployed to Ukraines east could be used to seize additional territory from Ukrainian control, beyond what has already been taken by Russian-backed separatists. 32,000 troops in Eastern Ukraine Donetsk Motorized infantry unit RUSSIA Persianovskiy Two tank units Motorized infantry unit Rostov-on-Don Motorized infantry unit Artillery unit Southern Military District Army Corps SEA OF Azov 10,000 5,000 1,000 Troops Artillery Armored vehicles UKRAINE Tanks Other installations Approximate line separating Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. Military analysts say Russian troops deployed to Ukraines east could be used to seize additional territory from Ukrainian control, beyond what has already been taken by Russian-backed separatists. Luhansk 32,000 troops in Eastern Ukraine Donetsk Persianovskiy Rostov-on-Don RUSSIA SEA OF Azov 10,000 5,000 1,000 Troops Artillery Armored vehicles Tanks UKRAINE Other installations Approximate line separating Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces. RUSSIA Luhansk 32,000 troops in Eastern Ukraine Donetsk Persianovskiy Rostov-on-Don Source: Rochan Consulting The New York Times

Since the start of 2021, Russia has moved an additional five battalion tactical groups into the border area near Luhansk and Donetsk, including about 5,000 soldiers sent to reinforce the 12,000 or so stationed there permanently, according to Ukrainian authorities. Just as significant, according to officials and military analysts, are the forces massing north of Ukraine in areas such as Klintsy, at the point where the Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian borders meet. These positions are within easy striking distance of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
A Deadly Encounter With a State Trooper

Kim Barker  Reporting for the Investigations Desk

Thats the explosive, one of the officers leaning over Ardo can be heard saying. A firework was attached to the top buttonhole of Ardos shirt.

The fuse did not appear to be lit.

Grand jury report on an interview with a responding medic

The video raises questions about how well the officers had been able to see what Ardo was holding or doing inside the car.
THE Biffochallenge launched on March 1 last year has been an outstanding success exceeding the original target of 24,000 by a massive 10,416.

Organising committee member John Wallace stated that the Biffochallenge team were overwhelmed by the huge support from so many people in the locality and beyond who made contributions big and small thus ensuring that the original target was exceeded by such a large amount.

With donations coming from as far away as Australia, Canada, USA, France, UK, and every county in Ireland it was truly humbling to see the support that made this fundraiser so successful.

John, Tony, Delores and Trish wish to thank everyone who contributed to this enormous fundraiser. In particular the help and support of so many family members and friends was unbelievable.

In October 2019 the team had originally committed to raise 20,000 for the newly formed Offaly Search and Recovery group.

Following the accidental drowning of their brother Martin the Wallace family and Martins partner Trish decided to assist the Offaly Search and Recovery group to raise money to purchase a rib. Having endured the loss of a loved one through a water tragedy they decided to support this new charity. While they did not require the services of such a group, they felt very strong on the idea of been able to assist families who are less fortunate when a love one is lost through water-based tragedy.

The family were delighted when Anthony and Cara from Guy and Kode agreed to take Offaly Search and Recovery on board as one of their charity partners for the Guy and Kode fashion show in 2019 (The Show). Setting up a small working group to assist the Guy and Kode team they were delighted when the show yielded in excess of 8,000. While planning a number of other fund-raising events the Covid 19 pandemic brought all ideas to a halt.

In early 2021 the group decided to support another worthy local charity and raise 24,000, 12,000 to deliver on the original promise to Offaly Search and Recovery and 12,000 to the new charity partner. Having considered a number of local Offaly charities it was decided to choose Offaly Hospice. Taking on Offaly Hospice fitted with the group's ethos of supporting an Offaly charity that provided family support to families in time of great need.

On March 1 2021 after losing a full year on the fundraising trail following a number of virtual meetings The Biffochallenge was born and launched. Supporting the two charity partners the Biffochallenge team could not believe how quickly the idea took off even with Covid restrictions in place. The number of challenges and the vast number of venues were unbelievable and the money started to roll in. When things slowed down a bit the team got back to the drawing board. This is when the Caman agus Puc challenge was launched and it was designed to bring the fundraising to a close. However the week before the Caman agus Puc Challenge was due to take place the original goal of 24,000 was achieved. Following a super day in St Brendans Park Birr on July 11 the Biffochallenge had exceeded its target by more than 10,000.

The Biffochallenge team are overwhelmed at the response and support they received from family, friends, the many Offaly people from within the county and further afield and the people from many other counties with no Offaly connections. A special word of thanks goes to so many of Martin's friends who came on board to make the Biffochallenge such a success. John, Tony, Delores and Trish are delighted with the goals and achievements which were attained by the Biffochallenge. It is unbelievable how much good can come out of a tragedy which can rock a family to its core when a family member dies suddenly in tragic circumstance.

The team are very proud of the many goals achieved in Martins memory some of which were not part of the original plan when the fundraising started in October 2019.

The original target of 24,000 was far exceeded with the Offaly Search and Recovery group receiving in excess of 25,000 in total between the proceeds from the show run by Guy and Kode and the Biffochallenge.

The Offaly Hospice home care team received 4,715.

The Offaly Hospice building fund received 12,000. The overall total between all the fundraising was just over 42,000 wich was a huge success by any standards.

The Offaly Search and Recovery team purchased the rib which will secure their operation well into the future as an efficient fast response unit. It will ensure that they will be in a position to keep their training updated along with the ability to respond to water-based tragedies in the quickest time possible.

The Caman Agus Puc competition will become an annual fundraiser for The Offaly Search and Recovery team. The aim is that it will become part of the Offaly GAA calendar with club participation. The date set for the 2022 final is Sunday July 10. This will be a real bonus and provide an annual income which will become the corner stone in their annual financial requirements.

The Biffochallenge team and the Wallace, Clear and Condron families are so proud that the memory of Martin Wallace lives on in such a vibrant manner in the form of the 200HP Zeppelin RIB which is named in his memory. This rib provides the very best form of safe water transport on the river or lake where ever it is required. This craft will help the Offaly Search and recovery team deliver a timely safe service in Offaly and surrounding counties for many years.

The end is never the end it is just a new beginning and the John, Tony, Delores and Trish wish to thank everyone who helped make the Biffochallenge such a success which has helped many new beginnings along the way. John says the Biffochallenge team feel that they provide the opportunity for people to do something good, something with a challenge and something that was enjoyable during covid lockdown at times. They hope that people realise how much their contributions have made a difference in the Offaly area during such difficult times.
GARDAI prosecuting people for alleged drugs possession now face a six-month wait because of a backlog of samples at a State laboratory.

Garda Tommy Mannion told Tullamore District Court he was awaiting a certificate of analysis from Forensic Science Ireland when he sought a six-month adjournment of the case against Gary Hyland, aged 19 and with an address at Church View, Tullamore.

Judge Colm Roberts granted an adjournment to June 1 next but said that other statements should be ready within four weeks for disclosure to the defence.

In another drugs prosecution which came before him, the judge said he understood the backlog at the laboratory had occurred in part because some staff had been transferred elsewhere to deal with Covid.

Mr Hyland is alleged to have possessed cannabis on January 3 at Tullamore Garda Station and on the same date, he is accused of obstructing a garda during a drugs search at Church View.

He is also accused of having cannabis at Church View on January 4 and of having cocaine at the same location on December 1, 2021 for sale or supply to others.

The accused, a young unemployed man who was granted legal aid and was represented in court by solicitor Donal Farrelly, is on bail but one condition of the bail is that he observe a curfew between 8pm and 8am.

Mr Hyland must also sign on daily at Tullamore Garda Station and abstain from alcohol and drugs, unless prescribed by a doctor.

Judge Roberts warned the accused that he could be remanded in custody if he breaches the bail conditions.

Other charges which were previously brought against Mr Hyland were adjourned to February 2 next.

He has been accused of criminal damage at Church View on October 13 last year and having cannabis for sale or supply at St Kyran Street, Tullamore on October 21.
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Russian officials and pro-Kremlin media have claimed the West is behind the agitation and is trying to foment another color revolution with the goal of disorienting Russia on the eve of major Russia-U.S. security talks next week with the United States and NATO amid fears the Kremlin may be considering invading Ukraine. Russia has previously accused Western powers of being behind popular uprisings in the former Soviet states of Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine.

Protesters stormed government buildings Wednesday in Almaty, the country's largest city, and briefly occupied the airport with reports of "dozens" of protesters being killed in clashes along with at least 12 policemen. Thursday saw videos circulating on social media showing Kazakh military units exchanging gunfire with armed opponents in Almaty.

Demonstrators have been demanding regime change and the departure of both Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and the country's 81-year-old former leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down three years ago after almost three decades in power but retained the official title of "leader of the nation." He is still believed to rule behind the scenes, and protesters reference him with chants of "Get out, old man." On Wednesday demonstrators in Taldykorgan, a town in southern Kazakhstan, pulled down his statue from the main square.

Sparked by a fuel price hike and cost of living grievances, the protests, which began in the oil-rich western part of the country, rapidly escalated this week into the worst violence the Central Asian nation has seen since turning independent 30 years ago. And the grievances over fuel prices voiced initially by the protesters snowballed into a bigger threat against the government after dozens died when Kazakh armed forces opened fire.

The speed with which Russia dispatched troops this week to help quell violent demonstrations in neighboring Kazakhstan is testimony to the Kremlin's recurring fear of "color revolutions," say Western diplomats and analysts. Moscow must have been horrified by how quickly the protests spread in Kazakhstan, long seen as one of the most stable of the former Soviet countries, they emphasize.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said unrest was foreign-backed and aimed to "undermine the security and integrity of the state by force, using trained and organized armed formations." Konstantin Kosachev, a senator who chairs the foreign affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, said the protesters included Islamic militants who had fought in Afghanistan.

"It's a tense moment in the former Soviet Union, with Russian troops and tanks surrounding Ukraine on three sides. The last thing Moscow wants or needs is legitimate protests in a country it considers to be in its sphere of interest," said Melinda Haring, of the Atlantic Council, a U.S.-based research organization. "Moscow is looking for a hidden hand. The Kremlin doesn't accept the protests in Kazakhstan as genuine," she added.

Kazakhstan is an important regional power with vast energy resources. President Tokayev, who has ordered troops to "shoot to kill without warning" and says protesters who fail to surrender will be "destroyed," also has blamed outsiders for unprecedented agitation. He alleged in a broadcast to the nation Thursday that Almaty had been attacked by "20,000 bandits" who had a "clear plan of attack, coordination of actions and high combat readiness." Tokayev expressed "special thanks" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, for agreeing to his midweek request for assistance "in overcoming this terrorist threat."

The request was formally made to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led regional security pact comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Tokayev invoked article 4 of the CSTO pact, which commits members to assist each other to defend against "foreign interference." It is the first time any CSTO member has cited article 4 of the military alliance, which was formed in 1994.

The Russian defense ministry says about 3,000 paratroopers and other servicemen are being flown to Kazakhstan "around the clock" with up to 75 huge transport planes being used in the emergency airlift. Kazakhstan's interior ministry said in a statement Friday that 26 protesters had been killed during the unrest, 18 injured and more than 3,000 arrested. It said 700 security personnel had suffered injuries and confirmed 18 had been killed.

Sporadic gunfire could still be heard Friday in Almaty, despite Tokayev telling Kazakhs that order had largely been restored. "Constitutional order has been mainly restored in all regions," Tokayev said Friday. "Local authorities are monitoring the situation. But terrorists are still using weapons, causing damage to civilian property. Therefore [a] counterterrorist operation will continue until the total destruction of the militants."

Tokayev may have turned to Russia for assistance because he feared not all of his security forces would remain loyal, if the agitation escalated, a British diplomat told VOA. He said in some smaller towns, the police appeared to have sat out the protests and in Aktobe, near the country's border with Russia, the police are reported to have sided with the protesters.

Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, currently CSTO chairman, says the forces will be committed "for a limited period, in order to stabilize and normalize the situation." And Stanislav Zas, secretary-general of the CSTO, said the outside forces would "minimize and localize threats" to Kazakhstan's territorial integrity. He, too, said the mission would be temporary.

Some Russian analysts and Kazakhs have warned the Russian deployment risks triggering further trouble. "Whoever took this decision has absolutely no understanding of the Kazakh mentality," Polat Dzhamalov, a Kazakh living in Moscow, told the independent TV Rain, an internet channel. "Kazakhs have never tolerated occupation."

Some Russian analysts also have highlighted the risks of Russian troops maintaining any longer-term presence and of being dragged into the unrest. "For now, this is less an armed intervention than a police operation," said Andrei Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Kremlin-linked policy organization. "But if it drags on, consequences for Russia could mount up," he told the English-language newspaper the Moscow Times.

The United States, Britain and other western countries have urged all sides to show restraint. "We are concerned about the violent clashes and are following developments closely. We are urging against further escalation and want to see a peaceful resolution," a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.


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Oskaloosa, IA (52577)

Today

Rain. Low around 45F. Winds NNE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Rain. Low around 45F. Winds NNE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Ottumwa, IA (52501)

Today

Periods of rain. Low near 45F. Winds NE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low near 45F. Winds NE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
MANISTEE TWP.  The Manistee Township Board of Trustees held its regular monthly meeting on Thursday evening.

Here are five key takeaways:

1. INTERIM CHIEF INSTATED

The Manistee Township board named Sam Koscinski the new Manistee Township Fire Department interim chief after the former chief, Chuck Barron resigned last month after about eight years leading the department.

At the meeting, Dennis Bjorkquist, Manistee Township supervisor, thanked Koscinski for leading until a new chief is instated.

The residents of Manistee Township are lucky enough to have Sam Koscinski step up to fill a vacancy for our fire chief. I think hell do an excellent job, he said adding that there may need to be some changes to the chain of command as well. Thank you for stepping up.

2. AIR COMPRESSOR GRANT

The Manistee Township board unanimously approved a resolution to support the fire departments application for a 6,000-pound psi breathing air compressor.

Koscinski said the breathing air compressor would complete the departments air breathing system. He said the compressor would streamline the process for filling breathing air bottles for the department to use when responding to a fire.

We would be able to fill those (bottles) when were on a fire scene and were breathing off the bottles to come fill up portable, he explained. Instead of me going and loading 200-pound bottles into the back of my truck then taking it to city and then them having to disconnect their  system to fill those bottles  which is about a days process  this compressor would now allow us to fill ours at the station.

He noted that the compressor would also mean fewer trips for the county air truck since the department would be able to fill their own air supply bottles.

This is for a Manistee County Local Revenue Sharing Board grant in cycle I for this year. The estimated amount of the grant application was not immediately available.

3. DOOR GRANT

The Manistee Township board unanimously approved a resolution to support the fire departments application for a training door that would help the department members train for how to breach a door during an emergency.

Koscinski said, Through the years past, weve lacked the training to actually force entry into a building.

We all know, we learn by doing, correct? And being able to sit there and visualize and actually go through the process  its going to make our guys more responsive when they do come (across that), he said.

He said the training door is custom-built from New York and it has different hinge swings to make it left or right hinged. Koscinski said the door would be able to be used by other departments in the county.

And when you tackle the doors, its a completely different method on a right hand to a left hand to be able to force entry, he said. Its going to open up a whole world of different items for us to be able to learn.

This is for a revenue share grant in cycle I for this year. The estimated amount of the grant application was not immediately available.

4. MANISTEE ROUNDABOUT UPDATE

During the township update portion of the meeting, Bjorkquist noted that the roundabout construction north of Manistee that is expected to begin this year has been pushed back from April to July.

A roundabout was proposed for the intersection of U.S. 31 and M-22 near the Little River Casino Resort in Manistee Township.

The project is being done as a partnership between the Michigan Department of Transportation and Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, which owns the casino.

Courtesy map/Michigan Department of Transportation

A road safety review was made at the request of the tribal government to assess conditions at the intersection and to help recommend options for traffic safety improvements.

It was determined that a roundabout would reduce the potential for severe crashes, while improving traffic flow at the site, Gary Niemi, MDOT operations engineer, previously said.

Cost for the project is estimated at $1.8 million. Work on the roundabout is anticipated to require around two months to complete.

5. M-55 BRIDGE REOPENED

Late last month, the bridge project near the U.S. 31/M-55 intersection in Manistee Township was reopened to traffic.

At the township meeting, Bjorkquist said there is still some work to be done to the bridge this year but that the work shouldnt cause any major delays to traffic.

I did learn that the utility lines that had been hanging under the old bridge are now permanently under the water and permanently reattached, he said.

The project started in mid-December 2020 and involved a complete closure of the bridge, replacement of the bridge and detour around the construction work that often meant motorists needed to follow a detour around Manistee Lake depending on their destination.

The bridge that had been in place was nearly 90 years old.

Several members stated that the garbage pickup schedule that had been meant to be temporary during the bridge closure, will remain in place as the current pickup schedule.
MANISTEE  There's a new walking group in town, and it is focusing on ways to offer residents a place to walk indoors while still getting in their daily steps.

Jeanne Barber, Manistee County Council on Aging assistant to the executive director, said a local resident had brought the idea of a walking group to the Wagoner Community Center in Manistee as a way to help residents be active in the winter while also having solid ground and low risk of slipping or falling like one has outdoors in winter.
MANISTEE  The Manistee Planning Commission unanimously approved plans for two projects at its first meeting of 2022.

Both projects on the agenda were subject to a public hearing before the commission could vote to approve the project or permit.

The first project was an application for a special use permit for a property on 1260 Cornell St. Melany Neuman requested the permit; she currently runs a daycare with six children. She is asking for a permit to expand to 12 children.

During the public hearing, Neuman said she is state certified and has a curriculum "so that (the daycare/daily duties) is not a free-for-all."

As for the public hearing portion, Manistee City Council member James Grabowski, who's a neighbor of Neuman, was the only one to speak and was fully in support of Neuman. He said that many neighbors, including himself, were not bothered at all by Neuman's plans and that Neuman was running the daycare well.

Similarly, the commissioners only had praise for Neuman and noted the need for quality daycare in Manistee.

"I've worked with childcare centers for many years with the military and I just have to say that it is truly a calling to be able to do what you do. So I applaud that you are picking up the slack in the community. So it is very, very needed. And like I said, quality daycare is very, very important," Commissioner Mick Szymanski said.

Commissioner Pamela Weiner agreed with Szymanski's sentiments, saying, "It's needed in this area. I worked in a daycare in college and God bless you."

Last to speak was the planning commission Chair Mark Wittlieff.

"I agree with all the sentiments here. I think you have much more patience (than I do). I'd have to jump out the basement window," Wittlief joked, noting the work that goes into running a daycare.

The second public hearing was for a planned unit development that seeks to renovate the vacant building at 141-149 Washington St. into 15 one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments, and a second commercial space.

The architect for the renovation is Cody Newman, an architect and owner of Driven Design in Battle Creek. He spoke at length about the project plans, noting that the apartments would all have a washer and dryer, would be handicap accessible, and an elevator and a basement were planned for the residential tenants.

Kevin Schaeffer, founder of Clover Real Estate Investments, LLC, bought the Washington Street property in September.

He said he planned for the residential tenants of apartments to have long-term leases and the rents would be at market rate, at about $1,000 a month. He noted that the units will be about 600 square feet each.

Schaeffer also said that while the initial plans proposed to the commission for the commercial space within the property was for a grocery store, he was open to other ideas from the commission. Several members proposed ideas such as a restaurant, a coffee shop or a pharmacy.

Szymanski noted that "because of the new rules (that the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has proposed), you wouldn't actually even have to have a pharmacist on site. You could collaborate with one of the existing pharmacies, to have a walk-in pharmacy. That also improves the whole walkability score from the city of Manistee."

Kate Farrajj, who said she lives across the street from the project, spoke during public comment.

She said that while "she was excited" for the project, she wanted to know what regulations were in place for issues of lead, asbestos and other harmful substances that are often in older buildings.

Newman, the architect, said that city, state and federal guidelines for removing asbestos or replacing old paint must be followed.

He noted that they will be removing the paint on the exterior of the building, but there is a process to capture everything.

"The outside isn't being sandblasted or anything; that's actually really harmful to the wood as well. So it's under a process. It's (a) peel away," said Newman. "You can get a Sherwin Williams (peel away) almost anywhere. It's like a five-gallon bucket. There is a paste that goes over the building. A film goes over that and then it works its magic and absorbs it and it breaks off. So all in all, that would be contained in there so it's not flowing through the neighborhood or anywhere else."

Commissioner Marlene McBride said, of the plans, "your designs look so open and nice."

Szymanski agreed.

"I think you got it right this time. It's a good project," he said.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Tess DeGayner.

Sunday, Jan. 2

10:56 p.m.  Officers were dispatched for a death investigation near 5200 Hedgewood Drive.

9:15 p.m.  Deputies were dispatched to an Edenville Township residence regarding a natural death. A 79-year-old Edenville Township female had died due to natural causes.

7:32 p.m.  Officers conducted a death investigation near the 400 block of W Chapel Lane.

5:02 p.m.  Officers were dispatched for a suspicious situation near the 2800 block of Ashman Street.

3:18 p.m.  Officers provided assistance to EMS near the 2200 block of W. Wackerly Road.

10:53 a.m.  Officers responded to a suspicious situation near the 2000 block of S. Saginaw Road.

9:48 a.m.  Officers were dispatched for an animal bite near the 4300 block of Concord Street.

9:37 a.m.  A motorist wished to report subjects illegally removing snow in Sanford. The Village of Sanford was performing routine snow removal on the sidewalks. The caller was upset because the Department of Public Works was blowing snow into the roads they maintain; deputies advised the caller to contact the department with further questions.

1:40 a.m.  Deputies and MidMichigan EMS responded to a Lee Township residence for a verbal argument between a 39-year-old male and a 47-year-old female. Deputies reported the female also took narcotics in a suicide attempt; subsequently she was transported to the ER for treatment.

12:23 a.m.  Officers responded to a crash resulting in property damage on the Waldo Road overpass over US-10.

Saturday, Jan. 1

3:50 p.m.  Officers responded to a death investigation near the 2500 block of Church Point Drive.

3:28 p.m.  A deputy followed EMS, which was transporting a 41-year-old female inmate to the hospital. After they got to the hospital, a corrections deputy arrived; the inmate was turned over to them. A short time later, the inmate was returned to the Midland County Jail by the corrections deputy.

1:55 p.m.  Officers responded to a drug overdose in the 2000 block of S. Saginaw Road.

4:31 a.m.  A deputy responded to a Hope Township residence for a 23-year-old male who believed someone may have been in his house. The homeowner reported his thermostat was set lower than he remembered, and his clean laundry was moved from the kitchen to his bedroom. The homeowner had no other information to provide and only wished to make law enforcement aware of the suspicious activity in the neighborhood.

3:37 a.m.  Officers responded to domestic violence in the 4500 block of N. Saginaw Road.

2:48 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a verbal argument at an Edenville Township residence. A 33-year-old female was arguing with her 34-year-old boyfriend who lives with her. No assaults occurred and parties agreed to stay separated for the night.

1:31 a.m.  Officers responded to a be-on-the-lookout call near Jerome and W. Buttles streets.
MSU Extension of Midland County and cooperating parent educators sponsor the Parents Corner. Send submissions to Midland County MSU Extension Educator, Lisa Treiber, 220 W. Ellsworth St., Midland, MI 48640.

Chronic Disease PATH (Personal Action Toward Health) Series. Chronic Disease PATH is a six-week, self-management online workshop, offered by MSU Extension, designed for people living with chronic conditions. Family members, friends, and caregivers are encouraged to attend the workshop.

This free workshop takes place Tuesdays, Jan. 11 - Feb. 15, 1 - 3 p.m. online via Zoom at no charge. Participants will learn to work with health care providers, manage symptoms (such as pain, fatigue, difficult emotions, sleep problems and depression), make lifestyle changes (such as healthy eating and physical activity) and set goals and accomplish them.

Benefits of participating include sharing with others who understand, taking ownership of your condition, knowing you are not alone and having your voice heard. To register, visit https://events.anr.msu.edu/CDPATHJan11/  email Naomi at hysonaom@msu.edu for more information.

Family Snowshoe Hike. Chippewa Nature Centers Family Snowshoe Hike is taking place Jan. 11, 5 - 6:30 p.m. Bring the whole family for an exploration on snowshoes  no experience needed. Search high and low for signs of animals on and off the trails. Please bring a sled to pull younger children. Pre-register and reserve snowshoes online info@chippewanaturecenter.org or call 989-631-0830. If snow conditions are unfavorable, the group will hike instead. This program is designed for all ages (under 18 w/adult).

Preserving MI Harvest Series. Michigan State University Extension will be offering a series of food preservation classes online, these free online classes will be offered on Thursdays, at 1 and 6 The p.m. topic on Jan. 13 will be Planting for Preservation: Selecting Seeds. These sessions will not be recorded, they will only be offered live. Supporting materials will be emailed to all participants after each broadcast. Join in the fun, sign up for one, some or all these educational sessions. There is time at the end of each program to ask questions. To register, visit https://events.anr.msu.edu/PreservingMIHarvestWinter2022/

History Hike. Start the new year with a casual trail hike and explore the natural resources that brought people to the region. Join Chippewa Nature Center staff to look for evidence of how nature has influenced our history and guided the settlement of our area. The hike will take place on Jan. 15, 1 to 2:30 p.m. This program is designed for all ages (under 18 w/adult).

Food Safety Q & A. MSU Extension offers a week 30-minute informational program about food preservation. A short presentation will be shared focusing on a timely topic, leaving plenty of time for Q & A. The next session is: Preserving MI Harvest: Canning Basics. Join in on this quick free presentation at 1 p.m. Jan. 17. To register, visit https://events.anr.msu.edu/FoodSafetywinter2022/

Investigating Food with Science. Each week, youth will explore the aspects of cooking is an experiment and baking is a science A kid-friendly recipe or experiment demonstration will be presented for youth to try at home with parents assistance. The following week, youth can share their experiences or pictures. All sessions will be presented via Zoom. The Jan. 17 topic will be Globby Gluten. To register, visit https://events.anr.msu.edu/IFWSwinter2022/. Any questions should be directed to Kellie Jordan jorda136@msu.edu.

Make a Spending Plan Work for You. MSU Extension will be offering this virtual webinar from noon to 1 p.m. Jan. 20. The session will discuss the benefits of a spending plan, identify the difference between needs and wants, and highlight the importance of an emergency fund. There is no charge to attend. Pre-registration is required. To register, visit https://www.canr.msu.edu/mimoneyhealth/ click on the link online classes and you will then see this course as well as other options that might be of interest to you. Registration for this class closes on Jan. 18.

Safe Food = Healthy Kids. MSU Extension is offering a three-hour online training for childcare providers with the Safe Food = Healthy Kids (SFHK) program from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 25. Learn the best practices for food safety to keep the children in your care safe. Food safety education topics discussed in the class include proper cleaning and sanitizing, cooking, storing food, as well as personal hygiene and more. SFHK is an approved training for Great Start to Quality, so this class will count toward annual training hours. Class is facilitated by MSU Extension Food Safety Educators. To register, visit https://events.anr.msu.edu/SFHKWinterSpring22/ This is a free program, participants must attend the whole session to receive their training hours.

Cooking for Crowds. Is your organization preparing for a food event? Cooking for Crowds provides food safety education to volunteers and groups who offer food fundraisers and events such as dinners and bake sales. Join MSU Extension for this online Zoom class, Feb. 8, 5:30  8:30 p.m., to learn how to keep the community safe and prevent foodborne illness. There are a variety of food safety risks that develop when cooking large volumes of food. Learn to reduce these risks and help prevent the conditions that may lead to a foodborne illness. Educational topics include foodborne illness, safe purchasing, storage, preparation, and service of food. Class will include information based on the Michigan food code and regulations for the state of Michigan. The cost for this 3-hour class is $15 with each participant receiving a food safety manual in the mail after registering for the class. For more information, visit https://www.canr.msu.edu/cooking_for_crowds/events
Editors note: If you have an event you would like to have included, please email the information to Reporter Victoria Ritter, vritter@mdn.net.

Sunday, Jan. 9

Buds, Bark and Branches: Winter Tree ID is set for 10-11:30 a.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Identifying woody vegetation can be hard any time of the year, and its even harder without leaves. Join an Interpretive Naturalist to learn how to identify local trees and shrubs in winter. We will discuss how they survive the cold months and their roles in the ecosystem. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Monday, Jan. 10

Nature Journaling is set for 6:30-8 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center, hosted by the Wild Ones Mid-Mitten Chapter. A journal is a wonderful way to interact with your world. But you don't have to love to write to journal! Alternative journaling is taking the essence of journaling and fitting it into your environment. This event will explore ways to capture experiences in nature in unique and fun ways. Creative 360 will provide the books and the tools - participants provide the experience and imagination! Presented by Laura Vosejpka scientist, artist, and executive director of Creative 360 in Midland.

Free Intro to Improv is set for 7-7:30 p.m. at Creative 360. Guests can come take a peek into the world of improv. Join Ariel for this 30-minute introduction. Who knows, once you get a taste, you may never leave! Pre-register by Jan. 7.

Tuesday, Jan. 11

Family Snowshoe Hike is set for 5-6:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Bring the whole family for an afternoon of exploration on snowshoes - no experience needed! The group will search high and low for signs of animals as they explore on and off trails. Please bring a sled to pull younger children. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Thursday, Jan. 13

The Pendulum Lounge is open 4:30-8 p.m. at Midland Center for the Arts. Enjoy craft cocktails, small plates and hearty offerings while DJAM provides live music. This event is free to attend, small plates and drinks available for purchase.

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5-6:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Saturday, Jan. 15

A History Hike is set for 1-2:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Start the new year with a casual trail hike and explore the natural resources that brought people to the region. Join CNC staff as we look for evidence of how nature has influenced our history and guided the settlement of our area. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

The Grove Music Festival is presenting an evening of jazz by the John Hill Quintet at 7 p.m. at Meridian High School Auditorium, 3303 N. Meridian Road, Sanford. Tickets are available at the door for $10.

A Comedy Night is set for 8 p.m. at Sanford American Legion. The kitchen will be open 5-7 p.m. The public is welcome to enjoy some dinner and comedy, makes a great date night. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance or at the door.

Sunday, Jan. 16

Snowshoe Sampler is set for 2-4 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. It's time to play outside! Drop by any time to give CNCs snowshoes a try, do a winter scavenger hunt or warm up by a campfire. Meet at the Homestead Cabin and come enjoy a winter afternoon in the snow. If snow conditions are unfavorable, the event will be canceled (based on the discretion of CNC). This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Monday, Jan. 17

A Full Moon Stroll is set for 5:30-7 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Join an Interpretive Naturalist for a hike to enjoy this months full moon. Learn how the tradition of naming moons began and what makes each month special. Please wear dark colors and bring a flashlight. We may use snowshoes if conditions permit. Reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Wednesday, Jan. 19

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5-6:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Thursday, Jan. 20

Story Hour is set for 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come spend an hour learning about nature! The hour will include a story, crafts and other age-appropriate activities. Dress for the weather for this outdoor program. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

The Pendulum Lounge is open 4:30-8 p.m. at Midland Center for the Arts. Enjoy craft cocktails, small plates and hearty offerings while Jacob Wisenbach provides live music. This event is free to attend, small plates and drinks available for purchase.

Stories by the Fire is set for 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Drop by the Homestead and enjoy an early winter evening relaxing by the campfire, listen to tales of how settlers and animals adapt to survive a cold winter. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Friday, Jan. 21

Survival of the Fittest is set for 2-3:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Winter is tough for wildlife. From freezing temperatures to low food availability, see how wildlife adapts to survive the harsh conditions. Dress with weather in mind for this outdoor hike and activities. This is a free event. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

REZA: Edge of Illusion is set to perform at 7:30 p.m. at Midland Center for the Arts. Reza takes the art of illusion to new extremes, delivering incredible cutting-edge magic, masterful comedic timing, and interactive and inspirational moments in a rock concert-style show that appeals to magic fans young and old! Tickets begin at $15. midlandcenter.org.

Saturday, Jan. 22

Yoga Coffee Hour is set for 9:15-11 a.m. at Mi Element Grains & Grounds. Join Sarah Nelson for the special Saturday morning version of our Yoga Happy Hour event series. Participants can enjoy a 45-minute all-levels yoga practice, then stay afterward to enjoy a drink and some friendly conversation between 10-11 a.m. Tickets are $18 (drink included), or $12 for yoga only; the ticket price includes one coffee, tea, or beer (must be 21+ for beer option) to enjoy during the event or take a voucher to enjoy your drink at a later date. Participants can bring their own mat and any yoga props to support their practice; a limited number of mats will be available to borrow. Register at sarahnelsonyoga.com/classes

Cardboard Sled Races are set for 1-4 p.m. at Midland City Forest. Hosted by the City of Midland. Pre-register online at www.cityofmidlandmi.gov/chill by Friday, Jan. 21. Registration will be allowed on the day of the event if space allows.

Tuesday, Jan. 25

Adventures for Women: Snowshoe Hike is set for 5-6:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Enjoy an afternoon hike on snowshoes as we notice birds, animal tracks and other points of interest in the woods and fields. Beginner and experienced snowshoers are welcome. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

An Officer and a Gentleman is set to perform at 7:30 p.m. at Midland Center for the Arts. This musical, based on the Oscar-winning film starring Richard Gere, is a breath-taking production that celebrates triumph over adversity and includes one of the most iconic and romantic endings ever portrayed on screen. Tickets begin at $26.50. The show will also perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26. midlandcenter.org.

Wednesday, Jan. 26

Zehnder's Snowfest is set to begin at 8 a.m. in Frankenmuth. Professional snow and ice carvers from around the world will create dazzling sculptures. Visitors can observe exhibitions and competitions between artists and students. Snowfest will continue through Sunday, Jan. 30. For more information, visit zehnders.com.

Thursday, Jan. 27

The Pendulum Lounge is open 4:30-8 p.m. at Midland Center for the Arts. Enjoy craft cocktails, small plates and hearty offerings while the Jim Pagel Trio provides live music. This event is free to attend, small plates and drinks available for purchase.

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5-6:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Sound Community Music Series is set for 7-9 p.m. at Live Oak Coffeehouse. This live music series features classical and jazz musicians from the mid-Michigan area and will be held on the fourth Thursday each month at Live Oak Coffeehouse in Midland.

Saturday, Jan. 29

Kids Day at the Midland Mall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. hosted by Midland Recyclers. More than 60 companies participate in this annual event that provides kids and their families with hands-on activities, information and performances.

Sunday, Jan. 30

Nature Book Club: Winter World is set for 1-3 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come for a book club chat and naturalist led hike! Januarys book is National Bestseller Winter World: the Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich. Register by Jan. 28 for this free event. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Monday, Jan. 31

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5-6:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Wednesday, Feb. 2

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5:30-7 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Thursday, Feb. 3

Story Hour is set for 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come spend an hour learning about nature! The hour will include a story, crafts and other age-appropriate activities. Dress for the weather for this outdoor program. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Comedy Night is set for 8 p.m. at Midland Center for the Arts' Little Theater. Join us for an evening of laughs from nationally touring comics with our monthly comedy nights, with February bringing Steve Iott, featuring Will Green! Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 the day of the event. midlandcenter.org.

Saturday, Feb. 5

Snowshoe Sampler is set for 2-4 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. It's time to play outside! Drop by any time to give CNCs snowshoes a try, do a winter scavenger hunt or warm up by a campfire. Meet at the Homestead Cabin and come enjoy a winter afternoon in the snow. If snow conditions are unfavorable, the event will be canceled (based on the discretion of CNC). This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Sunday, Feb. 6

Winter at the Wigwam is set for 2-4 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Drop by the wigwam to get a glimpse into what it was like for the Ojibwa people to live in a wigwam along the Pine River several hundred years ago. Guests will have a chance to see some traditional tools used for hunting and preparing wild game, learn about the fur trade and see some plants used for making cordage and baskets. If there is enough snow, visitors can play a game of snow snakes outside. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Tuesday, Feb. 8

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5:30-7 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Thursday, Feb. 10

A Family Snowshoe Hike is set for 5:30-7 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Bring the whole family for an afternoon of exploration on snowshoes - no experience needed! We will search high and low for signs of animals as we explore on and off trails. Please bring a sled to pull younger children. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830 www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Saturday, Feb. 12

Kids Nature Art: Winter is set for 10-11 a.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Drop in with CNC staff at The Woods Nature Play area for a blast of winter art. Stations with different projects will be set up throughout the play area to allow young artists to experience art through winter and winter through art. This self-paced experience will allow children to create many projects or work hard on one masterpiece, whatever suits them best. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Sunday, Feb. 13

Adaptations for Winter is set for 10-11:30 a.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Join an Interpretive Naturalist to experience nature in winter. Visitors will explore how animals and plants survive the harsh conditions through adaptations. This program will include a 2-mile hike. this event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

An Introduction to Basket Making is set for 1-4 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Join Jenn Kirts, program director, in creating a solid-based basket. All materials, tools and instructions will be provided for each participant to create their own basket. Masks are required for this indoor program. Pre-registration is required. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Monday, Feb. 14

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5:30-7 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Wednesday, Feb. 16

Chippewa Nature Center's Annual Meeting is set for 3:30-5 p.m. Join CNC staff and board for its annual business meeting and a special presentation on an overview of the 10-year Master Plan, along with and a 2020 Year in Review, financial report and the election of new Board members. CNC will also bid farewell to outgoing board member Nancy Carney who has completed nine years of service at Chippewa Nature Center. CNC staff will provide activities for children ages 3-12 whose parents/guardians are attending the Annual Meeting. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

A Full Moon Stroll is set for 6-7:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Join an Interpretive Naturalist for a hike to enjoy this months full moon. Learn how the tradition of naming moons began and what makes each month special. Please wear dark colors and bring a flashlight. We may use snowshoes if conditions permit. Reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Thursday, Feb. 17

Story Hour is set for 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come spend an hour learning about nature! The hour will include a story, crafts and other age-appropriate activities. Dress for the weather for this outdoor program. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Stories by the Fire is set for 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Drop by the Homestead and enjoy an early winter evening relaxing by the campfire, listen to tales of how settlers and animals adapt to survive a cold winter. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Sunday, Feb. 20

Snowshoe Sampler is set for 2-4 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. It's time to play outside! Drop by any time to give CNCs snowshoes a try, do a winter scavenger hunt or warm up by a campfire. Meet at the Homestead Cabin and come enjoy a winter afternoon in the snow. If snow conditions are unfavorable, the event will be canceled (based on the discretion of CNC). This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Tuesday, Feb. 22

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5:30-7 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Thursday, Feb. 24

Adventures for Women: Snowshoe Hike is set for 5-6:30 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Enjoy an afternoon hike on snowshoes as we notice birds, animal tracks and other points of interest in the woods and fields. Beginner and experienced snowshoers are welcome. Pre-register and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. This event is free. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Sunday, Feb. 27

Nature Book Club: World of Wonders is set for 1-3 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Join us for a book club chat and naturalist led hike! February's book is New York Times Bestseller "World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Register by Jan. 28 for this free event. www.chippewanaturecenter.org

Monday, Feb. 28

An Evening Snowshoe is set for 5:30-7 p.m. at Chippewa Nature Center. Come discover the beauty of a winter night! The group will look for signs of animals, study tree silhouettes and enjoy the winter sky. Bring a headlamp or flashlight. Pre-register for this free event and reserve snowshoes online or call 989-631-0830. www.chippewanaturecenter.org
Director of Content and Operations

Spencer McKee is OutThere Colorado's Director of Content and Operations. In his spare time, Spencer loves to hike, rock climb, and trail run. He's on a mission to summit all 58 of Colorado's fourteeners and has already climbed more than half.
Paducah, KY (42003)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low around 65F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low around 65F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Palestine, TX (75801)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The US Envoy and Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, has described Libyan politics as "complex", stressing that the emergence of some divisive candidates at the end of the electoral process raised fears of an outbreak of violence
Perhaps the most controversial issue in La Paz County at the start of 2022 is the proposal to consolidate the countys justice courts. There a
The Parker Justice Court is one of three justice courts in La Paz County. The Board of Supervisors are considering consolidating the courts as a way of saving money from the county's general fund.
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The striking cocoa carriers have kicked against the latest wage upward adjustment by the Cocoa Marketing Company through its labour supply companies.



Earlier this week, the cocoa carriers embarked on an industrial action across the country to protest against what they describe as salary dispute among other problems over the past five years.



The carriers stated that all efforts to get management through letters to help resolve their issues have not yielded any results.



However, in a communique sighted by Asaase News, the latest upward adjustment has been pegged from 0.62 pesewas to 0.82 pesewas.



But the carriers said the increment is not enough to support their livelihoods.



Speaking to Asaase News, Raymond Abagna Atanga, spokesperson for the cocoa carriers said their members will push until the current rate is further increased to GHC1.00.



We are still not satisfied and the strike will still hold until they pay us at GHC1.00. We wouldve been satisfied in a way if COCOBOD told us they dont have the capacity or ability to pay us one cedi per bag but for them to be able to pay us ghc1.02 pesewas and deduct our Ghc1 and give it to the contractors who are not doing any work then, it means that theyre just being unfair to us, Atanga stated.



Cocoa carriers in Takoradi, Kumasi, and Tema embarked on a sit-down strike to demand wage increment and better conditions of service.



Thousands of bags of cocoa beans were left at the mercy of the weather on Wednesday at the various warehouses of COCOBOD in the Western and Ashanti regions as a result of the indefinite sit-down strike declared by the carriers.



There are fears that beans destined for export through Ghanas main cocoa trading centres will be left to rot if officials fail to intervene.

Source: asaaseradio.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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Zimbabwes President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared that 28 parliamentary by-elections postponed in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic will now be held on 26 March.



The state electoral body told the BBC that local government by-elections would also be held on the same day as numerous seats have become vacant.



Most had belonged to the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, led by Nelson Chamisa.



But dozens of his allies have been expelled from parliament, and more than 100 MDC councilors were recalled in 2020 after the Supreme Court declared that Mr Chamisa was not the partys legitimate leader following a legal wrangle with a splinter group.



These by-elections are seen as an early test for general elections scheduled for mid-2023.



Previous national elections have been marred by allegations of violence and electoral fraud.



Critics had accused the government of using the Covid pandemic to thwart democracy.



Opposition parties have long alleged that the ruling Zanu-PF party rigs elections - which it denies.



They have called for various reforms, including an overhaul of the electoral body, equitable access to the media and for Zimbabweans living abroad to be allowed to vote.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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As Ghana celebrates Constitution Day, much is expected from both duty bearers and citizens on how to consolidate the growing constitutional democracy the country is enjoying which has become the envy of many countries across the globe.

Interestingly, the role of Parliament is considered paramount in achieving this goal.



In 2006, during the Parliamentary Week Celebrations, Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, then an Associate Professor of Leadership and Governance at the Graduate School of Leadership and Public Management of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration (GIMPA), at a symposium organised by the Parliament of Ghana gave a touching speech which is relevant today as the country celebrates its Constitution Day.



Speaking on the theme; "Parliament, The Bastion of Constitutional Democracy: Effecting a Meaningful Relationship With the Citizenry, he said it is the responsibility of citizens to address the problems that frustrate, frighten or distance them from one another and that when citizens get involved and organized, they achieve progress.



Meanwhile, he said Parliament on the other hand, has a responsibility to foster a sense of public-spiritedness in every Ghanaian since good and effective citizenship do not come about naturally or by chance either; they require preparation. To better engage with the citizenry and enhance their relevance in contemporary Ghana, MPs must consider making it their business to ensure that Preparation for Citizenship is incorporated in every level of our formal education.



He said Parliamentarians must give due recognition to the vital role of civil society in preserving and strengthening democracy in Ghana.



According to Prof. Attafuah, Parliament needs a strong partnership from both sides and that should reflect an enduring image of our Parliament.



The recent incident in Parliament where the Minority and the Majority virtually fight over the E-levy is nothing but an indication of a breakdown in such partnership and collaboration towards a common good of the country.



According to Prof. Attafuah, the incidents highlighting partisanship are probably few and far between, by their ferocity and widespread media coverage, they serve to provide a caricature of parliamentary discourses, and what crystallizes in the public consciousness is not the occasional failure of the House to achieve a compromise, but rather the image of perennial partisanship.



He urged strong collaboration between civil society and Parliament so as to build a strong but humane society.

In short, let them work together to ensure security, comfort and freedom.



In this 2006 seminal lecture, he highlighted the respective obligations of Parliament and the citizenry in quickening the sense of public duty and transmitting to the next generation of Ghanaians a nation not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.



Prof. Attafuah condemned the pit-bull partisanship that had become an enduring image of our Parliament and that insults the intelligence and sense of decency and fairness of the discerning observer of Parliamentary proceedings and their subsequent media coverage. He invited MPs to individually and collectively win and retain the respect of the citizenry by moderating the incidence, frequency and fire of partisanship in the House ... improving the quality of civility in Parliamentary debates and discourses  promoting civility and lawfulness in the wider society, including the promotion of civic journalism, and promoting civic engagement.



In addition, Prof. Attafuah outlined several strategies for strengthening the role of Parliament in Ghanas democracy and emphasized the crucial need for MPs to maintain relevance and to push the frontiers of participatory democracy. He reminded MPs of their duty to the electorate to be the best public officers in their respective constituencies, charging them to evince a solid commitment to public service and good governance through the ordinary principles of public service, including integrity, devotion to duty, efficiency, punctuality, courtesy, neutrality in public service delivery, impartiality, and attentiveness and sensitivity to the needs of the diverse publics they serve.



Prof. Attafuah also shared several thoughts on how to grapple with the challenge of building an effective Parliament and strengthening constitutionalism in Ghana.



Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah is currently the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority(NIA).

Source: Emmanuel Bekoe.... Editor, OriginalFM









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Two dogs trained to detect an odor from people who are sick with COVID-19 will visit three school districts in Bristol County this week.



According to US News, a black Labrador named Huntah and a golden Lab called Duke can detect the smell of the virus on surfaces and will sit to indicate when they pick up the scent.



The dogs will visit three schools in the Freetown, Lakeville and Norton school districts, WBZ-TV reported Tuesday.



With COVID, whether its the omicron, whether its the delta, our dogs will hit on it, said Bristol County Capt. Paul Douglas. And if theres a new variant that comes out in six months, hopefully, there isnt, but if there is one, COVID is COVID.



Fairhaven School Superintendent Tara Kohler welcomed the dogs saying their presence shows students, "we are doing everything we can to mitigate the risk and I want them to feel secure and safe and not anxious about their surroundings."



The dogs were trained using a detection program developed by Florida International Universitys International Forensic Research Institute.









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North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile into the sea, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).



The Japanese coast guard, which first reported the missile launch, said it could potentially be a ballistic missile, but they haven't yet confirmed it.



Japan's defence minister, Nobuo Kishi said the suspected ballistic missile had flown about 500 km (310 miles), according to a Reuters report.



Under UN sanctions, North Korea is prohibited from ballistic and nuclear weapons tests.



With the new year just 5 days gone, this would be the first missile launch carried by Pyongyang this year. "South Korean and US intelligence are closely analysing for further detail," the JCS said in a statement.



In 2017, North Korea tested the Hwasong-15, a missile that peaked at an estimated altitude of 4,500km, putting US military bases on the Pacific island of Guam well within striking distance.



The launch comes days after Kim said during a key end-of-year meeting of North Korea's ruling party that Pyongyang would continue to strengthen its defence capabilities due to an increasingly unstable military environment on the Korean peninsula.



Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the latest launch "very regrettable," pointing to North Korea's repeated testing of missiles since 2021.

In 2021, North Korea continued the advancement of its weapons programme, testing a new hypersonic missile, as well as a train-based ballistic missile and a new long-range cruise missile.



The tests come as Pyongyang struggles with food shortages due to a coronavirus blockade that has affected its economy.



At the end-of-year meeting, Kim said the country was facing a "great life-and-death struggle", adding that increasing development and improving people's living standards were among this year's goals.













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 nurse prepares a COVID-19 vaccine shot before the opening of a mass vaccination clinic in Mississauga, Ont., Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Canada's health minister Jean-Yves Duclos says he expects the country to reach a time in the COVID-19 pandemic when provinces consider implementing a broader vaccine mandate to counter rising cases. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Logansport, IN (46947)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 52F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to cloudy skies and rain overnight. Low 52F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Michael Coard, Esq. can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, and his YouTube channel as well as at AvengingTheAncestors.com. His Radio Courtroom show can be heard on WURD 96.1 FM or 900 AM. And his TV Courtroom show can be seen on PhillyCAM/Verizon Fios/Comcast. The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Philadelphia Tribune.
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COLUMBIA  Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced lawyer and scion of a powerful and wealthy Hampton County family, can't afford to post bond and will be stuck in a Richland County jail unless a judge offers him leniency, his lawyers say.

Columbia attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin have again appealed to the courts for help getting their client out of the jail he has called home since mid-October.

In their most recent filing, they argue the $7 million bond set by Judge Alison Lee last month is "tantamount to no bond at all." They cited an email from a law firm controlling Murdaugh's finances that showed the attorney has less than $10,000 in his two accounts at Hampton's Palmetto State Bank.

Harpootlian and Griffin asked Lee to reduce the bond for Murdaugh, 53, who faces dozens of criminal charges accusing him of stealing millions of dollars from his legal clients, former law partners and even the family of his late housekeeper.

"Mr. Murdaugh is a man who cannot pay his phone bill," they wrote on Jan. 4.

Harpootlian said Jan. 6 he hadn't heard back on their request for a new bond hearing.

Lee's $7 million bond order came after another judge, Clifton Newman of Kingstree, twice denied Murdaugh bond entirely. Newman said he worried Murdaugh could be a danger to himself or the public, in part because of his admitted opioid addiction and his previous attempt to stage his own murder in an alleged insurance fraud scheme.

Murdaugh's lawyers have asserted the state Constitution entitles him to a bond, since none of his alleged crimes were violent.
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COLUMBIA  The University of South Carolina will name the student housing complex at 700 Lincoln St. in honor of Black neighborhood leader and celebrated educator Celia Dial Saxon, the first time the 221-year-old school named a campus building after a person of color.

Naming a building for a prominent African American comes after the university's July 2021 pledge to honor more people of color, following the work of a special presidential commission. The commission examined renaming buildings and landmarks on campus named after historical figures with racially insensitive records.

USC ultimately did not push to rename any buildings. Instead, the school's board said it would focus on names of any new or unnamed buildings, such as the one named for Saxon near Colonial Life Arena.

The Saxon student housing complex sits on what was once a thriving Black neighborhood known as Ward One, where Saxon lived. The neighborhood made way for campus expansion in the 1960s, including the Carolina Coliseum.

We can't alter our history, Interim President Harris Pastides said on Jan. 7. We can dedicate ourselves to addressing it by recognizing the community members and neighborhoods that were displaced and by mending relationships for those who've been impacted by university decisions of the past. Let's now continue the momentum this historic day establishes.

While members of the USC NAACP chapter celebrated the recognition given to Saxon, they also felt it did not take away from the issue of other racially insensitive building names, like the dorm named for J. Marion Sims, a doctor who performed medical experiments on slaves, and the main library named for Thomas Cooper, a former college president who owned slaves and defended slavery.

"Just because you add a person's name to a building doesn't take away from the fact there are other buildings named for people who wanted to take away from the humanity of Ms. Saxon," said chapter president Caley Bright.

Born into slavery just one city block west of campus in 1857 and emancipated at age 6, Saxon was a Reconstruction Era graduate of the former Normal School for teachers on the USC campus. Saxon taught in Columbia schools, educating Black students for 57 years, including many years at the former Booker T. Washington High School.

"Her dedication in the classroom was so great that she only missed three days of work in a 57-year teaching career," USC historians wrote in a biography of her and other African Americans who are being considered as namesakes for future unnamed buildings at the school.

When Saxon died in 1935, thousands attended the viewing at the Booker T. Washington High School auditorium, where her body lay in state, according to the community group Ward One Reunion.

An advocate for women and children, she helped found the South Carolina Federation of Colored Womens Clubs, the Williams Home for Orphans in Cayce and Fairwold Home for Delinquent Girls in Columbia, as well as the Phyllis Wheatley branch of the Young Womens Christian Association that housed the first public library available to Black residents, according to Historic Columbia.

The naming of the student housing complex after Saxon came about as a result of the work of the Presidential Commission on University History, a special commission established soon after former President Bob Caslen started at USC in 2019 "to study and better understand the histories of the people whose names adorn our buildings, and  more broadly  to capture the voices and contributions of forgotten, excluded, or marginalized groups and individuals who positively contributed to the establishment, maintenance, and growth of our university.

Previously, USC erected a statue of its first African American professor, Richard Greener, and posted plaques on the Horseshoe acknowledging the use of slave labor in the school's construction.

I.S. Leevy Johnson, who served on the committee and was himself among the first African Americans elected to the state Legislature, said it was satisfying to see some of the committee's work come to fruition.

"It's sweet that it's happening now but bitter that it took so long to recognize the indelible impact people of color have made to the University of South Carolina, to Columbia and to the state," he said.

The dorm at 700 Lincoln St. is not the first building in Columbia where Saxon has been a namesake.

In 1953, the Columbia Housing Authority opened Saxon Homes, a low-income housing project named in her honor. With a daycare on site, it was built for families and former residents remember Saxon Homes especially for its role in fostering family values and community, according to Historic Columbia.

The apartments were demolished in September 2000. A new mixed-income neighborhood  the Celia Dial Saxon neighborhood  rose in its place and is home to the Celia Saxon Health Center, a Prisma Health facility.

The Ward One neighborhood, which stretched between Pickens, Gervais, Heyward and Huger streets, was once home to numerous Black churches, schools, banks, and Black-owned businesses. It was a working-class community full of wooden shotgun homes, where former residents say neighbor helped neighbor when money was tight. Many were employed by the nearby warehouses and mills.

Today, it's covered by state government buildings, USC dormitories and sport complexes.

Among those lost buildings was an elementary school named in Saxon's honor in 1930, where many Ward One community members were educated. That includes USC board trustee Alex English, who was once a student there before the university claimed the land for expansion and displaced the neighborhood in the 1960s.

"I went to elementary school there and I lived in the neighborhood and I've seen the gentrification and how they've moved a lot of the African Americans out of that community," he said. "It's important for me, for the people of Ward One, the African American community in Columbia to be recognized."

The elementary stood on the ground where the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center was built.

The fitness facility named after the former U.S. Senator who ran for president on a segregationist platform was at the center of the debate over renaming USC buildings.

Mattie Johnson Roberson, president of the Ward One Reunion Organization, asked Caslen in June 2020 to rename the Strom center after Saxon.

"I encourage the University to stand firm against racism and demonstrate its commitment to equity and inclusion," Roberson wrote in a letter.

English said members of the group were excited, saying "it's about time," when he told them of the university's plans.
Charleston County School Districts new interim Superintendent Don Kennedy said in his first speech to reporters on Jan. 7 he plans to focus on students' health and safety as the omicron variant runs rampant through schools.

Kennedy was tapped by CCSD's board after Gerrita Postlewait abruptly resigned last month. He was formerly the districts chief financial officer.

During his first week as interim superintendent, the district reported 533 COVID-19 cases among staff and students, according to CCSD's COVID-19 dashboard. An additional 352 students and staff members are in quarantine.

As cases surge in Charleston and across the country, Kennedy said he plans to maintain the protocols the district has followed for the last two years. In addition to the mask mandate that was re-implemented on Jan. 3, the district will rely on contact tracing, vaccination clinics and updated HVAC systems to try to mitigate the viruss spread.

Once we make sure that our students and our staff are safe, the second part is making sure that the schools stay open, Kennedy said, adding any school closures due to COVID-19 will be a last resort.

Kennedy also wants the district to use its federal COVID-19 relief funds to support current programs that close achievement gaps among students. The district is in the process of receiving proposals from the community on how it will spend its $163.2 million allocation. The money is meant to be used to address learning loss from the pandemic.

The second thing associated with that is the adequate implementation of those initiatives, so we make sure that we have structures in place to ensure we have accountability and support in place, Kennedy said.

Kennedy is also making teacher retention a top priority. The districts chief officers will meet daily to discuss teacher shortages and have already decided to increase substitute teachers' salaries. The substitutes will also be offered bonuses.

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Kennedy did not have the exact amount for the pay increase per substitute, but said implementing the pay increase and bonuses will total $1.6 million. The pay change will go into effect on Monday.

The pay could help alleviate teacher stress. A Charleston Teacher Alliance survey showed over 80 percent of teachers felt more exhausted this year than last school year. Another 66 percent considered quitting or retiring.

Kennedy emphasized his collaborative leadership style, noting his first meeting on Monday morning was about working with school leaders.

I recognize that principals are key to our success here with our students, he said.

The Charleston County School Board voted 6-1 to accept Postlewaits resignation on Dec. 29. It remains unclear why the former superintendent left the job, which she held for seven years. Board members have kept quiet on her resignation, citing privacy and confidentiality concerns.

Kennedy similarly did not comment on what spurred Postlewaits departure, and said he has not communicated with the former superintendent. She remains on staff through the end of June.

Kennedy has worked as the districts chief financial officer on two separate occasions. His first term was from July 2004 to September 2007. He returned to the district in January 2018 and held the position up until Jan. 3, when he started as interim superintendent.

Kennedy also served as the chief financial officer at school districts in Seattle, Baltimore, Boston and Connecticut.

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Flooding in Charleston is nothing new, but it is getting more frequent and more severe. While government officials may address the issue on a large scale by contemplating projects like a $1.1 billion seawall and local drainage improvements, homeowners and renters can take steps to protect themselves, too.

The first step, Charleston Chief Resilience Officer Dale Morris said, is getting flood insurance. Part of Morris' job with the city is evaluating where flood risk is most and least severe and what officials can do about it.

Flood insurance is required by some mortgage lenders for anyone living in a floodplain, but Morris recommends it for almost everyone in a city like Charleston. That includes renters, who can use the coverage to protect the items within their home or apartment, especially if it's on the first floor.

When deciding where to rent or buy, it's helpful to know how severe a property's flood risk is, but that information isn't always easy to find, Morris said.

"There is no coherent or consistent strategy," he said. "Some states require some amount of disclosures, sometimes its voluntary."

Thanks to a 2021 policy change from the S.C. Real Estate Commission, a standard disclosure form that sellers fill out in South Carolina asks if a property has been subject to flood insurance claims, and, if so, the dates they occurred. Sellers must provide all past claims, even those before their ownership.

Morris also suggests two resources to look up an address's flood risk. New York-based nonprofit the First Street Foundation runs a national database of flood risk that allows users to type in any address and receive a risk assessment on a scale of 1 to 10 along with an explanation. It is found at floodfactor.com.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance rate maps also help determine a property's risk, but they are not updated frequently, he said.

Considering what investments to make to prevent floodwaters from entering a home depends on an individual's resources and whether a resident rents or owns their property, said Grayson Forehand, sales manager at Mount Valley Foundation Services for the Charleston region.

"If youre renting, youre not necessarily going to spend on anything permanent," Forehand said.

At the most basic level, renters can purchase sandbags or request them from their landlord to fortify entrances to the home or apartment prior to a storm. Eyeing the property's gutters is another option. Some landlords may offer to send a maintenance team to clear them if requested, Forehand said.

"Having a plan, somewhere to move items during a storm and working with the landlord will help," he said.

For any other concerns, evaluating flood risk before signing a lease and buying flood insurance afterward are some of the best options for renters, Forehand said.

Homeowners have more options to consider. Companies like Mount Valley Foundation Services offer to install different types of pumps that can siphon water away from a crawlspace or basement.

Another option is considering the area surrounding a home, Morris said. Installing rain barrels and limiting the amount of "hardscaping," such as patios and driveways, can help the yard absorb water and keep it from running off into a home.

"Dry flood proofing is when you dont let water in the house and wet flood proofing is what you do if water does get into your house," Morris said.

An example of wet flood proofing would be designing a home to have electrical outlets installed high up off of the floor to limit potential water damage, he said.

Knowing the age of a home's roof is important, too, said Carl Evans, co-owner and principal of Charleston-based flood proofing company, AguaSeal. Many shingled roofs need replacement after about 20 to 30 years, he said.

"For most people, a roof is out of sight, out of mind," Evans said. "They dont concentrate on a roof until they need to."

Getting ahead of roof repairs saves money in the long run, he said.

While Evans' company focuses primarily on sealing and waterproofing roofs for large-scale commercial properties or military bases, he has seen more interest from residential homeowners.

From the bottom up, home flood prevention is unique to each house and apartment but help Charlestonians save money and sleep a little more soundly.
GREENVILLE  The Greenville County GOP invited a Democrat solicitor to speak at its January monthly meeting about public corruption, and he used the opportunity to largely attack Republican leaders across the state.

First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe spoke for about two hours Jan. 6, largely about the work the state grand jury performed in the Statehouse corruption probe that Pascoe led for seven years as a special prosecutor. It has resulted in guilty pleas and verdicts against five ex-GOP lawmakers and the states top Republican political advisor.

Pascoe, whose name has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate to run against Attorney General Alan Wilson in 2022, said he has no plans to seek another office. But he used his speech to attack Wilson repeatedly for his close ties to political consultant Richard Quinn  one of the probes targets  and for decisions Wilson has made while in office.

Pascoe also laid into the states system of naming judges to the bench, calling the ties too close between lawyer legislators and judicial nominees in one of just two states where legislators control the nomination, election and firing of judges.

A judiciary cant be independent when they are selected, elected and fired by another branch of government, said Pascoe, the top prosecutor for Dorchester, Orangeburg and Calhoun counties.

Pascoes invitation to Greenville came against the backdrop of a fissure between the states GOP leadership and its largest county base months after the partys far-right wing wrested control of local leadership.

Jeff Davis, the Greenville GOP chairman, was censured and banned in December from attending future SCGOP leadership committee meetings after former SCGOP Chair Chad Connelly questioned Davis past comments about Connelly in a yearslong dispute over the handling of education scholarship accounts in the state.

A month later, Davis invited Pascoe to Greenville, where Pascoe called out state officials.

One member, Ben Carper, who ran unsuccessfully for Greenville County Council District 25 in 2020, stood up to protest Davis decision to give the local party platform to a Democrat.

He is a supporter of Joe Biden. We are supporters of Donald Trump, Carper said. He may have some excellent things to say. Im not disparaging the man at all, but not in a GOP setting.

Davis took an anti-establishment stance, saying he was still waiting for the state party to support the local branch, including an upcoming Rock the Red political event in Greenville.

Its not a battle between Republicans and Democrats. Yall have heard me say that for a long time, Davis said. Its a battle between the establishments in both parties.

In his speech, Pascoe focused on a pattern of legislators friends and families benefitting from their position or decisions. He called for criminal justice reform that benefits the entire system and for the state to reform how it selects judges.

Pascoe said the state has created a system that puts people in power to live off their public service rather than serving the public good.

He cited examples of questionable actions that have been reported in recent years, including when he and Gov. Henry McMaster questioned the states settlement of a lawsuit with the federal government over the delay in removing nuclear waste from the Savannah River Site. The state received $600 million in that settlement, and Wilsons office paid $75 million of it to two Columbia law firms  a move Wilson said was contractually required and that a judge later agreed the state was obligated to do.

Pascoe called it cronyism since Wilson had worked at one of the law firms before he was elected attorney general.

Pascoe also called for comprehensive reform to the judicial system and said current bills under consideration would boost public defenders offices while leaving prosecutors behind.

Theres no reason we should be this underfunded, he said.
Put a bunch of people on a big sailboat and watch what happens.

Differences evaporate like fog on a warm morning. On the water, it matters little where you come from, how you grew up, how much money you have or who your people are.

The moment you step onto the boat, you are a sailor, nothing more, nothing less. You have a job to do, and you have to coordinate your work with all the others. You are a member of the crew, and the crew has a narrow focus: to stay safe and sail well.

The schooner Harvey Gamage is tied to the dock at the Maritime Center preparing to take 33 souls on an adventure through African American history. The schooner, which launched in 1973, and which is operated by the nonprofit Sailing Ships Maine, provides students with ocean classrooms. The educational endeavors mostly have involved sailing instruction, but recently the ships operators have gained school partners and expanded the educational programming so the kids aboard can learn about the marine sciences and certain aspects of the humanities.

The current excursion is part of a winter program for 23 young people and 10 professional crew. Fourteen of the students come from the Proctor Academy in New Hampshire, which is predominantly White, and nine kids come from the Metropolitan Regional Career And Technical Center (or MET High School) in Rhode Island, which is predominantly Black.

They are spending three days in Charleston touring historic sites and learning about the Black experience. Then they set sail for Mobile, Ala., following a course down the southeast coast, around the Florida Keys and up the other side of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico to their destination.

From Mobile, they will travel on land to Montgomery and Selma, learning about the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956, the Freedom Riders of 1961, the explosion of violence against civil rights protesters near the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965, the brutal history of lynching recounted at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the nature and scope of the civil rights movement in the South.

Alex Agnew, executive director of Sailing Ships Maine, said he expects to make this sort of experience an annual wintertime event, using Charleston as a base of operations. And hes hoping to find local partners and to recruit students in the Charleston area. Already, the Harvey Gamage has become a favorite field trip for Ashley Hall students.

The challenge, Agnew said, is finding the young sailors and the sponsors. Its expensive to operate a tall ship and to offer quality educational programming.

Brooks Bicknell, the Proctor Academys director of the ocean classroom program, said his school has made these off-campus sailing experiences a centerpiece of the institutions offerings. Proctor, a boarding and day school located in Andover, has put students on big boats for 28 consecutive years, he said.

Until recently, the kids set sail in the fall and concentrated on the nautical sciences  navigation, line handling, sail trim, watches, safety protocols and more. The winter sail is an effort to make the opportunity available to others, and to add a course of studies in the humanities. Thus the focus on the history of slavery and civil rights, Bicknell said.

The students arrived in Charleston on Jan. 5 and settled into their berths. The next day they spent a few hours sailing in the harbor, learning from the professional crew. That afternoon they rolled up their sleeves and got to work washing down the deck, putting lines and sails in order, learning how to use the fire pump and hoses, cleaning up the galley and the head and absorbing lessons about emergency procedures.

On Jan. 7, the group joined Gullah Tours Charleston in the morning then visited McLeod Plantation in the afternoon to learn about the cultivation of sea island cotton by enslaved people. That evening they watched an episode of the TV documentary series The Good Road that looks into how American history is told and who gets to do the telling.

During the Charleston visit, they also engaged in conversation with Michael Boulware Moore, great-grandson of Robert Smalls and former president and CEO of the International African American Museum.

Dhyanne Holland, 18, a MET High School student, said this was her first time on a big boat and that she welcomed the chance to meet other people and learn seamanship.

You get the real experience, she said.

The necessity of working in close quarters for weeks at a time is sure to result in a new appreciation for teamwork and for one another, she said.

Were like a community, Holland said.

Among the crew are four deckhand educators who will teach math, science and history during the voyage, Agnew said, adding that he wants to bring the Harvey Gamage to Charleston between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, and perhaps every year, making this curriculum on Black history standard.

Annika Miller, 17, is a senior at the Proctor Academy, and thrilled about the new collaboration. Interested in marine sciences, she chose to attend Proctor because of its ocean classroom program, she said.

That this excursion joins the study of marine sciences and the study of the African American experience, and that it combines students from two schools only makes it better, Miller said.

But first thing's first, she needs to learn sailboat vocabulary: halyards and staysails, gaff rigging and ratlines, lubbers hole and the royal yard, spanker vangs and slablines.

Miller and the rest of the crew push off this weekend. Theyll know the ropes by the end of their journey.
City of Charleston voters on Daniel Island and the French Quarter will see five candidates on the ballot Jan. 11 in a special election for the District 1 City Council seat left vacant by Councilwoman Marie Delcioppo.

The candidates are retired CPA David Winkler, retired Charleston police officer and firefighter Tony Fogle, former prosecutor Shawn Pinkston, civil engineer Boyd Gregg and Trident Literacy Association Board member Jen Gibson.

Declioppo's seat has been vacant since October, when she resigned due to health concerns. The special election will go to a runoff Jan. 25 if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

The candidates have all distributed campaign materials laying out their platforms and recently spoke at a forum hosted by the Ansonborough Neighborhood Association. Ansonborough is part of the small portion of the Charleston peninsula located within District 1; Daniel Island makes up the rest of the district.

All five candidates are Daniel Island residents and most have zeroed in on easing traffic and flooding concerns.

Some have been vocal opponents of the current City Council. Pinkston's campaign materials criticize the council's vote to increase council members' pay, and he was a vocal opponent of the reinstatement of the city's Special Commission on Equity, Inclusion and Racial Conciliation.

The city formed the commission, which included volunteers and city council members, in response to George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police and the nationwide protests that followed. When the commission's recommendations were finalized in a 545-page report, city council initially rejected the report and a proposal to make the commission a permanent fixture among city commissions.

The task force was reinstated in an initial vote Dec. 21. Both the commission and its report have become a hot-button issue for candidates seeking local office.

Among the proposals that drew the most attention and opposition from Pinkston were the reports suggestions to teach critical race theory and The New York Times 1619 Project in schools, and for the city to come up with a reparations plan.

"We're heading in the wrong direction and we are never going to get back to the core functions of city government if we do not defeat the political agenda that is being pushed by the mayor and some members of the city council," Pinkston said.

Fogle has billed himself as a public-safety focused candidate, having served in both the city's police and fire departments. He said the June 2020 police brutality protests that spun off into vandalism on King Street were part of what prompted him to seek public office.

"We had Army tanks when Chief (Reuben) Greenberg and Mayor (Joe) Riley were here. Why? Because it was intimidating ... nobody is getting in the way of Army tanks. Nobody is getting in the way of horses," Fogle said of how he felt the protests along King Street should have been handled.

In a Jan. 5 editorial in The Daniel Island News, Delcioppo endorsed Gregg, a self-described "strong fiscal conservative." She wrote that he "has a willingness to learn."

In remarks to the Ansonborough Neighborhood Association, Gregg said he would bring his experience as a civil engineer working with the public sector to City Council. He, as well as Pinkston, said that he is skeptical of the Army Corps of Engineers' $1.1 billion sea wall proposal. As proposed, the sea wall would surround the Charleston peninsula to protect it from storm surge.

"Based on my 20 years of experience as an engineer and dealing with project exactly like this, I am highly opposed to it," Gregg said. "Its prohibitively expensive ... When you look at a big system like this, a flood wall, that requires buttressing and gates and motors and pump stations, all of that has to work together seamlessly or you end up with a bathtub ... and it's highly unlikely for all of that to work together seamlessly."

With experience living and dealing with flooding in Baton Rouge, La., Winkler said he is open to alternate proposals for the sea wall but will also spend his time in office "listening to the experts."

He said that was also why he received the COVID-19 vaccine. For city governments, however, he said he did not support vaccine mandates because of the potential to lose public safety personnel.

"I do not think they need to be mandated by governmental entities. Do I think that employers have that right to come in and say if you want to work for me, you have to be vaccinated? That's an individual, employer-level decision," he said.

Gibson, as someone who formerly owned a travel agency, said she understands both the pros and cons of promoting tourism in Charleston. She began her career in insurance and interior design before starting her travel agency before selling it in 2016. Much of her campaign focuses on the environmental needs of Charleston and reigning in real estate development interests.

"We've made a lot of mistakes with tourism in downtown Charleston, and its not too late to fix that," she said.

One way to address that, she said, is to reel in the city's support of cruise ships. Of concern for Ansonborough residents is a new cruise ship terminal proposed at Union Pier, replacing the existing 1970s-era building. Plans for the proposed terminal were put on hold due to the pandemic and have met pushback from historic and environmental preservation groups.

Election Day is Jan. 11. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Charleston County is hosting one polling site at Memminger Elementary School (20 Beaufain St.). Berkeley County will host three polling sites at Philip Simmons Elementary School (2095 Seven Sticks Drive), Daniel Island Elementary School (2365 Daniel Island Drive) and the Daniel Island Recreation Center (160 Fairbanks Drive). More information can be found at www.vote.charlestoncounty.org or www.berkeleycountysc.gov/dept/elections.
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
A week ago, federal health officials finally started saying what has long been obvious to anyone whos been paying attention to COVID-19: The number of positive cases is not a particularly good measure of the diseases toll. It can be a useful measure of how prevalent the virus is in the area, but hospitalizations and deaths are the meaningful metrics of the human toll. "Help wanted signs and temporary quarantine closings are better measures of the damage to our economy.

Two days later, DHEC leaders called a news conference to announce that South Carolina has surpassed 1 million COVID infections. Only a tiny fraction of the first million were from our new superspreader variant, which first appeared in the state 20 days earlier.

The good news about the omicron variant that will greet our lawmakers when they pack their mostly unmasked selves back into the Statehouse Tuesday for their third COVID session is this: It increasingly looks like theres an even-lower-than-delta probability that any vaccinated individual whos exposed to it will die. Or wind up in the hospital. Or even know she has it.

That last part is the bad news, and it has been the bad news about COVID from the start: Most people who get it dont realize they have it, so unless theyre following the CDC recommendations about masks and social distancing (and, with omicron, often even if they are), theyre spreading it to others.

As I told a friend who wondered Wednesday if she should keep attending weekly choir practice and singing in our parish choir, most of whose members are college students: Your chance of getting infected is probably higher than ever, but your chance of getting sick is probably lower than ever. Her response: Why would I want to get it if I dont have to?

Why indeed?

Unfortunately, most people dont have the luxury of working from home or in offices where practically everybodys vaccinated and everybody wears their mask.

Protecting people who dont have a choice is why mask mandates were always so important  well, that and slowing the spread enough to keep our hospitals from having to ration care. As they had to do for a while, and could again. People can get a little protection by wearing masks, but the main reason we wear masks is to protect other people from our own often unrecognized infection. Crucially, though, everyone 5 and older now has the option of getting a vaccine that will transform exposure into a smaller risk than driving on an S.C. highway. It hasn't changed what we can do as responsible human beings, but it has changed a lot of our thinking. Or it should.

The odds that any individual who contracts COVID will be hospitalized or die have always been small  the danger comes from the sheer number of people infected  but in the month that ended Dec. 15, three unvaccinated South Carolinians died for every one vaccinated person who died, even though more than half the population is vaccinated.

Clearly, the risk of someone who's vaccinated getting more than a cold is not zero, but neither is the risk of dying from the flu. Or taking a tumble on a playground and dying from a concussion. Between the vaccine, improved treatment options and the apparent reduction in the viruss virulence, its down to the risk of an array of other dangers we have no public policies to mitigate against.

Those of us who are concerned about public health and our own health need to ask ourselves how much our anger over our Legislatures opposition to mask and vaccine mandates is based on actual danger, and how much on indignation.

Dont get me wrong: We have every right to be indignant. The only thing wrong with requiring people to wear a mask to protect other people while were still in the middle of a pandemic is that we shouldnt have to require it; people ought to do it voluntarily.

But indignation is no more legitimate a basis for sound public policy than for the crazy pro-COVID policies our Legislature passed last year, and that too many lawmakers want to pass more of this year.

It would be nice if lawmakers would at least let us take care of ourselves. Ive always meant it when I said businesses should have the power to fire their employees for practically any reason. Did our legislators not? Businesses are not deciding lightly to require vaccines or masks, which they know will cost them valuable employees. They also know that every additional vaccination brings us closer to the time when COVID recedes to endemic status. They know too that unvaccinated workers raise their costs, through increased absenteeism, quarantines and insurance coverage.

Another nice thing would be for our lawmakers to refrain from wasting our money on unconstitutional laws that theyll insist on defending in court. The 4th Circuit will decide whether to sustain the order that freed school districts to impose mask mandates (something precious few have done). The U.S. Supreme Court will decide which if any of the presidents vaccine requirements will stand. Theres nothing S.C. legislators can do to override those decisions.

Theres a lot, however, that they can do to improve the education we deliver to the next generation, and protect our natural resources and clean up corruption in government and deal with countless other real problems challenging our state.

COVID limited their ability to do that the past two years. They've already decided the disease itself won't slow them down this year, but their insistence on pushing radical anti-public-health measures will distract them from that important work  and further fray relationships that already have been damaged too much by our hyperpoliticized pandemic.
A Dec. 27 Post and Courier article explained that South Carolinas Fiscal Accountability Authority approved about $300 million in tax incentives for affordable housing projects under a new, controversial law that could cost the state significantly in the coming decades if allowed to continue.

The incentives will help fund nearly two dozen projects throughout South Carolina, mostly in cities including Columbia, Charleston, Spartanburg and Greenville.

To counter the perception that the program is a giveaway to out-of-state developers, the state Legislature could adopt a tiered system of incentives.

The largest grants could go to companies that are minority owned and headquartered in South Carolina while smaller grants could go to those who are in state but not minority owned.

The next tier would be for out-of-state, minority-owned companies and the smallest grants would go to out-of-state companies that are not minority owned.

DENNIS ZABAWA

Ladson

No to King Street BID

The Dec. 29 Post and Courier article, Some voice concerns over plans for King St., focuses on concern over the cost of the proposed business investment district but not on the critical issue, which is the use to which the taxed revenue is intended.

The safety, security and cleanliness of King Street are the responsibility of the city of Charleston. Residents already pay taxes for that purpose.

If Charlestonians dont approve of the way the city handles these matters, they should attend a City Council meeting and vote for candidates who assure that King Street remains a clean and safe space. That is called accountability.

The proposed district would have no accountability. It presumes high expenses, including salaries for administrative staff obtained through the BID taxes, but assures no transparency, since these are not elected officials.

There is no reason to assume the district can fulfill the objectives better than the city administrators.

It is hard to view this proposal as more than a boondoggle.

SUE PRENNER

ROBERT PRENNER

The Ben Silver Corporation

Charleston

Trump culpable

The Dec. 31 editorial that urged Donald Trump supporters to follow his advice and get vaccinated gives him too much credit for lives saved after COVID-19 exploded across America.

Yes, Mr. Trump did launch Operation Warp Speed, but at the same time he mocked the notion of the virus, refused to wear a mask, intimated that those who did wear masks were weaklings, suggested that a death toll of perhaps 60,000 to 100,000 would be acceptable and held rallies to which people flocked  unmasked and sitting right next to each other.

In fact, tens of thousands of people have died and continue to die because of the false information and conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump has exhorted in his classic blustery and self-centered style.

The former president is culpable for the resistance on the part of millions of people who refuse to be vaccinated and wear masks and is responsible for much of the carnage that has swept across America during the past two years.

STEVEN MORRIS

Mount Pleasant

A different view of CRT

A Wednesday letter writer condemns the teaching of critical race theory.

If I were to rewrite this letter as an avowed capitalist with a progressive point of view, I would encourage the professors at the University of South Carolina to teach CRT.

Using the arguments presented, I would alter the authors equating any and all socialist developments in America to the past actions of child labor, monopolies, red lining and more. The introduction of Marxism to the argument would lead me to suggest the lack of government intervention could lead to fascism.

I propose we do not follow either of these lines of reasoning.

DAVID ROCKEY

Goose Creek
COLUMBIA  The vast majority of South Carolina school districts would get more money under Gov. Henry McMaster's proposal for revamping the way K-12 public education is funded, and none would lose out, according to an analysis by the state's economic experts.

McMaster's proposal, to be released Jan. 10 as part of his budget recommendations, offers legislators a way to simplify the state's Byzantine, multilayered funding scheme without creating big winners and losers of tax dollars  what's been the stumbling block for decades.

It does pump an additional $100 million through a new formula that would more than double the per-student funding for children in poverty, increase the state's collective share of staffing costs, and raise the state-set minimums for teacher salaries by $2,000.

A first-year teacher would make no less than $38,000, according to a preview to reporters.

McMaster's proposal is merely a recommendation to legislators who write the state budget. However, he's had more success with his suggestions than his predecessors did, partly because he's involved legislative leaders in discussions on the front end of the process.

Overall, 72 of the state's 79 school districts are expected to get more state aid under McMaster's plan. The rest would see no change in their funding, due to $20 million his plan disburses to those that would otherwise get less.

Exactly how much more those 72 districts would receive next school year is not yet known. But calculations using 2019-20 student counts show a range of about $45,000 for tiny Bamberg-Ehrhardt to nearly $13 million for Horry County.

Greenville County, the state's largest district, would get roughly $7 million more, while Charleston County would see $5.3 million additional, according to the analysis by the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.

But the governor's office is quick to note his focus is not on increasing funding.

The goal is to get more of the $5 billion the state already sends school districts into their classrooms to directly help students and teachers while giving the public a way to judge for themselves if local officials are spending tax dollars wisely.

It attempts to do that by tying funding to the average cost of a teacher in South Carolina and to the ratio of students to non-administrative staff, primarily teachers. It also consolidates funding streams in the state budget and lets district officials spend their allotment however they feel it would best help students.

In return for the spending freedom, each district must post its budget on its website, and the state Department of Education must release a breakdown of each district's expenses. Eventually, spending details must be released for each school.

"I certainly agree with the concept," said Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Summerville, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee's K-12 panel, adding he needs more details.

Patrick Kelly, spokesman for the Palmetto State Teachers Association, said he, too, applauds the objectives and McMaster's efforts to reignite discussions to overhaul the state's broken funding system. But the possibility of many teachers going without a raise in a year when big pay boosts are needed to stem the exodus is concerning, he said.

"The governor's right: Let's get the money into the classroom," Kelly said, noting teacher salaries haven't kept up with the pace of overall spending on public education.

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This school year, the state will spend more than $6,900 per student, on average, though amounts vary by district. Total spending per student averages $15,500 when including local taxes and non-COVID-related federal aid. In all, $11.2 billion is expected to be spent on K-12 public education this school year, and that doesn't include the $3 billion in direct COVID aid at districts' discretion.

That compares to $7.7 billion total a decade ago, according to the state fiscal office.

Nationwide, South Carolina ranks 23rd in money per student but 40th in average teacher salaries, according to a report last April by the National Education Association.

"Overall, I agree with the broad policy goals (the governor is) trying to establish as it relates to getting more money into the classroom and increased transparency and increased weighting for students in poverty," said Kelly, who also got an advance of the plan. "Those are all correct ideas and beneficial, but the devil's in the details."

The plan boosts minimum pay across the state's teacher salary schedule, which rises according to years of experience and degree. That does not translate to a $2,000 hike for every teacher, since most districts already pay more than the allowed minimums by supplementing salaries with local property taxes.

Instead, teachers in the seven districts that pay the least possible would get the full hike. And teachers in 18 districts would be guaranteed to see at least some of it. But the 52 districts that already pay above the state minimums could direct their funding elsewhere  putting the onus on local school boards to choose.

That includes Charleston and Berkeley counties and both Dorchester County districts, as well as those in Greenville, Horry and Richland counties.

"We're going to lose teachers if we don't increase teacher pay," Kelly said.

If the Legislature changes the formula while also providing enough to guarantee that $2,000 for all, "my concerns go way down," he added.

McMaster's plan comes three years after he, House Speaker Jay Lucas and then-Senate President Harvey Peeler jointly asked Revenue and Fiscal Affairs to come up with recommendations for revamping a funding system that dates to 1977.

The governor's budget recommendation uses pieces of a proposal the fiscal office rolled out in fall 2019, which would have resulted in 55 school districts collectively gaining $174 million and 26 districts losing $174 million. Such shifts help explain why all previous efforts to overhaul the system have flopped  even after the state Supreme Court ordered legislators in 2014 to fix it  since no legislator wants to be on the losing end of a new formula.

Even before the pandemic set in, legislators didn't expect that proposal to go anywhere.

But the governor's $120 million request may not seem so daunting in a year when legislators have $900 million in additional money available for ongoing expenses. His office calls it the first of a multiphase overhaul.
SPARTANBURG  A new housing subdivision on Cannons Campground Road in Spartanburg is set to begin construction in early February.

Mark III Properties President Jay Beeson said the new development will include 316 single-family homes and 140 townhomes. Work continues to complete the installation of a sewer lift station at the site. The new development called the Berkeley will be located in Spartanburg School District 7 near Mary Black Hospital.

"There will be resort-style amenities with a junior Olympic pool," Beeson told The Post and Courier. "We expect housing construction to begin Feb. 1. Sometime in early summer construction of the townhomes will start."

Beeson said turn lanes and road improvements required by the South Carolina Department of Transportation have been completed. The development is among several projects planned by Mark III Properties in the Spartanburg area.

"The housing market is still strong and demand is very high," Beeson said. "There is very limited inventory finished on the market."

The Berkeley development will take about four years to complete. Spartanburg County Councilman David Britt said there are about 2,500 homes in the county that have been permitted or pending permitting in the county. Britt expects new housing construction to accelerate in 2022.

"I think this project (Berkeley) is a great project," Britt said. "The homes will be in the $300,000 to $400,000 price range. We are in need of that type of product in the housing market. This development fits a need."
The most reliable record we have of the Earths temperature is the satellite data maintained by Roy Spencer and John Christy at the University of Alabama Huntsville. The satellite data go back to 1979. Dr. Spencer has a web site that has come under attack by Google:

DrRoySpencer.com has been demonetized by Google for unreliable and harmful claims. This means I can no longer generate revenue to support the website using the Google Adsense program.

***

[A] few months ago Google announced they would be demonetizing climate skeptic websites. I was kind of hoping my content was mainstream enough to avoid being banned since: 1. I believe the climate system has warmed 2. I believe most of this warming is probably due to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning Many of you know that I defend much of mainstream climate science, including climate modeling as an enterprise. Where I depart from the mainstream is how much warming has occurred, how much future warming can be expected, and what should be done about it from an energy policy perspective.

It is rather ironic that, in the name of climate science, Google has demonetized one of the principal sources of climate science. Dr. Spencer is philosophical about the whole thing:

For now I dont plan on appealing the decision, because its not worth the aggravation. If you are considered a climate skeptic (whatever that means) Google has already said you are targeted for termination from their Adsense program. I cant expect their liberal arts-educated fact checkers to understand the nuances of the global warming debate.

Meanwhile, this is what the satellite data tell us about atmospheric temperatures over the past 41 years:

For now, at least, Google isnt prohibiting us from seeing the numbers.
President Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017. In response, radical Democrats gathered in Washington to riot. The riot was ugly and violent:

Protesters set fires and hurled bricks in a daylong assault on the city hosting Donald Trumps inauguration, registering their rage against the new president in a series of clashes that led to more than 200 arrests. Police used pepper spray and stun grenades to prevent the chaos from spilling into Trumps formal procession and evening balls.

***

about a mile from the National Mall, police gave chase to a group of about 100 protesters who smashed the windows of downtown businesses including a Starbucks, a Bank of America and a McDonalds as they denounced capitalism and Trump. Police in riot gear used pepper spray from large canisters to help contain the violence, which erupted periodically throughout the day. They began to destroy property, throw objects at people, through windows. A large percentage of this small group was armed with crowbars and hammers, said the citys interim police chief, Peter Newsham.

A number of police officers were injured, and the radical Democrats assaulted random passers-by. The 2017 riot was, what? 1,000 times as destructive as the January 6, 2021 riot? 10,000 times as destructive? And yet none of the rioters sat in jail for a year awaiting trial. On the contrary:

It must be nice to be a Democrat.
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The Lagos State Government, on Thursday, handed over the management of the iconic Glover Memorial Hall to Lufodo, a theatre and film production company founded by Olu and Joke Jacobs.

The Glover Memorial Hall (GMH) is a heritage building for theatre and performing arts in Lagos. It was built in 1887 in honour of the second governor of Lagos Colony, Sir John Hawley Glover. It was, in 1903, the first to host the public screening of a film in Nigeria.

After a rigorous bidding process for the concession to manage GMH, Lufodo won, and on Thursday, the Commissioner of Tourism, Arts & Culture, Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, along with the Permanent Secretary, Adenike Adedoyin-Ajayi, and Director of Theatre, Mr Ogunsote, handed over the management of the hall to Lufudo.

Speaking during the short hand-over ceremony, the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts, and Culture said Lufodo Productions was appointed due to its expertise, envisaging that the organisation would further enhance the visibility and viability of the hall.

New leadership

Lufodo in partnership with ciuciconsulting  a leading consulting and operations management firm  will manage GMH for the next five years.

This partnership will have both Mrs. Jacobs and Ifeoma Monye as co-CEOs. Mrs Jacobs will be in charge of artistic direction and Ms Ononye, operations.

Also, a new board has been established with Gbenga Oyebode as the Chairman.

The board members include Taiwo Taiwo, Ms Silva, Tony Rapu, Soji Jacobs, Ifeoma Monye, and Amina Abubakar Bello.

Speaking at the event, Ms Jacobs thanked the Lagos State government for its trust in Lufodo and assured that the trust has not and will not be misplaced.

Ms Monye, a partner at Ciuciconsulting, said, This handover is symbolic and shows that Lagos State is interested in the development of the performing arts industry. With more Public-Private Partnerships, there is no limit to the growth that the great state and nation will experience.

The 1000-capacity Glover Memorial Hall was refurbished by the project contractor, Sustainable Procurement Services Ltd, and handed over to the Lagos State Government in March 2021.
The Kano State Film Censorship Board recently declared Aminu Mukhtar, a popular Kannywood filmmaker, wanted, for producing a film titled Makaranta meaning School, in English Language.

The board claims the film promotes immorality.

But Mr Mukhtar, popularly known as Aminu Nasara, has said that he is not worried by the censorship boards decision to declare him wanted.

The Executive Director of the censorship board, Ismail Afakallah, during an interview with BBC Pidgin on Thursday, said the filmmaker jumped several invitations by the board earlier sent to him.

The board had invited the filmmaker over the immoral content of the movie and the fact that the project did not get approval before going public. Even the promotion video currently circulating ought to have been vetted by us. That way, we can say remove this part or that, but the filmmaker did neither of that.

Muktar replies

Reacting to the allegations, Mr Mukhtar said he was not disturbed or worried by the censors boards invitation and insisted that he did nothing wrong.

He said, When I heard that the board was looking for me, I was not disturbed at all because I did nothing wrong. My film is not about Kano or Hausa people alone. About 17 languages are featured in the project. Moreover, I did not shoot the movie in Kano State. So, I dont understand why their blood is hot over the issue. And again, I did not shoot it in Kano.

My film is not only about sex education, it captures other things such as female genital mutilation and it aims to create awareness about things that are happening, not only in our communities but also in schools, as the name of the film portrays.

Mixed reactions

The films trailer, watched by a PREMIUM TIMES reporter, shows some students in a school environment dancing in a party setting, and in another scene, two female friends could be heard discussing sex while the other was looking into her friends undergarment.

The two-minute-long movie trailer was widely shared on social media.

PREMIUM TIMES spoke with Isah Abdu, a film producer in Kaduna, who argued that Mr Mukhtar was wrong in releasing the film in that manner.

I havent seen the film yet because it is just the trailer I watched. As a producer, in this part of the world, it is not necessary to make a film like that. The immorality for me is too much.

From the language used by the actors, he will surely be criticised. I think since he is using the Hausa language in making the movie, he should have followed up with the censorship board before releasing it.

A cross-section of Kannywood fans, including an analyst, Hassana Dalhat, who spoke to our reporter, said they believe the movie may be banned.

I think we have had enough of this. Yes, he said he shot the film, not in Kano but it was in Hausa and everyone will watch, see and learn. For me, it should be re-edited to make it better than what I saw in the trailer and the languages used, Mr Dalhat said.

Meanwhile, Mr Mukhtar did not report to the censorship board and the movie trailer is still in circulation on social media, with over 61,000 views on YouTube.

Apart from the Hausa language, which is the dominant language used in the film, Yoruba and English languages were also spoken in some scenes in the movie.

Check out the trailer below.
Insecurity in Nigeria could be said to have worsened in 2021 as the country witnessed some of the bloodiest attacks in its history.

Almost every geopolitical zone in the country suffered one form of attack or the other, notably from outfits such as Boko Haram/ISWAP, IPOB separatists and bandits.

The country also witnessed the highest number of school children abductions and hostage-taking since 2014 when the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted.

Besides, the country also witnessed the highest number of jailbreaks in a single year as no fewer than four prisons were affected.

Also, bandits overshadowed the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists as they made some states in the North-west and North-central the epicentres of killings in the country.

Although the President Muhammadu Buhari administration repeatedly claimed that Nigerians are more secure under it than under the previous administrations, this assertion has been disputed by facts on the ground.

Here are 10 of the major attacks witnessed across the country in 2021.

Greenfield University abduction

Bandits in April attacked Greenfield University, a private university in Kaduna State, and kidnapped many students.

Greenfield University is located along the KadunaAbuja Highway, some few Kilometers to the Olam feed factory which is about 30km from Kaduna town.

About 14 of the abducted students were freed after 40 days in captivity but five others were later killed by the bandits.

Bethel Baptist school abduction

Bandits in the early hours of July 5 invaded Bethel Baptist High School, Maraban Damishi, Kujama in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and kidnapped 121 students of the school.

Reports said the parents paid humongous amounts as ransom before the students were released in batches.

The Nigerian police a few weeks later announced that it arrested 25 suspects in connection to the incident.

Kagara abduction

Bandits in February invaded Government Secondary School, Kagara in Niger State and abducted 42 persons, including 27 students, three staff members and 12 members of their families.

The bandits raided two of the five hostels in the school, Barde and Lafene halls, to ferret out the students, killing one of them, Benjamin Habilah, in the process.

The incident drew swift condemnations from many persons and institutions, including from the United Nations which described attacks on schools and other educational facilities as abhorrent and unacceptable.

The students were released after 10 days in captivity following the intervention of the state government which negotiated their freedom.

FGC Yauri abduction

Armed bandits in June abducted two staff and 30 students of Government College (FGC), Yauri in Kebbi State, North-west Nigeria.

Aside from the kidnap, the bandits wounded security personnel during an exchange of gunfire.

The heavily armed bandits, who came on motorcycles, reportedly entered the town from the neighbouring Rijau forest in Niger State.

The staff and students regained their freedom four months after.

Burnt passengers in Sokoto

Armed gunmen in December ambushed a vehicle of 40 passengers travelling from Sabon Birni Local Government Area in Sokoto State and burnt them alive.

Some of the passengers including children who were travelling from the town of Sabon Birni to the town of Isa near the Nigerian border with Niger were then burnt to death.

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The state government however announced later on that only 21 persons were killed. Mr Buhari condoled with the family in a statement by his media aide.

Owerri Prison break

A total of 1,844 prisoners were freed in April when gunmen attacked a correctional facility in Owerri, Imo state.

The attack on the prison by armed men was allegedly carried out by members of the outlawed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB).

The group had been blamed for previous attacks on security officers and facilities in the South-east and South-south regions.

Owerri police headquarters

The Nigeria Police Force headquarters in Owerri, Imo state capital was attacked by armed men, same day the correctional facility was attacked in April.

No police officer was killed in the attack but one sustained bullet wounds, police spokesperson, Frank Mba, said.

The police said they believe the attack was carried out by members of the outlawed Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) and its security outffit, ESN.

Maiduguri rocket attack

Terrorists in February killed at least 10 people in Borno state using rocket-propelled grenades, which local officials describe as a new trend.

The terrorists who were suspected to be Boko Haram militants fired from the outskirts of the north-eastern city of Maiduguri into densely populated areas, according to Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum.

The governor at the time described it as the worst attack of its kind in Maiduguri in a year.

Giwa Attack in Kaduna

Suspected bandits in December attacked villages in Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State killing 38 persons.

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the incident in a statement. He also said the death toll had risen.

Aside from the persons killed, houses, trucks, and cars were also burnt by the attackers along with agricultural produce at various farms.

45 farmers in Nasarawa

About 45 farmers were killed in December and 27 injured following renewed hostility in Lafia, Obi and Awe local government areas of Nasarawa state.

The first attack, which started on a Friday morning, reportedly continued up till Sunday night.
Former deputy president of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said South-east leaders were working on a political solution for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Mr Kanu is detained in Abuja where he is standing trial for treason.

During an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari said he would not interfere in Mr Kanus case.

Mr Buhari said the IPOB leader should defend himself in court.

But Ekweremadu, in an interview with Dream FM, Enugu, Saturday, said Mr Buhari did not rule out the possibility of a political solution for Mr Kanu.

Political solution in the Nnamdi Kanus matter is still very feasible. I also watched the Channels Television interview and I dont think Mr President ruled out a political solution.

So, we will keep working on a political solution, nevertheless. We will keep engaging the government, just as we will continue to appeal to our youths and people to ensure the stability and prosperity of our region, he said.

The senator, however, defended President Buharis insistence that he would not interfere with Mr Kanus trial.

In fact, I would have been surprised if he said he would just release Nnamdi Kanu. There is independence of every arm of government, including the judiciary. There are procedures.

I recall that it was exactly Mr Presidents response when I led a delegation of the South-east Caucus of the Senate to see him on the Nnamdi Kanu issue in November 2016.

But ultimately we kept reaching out and dialoguing until we had a political solution, which resulted in the judiciary granting Mazi Nnamdi Kanu bail because ultimately, everything will come to the judiciary, because every arm of government is independent, Mr Ekweremadu said.

A group of Igbo leaders had, in November last year, visited President Buhari in Abuja to seek Mr Kanus release from detention.

The president told them that an unconditional release of Mr Kanu runs contrary to the doctrine of separation of powers between the executive and judiciary, although he had promised to consider the request.

Mr Ekweremadu said in line with the political solution, which the South-east Caucus of the National Assembly is quietly pursuing, I led a delegation of some Igbo leaders to discuss how the IPOB leader could be set free.

Mr Ekweremadu said the delegation was still awaiting feedback from the Nigerian government.

He said the leaders have also met and had useful conversations with the IPOB leader.

I did lead a delegation to interface with Kanu and the authorities. We had useful conversations. We have equally made some requests and we are waiting for feedback from the government to make progress, Mr Ekweremadu said.

Mr Kanus IPOB is accused, by the federal government, of carrying out attacks on private and public facilities in the South-east and killing dozens of persons, including security operatives.
One of Italys most wanted men who had been on the run for years was arrested in Spain after he was reportedly sighted on Google Maps, a web geolocation platform run by telecommunication giant Google.

Gioacchino Gammino was on December 17 arrested but the Italian publication La Republica reported it this week.

After Mr Gamminos arrest, he reportedly told the police: How did you find me? I havent even called my family for 10 years.

In 2002, Mr Gammino had reportedly escaped from a Rome prison while he was serving a life sentence for murder before he was again caught in Galapagar, Spain, where he took up the alias, Manuel.

The 61-year-old Mr Gammino was a member of a Sicilian Mafia group known as Stidda and was one of Italys most wanted gangsters, BBC had reported.

He is in the custody of the police authority in Spain and the police will return him back before the end of February, Nicola Altiero, deputy director of the Italian anti-mafia police unit, said.
A polytechnic in Rivers State, Nigerias South-south, has suspended its lecturer over alleged sexual harassment of a female student.

The school, Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Port Harcourt, said the lecturer, Tamunotonye Solomon, has been suspended for three months, according to a report by the Punch newspaper.

The paper reported that the lecturer had exchanged words in the media with the 200-level student, Blessing Audu, over the sexual harassment allegation.

Ms Audu claimed the lecturer accused her of stealing his N250,000, after she refused his marriage proposal. The lecturer said the allegation was a blackmail, and that he arrested the student because she stole his money and some office property, Punch reported.

The polytechnic management in a statement by its Registrar, Chris Woke, dissociated the school from the alleged conduct of its lecturer.

The Management of Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, is irked by the report in certain section of the media and disassociates itself completely from the alleged conduct of its staff, Mr Tamunotonye Zoe Solomon

The Management of Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic Rumuola Port Harcourt has, therefore, suspended Mr Tamunotonye Zoe Solomon for three months with effect from 10 January 2022, in connection with allegations of harassment and exploitation of a female student and other acts of misconduct prejudicial to the good name of the Polytechnic, the statement said.

The polytechnic said it has set up a committee to investigate the allegations against the lecturer.

The Committee has one month to submit its report to Management, the statement said.

The 35 years old polytechnic is owned by the Rivers State Government.
As the new year comes, Latin American countries witness an increased number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 and upgrade their prevention measures.

Over the past week, Mexico's confirmed COVID-19 cases pass four million, with an apparent increase in its tourism destinations on the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

Argentina's Ministry of Health registered on Wednesday a record number of nearly 100,000 cases per day of COVID-19 infections.

Peru also raised its pandemic alert to a high level in various cities and tightened some restrictions due to the third wave of infections caused by the spread of the Omicron variant.

The Brazilian city Sao Paulo cancelled on Thursday its annual street carnival for the second year in a row.

Meanwhile, Chile will be the first country in the region to begin offering a fourth shot of the coronavirus vaccine next week.

Due to the rise in infections in recent days, countries such as Mexico, Chile and Peru have increased the number of COVID-19 testing.

In late December of 2021, the Pan American Health Organization warned that while the variant Omicron is less aggressive than its predecessors, an escalated circulation in several countries in the region coupled with more personal contact due to the festive and holiday season may lead to an upsurge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the coming weeks.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Following the demise of Tega Akpofure, a member of GRATITUDE, a musical team powered by CommonWealth of Zion Assembly [COZA], there has been uproar on social media.

This was after a former member, identified as Nnenna Kalu-Ude, called out the churchs founder, Biodun Fatoyinbo and others.

Ms Kalu-Ude, who was COZAs former choir coordinator, on Thursday, alleged that Mr Fatoyinbo was responsible for Tegas death.

The deceased, who was her close friend, was also a choir member.

Ms Kalu-Ude, in a lengthy post on her Instagram stories, accused the cleric of maltreating workers of the church and also suppressing his critics through occultic powers.

She also alleged people who want to speak up about the evil going on in the church either fall ill or die mysteriously.

Clarification

However, the husband of the deceased, in a short video clip, clarified the controversies surrounding his late wifes demise.

In the video, he also asked those who have issues with Mr Fatoyinbo not to mention his late wifes name in the matter.

His speech read:

Hello everyone. Good Evening, my name is Rhema Akpofure, husband of the late Tega. I was shocked when I turned on my phone and got a lot of texts from different people, he said.

My wife was a beautiful soul, an amazing person, and her Pastors were good to her and to me. Yes, she was a member of the Gratitude and she served in COZA, Abuja.

My wife had no plans of leaving COZA. In fact, I just relocated to Abuja to join her.

There were other better plans, so please, I want to beg you to ignore everything you see online. The man called Biodun Fatoyinbo is a good man and every other name that was tagged there are beautiful souls.

Whatever encounter you might have had with anybody, its your own cup of tea and choice, but please take the name Tega out of this. I mean, its too early.

As of press time, neither the church nor the founder is yet to issue a statement on this latest scandal, rather, comments on their respective Instagram accounts have been limited.

Busola, the wife of popular musician, Timi Dakolo, in June 2019, accused Mr Fatoyinbo of raping her twice, before she turned 18.

The allegations went viral on social media, with some saying it had triggered Nigerias #MeToo moment.

The allegation also forced the pastor to go on leave of absence from the pulpit for weeks because it was the right thing to do. He, however, denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Fatoyinbo, who had been enmeshed in other (sexual) scandals before this recent allegation, runs the Abuja headquarters of his church with his wife, Modele.
The planned February 2022 national convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may be under threat as some aggrieved members of the party have filed a suit to stop it.

Another suit by an aggrieved member seeks the removal of Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, as the caretaker chairman of the party.

Both suits were filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja between December 2021 and January 2022.

In the suit filed against the planned February convention, five aggrieved party members sued the APC, Yobe State, Mr Buni, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as the defendants.

The plaintiffs  Suleiman Usman, Muhammed Shehu, Samaila Isahaka, Idris Isah and Audu Emmanuel  through the suit dated January 4, 2022, urged the court to restrain the Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee from going ahead with the scheduled convention.

Already, the governors elected on the platform of the APC, known as the Progressives Governors Forum, have planned a meeting for this weekend in Abuja, at the Kebbi State Governors lodge in Asokoro.

There has been a clamour for a change in the date of the scheduled national convention.

In the case with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/3/2022, the plaintiffs, through their lawyer, Olusola Ojo, prayed the court to stop the convention on the grounds that state congresses are yet to be completed in all the 36 states of the federation.

The plaintiffs raised five questions for the court to determine and also sought eight declarative reliefs.

Prayers

The plaintiffs prayed for, among others, an order restraining the 1st (APC) and 2nd (Mr Buni) defendants from organising and conducting the national convention of the 1st defendant unless state congresses of the 1st defendant are first concluded in all the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

They also sought: An order of this Honourable Court directing the 1st and 2nd defendant to first conduct state congresses of the 1st defendant in Anambra State and Zamfara State before the national convention of the 1st defendant can be scheduled and conducted.

An order of this Honourable Court restraining the 3rd defendant (INEC) from giving approval effect to any action of the 1st and 2nd defendants to organise and conduct national convention of the 1st defendant unless state congresses of the 1st defendant are first conducted/concluded in ALL the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

APC youth leader sues Yobe gov, INEC over party leadership

In a similar suit, an APC youth leader, Zahrah Audu, urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to restrain Mr Buni from parading himself as national caretaker committee chairman of the party.

In the suit dated December 10, 2021, and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1577/2021, Ms Audi urged the court to declare that Mr Buni, being the current Yobe State governor, cannot validly hold an executive position in the APC as national chairman Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee.

The APC, Mr Buni and INEC are sued in the suit as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants, respectively.

She urged the court to declare that Mr Bunis position as the current governor of Yobe State creates a situation that will prevent him as the National Chairman Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the 1st defendant (APC) from functioning in view of the provision of section 183 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), Article 13.2 (A) (vii) and 17 (iv) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Constitution as amended.

Other prayers sought by her are: A declaration that the appropriate organ of the 1st defendant to validly fix a date and/or convene the 1st defendants national convention is the board of trustees of the APC.

An order restraining the 2nd defendant (Mr Buni) from parading himself as the National Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the 1st defendant while still holding the post of the governor of Yobe State concurrently.

An order setting aside the date (February 2022) earmarked or announced by the 2nd defendant for the holding of the National convention of the APC.

An order directing the 3rd defendant to desist from recognising the 2nd defendant as the National Chairman Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC.

In the affidavit filed in support of the suit, the plaintiff, Ms Audu, said she is the Chairperson and Coordinator of Progressives Youth Movement, a support group of the party.

She said in the court document seen by this reporter that the PYMs core mandate includes mobilising youths and ensuring synergy within the party and that activities of the party are in compliance with the provisions of its guidelines and constitution as well as the Nigerian constitution.

Meanwhile, no date has been fixed for the hearing of the two cases.

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Backstory

Mr Buni was appointed the chairman of the APCs Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) in June 2020 to stabilise the party as internal storms which eventually saw to the exit of its former chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, threatened its future.

A little calm was restored to the party with the President Muhammadu Buhari-backed appointment of Mr Buni.

But the suppressed troubles have escalated after a decision of the Supreme Court in July last year cast some doubts on the legitimacy of Mr Bunis leadership of the party as well as the legality of its actions, including the nomination of candidates for elections and conduct of the partys conventions.

The Supreme Court, by a 4-to-3 split decision of its panel in July 2021, affirmed the victory of APCs Governor Rotimi Akeredolu in the last gubernatorial election in Ondo State, but was not categorical about the validity or otherwise of Mr Bunis leadership which nominated Mr Akeredolu as the partys candidate for the election.

The opposition governorship candidate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Ondo State election, Eyitayo Jegede, had argued that Mr Akeredolu was not a proper governorship candidate in the election.

This, according to Mr Jegede and the PDP, was because Mr Akeredolus nomination was supervised by Mr Buni, whom they said was illegally doubling as the APC chairman and the Governor of Yobe State in violation of the Nigerian constitution.

The majority decision of the Supreme Court panel had simply dismissed Mr Jegedes appeal on the grounds of failure to join Mr Buni as a respondent. It said, with the allegations levelled against him, Mr Buni was a necessary party that should have been joined for the suit to be competent.

With the APC escaping the judicial hammer by a whisker, some legal voices within the party, including the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, warned that the judgement held an uncertain future for the APC if Mr Buni was not immediately removed as the leader of the party.

But the party leadership and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, have dismissed such suggestion, which they said gave a wrong interpretation to the Supreme Courts verdict.

Some party members have, however, latched on to the Supreme Court verdict to file a suit seeking Mr Bunis removal and stopping the partys convention.

The division in the party has serially led the party to postpone its convention now rescheduled to hold in February.

Relying on the Supreme Court decision, PDP also filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja in August 2021, praying for the sacking of Mr Buni as Yobe State governor. PDP argued in the suit that combining the governors office with another executive position as APC chairperson is a constitutional violation.

The opposition party asked that its governorship candidate in the 2019 election, Umar Damagum, and his running mate, Baba Aji, should be sworn in as replacements for Mr Buni and his deputy.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said in recent times that the internal squabbles in the APC could undermine its victory in the next general elections.

In an interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on Thursday, Mr Buhari said the APC may lose the 2023 presidential poll to either the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or any of the opposition political parties if the ruling party does not put its acts together.

He spoke against the backdrop of disagreement on some issues around the APC convention slated for February.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that one of the reasons the ruling party has not fixed a particular date for the convention is because the governors and some senior members are canvassing the option of a consensus candidate.

Mr Buhari had said he is not a kingmaker and that those who want power should work for it.

He said if he yields to the pressure from the governors, which he did not specify, the chances of the party in the coming general elections may be jeopardised.

While February has been fixed for its much anticipated national convention, the APC has not made public the exact date for the event.

This, to an extent, has continued to raise speculations of a possible plot to extend the tenure of the Mr Buni-led caretaker committee.

As enshrined in Section 85 (1) of the Electoral Act, a political party is expected to give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at least 21 days notice before holding a convention, congress, conference or meeting convened for the purpose of electing members into any leadership seat.

Going by the provision, the party has between January 7 and February 9 to make its decision known to the INEC.
About 200 victims have been buried as of Saturday morning after the attacks by an army of bandits on rural communities in Zamfara State, earlier this week.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the bandits stormed five villages in Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas from Tuesday to Wednesday and left behind a trail of blood.

The bandits burnt down the five villages, killed many residents and mutilated their bodies.

Residents told PREMIUM TIMES that the bandits, who attacked the villages on motorcycles, were more than 500.

Shawwal Aliyu, the coordinator of Zamfara Circle, a civil society organization, said the number of the corpses recovered and buried has reached 200.

As of today (Saturday morning), 200 people have been buried in funerals on Thursday morning, Friday morning and night and this morning. 200 dead bodies and we are still searching for dead bodies. You know it is not in one area so the search parties have been dispatched to all the affected villages where the data is being collated, he said.

Mr Aliyu added that more corpses had been discovered but had not been buried as of the time he was speaking with this reporter.

We did not count the ones discovered after the first burial this morning. We will wait until the volunteers finish gathering and then count the number.

Another source, Jamilu Muhammad, said the emirate council and a former deputy governor of the state, Muntari Ahmed, had been providing food for the IDPs.

I am part of the volunteers working to sort out the IDPs. We are currently using the facilities of the three primary schools and the secondary school in the town, as well the palace of the Emir of Anka to keep the displaced persons.

As I told you yesterday, I dont have the exact number of the displaced persons but our main concern now is to ensure that all women and children are provided with shelter. Some of the residents are still coming into the town, he said.

Mr Aliyu said the number of those displaced has reached 10,000.

Matawalle visits Anka, Bukkuyum

Meanwhile, Governor Bello Matawalle visited the headquarters of Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas Saturday morning.

The Director-General on New Media for the governor, Ibrahim Zauma, said the governor also met with the heads of security agencies in the state for briefing.

The Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs in the state, Faika Mohammed, said relief materials had been sent to the internally displaced persons in Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas.
The oil village community in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State has advocated for the deployment of a military base to tackle insecurity in the area.

Kayode Afolabi, chairman of the community, made the call at a press conference on Saturday in Kaduna.

Mr Afolabi said the call was imperative to stem the menace of kidnapping and other forms of criminal activities in the area.

He said the community was a cosmopolitan settlement with diverse residents from all the regions of Nigeria and had over the years demonstrated a rare quality of self-help with no government intervention.

The community leader decried the spate of displacement in the area due to insecurity, adding that they were trying their best to curb security threats but needed greater assistance from the government.

Mr Afolabi called on the state government to facilitate the permanent presence of a military base in the area to allay their fears, especially at night.

The presence of military strike force base will not only be beneficial to us but to our neighbouring communities, he said.

Also speaking, Peter Kumbin, a member of the community, alleged that some members of the community were still in captivity in the hands of kidnappers, adding that deployment of a strike force base would enhance the protection of lives and property.

Mr Kumbin further called for the rehabilitation of the road network in the area.

No matter our efforts as a community, we have limits as we are unable to have good roads, and we have been severely threatened by the ugly incidence of kidnapping with record of loss of lives and life-threatening injuries of gunshot.

Many among these sad and ugly scenarios have dampened the spirits of all residents some of which have started packing out.

All concerned landlords are worried that this is not the Kaduna our governor wishes, we want it on record that our governor may not know what is happening here.

We particularly acknowledge Governor Nasir El-Rufais work of urban renewal as he has approved our community in the regularisation exercise.

We appreciate him and wish to notify him about our own contributions to what hitherto the government should have done.

In our proactive response to the security challenges, we established a police outpost after following the necessary due process; it was commissioned by the Commissioner of Police in 2021.

We also rehabilitated a dilapidated vehicle donated to us by the commissioner and made it roadworthy, equipped it with engine and siren to enhance patrol.

All the distribution cables ramified in every nook and corner of this community is done by the landlords, the poles and the two brand new transformers are all the hard sweat of the community, he said.

(NAN)
Five sailors suspected to be oil thieves have been arrested in Rivers by the Nigerian Navy.

The all-male sailors were arrested alongside eight large wooden boats laden with unquantified litres of petroleum products, suspected to be illegally refined diesel.

Umar Sidi, Base Operations Officer, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder Port Harcourt, handed over the suspects and items on Saturday to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Mr Sidi, a naval commander, said: The five suspects were arrested on January 6 by NNS Pathfinders tactical riverine squadron, acting on credible intelligence.

Shortly after receiving intelligence on the activities of the illegal bunkers, troops conducted a simultaneous raid at Isaka Junction and Cawthorn Channel River in the state.

At the end of the raids, troops arrested five suspects and seized eight large wooden boats laden with an unspecified quantity of petroleum products, suspected to be illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (diesel).

The base operations officer said that preliminary investigation revealed that the petroleum product might have been illegally refined by the sailors for sale to unsuspecting motorists and other users.

According to him, the navy under the command of the Chief of Naval Staff, Awwal Gambo, has zero tolerance to illegal bunkering and illegalities on the nations waters.

So, we are here to hand over the suspects and wooden boats to the NSCDC for further investigation and possible prosecution, in line with the Harmonized Standard Operating Procedure, he said.

Mr Sidi denied claims that the soot in Port Harcourt and environs was partly as a result of the destruction of illegal refineries by the navy.

He said the navy was concerned over the air pollution, and had already taken steps to tackle the menace and bring the perpetrators to book.

The Navy does not set ablaze illegal refineries during operation. We only destroy the metallic tanks and reservoirs with the Swamp Buggy Excavator machine.

The soot is as a result of the burning of crude oil during the refining process by oil thieves and illegal bunkers.

However, we have observed that the illegal refiners are very determined to continue with their illicit activities, hence our adoption of a new strategy to effectively tackle them.

The new mandate is to destroy the illegal refineries and at the same time intercept the movement of the petroleum products either on sea or on land, he said.

The officer said the naval base had intensified its riverine operations to mitigate the effect of the air pollution.

Receiving the suspects and the items, Ichela John, the head of Intelligence and Investigation of NSCDC, Port Harcourt, promised speedy investigation and prosecution of the suspects, if found culpable.

He commended the navy for its collaboration with the NSCDC in tackling crimes and criminalities on the nations waterways.

Through the support of the navy and other security agencies in Rivers, we received 205 suspects and secured 50 convictions in 2021, Mr John said.

(NAN)
A non-governmental organisation, Global Initiatives for Anambra Needs, has urged Charles Soludo, governor-elect of Anambra State, to address the challenge of neglected federal projects in the state.

Amah Amaonye, the director-general of the group, while addressing reporters on Saturday in Awka, said the expectations of the people is that Mr Soludo would hit the ground running immediately he assumes office in March.

According to Mr Amaonye, the overwhelming support for Mr Soludo at the just-concluded election comes with unprecedented expectations and it is, therefore, a huge burden that he should surmount.

He expressed confidence that Mr Soludos influence and performance in various positions he had served in the past are indications that he will deliver on his campaign promises.

No problem should be seen to be unaddressed or unattended to. We are aware that a major problem is the neglect of federal projects in the state.

Therefore, a fast, potent solution must be advanced to this problem, which has left the state with many dilapidated roads and poor accessibility.

This is causing difficulty and logjam never seen before on a daily basis for our people travelling in the state both on the Niger Bridge at Asaba end and the Enugu end, where the roads are in a state of total neglect.

There should be collaborative efforts among the states, involving federal and international intervention, to proffer solutions to this problem, he said.

ALSO READ: Nigerian govt vows to track down killers of two police officers in Anambra

The group also urged the incoming administration not to be distracted.

The primary responsibility of every government is to commit its energy and resources to continuously look for the problems of its citizens and also (try) frantically to solve them.

If this is done, it will take care of (the) expectations of the people, Mr Amaonye said.

Mr Amaonye appealed to aggrieved candidates of other political parties and their supporters to concede victory.

(NAN)
The Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Abia State, Ayinla Olowo, said the command secured 13 convictions out of the 23 cases prosecuted in 2021.

Mr Olowo said this on Friday during a meeting organised for officers and men of the corps at the state commands headquarters in Umuahia.

He said that 100 suspects were arrested during the period for different offences, including vandalism of petroleum products pipelines, railway lines, power installations and telecommunication facilities.

Other offences, he said, included illegal dealings on petroleum products, child trafficking and child labour, gender-based violence and other related offences.

Besides the convictions, Mr Olowo said the court ordered that the 10 impounded trucks and cars, used in the illegal petroleum products business, be forfeited to the federal government.

The agency was able to resolve 41 cases through the alternative dispute resolution strategy, he said.

According to him, the commands Anti-Fraud Unit also made several arrests.

Mr Olowo attributed the commands feat in 2021 to the commitment of the operatives.

He also gave credit to the people in various communities. Our strategy of engaging the locals to boost the commands intelligence-gathering network paid off, he said.

The state commandant listed other achievements by the command to include the rescue of a four-year-old kidnap victim, Wisdom, at Ubakala, near Umuahia in October 2021.

He said Wisdom was rescued at a time his 21-year-old assailant, Goodluck Joseph, who allegedly specialised in child trafficking, was negotiating with prospective buyers.

Mr Olowo said the command also succeeded in uncovering four illegal modular refineries situated in the oil-bearing Ukwa West Local Government Area.

He also said the command busted a kidnapping syndicate that was terrorising parts of the state.

The command generated about N2 million during the period from the registration of private security outfits and renewal of existing licences, he said.

Mr Olowo assured the commands personnel that the weekly training programme, which he introduced on assumption of office about six months ago, would be sustained.

He advised the operatives to avail themselves of existing opportunities in and outside the corps to acquire more knowledge and continually develop themselves.

(NAN)
The Lagos State Government has said that the deficit of N521.275 billion of the 2022 budget will be funded through N1.237 trillion targeted revenue.

The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Sam Egube, made this known on Friday in Ikeja, during a news briefing on the analysis of the Year 2022 Budget, tagged: Budget of Consolidation.

Mr Egube said that the budget deficit would be funded by a combination of internal, external loans and bond issuance.

He said that the deficit funding requirement of 521.275 billion was at 21 per cent of debt service to total revenue of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the proposed Year 2022 Appropriation Bill of N1.388 trillion was presented by the State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to the Lagos State House of Assembly for consideration and assent on November 24, 2021.

Also, an amended bill of N1.758 trillion was subsequently passed on December 29, 2021, by the State House of Assembly and was signed into law by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Friday, December 31, 2021.

This was after a very rigorous bilateral engagement with the respective Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

Mr Egube said that the total budget size of N1.758 trillion would be funded from a total revenue estimate of N1.237 trillion.

This comprises the Total Internally Generated Revenue (TIGR) of N980.654 billion, Capital Receipts of N142.743 billion and Federal Transfer of N256.268 billion.

Mr Egube said that 73.5 per cent (N599,04 billion) of the projected TIGR is expected to be contributed by Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), while about 19.2 per cent (N156.65 billion) is expected to be generated by other MDAs of government.

We shall achieve this by expanding the tax net with the deployment of technology, economic intelligence, through data gathering and analysis amongst other initiatives.

We believe that there are huge revenue-generating opportunities in the informal sector, including real estate, transportation, and trade.

The deficit of N521.275 billion is projected to be funded by a combination of internal, external loans and bond issuance.

The approved 2022 Budget of N1.758 trillion made up of N1.167 trillion Capital Expenditure and N591.281 billion Recurrent Expenditure, resulting in a Capital to Recurrent ratio of 66:34, is strongly in favour of Capital Expenditure.

Total Revenue is estimated at N1.237 trillion while deficit funding requirement is N521.275 billion, which at 21 per cent of debt service to total revenue is within the fiscal sustainability benchmarks of 40 per cent, Mr Egube said.

He said that the overriding budget objective is to achieve a budget of consolidation to substantially complete existing and ongoing infrastructure projects essential to statewide economic and social development.

(NAN)
- Caye International Bank in Belize, which is chaired by attorney Joel Nagel, received five major awards in 2021, including International Investor Magazine's Best Offshore Bank for CARICOM 2021

- Attorney Joel Nagel attributed the awards to the bank's excellent customer service

- Luigi Wewege, the bank's newly elected president, also personally received two awards.

SAN PEDRO, Belize, Jan. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caye International Bank (CIB) has once again swept the banking awards in 2021. Five prestigious awards include: Best Offshore Bank for CARICOM 2021 as awarded by International Investor Magazine, Best Private Bank in Central America as awarded by Global Banking & Finance Review, Private Bank of the Year for LATAM 2021 as awarded by Pan Finance Magazine, Best International Private Banking Services Provider 2021  Belize as awarded by Corporate Vision Magazine, and Best International Private Bank in Central America for 2021 as awarded by International Business Magazine. Chaired by Attorney Joel Nagel, Caye International Bank is a leading offshore bank headquartered on Ambergris Caye, Belize, with a consistently excellent delivery of financial services and products.

Belizes Caye International Bank Chairman, Ambassador Joel Nagel, President, Luigi Wewege, executive management and board members Joshua Guttau, Gladys Urbina, Michael Cobb, and Dr. Kenneth Skorenko receive Best Offshore Bank award for CARICOM 2021 by International Investor magazine

Commenting on the series of awards, Ambassador Joel Nagel said: "Caye has earned its good name thanks to its excellent customer service. Our team's trustworthiness and reliability shine through to our clients because of its integrity, dedication, and innovation. We are very proud."

Luigi Wewege, newly elected president of CIB, was also an awardee, named Private Banker of The Year (LATAM 2021) by Pan Finance Magazine and Private Banker of The Year (CARICOM 2021) by International Investor Magazine. Wewege has also been invited to join the Forbes Finance Council. "It is an incredible honor to be recognized for my work at the bank and for Caye's exceptional bank growth to be recognized on an international scale. Receiving these awards from all of the superb publications listed is a testament to the dedication and teamwork of bank staff, board members, and their combined tireless efforts to achieving our mission of future growth in 2022 and beyond."

CIB Director Michael K. Cobb said: "As more and more people see the need to have a "Plan B" and/or work remotely, Caye International Bank is serving them well."

Global Banking & Finance Review determines winners via company documents and public filings, applying local market knowledge, global footprint, and investment breadth and sophistication. Perspective from analysts and consultants are also part of the decision-making process.

Pan Finance Magazine is both a print and online journal providing worldwide intelligence on finance, economics, and global commerce. With in-depth analysis and opinion pieces from esteemed academics and celebrated professionals, its readership consists of senior decisionmakers from across the globe.

International Investor is also a print and online publication focusing on providing in-depth information and covering a broad range of topics like world markets, investment opportunities, and industry analysis for the forward-thinking, global investor.

Corporate Vision, by AI Global Media, acknowledges and celebrates businesses worldwide who actively strive to be better every day. Companies that innovate, grow, and thrive despite challenges and uncertainty are especially heralded, as success relies on an ability to be agile and future-thinking.

International Business Magazine delivers the latest news from the financial world and keenly promotes innovative solutions in the industry. It has been regarded as one of the best business magazines in the industry for all its insights and market views.

Under the leadership of Ambassador Joel Nagel and Luigi Wewege, Caye International Bank is the only international bank headquartered on the beautiful island of Ambergris Caye in Belize. CIB conducts financial services with both individuals and corporations located outside of Belize, offering a full range of traditional and non-traditional banking services and accounts in multiple currencies. An application to open an account is a simple process and can be facilitated online from anywhere in the world. Contact them today for more information.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1721216/Caye_International_Bank.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1715209/Caye_International_Bank_Logo.jpg

Contact:

Lilia Constantino

[email protected]

+501-226-2388

SOURCE Caye International Bank
HOUSTON, Jan. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mattress Firm Group Inc. ("Mattress Firm") today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The shares of common stock to be sold in the offering will be sold by existing stockholders of Mattress Firm. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. Mattress Firm intends to apply to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, subject to notice of official issuance, under the symbol "MFRM."

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Barclays and Jefferies are acting as lead book-running managers for the proposed offering. UBS Investment Bank, Guggenheim Securities, Piper Sandler and Truist Securities are acting as book-running managers for the proposed offering.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation, or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

The proposed offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Once available, a copy of the preliminary prospectus related to the offering may be obtained by contacting Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department at 200 West Street, New York, New York 10282, by telephone at 1-866-471-2526 or by e-mail at [email protected]; Barclays Capital Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions at 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, by telephone at 1-888-603-5847 or by email at [email protected]; or Jefferies LLC, Attention: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388, or by email at [email protected].

SOURCE Mattress Firm
"United Real Estate's comprehensive agent services and programs delivered via Bullseye Agent Productivity Platform are a tremendous competitive advantage," says Rick Rogers, Principal Broker of Texas United Realty. "Together with United, we are introducing innovative automated marketing programs, productivity tools, new client services, company websites and agent websites that will redefine our agents' and customers' experiences."

"We are thrilled our merger dramatically strengthens Texas United Realty's current agent offerings, mentorship program and full-service brokerage support we've built over the years," added Jeannie Rogers, Founder of Texas United Realty.

"While Texas United's size, growth and market share were appealing, we were also attracted to the alignment of our cultures and their unique mentorship program which makes them a standout in the Houston marketplace," stated Dan Duffy, CEO of United Real Estate Group. "We are excited to combine the strengths of both companies, and we look forward to delivering our technology, tools and resources to the Texas United Realty agents and their clients."

"Rick and Jeannie have done an amazing job growing their company by joining forces with United. They have positioned their agents for greater success," said Rick Haase, President of United Real Estate. "This is a continuation of our strategy to identify and attract top companies in each market slated for expansion."

The merger with Texas United Realty follows the addition of Charles Rutenberg Realty Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta-based Virtual Properties Realty and Benchmark Realty based in Nashville, and others yet to be announced.

United currently operates in Houston at 3131 Briarpark Drive, Ste 120. Texas United Realty and United Real Estate Houston will retain their name and brand moving forward.

To learn more about United Real Estate, brokerage succession planning, brokerage valuation and sale or franchising opportunities, visit GrowWithUnited.com or call 888-960-0606. Agents interested in learning about career opportunities with United Real Estate can visit JoinUnitedRealEstate.com or call 888-960-0606.

About United Real Estate

United Real Estate (United)  a division of United Real Estate Group  was founded with the purpose of offering solutions to real estate brokers and agents in the rapidly changing real estate brokerage industry. United provides the latest training, marketing and technology tools to agents and brokers under a flat-fee, transaction-based agent commission model. By leveraging the company's proprietary cloud-based Bullseye Agent & Broker Productivity Platform, United delivers a more profitable outcome for agents and brokers. United Real Estate operates in 27 states with more than 100 offices and 13,500 agents. The company produced over $13.6 billion in sales volume in 2020.

About Texas United Realty

Founded in 2009, Texas United Realty's mission is to provide outstanding real estate services that exceed customer expectations. Texas United provides its clients with peace of mind knowing that one of their largest lifetime investments is being handled with the utmost care and professionalism by their 750 agents. The company is committed to integrity, service and quality and has the ability to service any and all real estate needs of its clients throughout Greater Houston.

About United Real Estate Group

United Real Estate Group (UREG) operates United Real Estate and United Country Real Estate, addressing the unique market needs of suburban, major metropolitan urban and rural markets. Utilizing the cloud-based Bullseye Agent & Broker Productivity Platform, UREG offers the latest training, marketing and technology tools producing a significant competitive advantage. The platform realizes a decade-long investment in virtual agent and brokerage technology services and is powered by a 2.1 million listings data warehouse generating over 3 million monthly visitors and 30,000 leads per year. Together, the United Real Estate Group supports more than 600 offices and 17,000 real estate and auction professionals across four continents. UREG produced $18 billion in sales volume in 2020. Through its in-house advertising agency, UREG offers differentiating marketing support and collateral for specialized lifestyle property websites as well as access to a 650,000+ opt-in buyer database. For more information about United Real Estate or United Country Real Estate, please visit UnitedRealEstate.com or UnitedCountry.com .

For More Information:

April Gonzalez, Media & Investor Relations

[email protected]

214-277-9830

SOURCE United Real Estate
Total Pages: 120

120 Companies: 10+  3M Co., Essity Aktiebolag (publ), Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, Johnson and Johnson Inc., Kimberly Clark Corp, S. C. Johnson and Son Inc., The Clorox Co., The Procter and Gamble Co., Unicharm Corp., and Unilever Group among others.

10+  Co., Essity Aktiebolag (publ), Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, Johnson and Johnson Inc., Kimberly Clark Corp, S. C. Johnson and Son Inc., The Clorox Co., The Procter and Gamble Co., Unicharm Corp., and Unilever Group among others. Coverage: Key drivers, trends, and challenges; Product insights & news; Value chain analysis; Parent market analysis; Vendor landscape

Key drivers, trends, and challenges; Product insights & news; Value chain analysis; Parent market analysis; Vendor landscape Segments: Application (personal care, household, and ICI)

Application (personal care, household, and ICI) Geographies: Europe ( Germany and UK), North America (US), APAC ( China and Japan ), South America , and MEA

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According to the recent market study by Technavio, the Wet Wipe Market in the Household Products Industry is expected to increase by USD 5.58 billion from 2020 to 2025, with an accelerated CAGR of 7.38%. The report provides a detailed analysis of drivers & opportunities, top winning strategies, competitive scenario, future market trends, market size & estimations, and major investment pockets.

Europe will register the highest growth rate of 34% among the other regions. Germany and the UK are the key markets for wet wipe market.

Download FREE Sample : for more additional information about the key countries in Europe

Vendor Insights-

The wet wipe market is fragmented, and the vendors are deploying various organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market. The offerings of some of the vendors are mentioned below:

3M Co. - The company offers respirator cleaning wipe 504 for better hygiene and safety.

The company offers respirator cleaning wipe 504 for better hygiene and safety. Essity Aktiebolag (publ) - The company offers wet wipes products under the brand name of Tena.

The company offers wet wipes products under the brand name of Tena. Henkel AG and Co. KGaA - The company offers wet wipes products under the brand name of Technomelt.

Find additional highlights on the vendors and their product offerings. Download Free Sample Report

Regional Market Outlook

The wet wipe market share growth in Europe will be significant during the forecast period. Germany and the UK are the key markets for wet wipes in Europe.

The increasing demand for multi-functional wet wipes will drive the wet wipe market growth in Europe during the forecast period. In developed European countries such as Germany, the UK, and France, the demand for wet wipes is driven by consumer preference. People in Europe who have a high disposable income invest in high-quality, premium personal care products such as wet wipes. In addition, consumers in Europe have better accessibility to a wide variety of wet wipes because of established brands.

Download our FREE sample report for more key highlights on the regional market share of most of the above-mentioned countries.

Latest Drivers & Challenges Impacting the Market-

Wet Wipe Market Driver:

Rising concern over hygiene:

There has been growing health and hygiene-related awareness among consumers globally in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers use products such as alcohol-based wet wipes to clean surfaces for effective germ-killing and protection. Additionally, due to the stringent government regulations regarding hygiene maintenance in public places such as restaurants, theatres, workplaces, and hospitals, the demand for wet wipes has increased. The application of wet wipes has been steadily increasing since 2020 in hospitals and healthcare centers for decontamination of medical devices and surfaces.

Wet Wipe Market Challenge:

Increasing environmental concerns:

Wet wipes are composed of fabrics such as cotton blended with plastic resins, including polyester or polypropylene, which are not biodegradable. The use of wet wipes increases plastic consumption and leads to environmental pollution.

Find additional information about various other market Drivers & Challenges mentioned in our FREE sample report.

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Wet Tissue and Wipe Market by Application, Distribution Channel, Technology, and Geography - Forecast & Analysis 2021-2025: The wet tissue and wipe market size will grow up to USD 7.19 bn at a CAGR of 7% from 2020 to 2025. Download Exclusive Free Sample Report

The wet tissue and wipe market size will grow up to at a CAGR of 7% from 2020 to 2025. Diaper Market by Type and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025: The diaper market has the potential to grow by USD 34.06 billion from 2020 to 2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 7.58%. Download Exclusive Free Sample Report

Wet Wipe Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7.38% Market growth 2021-2025 USD 5.58 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 6.72 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution Europe at 34% Key consumer countries US, China, Germany, Japan, and UK Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled 3M Co., Essity Aktiebolag (publ), Henkel AG and Co. KGaA, Johnson and Johnson Inc., Kimberly Clark Corp, S. C. Johnson and Son Inc., The Clorox Co., The Procter and Gamble Co., Unicharm Corp., and Unilever Group Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for the forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

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Officially launching on National Vision Board Day, January 8, and running through National Dream Day, March 11, families are encouraged to visit the ' Goldfish Dream Big Vision Board ' starter kit landing page that features fun and creative elements needed to make a great vision board. Downloadable templates include Goldfish Swim School  Big Life Journal printables and words of affirmation, plus in-school activations with goal setting tools and giveaways. Parents, kiddos and Goldfish team members alike are encouraged to share their vision boards on social media  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or TikTok - using #DreamsComeTrue22 for their chance to win big prizes.

Four grand prize winners will be selected at random as Goldfish Swim School plans to award two children and two team members with $2,022 each, to put toward achieving their dreams. Each winner will be contacted directly via social media to coordinate prize details.

Throughout the campaign, Goldfish Swim School will be featuring vision boards from across North America on its social media channels. Each 'Golden Dreamer' feature will receive surprise and delight prizes including Goldfish swag, Big Life Journals and custom gifts to help them in getting one step closer to actualizing their 2022 dreams. On Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 17), Goldfish Swim School will feature daily winners. Be sure to tune into social media for these special announcements.

"By celebrating Big Dreams through vision boards, we hope to build confidence, encourage and motivate little fish, Goldfish team members and our communities to feel inspired," said Chris McCuiston, CEO and co-founder of Goldfish Swim School. "While our core mission is and always will be teaching water safety, we truly are much more than just a swim school. We play a critical development role for our young swimmers and even our team members who gain real-world experiences at our schools that help them dive into successful careers. Our Dreams Come True in 2022 campaign is meant to celebrate the new year by jumping into life's pool of possibilities."

A few familiar faces who know a thing or two about setting and achieving goals are Goldfish Swim School's brand ambassadors, including World Champion Swimmer & Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Murphy and Four-Time Olympic Swimming Medalist & First African American World Record Holder Cullen Jones . The world-renowned swimmers will be sharing words of 'finspiration on social media throughout the campaign, in addition to featuring their Goldfish Dream Big Vision Boards, providing a sneak peek at what they hope to achieve in the year ahead.

"The first step in manifesting big dreams begins with a vision  creating a visual representation of the goals you hope to achieve," said Dr. Molly O'Shea of Birmingham Pediatrics + Wellness Center and official pediatrician of Goldfish Swim School. "With goals 50% more likely to be accomplished if written down, vision boards help children and adults alike learn to set goals, visualize dreams and stay focused on making those dreams come true. This campaign is another tremendous example of Goldfish's commitment to helping create happy, healthy, holistic humans, both in the pool and out."

While Goldfish Swim School teaches more than 150,000 children each week, the brand has evolved into so much more than a place for children to learn to swim. Each school becomes ingrained and involved in its community  helping children gain confidence, meet friends and make BIG waves in life. As Goldfish Swim School continues to grow, it remains committed to going above and beyond with every detail to create a GOLDEN Experience!

For more information on Goldfish Swim School, please visit https://www.goldfishswimschool.com/ .

About Goldfish Swim School

Founded by husband and wife team Chris and Jenny McCuiston, Goldfish Swim School provides swim lessons and water safety instruction to infants and children ages four months to 12 years. Classes are offered by specially trained instructors in a safe, child-friendly and fun environment using their research-based philosophy called The Science of SwimPlay. Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Goldfish Swim School was established in Birmingham, Michigan in 2006, and opened its first franchise location in 2009. Recently, the brand was recognized by Entrepreneur in its Franchise 500 ranking, Franchise Times' Fast & Serious List, and Inc. Magazine's Top 5000. Goldfish Swim School is currently in the process of expanding franchise opportunities throughout North America, with more than 125 schools open, and an additional 130+ in development in more than 30 states and Canada.

Media Contact: Kelly McNamara, Fishman PR, 847-945-1300, [email protected]

SOURCE Goldfish Swim School
FRUITLAND, Idaho, Jan. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Heart 'n Home Hospice today announced that it is mailing letters to patients whose information may have been involved in an email phishing incident.

On November 9, 2021, Heart 'n Home Hospice determined that an email phishing incident may have resulted in unauthorized access to emails and attachments containing patient information in a Heart 'n Home Hospice employee's email account. Heart 'n Home Hospice first became aware of the incident when it was notified that suspicious emails had been sent from a Heart 'n Home Hospice employee's email account without her knowledge. Upon learning of this, Heart 'n Home Hospice secured the account and launched an investigation. Heart 'n Home Hospice's investigation determined that an unauthorized party accessed one Heart 'n Home Hospice employee's email account between October 12, 2021, and October 14, 2021.

Based on the investigation, the likely purpose of the unauthorized access to the email account was to perpetrate an email phishing scheme, not to access personal information. That said, Heart 'n Home Hospice cannot rule out the possibility that emails and attachments in the employee's email account may have been viewed or accessed as a result of this incident.

Thus, out of an abundance of caution, Heart 'n Home Hospice conducted a comprehensive search of the contents of the employee's email account. Through this search, Heart 'n Home Hospice determined that emails or attachments in the employee's email account that may have been subject to unauthorized access contained information pertaining to certain patients, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and/or information regarding the care they received at Heart 'n Home Hospice.

On January 7, 2022, Heart 'n Home Hospice began mailing letters to individuals whose information may have been involved in the incident. Heart 'n Home Hospice has also established a toll-free, dedicated incident response line to answer questions that individuals may have. If individuals have questions, they should call 1-888-603-2204, Monday through Friday, between 6:00 am and 3:00 pm, Pacific Time.

Heart 'n Home Hospice recommends that notified individuals review the statements they receive from their healthcare providers and health insurance plan. If they see any services that were not received, they should contact the provider or health plan immediately. Heart 'n Home Hospice also reminds notified individuals to remain vigilant to the possibility of fraud by reviewing their financial statements for any unauthorized activity. If they identify any unauthorized activity, they should contact their financial institution immediately.

Heart 'n Home Hospice deeply regrets any inconvenience or concern this may cause its patients and their families. To help prevent something like this from happening again, Heart 'n Home Hospice has implemented additional safeguards and technical security measures.

SOURCE Heart n Home Hospice
In celebration of the 175th anniversary, Parker Ranch is announcing its intent to donate their historic Pukalani Stables to the Paniolo Preservation Society, a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public thereby increasing awareness and appreciation for the Paniolo history, present-day and future significance to Hawaii's ranching industry. Parker Ranch is working with the Paniolo Preservation Society to effectuate the gift of this significant legacy asset carrying on their mutual goals of promoting and celebrating the Hawaiian ranching industry and the accomplishments of generations of Paniolo that made this way of life and this form of agricultural endeavor possible.

"We are pleased to continue supporting public awareness and appreciation of the Paniolo, who have played such a significant role in the histories not only of the Ranch, but Hawai'i, and the western cowboy heritage of America as well," said Dutch Kuyper, President and CEO of Parker Ranch Inc. "The Ranch has been 'Home of the Paniolo since 1847', and the historic Pukalani Stables is a central meeting place for the Waimea community, where our town's people gather and celebrate the legacy of ranching, bringing local residents and visitors together. Dedicating and donating this asset ensures the unique stories of the Paniolo are preserved and accessible in perpetuity. We're looking forward to working with Paniolo Preservation Society to make this donation for the benefit of the community."

The Pukalani Stables, through the Paniolo Preservation Society, hosts the Paniolo Heritage Center, Na Wahine Holo Lio Pa'u Museum, a gift store, and two popular weekly farmers' markets. These farmers' markets offer visitors and the Waimea community a large variety of fresh, locally grown, raised, and produced products, including varietal coffee from around the state, local organic produce, island honey, handmade soaps, free-range grass-fed beef, handmade jewelry, and a variety of snacks, prepared foods, and gifts.

About Parker Ranch

Parker Ranch is one of the largest and oldest cattle ranches in the United States. Parker Ranch, Inc. is owned by Parker Ranch Foundation Trust whose beneficiaries are four non-profits: Queen's North Hawai`i Community Hospital, Hawai`i Preparatory Academy, Parker School and Hawai`i Community Foundation. To learn more, please visit www.parkerranch.com or www.prft.org.

About Paniolo Preservation Society

Paniolo Preservation Society (PPS) was founded in 1998 as a 501(c)3 to increase public awareness of the historical, present-day and future significance of Hawaii's ranching industry with an emphasis on the roles, traditions, and contributions of the paniolo. We are dedicated to preserving the paniolo tradition as a profound part of the history of Hawaii and the American West. PPS is also committed to perpetuating Hawaiian ranching as a proud and living heritage and contributor to the economic and cultural vitality and diversity of Hawaii.

SOURCE Parker Ranch
LAKE CITY, Mich., Jan. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This morning, at approximately 10:30 a.m. EST, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and officials from surrounding counties entered the property of John D. Jones, a breeder operating under the name JRT John's Jack Russell Terriers, and removed 34 adult dogs and seven puppies, many of whom were left outside in pens as temperatures dropped to minus 5 degrees this week. Video footage of authorities leaving the property with the dogs is available here.

Dogs confined to cages outside in the cold and mud at JRT Johns Jack Russell Terriers, a breeding facility in Michigan.

The action is a result of PETA's four-day sit-in at the office of Missaukee County Sheriff Wil Yancer and a recent PETA undercover investigation into JRT revealing extreme abuse, neglect, and apparent violations of state law.

PETA presented video footage and documentation from the investigation to the sheriff's office on December 3 and repeatedly offered to assist in removing or rendering aid to the dogs. This week, nearly 20 women traveled to Michigan from as far as Arizona and Washington, D.C., to appeal to the Michigan sheriffthey protested outside the sheriff's office and held a sit-in in the foyer of the office. Photos of the sit-in, which began with a protest outside the sheriff's office on Tuesday, are available here.

This morning, their wish came true. Around 10 a.m. EST, seven animal transport trucks pulled up in front of the sheriff's office andalong with representatives from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and a team from the sheriff's officemade their way to JRT John's, 8376 N. Pioneer Rd., Lake City, Michigan, to rescue the dogs.

All 41 dogs are now in a safe, warm place with ample food, bedding, water, toys, and the care that they deserve.

In the state of Michigan, it's illegal to deny animals adequate care and to mutilate them, both of which PETA's investigation discovered were being done at JRT John's.

"PETA is rejoicing that Sheriff Yancer did his job, and thanks the animal control agencies for seeing the rescue operation through," says PETA Vice President Dan Paden. "PETA hopes anyone moved by the dogs' plight will avoid buying from a breeder and adopt from a shelter instead."

PETA is now calling for cruelty charges to be filed against Jones and urging the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development to investigate him and bar him for life from being licensed to breed dogs.

For more information, visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter , Facebook , or Instagram .

#

SOURCE People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Related Links

http://www.peta.org


NEW YORK, Jan. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE: EMN) concerning possible breaches of fiduciary duty. To obtain additional information, go to:

https://www.zlk.com/compensation2/eastman-chemical-company-information-request-form

\or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 363-7500. There is no cost or obligation to you.

Levi & Korsinsky is a nationally recognized firm with offices in New York, Connecticut, California, and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities lawsuits and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. For more information, please feel free to contact any of the attorneys listed below. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Joseph E. Levi, Esq.

55 Broadway, 10th Floor

New York, NY 10006

[email protected]

Tel: (212) 363-7500

Fax: (212) 363-7171

www.zlk.com

SOURCE Levi & Korsinsky, LLP

Related Links

http://www.zlk.com


Falcon Gold Corp CEO Karim Rayani issued a letter to shareholders, highlighting the achievements of 2021 while sharing details of the oncoming year.

As a new year begins, I would like to share some of our successes over the past year and objectives for the ensuing year, said Rayani in the letter. With the world scale pandemic continuing its attack on the globe, it can be sometimes hard to discern the clear road ahead. Despite all that is happening, my commitment remains the same to our company since the first day I signed on as chief executive officer.

He added: My focus is and always has been on creating shareholder value, and it will be no different as we embark on a new year.

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said that it is "looking forward to a robust exploration season in 2022."

Falcon said that it continues to build value for stakeholders by acquiring, advancing, and exploring opportunities in the Americas. The company is continuing to build upon the historic results and new discoveries at the Central Canada project as we complete further drilling, modeling, and resource delineation.

The recent acquisitions in Newfoundland, which is witnessing the largest exploration boom and discoveries, are a significant development for Falcon.

In 2022, the company said that the strategies in Chile are opportunistic in building shareholder value in the largest copper-producing areas in the world. Copper demand is expected to increase dramatically in the near future as the world turns to green metal energy.

We believe that Falcon presents incredible upside potential in 2022 when currently valued at such a low market capitalization as compared to some of our peers in the same jurisdictions, Rayani added in the letter.

Contact Ritika at ritika@proactiveinvestors.com
Moscow, Jan 8 : Russian President Vladimir Putin held several phone calls on Thursday and Friday with leaders of the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), discussing the situation in Kazakhstan, the Kremlin has said.

"The Russian President had telephone conversations with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan," Xinhua news agency quoted Kremlin as saying.

Putin also spoke by phone several times with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, it said.

"The discussion focused on the developments in Kazakhstan and joint actions under the CSTO mandate to combat international terrorism, restore order and protect the country's citizens," it added.

Meanwhile, since the launch of the CSTO peacekeeping operation, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has been regularly reporting to Putin on the progress of transfer of peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan and the completion of assigned tasks, the statement said.

Violent protests in Kazakhstan have caused multiple deaths over the past days, according to various reports.

Tokayev accepted the government's resignation on Wednesday, and has sought help from the CSTO.

A joint CSTO peacekeeping force has arrived in Kazakhstan to take part in maintaining order, the Kazakh presidential press service said Friday, adding that they came only for a limited time to ensure the protection of strategic facilities.

The peacekeeping forces include troops from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the CSTO said in a statement on its website.
Brussels, Jan 8 : The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remains ready for meaningful dialogue with Russia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

Addressing a press conference following the extraordinary meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Stoltenberg on Friday said that the meeting addressed Russia's military build-up around Ukraine and the implications for European security, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said Russia's actions "seriously undermine the security order" in Europe. "NATO remains committed to our dual-track approach to Russia: strong deterrence and defense, combined with meaningful dialogue." Stoltenberg welcomed Russia's readiness to "come to the table and talk." Next week, the NATO allies will meet with Russia in the NATO-Russia Council. The US and Russia will also hold talks in Geneva on Monday.

"Next week's series of engagements are an opportunity for Russia to demonstrate that it is serious about dialogue and diplomacy. We are always ready to listen to Russian concerns. And NATO will make every effort to find a political way forward," he said.

Stoltenberg said NATO will engage in dialogue with Russia "in good faith, and on substance," and also "be prepared for the possibility that diplomacy will fail." He said ministers stressed that "any further aggression against Ukraine would have significant consequences." Asked about the situation in Kazakhstan, the NATO chief said he was concerned about the crisis and was following the situation very closely.

"We demand that the violence stop and that the right to demonstrate peacefully be respected," he said.
Minsk, Jan 8 : Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held a telephone conversation with First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the presidential press service has said.

"During the conversation, the state of affairs in Kazakhstan was discussed in detail," Xinhua news agency reported, citing the press service.

Violent protests in Kazakhstan have caused multiple deaths over the past days, according to various reports.

The constitutional order has been largely restored in all regions of Kazakhstan, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday, adding that the counter-terrorist operation will continue until the total destruction of the militants.
Washington, Jan 8 : US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Joe Biden to deliver his first State of the Union address on March 1.

"Indeed, this past year has been historic: with the life-saving American Rescue Plan, once-in-a-century Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and, soon, the truly transformational Build Back Better Act," Pelosi wrote in a letter to Biden.

"In that spirit, I am writing to invite you to address a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, March 1, to share your vision of the State of the Union," Pelosi wrote.

During his address to a joint session of Congress last April, Biden rolled out his administration's top legislative priorities and touted the achievements in his first nearly 100 days in office, Xinhua news agency reported.

But this year's address would be his first formal State of the Union, when the president typically speaks about the past year's accomplishments and the agenda for the coming year.

Over the past year, Biden signed a $1.9-trillion Covid-19 relief package and a roughly $1-trillion infrastructure investment bill. But his Build Back Better (BBB) agenda, a roughly $2-trillion social spending and climate bill, has hit a major roadblock in the Senate.

"Instead of abandoning BBB altogether, perhaps Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration will return in January and attempt to slim down the package while making all the policies that remain permanent," said Michael Pugliese and Karl Vesely, economic analysts at Wells Fargo Securities.

"There is no hard procedural deadline for BBB on the horizon, but the first quarter of the year will probably determine whether it becomes law or not," they noted.

Since the inauguration of former President Ronald Reagan in 1981, US presidents have not delivered the State of the Union the year they left office or were inaugurated, primarily because a president can't really speak about the state of the country just a few weeks in office, according to local media.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : After Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaped praises on their products and style of working, an Uttarakhand-based organic Farmers' Producers Organisation (FPO) has declared to take its membership from 1,000 to 50,000 in the next two years.

Jivamrit Organic Farmer Producer Company in Haridwar, was among those featured in Modi's New Year's Day virtual meeting with hundreds of farmers from across the country wherein he discussed and promoted natural farming.

The Prime Minister had also transferred the first instalment of Kisan Samman Nidhi into farmers' accounts that day.

All the members of the FPO engage in cow rearing to ensure that there is an abundance of cow dung. The farmers are trained to make bio-fertilisers at home for using them in their respective farmland.

"When we started organic farming, of course, we stopped using chemical fertilisers. We started making Jivamrit, the bio-fertiliser, at home and used it in the fields. The fertility of our soil has increased significantly," said Jasveer Singh, Director, FPO-Jivamrit.

Jivamrit FPO started with just 10 farmers and since its based in the sugarcane belt, the natural choice was to produce organic jaggery, organic jaggery powder, organic khandsari sugar, natural honey, and organic mustard oil.

The FPO was developed with the monetary aid from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, (NABARD) and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK).

The Centre has been providing equity grants to encourage FPOs and Jivamrit is one of the beneficiaries.

Speaking about the bio-fertilizer that Jivamrit produces and uses in organic farming, chairman of the Jivamrit Organic Farmer Producer Company, Haridwar, Vijaypal Singh said: "Bio-fertilizers are made up of natural extracts which are environment-friendly. Our bio-fertilizer has cow dung, cow urine, water, gud (jaggery) and besan (gram flour) to develop the microorganism in soil. It helps increase soil fertility and maintain the carbon cycle in the environment." The farmer members of the FPO sell their produce to the processing unit of the FPO.

While explaining the selling strategy, Co-Founder and Director, Jivamrit Agro Organic Foods, the technical and market outreach arm of the FPO-Jivamrit, Mukesh Singh, said: "Initially we started with 10 farmers, so our products were consumed locally and didn't get the right price. But after we registered under Companies Act and our membership increased to 500 farmers, we are getting good prices for our organic products.

"And now, we are heading to enlarge our membership up to 50,000 in the next two years. We are striving to help farmers at the grass-root level and get gradual success in our efforts." The organic products are certified by Uttarakhand State Organic Certification Agency (USOCA), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and OneCert International for the cultivation and the processing of organic products.
San Francisco, Jan 8 : Consumer electronics brand TCL has unveiled a couple of new smart glasses called TCL NxtWear Air and TCL Leiniao Air at CES 2022.

TCL NxtWear Air glasses are equipped with a built-in stereo speaker that can be connected to Bluetooth or wired headphones and are also equipped with two magnetic interchangeable plates, which can be attached to the front of the frame to change the style of glasses.

"With dual 1080p Micro OLED displays, the TCL NxtWear Air delivers ample detail, punchy, rich and vibrant colors, as well as deep shadows and inky blacks. It also creates an expansive, immersive viewing environment, which is the equivalent of watching a 140-inch screen, 4 metres away - similar to being in a movie theatre," the company said in a statement.

NxtWear Air will be available worldwide in the first quarter of 2022 but TCL has not revealed the prices yet.

The TCL Leiniao Air is the industry's first binocular full-color MicroLED holographic optical waveguide AR glasses.

These are meant to work more as a heads-up display, showing relevant fitness data while exercising, a weather forecast and so on.

In the future, this pair of glasses will be launched with more new functions including information prompts, photo sharing, smart connection controls, multi-screen presentation, interoperability with automobiles, and other functions.
Washington, Jan 8 : The three white men who chased and killed African-American Ahmaud Arbery in the US state of Georgia two years ago while the latter was jogging, were sentenced to life in prison, with two of the three murderers being denied any chance for parole.

On Friday, Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, who killed the 25-year-old Arbery with a shotgun on February 23, 2020, were sentenced to life in prison without parole, reports Xinhua news agency.

Their neighbour, William Bryan, who later joined in the deadly pursuit and recorded it with a smartphone, was granted a parole, but that will happen only after he has served in prison for 30 years.

Greg McMichael, a retired police detective, suspected that Arbery, who was unarmed and was merely jogging near his home on the outskirts of Brunswick, Georgia, was the offender in break-in cases in the neighbourhood.

He grabbed guns and chased the youngster in a pick-up truck together with his son, who, after Arbery was cornered, clashed with him and shot three times at close range to kill him.

Greg and Travis McMichael -- 66 and 35, respectively - and Bryan, 52, were convicted of murder and other charges in November 2021.

They also face a separate federal trial on hate crime charges scheduled for February 7.

Arbery's murder has become part of a nationwide reckoning over racial injustice, and Judge Timothy Walmsley said on Friday before announcing the sentence that "sentencing does not generally provide closure".

"In this case, I think many people are seeking closure. The mother, the father, the community, and maybe even parts of the nation, but closure is hard to define and is a granular concept.

"It's seen differently by all depending on their perspective and the prism of your lives," Walmsley said.
Beirut, Jan 8 : Lebanese security authorities have arrested 23 Syrians for illegally entering the country, according to authorities.

The Syrians, who were arrested on Friday in the northern district of Akkar, have been referred to judicial bodies for investigation and other legal procedures, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lebanon's security forces have been exerting great efforts to fight against human smuggling from Syria.

President Michel Aoun has repeatedly urged the international community to secure a safe return for Syrian refugees to their homeland as Lebanon has been suffering an unprecedented financial crisis and cannot bear an additional burden of refugees on its territories.

According to UN figures, Lebanon currently hosts 865,530 registered Syrian refugees and estimates all Syrians in Lebanon at 1.5 million.
Chennai, Jan 8 : Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) C. Sylendra Babu has asked police personnel to be polite with the public during night curfew and the lockdown on Sunday.

In a statement on Friday, the DGP said that the police personnel must wear gloves and sanitise their hands regularly during checking and behave courteously with public.

In a set of guidelines for police personnel across the state, Sylendra Babu said that the night checks must be conducted at places which are properly lit. He also directed the force to erect night barricades and to wear reflector jackets.

Candidates appearing for competitive examinations are allowed to travel on showing their admission cards.

Food delivery is allowed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on lockdown day also. Identity of the delivery persons should be checked.

Suppliers of milk, gas and other essential items should be allowed to travel after checking identity.

Movement of government employees, bank staffers, public transport, and local bodies should be allowed, he said.

People on way to airports, railway stations, and bus stations in their own vehicles or taxis be allowed to travel on showing the tickets, the police chief added.
Cape Town, Jan 8 : The South African Parliament announced it will host its flagship program, the State of the Nation Address (SONA), at the historic City Hall of Cape Town, the legislative capital of the nation, after the recent fire incident at Parliament precinct.

The President every year calls a joint sitting of the National Assembly (NA), the lower house, and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), the upper house, to deliver SONA, reports Xinhua news agency.

The fire, which lasted more than 70 hours from Sunday, however, severely damaged the NA building and completely burned down the chamber, which was used to host the event, forcing Parliament to find an alternative venue.

The City Hall was considered a suitable venue for the event, scheduled on February 10, technically in terms of infrastructure and its capacity and due to its "historical significance", Parliament said in a statement.

The City Hall, built in 1905, was the first place where late President Nelson Mandela addressed the nation after his release from prison on February 11, 1990.

On May 9, 1994, Mandela was introduced to the South African people in the same balcony of the building after he was elected as the nation's first democratic President.

Parliament promised not to let its work derailed or disrupted.

The SONA is the only occasion that brings together the three arms of the state -- the legislature, the executive and the judiciary -- under one roof.

Firefighters completely withdrew from the parliamentary precinct on Thursday after monitoring the situation and combing the inside of buildings for potential flare-up.

The cause of the fire, which also caused extensive damage to the century-old Old Assembly building that houses the upper house, is still unknown, but a 49-year-old man "allegedly linked to setting parliament building alight" was arrested and appeared in court Tuesday.

The law enforcement agencies are currently investigating the source of the fire.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 8 : The BJP Kerala unit on Saturday questioned the "unfriendly" attitude of the state-run Medical College hospitals, even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is all set to leave for the US for his medical treatment.

In her Facebook account, senior BJP leader Sobha Surendran sought Vijayan's response on few issues before leaving for the US.

"Vijayan should get himself treated in the US, but we in Kerala who are dependent on the state-run health care institutions wish to know why are the hospitals in such a deplorable condition," asked Surendran, who in the 2021 Assembly polls put up a spirited fight in a constituency in the capital district and finished in second place, pushing the Congress candidate to third place.

Surendran, known for her razor sharp tongue, enumerated instances when the state-run health institutions were found faultering and pointed out the "goof-up" at the Kottayam Medical College hospital on Thursday where a con woman, posing as a dotor, walked into the gynaecology ward took away a 3-day old baby on the pretext of special treatment. Thanks to the alert locals and the police, the kidnapping attempt was foiled.

She also highlighted another negligence at the same hospital when a female patient with no cancer was given chemotherapy and no action was taken.

Listing out many such instances, Surendran said the only thing that happens in the health department is a well managed public relation exercise.

"Wish to remind Vijayan that things cannot continue like this and before he proceeds to US for his treatment, a decision must be taken to probe into the unfriendly public health system in the state," added Surendran.

Ever since the news of Vijayan leaving to the US for medical treatment starting January 15 till 29 surfaced, the social media is abuzz with trolls taking a dig at Kerala Communists' love for medical treatment in the Western countries, while condemning all other things there.

Vijayan's predecessors V.S.Achuthanandan and E.K.Nayanar had also undergone treatments in the West.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : Declaring the Pakistan Navys sailing club and farmhouses constructed on the national park land illegal, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued directions to initiate criminal proceedings against former naval chief Zafar Mehmud Abbasi and other officials for approving the illegal constructions, Dawn reported.

In a 45-page judgement, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah ordered the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take over the naval farmhouses, saying that navy had "trespassed on the land situated on the embankment of Rawal Lake, and that too in a protected national park area".

The court termed it an irony of fate that "the chief of naval staff and one of the branches of the armed forces i.e. the Pakistan Navy were involved in violating the enforced laws and transgressions from the mandate prescribed under the supreme law of the country, the Constitution".

"The most disturbing factor was the conflict created by one of the branches of the Armed Forces with the society and its citizens. Any such conflict is intolerable in a society governed under the Constitution," Dawn news quoted the court order as saying.

The verdict also singles out Abbasi, saying that he "violated his oath and transgressed his constitutional duty by inaugurating an illegal building on encroached land in violation of the Act of 1997 and the Ordinance of 1960... (Admiral Abbasi and) other officers involved in the illegal construction and inauguration of the sailing club have made themselves liable to criminal proceedings".

The order directed competent authorities to ensure that criminal proceedings are initiated against them forthwith, saying: "The federal government shall proceed against Admiral Abbasi under the Ordinance of 1961 for acts and omissions amounting to misconduct on his part." In its verdict, the court noted that "the engagement of the armed forces in an activity which is a transgression from the constitutional mandate e.g. undertaking commercial or real estate ventures etc. is definitely not in the public interest. Its coercive power, strength and discipline can only be used for the restricted functions prescribed under the Constitution rather than using these characteristics to enforce its will on the people that created it", Dawn news reported.

"Engaging in such undertakings, on the one hand, compromises the professionalism, integrity, cohesion of the Armed Forces while on the other it weakens the civilian institutions and becomes a cause for distraction from the core function. It damages the relationship of the Armed Forces with the people and the society," the verdict noted.

In the verdict, the IHC Chief Justice noted that the two ventures, PN Farms and the PN Sailing Club were directly or indirectly undertaken by the navy illegally and executed in violation of the enforced law.

"The Secretary, Cabinet Division shall place the copies of this judgment before the worthy Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet i.e. the Federal Government. The latter shall take measures for ensuring restoration of rule of law and strict implementation of the enforced laws within the 1400 square mile area of the Islamabad Capital Territory." the court order stated.

The court also declared that the occupation of the land was "illegal, without lawful authority and jurisdiction".

The navy has been ordered to cease all its activities on Rawal Lake and hand over the land to the Small Dams Organisation, while the court ordered the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board to restore the natural habitat in the lake's surroundings.
Demand for minority ministry and national commission for the minority of Bangladesh announced again. Image Source: IANS News

Demand for minority ministry and national commission for the minority of Bangladesh announced again. Image Source: IANS News

Demand for minority ministry and national commission for the minority of Bangladesh announced again. Image Source: IANS News

Dhaka, Jan 8 : Different religious and ethnic leaders have demanded the Bangladesh government to create a separate ministry and national commission for the country's minority communities.

The leaders placed the demands at the inaugural session of Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad's two-day 10th triennial council, held at the capital's Institution of Engineers on Friday.

Renowned writer and columnist Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury join the programme virtually from London.

The minority leaders said the government needs to properly implement the Vested Property Return Act-2001 and CHT Accord-1997, and make CHT Land Commission functional. They also demanded a separate land commission for ethnic people living in the plains.

They said the government needs to formulate separate laws to protect the people of those communities and end discrimination against them.

Addressing the session, ruling party Awami League's Office Secretary Biplab Barua said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ensured the rights of the country's religious and ethnic communities.

However, advocate Rana Dasgupta, the parishad's general secretary, and International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor, said ensuring the well-being of people belonging to different religious and ethnic communities has become a challenge in present-day Bangladesh.

At present, the country's rights situation is worrisome, and equity has not been established yet, said veteran left-leaning politician Pankaj Bhattacharya, also chairman of the council preparation committee.

Former chairman of National Human Rights Commission Prof Mizanur Rahman said minorities still have to raise their voices for rights, 50 years after the independence.

Eminent economist Debapriya Bhattacharya said at one end Bangladesh is targeting to become a middle-income country and expressing the desire to become a developed nation.

However, there has been a disruption in ensuring people's equal rights, he said.
New Delhi/Srinagar, Jan 8 : Dubai is emerging as a major partner in Jammu and Kashmirs development. During the past few months, the Jammu and Kashmir government has signed a slew of Memorandums of Understanding with Dubai to build strong business relations and carry forward the process of taking the uNion Territory to new heights.

In October 2021, the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two governments to develop real estate, industrial parks, super specialty hospital and more.

In December last year the J&K Government signed a MoU with University College Birmingham (UCB) Dubai to explore potential progression opportunities through institutional partnership with vocational colleges and universities in Kashmir.

The UCB would set up an office in J&K for tying up with the local educational institutions, facilitating academic exchange programmes while enabling students to secure admissions at reduced fees in the Middle East.

On January 5, 2022, the J&K Government signed a historic MoU with Dubai based LuLu Group to set up a food processing & logistics hub in Srinagar. The agreement was aimed at further expanding Jammu Kashmir-Dubai collaboration. The MoU with the LuLu Group would help the products from J&K to reach out to shoppers at 190 LuLu Hypermarkets across the Gulf countries and Egypt.

World recognizing J&K's transition The Dubai making an entry into Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in the past 70-years is a beginning of world recognizing the pace with which J&K is traversing on the development bandwagon. It is a strong signal to the international community that India is transforming into a global power and Jammu & Kashmir has a significant role in it.

Till August 5, 2019, when the Centre announced its decision to abrogate J&K's special status and divided it into two Union Territories, no foreign country wanted to invest in Jammu and Kashmir as the so-called special status of the erstwhile State didn't allow the outsiders to invest in J&K. However, after August 5, 2019 the things have changed. The Union Territory has opened up and investors have been made aware about the dividends they can reap by investing in J&K. The government has also ensured them that their investments are safe and they would do good business in J&K.

Dubai venturing into Jammu and Kashmir is a signal to Pakistan that it's not interested in its propaganda about Kashmir being a problem that needs to be settled and Muslim countries should support it's argument. The United Arab Emirates has a powerful presence in Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC)-an alliance of 56 countries in which Islam plays a significant role, with Islam as the state religion, or countries where Muslims form the majority of the population.

By coming forward the UAE has sent a strong message to the OIC that it should focus on building strong relations with India rather than getting swayed away by the narrative built by Pakistan.

Soon after India had revoked J&K special status two years ago, Pakistan had knocked the door of every Muslim country to intimidate India to reverse its decision but all the nations closed their doors on Pakistan and made it clear that they won't interfere in India's internal matters. All the attempts of Prime Minister Imran Khan to internationalize Kashmir didn't yield any result.

Muslim countries endorse India's stand When Dubai signed the first MoU with the J&K Government it had outraged helmsmen in Pakistan. They had expressed dismay by stating that the Gulf countries don't respect the sentiments of Pakistan. The opposition parties in Pakistan had blamed the Imran Khan led regime of having no Kashmir policy and Kashmir slipping out of the hands of their country.

The Muslim countries by endorsing India's stand on Jammu and Kashmir have a strong message to Pakistan that they stand with India and have no second thoughts about J&K being an integral part of India.

Pakistan's claims on Kashmir and its attempts to internationalisethe issue were heavily dependent on the OIC support but during the past two years it has lost that support to a great extent. Dubai's decision to invest in J&K has driven home a point that Pakistan has no locus standi on Kashmir.

Iran and other Gulf countries are also exploring options to venture into Jammu and Kashmir. And once a few more nations come forward it would be a big setback for Pakistan and its rulers, who during all these years, have been dreaming about snatching Kashmir from India.

Centre fulfilling promises J&K witnessing an unprecedented development in every sector and the government opening up the Himalayan region for the outsiders during the past two years have changed the destiny of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Opportunities are knocking at the doors of a common man. What looked impossible during the past 70-years has become possible. The promises that were made to the people of J&K by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, on August 5, 2019, after scrapping Article 370- temporary provision in Indian Constitution-are being fulfilled. J&K people too are supporting the moves of the Government of India as they have realized that all the initiatives are aimed at empowering them.

Pak, its advocates in Kashmir become irrelevant Pakistan and its advocates in Jammu and Kashmir have been made to eat a humble pie. The Muslim countries showing no interest in so-called Kashmir issue and not paying much heed towards Pakistan's claim about J&K being a disputed region have left extremists high and dry. Dubai Government investing in J&K is a clear snub to Pakistan and those Kashmiri leaders, who used to claim that all Muslim countries support the purported Kashmir movement.

Scrapping of Article 370 has proven beyond doubt that people of Kashmir never supported the so-called "freedom struggle" and they were forced into submission due to fear of guns. J&K people are welcoming the new investments with open arms and mind. The dream merchants who used to sell illusions about Azadi and Pakistan have become irrelevant as their shops stand closed.

Kashmiri youth have realized that Pakistan's propaganda is nothing but a death trap and their future is safe and secure with India.
New Delhi, Jan 8: The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) and Balochistan's fisheries department seized three trawlers and apprehended dozens of fishermen for illegal fishing in Balochistan waters.

The two departments conducted joint operations against illegal fishing in Gwadar on January 2. A statement by the PMSA said: "PMSA units carried out patrolling at open sea, south of Gwadar, Pasni, Pishukan, Ganz and Jiwani sectors to search for trawlers carrying out illegal fishing or using banned nets." The statement added that Pakistani agencies boarded and searched trawling vessels around Balochistan ports--Gwadar and Jiwani, reports Gulf News.

Geopolitical analyst Mark Kinra told India Narrative that Balochistan's marine resources are being violated both domestically and at the international level. "Domestically, fishermen from Sindh fish within 12 nautical miles of Baloch waters which is prohibited through the Balochistan Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1986. But illegal fishing exists, building resentment among the Baloch".

He adds that the Balochistan government agreed to ban illegal fishing up to 30 nautical miles "which seems a long shot because its jurisdiction exists only till 12 nautical miles" after which the federal government's jurisdiction prevails.

The Baloch people, who feel alienated under Pakistani rule, asked the government to ban Sindh fishing boats along with Chinese trawlers. In an effort to quell the protests, the Balochistan government requested the Sindh government to stop its fishermen from entering its waters.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan too tweeted in December 2021 that illegal fishing will not be allowed in Balochistan seas. In a tweet Khan said: "I have taken notice of the very legitimate demands of the hardworking fishermen of Gwadar. Will be taking strong action against illegal fishing by trawlers & will also speak to CM Balochistan".

Despite Khan's statement over illegal trawlers in Balochistan, the fact remains that Islamabad issued fishing rights to Chinese vessels.

Khan is now caught between Baloch protests and Chinese investments.

Kinra says that the Chinese are deeply interested in Pakistan's fishing sector. "Chinese Consul General Li Bijian spoke about getting bigger boats and modern fishing tools to build processing factories. The recent inclusion of the $3.5 billion Karachi Comprehensive Coastal Development Zone (KCCDZ) in CPEC could be a sign in that direction. The project will encompass a state-of-the-art fishing port with a world class fisheries export processing zone".

"According to Pakistan's Deep Sea Fishing Policy 2021, foreign fishing vessels are not allowed to fish in Pakistan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). But this runs contrary to Chinese investments in KCCDZ. It is possible that in the future Pakistan will either make special arrangements for Chinese trawlers or they will continue to fish illegally", says Kinra.

Balochistan had recently witnessed mass protests by fishermen and the common people demanding curbs on illegal trawling by Chinese commercial fishing boats and lack of basic facilities like power and water. People also protested against excessive security for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which restricted their movement within Balochistanand curtailed access to the sea.

The protests have not deterred Chinese fishing vessels. In a rare instance in July 2021, Pakistan seized five Chinese boats for illegal fishing in Gwadar and took away their catch. But such actions are few and far between and happen more for show than serious intent.

The question is with huge Chinese investments in the fishing sector, can a cash-strapped Pakistan override iron brother China to curry favour with poor Baloch fishermen? (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Budapest, Jan 8 : The fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic fuelled by the Omicron variant has hit Hungary, a top official announced.

Bela Merkely, rector of Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest and leader of the Clinical Epidemiology Working Group, said said that since the Omicron variant is highly contagious, tens of thousands of new cases can be expected in the country in the coming days and weeks, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The Omicron variant typically causes only mild upper respiratory infections in vaccinated people -- runny nose, sore throat, headache and fever lasting for a day or two," he explained, warning that the hospitalization rate for unvaccinated people may increase.

"The proportion of serious cases is likely to be lower than in the third and fourth waves," he said.

Vaccination against coronavirus is the only way to significantly reduce the chances of being hospitalised, Merkely said, stressing that three vaccine doses offer high protection.

Virologist Miklos Rusvai said he expected the number of new daily cases to break all previous records during the fifth wave.

"I think that in the fifth wave, we may see over 15,000 new cases per day," he told Xinhua.

"However, I expect the number of severe cases, hospitalizations, or deaths to be lower than that recorded during the third wave," he said.

The fourth coronavirus wave caused the largest number of infections but fewer deaths and hospitalisations than the third one, as larger parts of the population had already been inoculated, Rusvai said.

The Omicron variant has significantly more mutations than the other variants, which make it super-contagious, but in the long run and on the global scale this could in fact be good news as the variant will infect many people and immunise them, but will not send them to ventilators, Rusvai said.

Omicron will thus "push out" the Delta variant, which is much more lethal.

Rusvai told Xinhua that he expected the fifth wave to peak in February and then to bottom out by the autumn. "Such viruses usually become weaker over time, turning into a cold-like disease." He said that the Omicron variant posed a threat mainly to the unvaccinated people, but it was less severe than the Delta variant.

Hungary has so far reported 1,282,957 Covid cases and 39,780 deaths, while 1,137,648 people have recovered.

Currently, 3,070 patients are being treated in hospitals, including 291 on ventilators.

Till date, 6,278,355 people have received at least the first vaccine dose, 6,006,178 others were fully jabbed and 3,217,724 got their booster doses.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Jan 8: Gunmen kidnapped three Chinese nationals and killed two Nigerians in a gun battle at a hydroelectric dam project in central Nigeria. A police statement on Thursday said that the incident took place on Tuesday afternoon.

According to the police, the workers were installing a transmission tower when the gunmen opened fire, killing two local workers. "Police tactical team attached to the facility engaged the hoodlums in a gun duel while four of the expatriates were rescued with one of them and two local staff sustaining bullet injury," state police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said in a statement.

The Voice of America reports that the gunmen were heavily armed. The police and intelligence officials are now working to rescue the kidnapped Chinese by seeking information from local communities.

The kidnapping happened exactly at a time when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was on a tour to African nations.

China is deeply worried over crimes against Chinese citizens in Nigeria. Last year Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun told media persons that his country is likely to bring in criminal investigation experts to interact with Nigerian security agencies, reports the local media.

The ambassador reportedly said that the Chinese government is worried about the security situation in Nigeria due to the increasing insurgencies and also concerned about Chinese nationals working in the country.

Nigeria media says that criminal gangs often target foreign workers at infrastructure projects in a bid to extort ransom. Foreigners are released after a ransom is paid though no one publicly acknowledges that money was paid for the safe release of their workers.

Large foreign companies, including Chinese firms, have become vulnerable to such attacks. Chinese employees have been targeted as they work on highly-conspicuous multi-billion-dollar infrastructure work that include oil projects, mining, railways, airports and roads.

Insurgencies in the oil-rich West African country are only increasing despite being run by Muhammadu Buhari--retired military general and now President.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Bengaluru, Jan 8 : Against the backdrop of Congress's proposed padayatra for the Mekadatu project, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Saturday sought the cooperation of the leaders of opposition Congress party to control Covid menace in the state.

A statement has been issued in this regard against the backdrop of Congress preparing for padayatra demanding implementation of Mekedatu project on January 9.

However, he said, the Congress had continued its defiance and adamant stand on conducting padayatra. It has started preparations and announced that the padayatra will begin on Sunday.

Strict measures have been initiated by the government to prevent the spread of Covid in the state. The matter of Mekedatu project is before the Supreme Court. As the Congress leaders have the experience of running the government, they should behave responsibly, he said.

It is always better to take precautions and prevent the problems before they go out of hand. The padayatra by Congress is politically motivated, he opined.

He appealed to the police personnel to behave cordially with people and in turn people should also cooperate with them. Violators will be booked under the Disaster Management Act, he warned.

Meanwhile, Karnataka state Congress President D.K. Shivakumar performed special worship of his family deity along with his family members in Kanakapur in Ramnagar district and prayed for the success of padayatra on Mekedatu project.

After the special pooja ceremony Shivakumar stated padayatra for Mekedatu project is starting from January 9. "No matter what hurdles we face we will take it up. I and Opposition leader Siddaramaiah will begin padayatra from Mekedatu as announced earlier," he stated.
Chennai, Jan 8 : While over 60 per cent of the eligible children in the age group of 15-18 have taken their first dose of Covid-19 vaccination in Tamil Nadu, some parents are wary of inoculating their children fearing side effects, according to the department of health services.

Revathy of Bodiniakanar in Theni district told IANS: "I have not allowed my 16-year-old daughter to take the vaccination fearing side effects. Doctors have ensured that there won't be any, but am scared." This is a classic example of the vaccine hesitancy prevailing in several rural hamlets of Tamil Nadu even as the state health department had carried out several awareness programmes to educate people on the positive side of vaccination.

When contacted, several parents in the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu in Kanniyakumari, Nagercoil, Kuzhithura, and Thakala areas expressed reluctance in giving a jab to their children.

Ramamoorthy, a farmer at a village in Nagercoil, told IANS: "Me, my brother, our wives had all taken vaccination and there were not many side effects. However, we have not administered the same to our children as we fear side effects." The farmer said that the doctors and school teachers have tried convincing him several times but still he is hesitant to give vaccination to children.

Parents, however, said that if the government makes vaccination mandatory for writing the board examination and final year school examinations, then they will allow their children to be vaccinated.

Saraswathi from Tiruchy said: "My husband and me are not vaccinated so how can I allow my children? The government has to bring in more inputs to convince us, then we will try to inoculate our children." Deputy Director of Tamil Nadu health services, Dr.Subramani, however, said that more than 60 per cent of eligible teenagers are vaccinated in the state.

While speaking to IANS, he said: "The response to vaccination is good and you can check with government school teachers and headmasters and headmistresses. However, some people have their apprehensions and we have doctors in every school who will clear their doubts. I think everyone will understand the importance of vaccination to prevent the disease and hence will vaccinate their children." The school authorities are also of the opinion that maximum children are being vaccinated except for a minimal percentage.

Sulajakumari. R. Principal of a Government School in Kancheepuram while speaking to IANS said: "We have almost vaccinated 90 per cent of our eligible children. Of course, some parents have shown apprehensions and the doctor who is present in the school is convincing these parents. Hope they will soon fall in place and vaccinate their children."
Chennai, Jan 8 : The meeting of all legislative parties in Tamil Nadu, barring BJP, on Saturday decided to meet Home Minister Amit Shah and also get legal opinion on getting the state exempted from NEET.

Speaking to reporters here after the meeting Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma.Subramanian said the meeting decided to send a delegation to meet Shah.

It also decided on taking legal opinion to proceed further on getting Tamil Nadu exempted from National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), he said.

According to him, the BJP was not a party to the decision.

With the powers of state and that of the legislature to enact law being under question, an all party meeting was convened, Stalin said.

On Thursday, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced the convening of an all-party meet on Saturday to discuss the next course of action on the state getting exemption from the medical entrance exams, NEET.

Stalin also said the refusal of the Home Minister to meet a delegation of Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu on the issue is against democracy.

Speaking in the state Assembly Stalin requested the leaders of various parties to participate in the meeting and based on the decision taken the next course of protest against NEET will be carried out.

According to Stalin, Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu had submitted a memorandum at the President's Secretariat on December 28 listing out the ill effects of NEET and the delay in getting the President's assent for the Bill.

As the Memorandum was forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further action, Parliamentarians belonging to various parties had sought time to meet Shah.

"Till now Shah is avoiding meeting the MPs. The Home Minister refusing to meet the Parliamentarians in a democracy is an affront to the honour of democracy," Stalin had said.
Gandhinagar, Jan 8 : The Surat police have arrested four persons for the alleged illegal discharge of chemical waste due to which six workers died from inhaling toxic fumes. They have been arrested under various charges, including culpable homicide.

Twenty two others were hospitalised on January 6 after they inhaled toxic fumes leaked from the chemical tanker parked near a factory in Gujarat's Surat district.

The Surat police crime branch arrested four persons, including two transporters, a bank employee and a garage owner, the police said.

The arrests were carried out with the help of Vadodara and Bharuch police.

According to the police, the chemical waste being illegally dumped was supplied by one Ashish Gupta, a transporter and a partner in a firm. He provided the hazardous chemical for disposal to one Jaipratap Tomar and another person identified as Yadav.

Tomar works in the loan department of a bank while Yadav runs a garage, the police official said.

The police have also identified one Premsagar Gupta, who had accompanied Tomar and Yadav in the tanker to the Sachin GIDC area.

The Sachin GIDC police station had filed an FIR on Thursday against unidentified persons under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), rash and negligent act endangering human lives (336, 337, and 338), rash and negligent act involving poisonous substance (284), voluntarily corrupting water of public spring or reservoir (277), making atmosphere noxious to health (278), criminal conspiracy (120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : At least 19 mobile phones were recovered from the possession of inmates at the high-security Tihar Jail in the national capital during a surprise check, an official said here on Saturday.

The surprise check was conducted by the jail authorities on the intervening night of January 6-7, sources told IANS.

"During the checking 19 phones (six android + 13 small ones), Rs 1,500, chargers, wires and handmade sharp objects were confiscated," they said.

The matter came to light just a day after a prisoner was hospitalised after he swallowed a mobile phone.

Director General (Prison) Sandeep Goel told IANS that the incident took place on January 5.

"Although his condition was fine so far, but mobile phone was still inside his body," Goel had said on Friday.

The Tihar Jail has been strengthening its security arrangements following the major backlash it has received over its officials being caught providing facilities to the inmates, of which the main gadget was a mobile phone.

Over 40 officials at the prison have been booked by various law enforcement agencies during the past six months for extending benefits to the prisoners in one or the other way.

Goel, in an interview earlier with IANS, had said that the Tihar Jail will soon have two X-ray based human body scanners that can prevent infiltration of illegal articles and gadgets inside the prison premises.

The usage of mobile phones by inmates is a serious concern, however, can be tackled with the usage of apt technology.

Goyal said they are installing three new towers inside the jail premises that would confine the mobile signals emanating from the prison.
San Francisco, Jan 8 : In a serious ransomware attack, hackers have hit an education technology company, Finalsite, shutting down thousands of school websites and nearly 5,000 alone in the US.

Finalsite provides school districts with website design, hosting and content management solutions.

In a statement, the company said that they continue to restore more websites and core functionality every hour.

"We remain committed to restoration, as quickly and safely as possible. Our team is actively monitoring performance and security across our infrastructure, and we will continue to work through the night and weekend until every site is back online," the company said on Friday.

Earlier this week, at least 8,000 schools globally, hosted by Finalsite, discovered that they were no longer accessible or displayed errors.

"Our team identified the presence of ransomware on certain systems in our environment," the company said.

"We immediately took steps to secure our systems and to contain the activity. We quickly launched an investigation into the event with the assistance of third-party forensic specialists, and began proactively taking certain systems offline," it added.

A company spokesperson told TechCrunch that 5,000 of its total 8,000 global customers -- including school districts in Kansas City, Illinois and Missouri -- are affected by the incident.

One Reddit user said the incident also prevented some schools from sending email notifications about school closures due to Covid-19 outbreaks.

"Our team continues to make progress restoring functionality to websites," said the company.
Ramallah, Jan 8 : Dozens of Palestinian protesters were injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers in West Bank, medics said on Saturday.

The clashes broke out near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday, reports Xinhua news agency.

A local journalist was shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers and dozens of protesters fainted after inhaling the tear gas fired by the soldiers, medical sources said.

Separately, fierce clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers near the villages of Beita and Beit Dajan, south and east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Emergency and Ambulance Department at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, told Xinhua that 15 protesters were shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers, including three who were shot in the head by rubber-coated metal gunshots in Beita.

He added that 12 other Palestinians were shot and wounded by live ammunition and dozens of them inhaled tear gas during the clashes in Beit Dajan.

Beita and Beit Dajan have seen weekly protests against the expansion of Israeli settlements in the two villages and clashes with the Israeli soldiers.
Mumbai, Jan 8 : 'Mere Desh Ki Dharti' starring Divyenndu, Anupria Goenka and Anant Vidhaat in the lead, was recently conferred with 2nd Best Film Award in the Sridevi Indian Panorama section at the Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF).

The top award for the Best Film in the Sridevi Indian Panorama section was given to '4 Sum', directed by Neeraj Gwal. The 3rd Best Film award in the same category went to 'Natyam' helmed by Revanth Korukonda.

'Mere Desh Ki Dharti' directed by Faraz Haider, touches upon the contemporary situations of the country across the rural and urban divide. It tells how the urban youth can become a definitive part of rural economics.

Sharing his excitement, Divyenndu said, "I am so happy and elated about our win at the Jaipur Film Festival. This one is very special, as it is more than a film for me and I wish to dedicate it to the farmers of this country with all my heart. 'Mere Desh Ki Dharti' is a film packed with emotions, fun and an extremely relevant message so I hope everybody is gonna really enjoy it." Director Faraz Haider added, "We are truly grateful to JIFF for honouring us with this award as 'Mere Desh ki Dharti' is a film that speaks a lot about the current scenario of youth and farmers".

The film's producer Vaishali Sarwankar said, "To be honoured and recognised is always special, to us 'Mere Desh Ki Dharti' means a lot as it's my first film as a producer. The team has poured blood, sweat and tears into it. Truly grateful to JIFF for recognising it and introducing it to the world." The film, which also stars Inaamulhaq, Brijendra Kala, Rajesh Sharma, Atul Shrivastava and Farrukh Jafar is scheduled to release in cinemas on February 11.
Hyderabad, Jan 8 : A court in Kothagudem town of Telangana on Saturday sent TRS MLA Vanama Venkateswara Rao's son Vanama Raghavendra Rao to judicial custody for 14 days in a case relating to the suicide of a businessman, his wife and their two daughters.

The police, who arrested the accused on Friday night, produced him before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody. The accused was later shifted to Bhadrachalam sub-jail.

Police said Raghavendra, who was evading arrest for last five days, was finally apprehended near Mandalapalli village in Bhadradri Kothagudem district on Friday night. He was brought to Paloncha, where police interrogated him.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Rohit Raj said Raghavendra was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder, attempt to murder and abetment to murder.

Police also arrested Raghavendra's driver Girish and an aide Murali. They, along with two others Srinivas and Ramakanth, were booked for helping the accused in the escape after January 3 incident.

The police officer said during the questioning, Raghavendra confessed to harassing the businessman.

ASP said they were questioned Raghavendra with regard to 12 other cases booked against him in the past. These include cases of attempt to murder, abetment of suicide and assault.

Though there were reports that the Raghavendra, who is son of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA from Kothagudem, was arrested two days ago the police had denied the same.

M. Naga Ramakrishna (45), his wife Sri Lakshmi (40) and their daughter Sahitya (12) died while another daughter was injured when they set themselves afire under a suicide pact at their home in Paloncha on January 3. Sahitya's twin sister Sahiti succumbed to her injuries on January 5 while undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

The businessman, in a video recorded on his mobile before the suicide, alleged that Raghavendra had asked him to bring his wife to Hyderabad. He said Raghavendra tried to use his political and money power to satisfy his carnal desire.

Police also recovered suicide note of Ramakrishna, in which he blamed his mother mother Suryavati, his sister K Lova Madhavi and Raghavendra responsible for his family's death.

According to police the businessman wrote that they have taken this step as injustice was done to them due to an affair between his sister and Raghavendra. Ramakrishna also mentioned about problem with his mother and sister about sharing property to clear his debts of about Rs 30 lakh.

The case had created a political heat with the opposition parties targeting the TRS government for trying to shield the accused. A shutdown was observed in Kothagudem on Friday demanding stringent action against the accused.

The TRS on Friday suspend Raghavendra from the party.
Literary traditions take centuries to develop, let alone acquire a following outside their own linguistic realm. Russian literature, however, saw an accelerated rate to global popularity within 200 years.

After nearly a millennium of an oeuvre comprising mainly folk/fairy tales, or the odd historical chronicle, it started to make its presence felt from the early 19th century with Pushkin and Gogol, and then, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Bulgakov, Pasternak, Nabokov, Akhmatova, and their ilk have ensured its continuing prominence across genres.

But, Russian literature, especially of the "Classical School", which comprises its best-known works, has also laboured under a rather unjust and fearsome perception.

Take views like: "This Vladimir Brusiloff to whom I have referred was the famous Russian novelist. ... Vladimir specialised in grey studies of hopeless misery, where nothing happened till page three hundred and eighty, when the moujik decided to commit suicide." ("The Clicking of Cuthbert" by P.G. Wodehouse) Or: "Freddie experienced the sort of abysmal soul-sadness which afflicts one of Tolstoy's Russian peasants when, after putting in a heavy day's work strangling his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby into the city's reservoir, he turns to the cupboards, only to find the vodka bottle empty." (P.G. Wodehouse again) Then, vet James Herriot, in his memoirs, reveals how a colleague used to read the opening para of "The Brothers Karamazov" to lull himself to sleep.

Author Viv Groskop, whom we will return to later, observes some common views about Russian literature are that it is "deep", "difficult", or require a wider level of reference than the casual reader can aspire to. "You'll never understand X if you haven't read Y," she says.

And then there is the issue of names. Groskop quotes a Danish academic, otherwise impressed by Russian literature, bemoaning: "Why do they (the characters) all have to have forty-seven names?" While works such as the hefty "War and Peace", and many other 19th-century novels, are probably responsible for the length part, and the "confusing" names are due to the Russian naming tradition comprising the patronymic, and the widespread use of diminutives, affectionate and otherwise, which needs getting used to, the issue of the content is not quite justified.

All Russian literature is not grim, pessimistic, plodding tracts and can hold its own, using a range of genres and styles to reflect the human condition and its times. Let's look at half-a-dozen lesser-known works spanning the Golden Age to the present day, and subsequently available in English, which unfortunately leaves out writers such as Yulian Semyonov, creator of the Soviet 'James Bond' (unfortunately only one of the series is in English) and fantasy/science-fiction virtuoso Andrei Belyanin.

"Oblomov" (1859), Ivan Goncharov's second novel, is especially known for how it takes its young titular nobleman protagonist 50 pages -- around a tenth of the book's length -- to get out of his bed, in which he spends most of his life, onto a sofa.

Sinking into debt by refusing to take any interest in running his estate deep in the countryside, our slothful character spends the entire account trying to avoid any responsibility, including in love, despite the efforts of well-meaning and more focused friends, before passing on to his desired state of perpetual rest.

Known for taking the "superfluous man", Russia's unique contribution to literary archetypes, to a new high -- or rather a low, if you contrast it with Pushkin or Lermontov's creations -- it is a trenchant satire on the state of Tsarist Russia's aristocracy and shows why the revolution became inevitable.

"The Death of the Vazir-Mukhtar" (1928) -- either the Susan Causey (2018) or the Anna Kurkina Rush/Christopher Rush translation -- by Soviet literary historian and critic Yury Tynyanov, chronicles the last year of the early 19th-century Russian playwright, Orientalist, polyglot, and diplomat Aleksandr Sergeyevich Griboyedov after he returns to Moscow and St Petersburg following a successful diplomatic mission in Persia, and then returns to Tehran on a new mission when he dies in an attack on the embassy by an enraged mob protesting a new treaty.

Featuring a certain quirkiness in its style, i.e. the use of a heavy Russian bureaucratic language, with a spate of lyrical, psychological, and historical digressions, Tynyanov's modernist theories of literature, comprehensive and sometimes striking psychological insights into many characters, even small-time, across a range of cultures -- Russia, Caucasian, and Qajar-era Persia, it is a thoroughly well-researched piece of historical fiction.

"The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin" (1969), by dissident writer Vladimir Voinovich, is the picaresque tale of the absurdities that even totalitarianism cannot avoid.

It tells of a bumbling, unlikely soldier who is posted to a backwater on the eve of World War II, forgotten by his superiors and labelled a deserter, and how he holds off a squad of the German secret service -- winning a medal, before getting arrested.

"Pretender to the Throne: The Further Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin" (1979) and "A Displaced Person: The Later Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin" (2007) see him brave out his interrogation, and then made to emigrate to the US, from where he returns as head of an official delegation during the Perestroika era.

Science fiction was always a favoured area for Soviet writers unwilling to toe the official line since it allowed them to use alien worlds to portray social and political situations disallowed in more realistic settings.

Amid a glittering lineup are brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky, whose over two dozen works, written in collaboration, have been quite influential in the genre.

Two which stand out are "Monday Begins on Saturday" (1964), about the personnel and activities at a Soviet research institute dedicated to studying magic and the supernatural, teamed up with the inept administrators who run it. "Tale of the Troika" (1968) continues the satire of the Soviet scientific set-up and its political superstructure.

Then, "One Billion Years to the End of the World" (1977; originally published in English as "Definitely Maybe"), which begins rather on a comic note and gradually gets more ominous as a bunch of researchers, both scientific and of social science, wonder why they are not let being allowed to work on, and their responses.

Among the post-Soviet period, there is Grigori Chkhartishvili alias Boris Akunin's Erast Fandorin crime thriller series, set in the dying decades of Tsarist Russia, but that deserves an instalment of its own.

And if you look for some way to acquaint yourself with the classics only, without reading them in their entirety, then Groskop's "The Anna Karenina Fix: Life Lessons from Russian Literature" gives you an insightful look into 11 of them from "Dead Souls" to "Dr Zhivago". It may inspire you to read them too.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
Mumbai, Jan 8 : Actress Riney Aryaa, who was seen in the long-running mythological TV series 'Vighnaharta Ganesh', feels acting is not similar to a regular office job.

Riney says: "Being an actor is not like a typical office job. Actors don't have to show up for work every day at the same time and aren't given tasks like a regular employee is. That's not to say that actors don't have work to do. An actor is only truly working on set and preparing for it, and then it's all about creativity.

"Actors learn to unleash their inner expressiveness and approach life head-on, unlike the rest of the population that is expected to behave appropriately and put creativity on the backseat. Actors typically have to keep learning like students how to explore and express their creativity." Riney who started her showbiz journey as a model and later featured in shows like 'Suvreen Guggal: Topper Of The Year', 'Emotional Atyachaar' and 'Kulfi Kumar Bajewala' feels becoming an actor isn't as easy as people think.

She adds: "Becoming an actor isn't as easy as many people think it is. There are no official statistics or internships that show how many budding actors end up being famous or successful. In fact I have met many actors who are still struggling and are frequently hired for no more than a few commercials. A famous actor's life may be the goal, but very few actors make it to fame and fortune, that's not to say that new actors have no chance of becoming successful actors, it all just depends on luck and choices completely."
New Delhi, Jan 8 : On the occasion of Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) on January 9, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will address a virtual youth PBD conference on 'the role of Indian diaspora' with regard to innovation and new technologies.

Other notable speakers at the event will be Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart; Kundan joshi, founder CEO of TheAppleLab; Amit Sodani, founder CEO of kupos.com; Rahul Jain, co-founder and CEO of peach payments and others.

PBD is celebrated once in every two years to strengthen the engagement of the Indian community overseas with the India government and reconnect them with their roots. It is celebrated to mark the contribution of the Indian living abroad in the development of the land of their ancestors.

January 9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since, in 1915, Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, had returned to India from South Africa, on this day, and led the country's freedom struggle which changed the lives of Indians forever.

The 16th PBD Convention on "Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat" was held virtually in New Delhi last year.

Started in 2003, these conventions provide a platform to the Indian community overseas to engage with the government and the people from the land of their ancestors, for mutually beneficial activities. These conventions are also very useful in networking among the overseas Indian community residing in various parts of the world and enable them to share their experiences in various fields.
London/New Delhi, Jan 8 : Citing privacy concerns, the Swiss army has banned the use of Meta-owned WhatsApp among other popular messaging services by army personnel.

The army staff has been asked to use encrypted Swiss messaging app 'Threema' instead, reports www.swissinfo.

Apart from WhatsApp, the Swiss army has also banned the use of Signal and Telegram.

According to reports, the primary concern appears to be the "ability of authorities in Washington to access data stored by companies that fall under US jurisdiction, as described in the US CLOUD Act".

"The CLOUD Act obliges service providers under US jurisdiction to comply with search warrants, regardless of where servers are located," according to reports.

Since Threema is based in Switzerland, it would not be obliged to respond to such search warrants.

Threema also operates in line with the European Union's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

"Data security is one of the reasons for the policy changea, according to an army spokesman quoted in a report by Tamedia newspaper.

WhatsApp is the most popular messenger application among 16- to 64-year-olds in Switzerland, according to local surveys.

Such concerns over the use of foreign mobile applications by army officials have been raised in India too as they might compromise security.

After the Centre banned several Chinese mobile apps over security concerns in 2020, the Indian Army asked its personnel to delete 89 apps, including Facebook, PUBG, Zoom, Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok, etc, along with several dating apps.

The Indian Army has now launched a contemporary messaging application called 'ASIGMA' (Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application).

The application can be used on mobile phones using the internal army network.

"The application is being deployed on the Army's internal network as a replacement for the Army Wide Area Network (AWAN) messaging application which has been in service for the past 15 years," according to the defence ministry.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : Increase in Covid cases along with imposition of various restrictions by different states have had an adverse impact on business and economic activities across the country, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said on Saturday.

According to the CAIT, the situation has led "business of various verticals of goods" to go down by an average of 45 per cent in the last 10 days.

The Confederation also urged the Central government and the chief ministers to take all possible steps to prevent further Covid spread.

Besides, it cited the "double whammy" of lower intra-regional trade due to the restrictions and subdued local buyers' sentiments.

"The main reason for this decline is the panic among the people due to the third wave of Corona," the CAIT said.

"Reluctant mood of traders to come to the distribution centres from neighbouring cities, money crunch, large sums of money getting stuck in credit and imposition of various Covid restrictions without consulting the traders are some of the factors that have hit the businesses," it said.

The CAIT also expects a major business decline during the wedding season.

"During the wedding season, which will start on the day of Makar Sankranti on January 14 and go on for two-and-a-half months, business of about Rs 4 lakh crore was expected," it said.

"But due to the various restrictions imposed by the state governments across the country, a steep drop is seen in the business of nearly about 75 per cent," it added.

"Now it is estimated that in the next two-and-a-half months, there is a possibility of about Rs 1.25 lakh crore only in this business vertical," it added.
Chandigarh, Jan 8 : A 1987-batch IPS officer, Viresh Kumar Bhawra, on Saturday assumed the charge of Director General of Police (DGP) in Punjab, replacing Siddharth Chattopadhyaya.

Bhawra is the third DGP in just three months of the Congress government led by Charanjit Channi. Chattopadhyaya replaced senior IPS officer Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota.

The order issued by the state reads: "On the consideration of the panel received from the Union Public Service Commission, the Governor of Punjab is pleased to appoint Shri Viresh Kumar Bhawra, IPS as Director General of Police, Punjab (Head of Police Force)." After assuming charge, the newly appointed DGP said with the state Assembly elections round the corner, Punjab Police will ensure smooth conduct of elections.

He said keeping in view the elections, the police will also ensure that elections are being conducted in inducement free manner.

Apart from ensuring smooth elections, Bhawra said his focus would be on eradicating drug menace and terrorism from the state.

He added that people-centric policing and public service delivery are among his top priorities.

The DGP said the Punjab Police will make optimum use of technology for carrying out investigations of the various crimes.

Notably, the Police Medal for Meritorious Service and President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service recipient had served in the states of Punjab, Assam and the Intelligence Bureau, and the government of India in different capacities.
Chennai, Jan 8 : PMK Founder S. Ramadoss on Saturday urged the Tamil Nadu government to cancel interviews for all job recruitments to root out corruption.

He also welcomed the government's decision to recruit staff for its undertakings, corporations and others through Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).

Ramadoss said from 2008 onwards recruitments for all state government enterprises were through a written test and interview which instead of bringing in transparency has ushered in corruption.

He also said cases have been registered against former and present Ministers for job racket corruption.

Unless the TNPSC functioning is reformed, corruption in recruitment cannot be abolished, Ramadoss said.

He also urged the government to fill the Member vacancies in TNPSC.
Agartala, Jan 8 : In view of the rising Covid cases, BJP President J.P. Nadda has cancelled his two-day Tripura visit from January 10 and the ruling party has suspended all its organisational programmes for 15 days, state party President Manik Saha said on Saturday.

Saha said that after 15 days, the Covid situation would be reviewed and then the next course of action would be decided.

During his stay in Tripura, his first visit to the state as national party President, Nadda was scheduled to address several organisational meetings and other events.

According to the health officials, the daily positivity rate in Tripura was 0.69 per cent on January 1 and it rose to 3.09 per cent on Friday night with the active cases increasing to 330 from 94 during this period.

The Tripura government is considering imposing some fresh restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The BJP's stakes are high in the assembly polls announced on Saturday as the saffron party is in power in four states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipura, while the Congress is ruling the state of Punjab.

The biggest challenge of the BJP is not only to retain these four states but also make its political presence felt in Punjab which the saffron party is jointly contesting with Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa's Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt).

The ruling BJP is leaving no stone unturned to retain four states and win Punjab as this election will set the political narrative in the country for the next general elections.

BJP's loss in Uttar Pradesh and other states will strengthen opposition and will also give a shot in the arm to much talked about opposition unity. Similarly, retaining Uttar Pradesh will boost BJP's chances for the next general elections.

Uttar Pradesh will vote in seven phases - on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, March 3 and March 7.

"It is always believed that the Uttar Pradesh assembly poll results will set the tone for the Lok Sabha polls. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh assembly polls this time will also set the agenda either in favour of BJP or against it in the run up for 2024 general elections. Uttar Pradesh, the biggest state with 403 assembly and 80 Lok Sabha seats, is politically very important," a BJP leader said.

To blunt the opposition charges -- of existence of anti-incumbency against its state government, Covid mismanagement during second wave, farmers' protests and other issues, the BJP is aggressively sticking to the developmental issues emphasising development of state taking place only due to 'double engine' government.

The BJP, however, claims that there is no anti-incumbency against any of its state governments and highlights several infrastructural projects completed and welfare measures taken in the last five years.

In 2017 polls, the BJP had swept Uttar Pradesh along with its alliance partners by winning about 325 seats in 403 member assembly. This time Samajwadi Party (SP) is emerging as the biggest challenger for the BJP. The saffron party is also little worried about the SP-RLD alliance which may work against it in Western Uttar Pradesh.

A senior BJP office bearer claims that people have already decided to elect the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. "The love and blessings we received during 'Jan Ashirwad Yatras' in all the 403 assembly constituencies is clearly showing people have already made up their mind to elect the BJP government to continue uninterrupted development of the state," he said.

The BJP is campaigning aggressively to gain political ground in Punjab after its alliance came to an end with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2020 on controversial three farm laws. The saffron party leaders believe that Punjab Lok Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) will make political gains in the state. The result will also show whether repeal of three farm laws benefited the BJP and its alliance partner or not in Punjab.

In Goa, where the BJP is in power for 10 years and will be contesting assembly polls for the first time after death of its biggest leader Manohar Parrikar, is facing challenge from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress and debutant Trinamool Congress (TMC).

In Uttarakhand, whether changing three chief ministers in four months has benefited the BJP or not will be found out after the assembly poll results. In March, BJP had made Tirath Singh Rawat Chief Minister of Uttarakhand replacing Trivendra Singh Rawat. In July Tirath Singh was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami. The BJP has set a target of winning over 60 seats in next assembly polls in Uttarakhand. In the last assembly polls in 2017, the BJP won 57 seats.

Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand will vote on February 14.

The BJP is trying to retain Manipur on the issues of development, and 'bandh, blockade' free state in the last five years. The BJP had won 21 of the 60 seats in 2017 Manipur Assembly polls and formed the government with support from regional parties.

Manipur will vote in two phases on February 27 March 3.
Chandigarh, Jan 8 : Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday hailed the announcement of polls in Punjab on February 14, saying the 'big day' will decide the future of the state, while Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said the people would heave a big sigh of relief with the end of 'misgovernance'.

Appealing to the people to participate in the carnival of democracy with full spirit while at the same time observing all COVID related protocols, the two-time Chief Minister said, "Sooner the better. We are all set for the big day that will decide the future of Punjab." Punjab with 117 seats will vote in a single phase on February 14 and the counting of ballots will be on March 10 along with four other states -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

SAD President Badal also hailed the poll announcement, saying the people of the state will heave a big sigh of relief. "This signals the end of anarchy, chaos, confusion and misgovernance in Punjab," In a statement here, the SAD President said the people of the state were ready and eagerly looking forward to a strong, stable and development oriented SAD-BSP government, committed to peace and communal harmony.

"The present rulers have reduced governance to a circus joke. People will heave a sigh of relief that it is over and the state will go back to the serious and sober business of governance by the SAD-BSP alliance".

In the 2017 assembly elections the Congress had won 77 of the 117 seats, followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 20, SAD 15, BJP three and two others.
Mumbai, Jan 8 : The makers of Kannada star Kicha Sudeepa's 'Vikrant Rona' have decided on a theatrical release as they apparently refused a Rs 100 crore offer for an OTT release of their movie.

With the Omicron scare making theatrical screenings a risky business proposition, several movie-makers are opting for OTT release instead.

'Vikrant Rona', a pan-world 3D film has been one of the most anticipated films in the country. From it's title launch on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, to getting Jacqueline Fernandez on board and even announcing a release in over 50 countries, 'Vikrant Rona' has been making all the moves.

According to sources, the team recently had organised a private screening for one of the biggest OTT giants. The visuals of the film are said to be matching Hollywood standards, with a genre that is never explored before in the Indian film industry.

Praising Kichcha Sudeepa's performance as one of the best performances in this decade, sources said the OTT major has offered upto Rs 100 crore for a direct release of 'Vikrant Rona' on their platform. But the film's team has apparently said 'no' to the offer.

Producer Jack Manjunath said "Yes, it is true that the offer was made, but 'Vikrant Rona' is a big screen experience. The visuals that I have seen personally is something that the families and kids will enjoy on the big screen. The 3D experience is something that will have the audiences wanting for more. It is a film that deserves the biggest screens in the country purely for the cinematic experience it will give the audience." Anup Bhandari, director, expressed his happiness at the offer, "It is a great offer, glad that the film is getting the kind of adulation it deserves. The 3D version of the film has shaped up really well and it is an experience for the audiences to be cherished on the big screen. Any filmmaker would want the audience to enjoy the film in a way it is envisioned and the team also feels the same." 'Vikrant Rona', starring Kichcha Sudeepa, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nirup Bhandari and Neetha Ashok, is presented by Zee studios, produced by Jack Manjunath under his production Shalini Artss, co-produced by Alankar Pandian and directed by Anup Bhandari.

It is slated to hit the screens worldwide on February 24.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The BJP is banking on young chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and his government's decision to repeal the controversial Char Dham Devasthanam Board to win Uttarakhand assembly polls.

Uttarakhand is going to polls on February 14.

The BJP claims that changing three chief ministers in the state will have no impact on the assembly polls. In March BJP had made Tirath Singh Rawat Chief Minister of Uttarakhand replacing Trivendra Singh Rawat. In July Tirath Singh was replaced by Dhami.

A senior BJP leader said in a short span of six months Dhami's acceptance and popularity has increased across the state especially among the youth. "It's true that Dhmai did not get chances to settle down as within six months of his taking charge of office election has been announced. The 46-year-old Dhami's popularity among the state's youth will be one of the major factors for our victory in upcoming elections. His acceptance within the party and among voters has also increased in the last few months," he said.

Another saffron party functionary said Dhami government's decision to repeal the controversial Char Dham Devasthanam Board will help the party in 15 assembly constituencies. In November last year, the Dhami government repealed the Board facing opposition from priests and other stakeholders. The priests of Char Dhams and other stakeholders had announced to field candidates in 15 assembly constituencies.

"About 85 per cent of people unhappy with the Board are BJP voters and they were going against us. Now, things have changed and their reason for unhappiness has ended and we won back their support. They will ensure our victory in those 15 seats," he said.

The saffron camp believes that infighting will have no impact on its poll prospects; some voices of resentment will settle down; everyone will work together for party's victory in assembly polls.

The saffron camp believes that development of the state under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership will also play an important role. During his two visits to Uttarakhand in December, Prime Minister Modi had inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several projects worth several thousand crore.

On December 30, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 23 projects worth over Rs 17,500 crore in Uttarakhand which include foundation stone of the Lakhwar Multipurpose Project which was first conceived in 1976 and was pending for many years. On December 4, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various projects worth around Rs 18,000 crore.

The BJP has set a target of winning over 60 seats in next assembly polls in Uttarakhand. In the last assembly polls in 2017, the BJP won 57 seats.
Panaji, Jan 8 : All India Congress Committee senior observer in-charge of Goa Assembly polls P. Chidambaram, on Saturday said, that while the pandemic situation was "worrying", elections are equally important and must be held.

"We will abide by the law. The pandemic situation is a worrying situation. But we will observe the rules and conduct our election campaign in accordance with the rules. We appeal to the people to follow Covid restrictions," Chidambaram said, while "accepting" the poll schedule.

"But elections are equally important. Elections must be held," he also said.
Chennai, Jan 8 : Director Selvaraghavan, who has delivered several critically acclaimed films in Tamil, on Saturday showered praises on director Sukamar's Telugu hit 'Pushpa: The Rise', saying the film had blown him away.

Taking to social media, the ace director said, "WOW ! What an entertainer! Blown away. Kudos to Sukumar! All the characters have done a terrific job. Addicted to Devi Sri Prasad's songs and background music! And Allu Arjun, what a performance! Body language and mind blowing acting! Loved the little nuances! Hats off!" 'Pushpa: The Rise', which features Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead, had emerged as a blockbuster, even before its release on OTT on Friday.

Sources say that 'Pushpa: The Rise' has already raked in over Rs 300 crore. Sukumar, in an interview to IANS, had said that they would begin work on the second part of 'Pushpa' in February and that it would be released on December 16 this year.
New Delhi, Jan 8: Kenya and China have just signed six trade agreements and have even proposed to form a joint working group to carve out ways to reduce trade imbalances. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was in Nairobi earlier this week reiterated that the Beijing-funded infrastructure projects were mutually beneficial to both countries. But despite this rhetoric, there is a growing sense of underlying apathy and discontent among the local Kenyans against the Chinese companies and contractors.

Why? Besides apprehensions of a possible debt trap, the Chinese companies have bagged most of the key infrastructure projects leaving the small and sub-contracted work for the locals.

According to Kenya-based news organization the East African, only a few Chinese companies have amassed road and infrastructure contracts worth $8.8 billion under the Jubilee administration.

"The dominance of Chinese companies has left a bitter taste among local contractors who are now losing out even on county roads and real estate projects," the news organization said in a recent report published during Wang's visit.

"A strange and new form of imperialism is emerging with the way the Chinese businesses are operating," Rajen Harshe, leading scholar in African and international relations studies in India told India Narrative. "For the Chinese, the focus is less on capacity building, it is more about seizing power and exploiting the resources," Harshe added.

The speed, financing muscle and negotiation power of the Chinese firms has endeared them to almost all government departments, ministries and parastatals, "which have seen them eat the lunch of local companies who the government accuses of shoddy jobs and noncompetitive bids," the news organization said.

China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) and its subsidiary China Road and Bridges Corporation (CRBC) have been entrusted with the bulk of road and railway construction which generate earnings of $6.9 billion.

That apart, "hundreds of billions" have gone to other Chinese firms including China Wu Yi, Synohydro, China Railways 21 Bureau Group, Jiangxi Engineering and Third Engineering Bureau of China City Construction Group which have grabbed several projects across Kenya.

Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International said that African governments must enable the local private sector to flourish.

"The problem that most African countries face is that of governance deficit, what is required is a well thought out state policy when it comes to infrastructure development," Besides, the process of global tendering needs to be fair and transparent.

"The local firms are feeling the pinch and this will hit the Chinese over time, people will start reacting especially since there is a colonial past and history attached to Africa but times have changed and people are more aware and information exchange is easy," Mehta said, adding that global infra development companies based in other countries including India must also be given a fair chance.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Palghar, Jan 8 : Heavy water leakage has been detected from the Mahim-Kelve dam in Palghar district, causing danger to a few villages situated downstream, officials said here on Saturday.

As a precaution, the district administration has started evacuating the local villagers and deployed teams of NDRF and SDRF to tackle any eventuality in case the dam bursts.

The Disaster Management Unit under-secretary K. Suryakrishnamurty has requested for another NDRF team from Pune.

The Mahim-Kelve dam is located around 100 km from Mumbai, at an elevation near the Janjaroli village. Other villages below the dam have been put on high alert.

The Palghar Irrigation Department executive engineer has ordered round-the-clock monitoring of the dam condition and directed for all necessary measures for the safety of the villagers falling in its path and also shift them to safer locations.

The small dam stores water from monsoon rains, and is a popular picnic spot for people from Mumbai, Pune and south Gujarat, with the surrounding forests a favourite with bird-watchers for the large number of species seen here.
New Delhi, Jan 8: The intensity of the unrest that has unfolded this week in Kazakhstan was apparently not on anyones radar. Yet, the surge in violence has not been entirely surprising.

When political family and clan-based regimes continue in power for decades, without accountability to their citizens, the least they must ensure is economic welfare of all. It is surprising that Kazakhstan saw fuel-related riots, which served as the trigger for the widespread violence and mayhem, which saw the government dismissed. Surprising, because Kazakhstan is Central Asia's richest, largest, and most powerful state. It is resource rich, with oil and gas aplenty, one of the world's largest uranium producers, but, unlike neighbouring Uzbekistan, which is also resource rich, is not cash strapped either.

The apparent trigger for the violent protests was the fuel price hike - the government had removed the cap on LPG which is widely used by the people. The protests began in the oil city of Zhanaozen, where in 2011, 16 oil workers protesting poor working conditions had been killed by the police. Protests and violence then quickly spread to other cities of Kazakhstan, long thought to be a haven of tranquillity and peace.

On Tuesday, the government was dismissed, and fuel prices rolled back. But this did not quell the protests. While the authorities clamped down on the internet, social media has been flooded with images of violence, burning official buildings and a statue of first President Nur Sultan Nazarbayev being brought down by mobs in Taldykorgan, three hours from Almaty, the country's commercial capital. Rumours have been circulating that Nazarbayev and his family have fled the country.

It is difficult to believe that only fuel hike could have led to such wide-scale mayhem. Grievances and frustration had long been building up. In 2019, for instance, protests were mounted at the elections which were largely believed to be cosmetic and retained Nazarbayev's hold on power.

In March 2019, in a surprising and unprecedented but astute move, then President Nur Sultan Nazarbayev had announced that he was stepping down from the post of president. Nazarbayev has been holding this post for 28 years, since 1991, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was dissolved, and Kazakhstan emerged a sovereign republic. Nazarbayev declared that in accordance with constitutional provisions, he would cease to be President of the republic and for the rest of the duration, the Chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan, Qasym-Jomart Tokayev, would take over as President.

Nazarbayev remained the president of his party Nur Otan, the largest party in the current Kazakh parliament, and the Chairman of the country's Security Council for life. His successor, 65 years old Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, a career diplomat, and a Sinologist was a member of Nazarbayev's inner circle. He had earlier held the posts of Minister of External Affairs and Prime Minister of Kazakhstan. Tokayev also belongs to Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party.

The transition, it was felt, was symbolic, and presidential elections were held the same year as an expression of yet more symbolism. The handpicked Tokayev, of course, went on to win handsomely.

Nevertheless, protests were held during the elections which were not seen as fair. Tokayev soon after renamed the capital Astana as Nur Sultan, in honour of Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan has a youthful population - 51 per cent are under the age of 29. It is the youth who were at the forefront of the protests.

President Tokayev has been quick to invite the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) forces to quell the violence, which overnight continued with the death toll standing at 18 and 3000 arrests at the time of writing. Kazakhstan, together with Russia, Armenia, Belorussia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan is a founder-member of the CSTO. No doubt the spectre of the colour revolutions in next door Kyrgyzstan, which saw the overthrow of Soviet era President Akayev and several other presidents must be staring at him. And Russia has been quick to rush in troops for restoring peace and stability.

RIA news agency has reported that about 2,500 personnel will be stationed in Kazakhstan for several days or weeks. Authorities have announced that the protests have been seized by extremist forces, including those belonging to the Islamic State, which had earlier recruited from the country. (Part of the CSTO's raison d'etre is battling Islamist terrorism in Central Asia). Across the country a state of counter-terrorism operations has been established.

Scepticism and speculation about the narrative, however, are rife. One of the rumours doing the round is that the USA is behind the protests, to open a second pressure front against Russia, after Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that, "Reaffirming its commitment to allied obligations within the CSTO, the Russian Federation supported the adoption of urgent measures amidst the rapidly deteriorating internal political situation and surge of violence in Kazakhstan. We view the recent developments in this friendly country as externally provoked attempts at disrupting the security and integrity of the state through violent means, including trained and organised armed groups. The Russian Federation will continue its close consultations with Kazakhstan and other allies in the CSTO to analyse and develop, if necessary, further effective measures, primarily for assisting the counter-terrorist operation by Kazakhstan's law enforcement agencies..." However, deployment of CSTO troops has been questioned by analysts in the region. Kazakh political analyst Karlygash Nugmanova has called the deployment "wrong" without broad based discussions amongst Kazakh and Russian citizenry. Questions have been raised why the CSTO had refused to rush in troops earlier into member state Kyrgyzstan which had faced similar turmoil or had not rushed to protect Armenia in its war with Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Uzbek analysts have questioned why Uzbekistan did not rush to help its neighbour, leaving the space for Russian re-entry into the region. The White House has announced it is closely monitoring events.

For Russia, however, it is the opportunity to reinforce its traditional role in the region and position itself as the net security provider there. In this it will no doubt also have the support of Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, which is not a member of the CSTO but in the wake of the Taliban ascendancy in Kabul has been reinforcing its military ties with Russia. Time will tell what course the uprising takes. But for now, it's back to the future.

(Aditi Bhaduri is a columnist specialising in Eurasian geopolitics. Views expressed are personal and exclusive to India Narrative) (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Jan 8: Pakistans military establishment is upset with their good old friend - the Taliban who they helped to capture power in Afghanistan. The reason is the extremist Islamist regime has failed to take any action against the militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has stepped up attacks on the Pakistani army.

In the last month, the TTP has claimed to have launched 40 attacks on Pakistani security forces killing more than 20 soldiers.

According to the Pakistani army, it was Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Interior Minister of the Taliban regime who had asked them to hold talks with the TTP. This was followed by a month-long ceasefire but on December 9, the TTP unilaterally called off the ceasefire and immediately resumed its attacks on the Pakistani forces.

"The Taliban government told us that they would bring them [TTP] to the table and make them accept what Pakistan wants. However, there were some demands from our side that were non-negotiable," said Major General Babar Iftikhar, head of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of the Pakistani army adding that the army will now launch a full scale attack on the "menace".

Reacting to this, the TTP immediately said in its statement that, "you should know that TTP has emerged from hard times and is united. The coward army spokesman also misinformed the public and reporters about the November talks and the ceasefire and tried to hide the facts." "We want to make it clear once again to the people of Pakistan that we are ready for both war and dialogue, that our military and political strength is greater than ever and that we will never be defeated by the Pakistani army," the TTP statement added.

According to the latest UN report, the TTP has an increased strength from 6,000 plus to 10,000 plus fighters and most of them are from the Taliban and its allies.

"The TTP has regrouped and reorganized, with its top leadership based in neighbouring Afghanistan," says the report.

"The TTP has also succeeded in expanding its recruitment inside Pakistan beyond the former tribal regions along the border where it traditionally found fighters", Amir Rana, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, told AP.

That is raising fears among Pakistanis of a return of the horrific violence the group once inflicted. They still remember how the TTP militants attacked a school in Peshawar on December 16, 2014 and killed more than 150 including 140 children.

The Taliban and Haqqani are not addressing the concern of Pakistan as promised that they would not allow any militant organisation against any country including Pakistan.

The Imran Khan government did try to negotiate despite the massive protest from people and flak from the Supreme Court of Pakistan but as expected the move was a non-starter.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Jan 8 : After the announcement of the poll dates in five states, the challenges before the grand old party are how to remain relevant in the states as principal opposition party.

Except in Uttar Pradesh, Congress is a major force in other four states but the two parties who have disturbed the equation in three states are the AAP in Punjab and Uttarakhand and Trinamool Congress in Goa, which means Congress has to retain at least Punjab and win two other states to be relevant in the national politics as principal opposition party -- the space which is being threatened by the TMC and AAP.

Apart from Uttar Pradesh, the party is in direct contest with the BJP in three states, while in Punjab, it faces the Akali Dal-BSP and Aam Aadmi Party.

The Congress national status is being challenged by the AAP and TMC as AAP is contesting in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa. In Punjab, it's a force and it can cut votes in Goa and Uttarakhand.

Though it is not the main challenger in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress wants to be ahead of the BSP in the contest.

The Congress is faced with a crisis in Goa, where almost all the MLAs have deserted the party, except for two former Chief Ministers. It faces somewhat similar problem in Punjab, where party MLAs have left while many others have lined up to join the Punjab Lok Congress, the outfit floated by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the BJP.

The party is in a better position in Uttrakhand, where some BJP MLAs have joined the party.

In Manipur too, the Congress has faced an exodus ahead of the polls. The party is paying special attention to the northeastern state and has appointed Jairam Ramesh as the senior observer. In the last elections in Manipur, the Congress could not form the government despite emerging as the single largest party.

The same thing happened in Goa, where around 13 MLAs have joined the BJP in the past five years while two have jumped ship to the Trinamool Congress. The grand old party has now appointed veteran leader P. Chidambaram as senior observer in the coastal state.

The toughest challenge is in Uttar Pradesh where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is in-charge with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel as senior observer. Priyanka Gandhi started her virtual campaign on Saturday with direct dialogue to people on social media platforms. She is also scheduled to address party rallies in other states as well.

The Election Commission on Saturday announced dates for Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab, and Uttarakhand. Polling will be held in seven phases starting in UP on February 10, with counting of votes scheduled for March 10.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : Hours after the Election Commission of India announced the dates for polls in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand on Saturday, Aam Aadmi Party UP in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that the ECI should ensure that the polls do not affect people's lives.

In an interview with IANS, Singh said that we will do politics on issues and not on currency. Excerpts: Q. Election Commission has announced poll dates for five states. Amid the Covid-19 surge, do you think it is the right time to hold polls? A. The poll body has taken the decision after discussing with experts and various departments. We do not want to question the Election Commission but all political parties should follow the Covid-19 protocols. We hope that the poll panel will ensure that corona protocols are being followed.

Q. The way political parties have been holding public rallies earlier, do you think virtual rallies will be as effective as a general election campaign? A. Today, at 3 p.m., I addressed a public meeting virtually for the UP assembly polls on issues of famers, women and unemployment. I believe that social media has a lot of influence on all of us and is far reaching. At a time when the country is recording more than four lakh coronavirus infections and health experts say that during the peak the country can log more than five lakh cases, we should not let polls affect the life of the common man. Therefore, virtual rallies can also prove to be a great means of electioneering.

Q. Election Commission has banned physical rallies till January 15. Do you think other parties will also campaign as per instructions of the poll body? A. We will follow the instructions of the poll panel. We will appeal to other political parties to campaign virtually as on the one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah cancelled their rallies while on the other hand Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath could be seen distributing his phone number. A few political parties are continuously flouting the Covid protocols. Banning roadshows and physical rallies will not serve the purpose, the Election Commission will have to take prompt action.

Q. The poll panel has announced that the UP Assembly polls will be held in seven phases which is a long time. You are the AAP's state in-charge. What is your demand from the poll body? A. We hope that the Election Commission will take timely action against political parties flouting the poll body's instructions. Earlier, in the West Bengal Assembly polls, Covid protocols were flouted by many parties, especially the BJP but the Election Commission did not take any action...

The AAP has been campaigning extensively in Goa and Punjab.

Though Delhi is not slated to go to the polls, but the Kejriwal government imposed a weekend curfew as the national capital was witnessing a surge in Covid-19 infections. We hope that the Election Commission will hold elections in a manner that the lives of people are not affected as Covid infections are expected to reach a peak in February.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kolkata, Jan 8 : West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday summoned Chief Secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi and Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malaviya to brief him on an incident involving BJP Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, in which he was allegedly stopped from entering Netai under Binpur Block in Jhargram on Friday.

Adhikari was going there to pay homage to nine persons who were shot during the Left Front rule.

"In view of the highly-disturbing scenario, reminiscent of Emergency, in Jan 07 communication @SuvenduWB, WB Guv has directed CS @MamataOfficial & DGP @WBPolice to brief him, fully updated, with written report, on Jan 10 at 11 am," the Governor tweeted.

Dhankhar's directive to the state administration came after Adhikari wrote to the Governor alleging that he was not allowed to go to Netai.

"On Friday on my way to Netai, a huge contingent of WB Police blocked my way, barricading the whole road," Adhikari wrote.

Adhiakri also said that he was not allowed to go to Netai despite him saying that he would go there alone.

Writing in detail, the BJP MLA said, "I would request you to kindly analyse the following information that I am about to share with you as a specimen of the deterioration of the democratic order in West Bengal where even the judiciary holds no importance in the eyes of the authorities in charge of law and order." Adhiakri said that on January 7, 2011, armed goons fired indiscriminately targeting innocent villagers of Netai, in which nine lives were lost while several others got injured.

"At that time, I was among the first responders who reached the site, helped the injured receive medical aid and recovered the corpses and sent them for post-mortem. The police at that time were busy shielding the perpetrators of the crime as they belonged to the then ruling party," Adhikari said.

Adahikari added that he wanted to go to Netai on Friday (January 7), but anticipating that the ruling Trinamool Congress might obstruct him from going there, he wrote to the Jhargram SP seeking permission to which he didn't respond.

Adhikari said, "I approached the Calcutta High Court well in advance. Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya presided over the matter in W.P.A. No. 129 of 2022." "The AG assured the court that there is no restriction on my movement and the state government would provide security for my safe passage to any part of Bengal. He even submitted that as a citizen of India, I am free to visit any part of the country without any hesitation and the case should not have been filed in the first place," the Leader of the Opposition said.

"Recently, I went to Kotulpur, Bankura, to meet slain potato farmer Tapas Kotal's family members, for providing financial assistance. He died by suicide after incurring losses due to unseasonal rainfall. But a large number of police personnel led by Additional SP Ganesh Biswas obstructed me. No Section 144 or prohibitory order was in place, nor could he provide any explanation for such restrictions," Adhikari alleged.

"They deliberately defied Calcutta High Court's order and contradicted AG's submission. They didn't allow me to visit Netal. I pleaded with them to let me visit under any condition, even if it meant for me to go alone. All my requests fell on deaf ears and there was simply no response from Additional SP Kalyan Sarkar, in charge of the force on ground," he said.

"I then marched to Bhimpur village nearby to commemorate the occasion by paying tributes at a makeshift memorial," he said.

The Governor responded immediately and asked the two senior state government officials to be present in person on Monday and brief him on the details of the incident.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity (MTMC) got back its Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) licence again on Saturday.

Missionaries of Charity is a Kolkata based organisation which operates orphanages and shelters for the poor, sick, and destitute in India, its FCRA licence was not renewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

On the occasion of Christmas, the MHA had refused to renew its FCRA licence. The MHA had reportedly found some adverse input following which it didn't renew the licence. The move of the MHA had led to a nation-wide controversy with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemning the move.

After losing its FCRA license the organisation was helpless to access foreign funds parked in over 250 accounts. To access the foreign funds of 250 accounts the organisation needed to revive its FCRA licence.

As of now the Centre has not made any statements in this respect.

According to sources, the MHA finally agreed to renew the licence after necessary documents were furnished with the concerned authorities.

Soon after it was restored, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev tweeted: "Service to mankind is the greatest service".

Derek O'Brien, another TMC MP took to twitter to criticise the Centre.

"The FCRA registration for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity is back. The 'adverse inputs' harassed so many and then disappeared in two weeks. The POWER OF LOVE is stronger than the power of 56 inch," read his tweets.

He also shared a screen shot on the twitter regarding his tweet showing that licence was renewed.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram has also attacked the Centre on Twitter following the renewal of the licence.

According to the information, a police complaint was lodged with Gujrat Police against one unit of the MTMC. It was a children home of MTMC and the complaint was against its director. It was alleged that a conversion racket was being run at the children home.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : Two US Democratic Congressmen have ratcheted up the pressure on Airbnb over its business dealings in Chinas Xinjiang province and sponsorship of next months Beijing Winter Olympics in a letter to the American property rental companys CEO, Brian Chesky, Forbes reported.

Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. James P. McGovern, the respective chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, questioned "Airbnb's commitment to human rights" due to its business dealings in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government's increasingly oppressive treatment of the native Muslim Uyghur population has risen to the level of genocide in recent years, according to the US government, the report said.

An Axios report from last year, which found that Airbnb lists at least 14 properties on land owned by a paramilitary group sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, and the company's sponsorship of next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing, which the US is diplomatically boycotting, were among Merkley's and McGovern's primary concerns.

Airbnb spokesman Samuel Randall said in a statement to Forbes: "Airbnb operates in more than 100,000 cities across 220 countries and regions...including in China, which is home to roughly 20 percent of the world's population. We operate where the US Government allows us to operate and require all users to agree to our non-discrimination Community Commitment." Sen. Marco Rubio wrote a similar letter to Chesky in December, calling for the company to pull out as an Olympics sponsor and "immediately delist" the properties owned by the sanctioned Xinjiang entity.

On December 23, US President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law, which banned most imports from the Xinjiang region. Tesla also faced criticism this week for its business dealings in the province after opening a vehicle showroom in Urumqi, the province's capital city, Forbes reported.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : Delhi Police have traced the origin of a morphed video to Pakistan in which it was allegedly claimed that the Cabinet Committee meeting on security gave a call for the removal of all Sikh soldiers serving in the Indian Army.

"The technical analysis has pointed out that the accounts that were used to propagate the malicious content were being used from Pakistan," a senior official of the Delhi Police told IANS.

After the video surfaced on social media, it was fact-checked by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police, which found that the video was morphed and a voice over was superimposed, in which the alleged persons tried to show that the meeting was against the Sikh community.

DCP (Cyber Crime) K.P.S. Malhotra had earlier informed that in reality, the video was shot on the day when a high-level committee was briefing Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the demise of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.

General Rawat died when a military helicopter crashed in the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu, costing 14 lives on December 8, 2021.

Such act of promoting disharmony or enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony and can disturb public tranquillity. It is also an offence under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code.

Time and again it has been noted that the origin of the anti-India content, spread through different social media platforms, comes from across the border in Pakistan.

During the primarily technical investigation, it was noticed that there were various accounts, which had tweeted the same video with the same content and same hashtag.

"All the accounts were created between October 2021 and December 2021. The technical analysis has revealed that these accounts were being operated from a single browser (developed by multilogin.com)," sources said.

Multilogin provides Mimic browser and stealthfox browser, which have features of multi sessions and private sessions.

Following the preliminary probe, around 46 accounts on Twitter that were being operated from Pakistan have been blocked.

On December 21, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had banned 20 YouTube channels and websites which, according to the orders issued then, were running a concerted campaign of propaganda and disinformation against India.

The channels were launched by The Naya Pakistan Group (NPG), which has a network of YouTube channels with a combined subscriber base of at least 3.5 million. Their videos have had over 550 million views, the Ministry had said.

The 20 channels banned by the Centre included The Punch Line, International Web News, Khalsa TV, The Naked Truth, News 24, 48 news, Fictional Historical Facts, Punjab Viral, Naya Pakistan Global and Cover Story, among others.

Kashmir Global and Kashmir Watch were also among the proscribed websites.

(Ujwal Jalali can be reached at ujwal.j@ians.in)
Palghar, Jan 8 : Heavy water leakage from a 3-metre big breach was detected in the 40-year-old Mahim-Kelve dam in Palghar district, causing danger to a few villages situated downstream, officials said here on Saturday.

As a precaution, the district administration has started evacuating the local villagers and deployed teams of NDRF and SDRF to tackle any eventuality in case the dam bursts.

The Disaster Management Unit under-secretary K. Suryakrishnamurty has requested for another NDRF team from Pune.

According to officials, the dam has a capacity of around 2,600 cubic million litres of monsoon water storage, but is now discharging rapidly at around 1,300 litres per minute, sparking major safety concerns for the villages downstream.

At least five villages -- Jhanzorli, Dondhaalpada, Bandade, Naveenpada and Patharipada -- which fall directly below the dam, are being evacuated.

A fully-equipped NDRF team with flood water rescue equipment, high rise gadgets, plus ropes and ladders has reached the spot to tackle any eventuality, Deputy Commandant Ashish Kumar told mediapersons.

"We were summoned by Palghar Collector Manik Gursal and if required, we can get motorboats and other rescue essentials to shift the locals to safer areas," Kumar said.

Deputy Irrigation Engineer Prabhakar Giri said that presently, teams are trying to control the leakage with sand-bags and other materials, but he ruled out the possibility of the dam bursting in view of the dry season.

He said that minor leaks were first noticed around May last year, which increased by July and the Irrigation Department's Dam Safety Organisation in Nashik was duly informed.

Expert divers carried out underwater videography but at that time the water was 9-metre deep and hence it was difficult to empty out such a huge quantity.

Plans were afoot to undertake major repairs soon, but the huge breach was noticed on Saturday following which the concerned departments swung into action.

The immediate plan is to seal the breach with around 300-400 truckloads of sand during the night and by Sunday, the officials expect the dam to become safe.

Besides the NDRF and SDRF, another posse of 100 police personnel and a squad of Riot Control Police have also been deployed and the villagers are being alerted of the potential hazards.

The Mahim-Kelve dam is located around 100 km from Mumbai at an elevation near the Jhanzorli village. Other villages below the dam have been put on high alert.

The Palghar Irrigation Department executive engineer has ordered round-the-clock monitoring of the dam condition and directed all necessary measures for the safety of the villagers falling in its path and move them to safer locations.

The small dam stores water from monsoon rains, and is a popular picnic spot for people from Mumbai, Pune and south Gujarat, with the surrounding forests a favourite with bird-watchers for the large number of species spotted there.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said that it has arrested Madhukar G. Angur, the former Chancellor of Alliance University in connection with a prevention of money laundering case for allegedly misappropriating University funds by cheating around 4,500 students' parents to the tune of Rs 107 crore.

Earlier, four separate cases under various sections of Indian Penal Code were registered by Banglore Police against Angur.

The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of these FIRs. The ED found that Angur was allegedly involved in money laundering through different means.

Madhukar Angur, Priyanka B.S. and Ravi Kumar, the three accused had physically lodged themselves inside the campus premises of the Alliance University, Bengaluru, between 2016 and 2017.

During this time Madhukar Angur and others informed the parents of the students through emails and physical notices not to deposit the fee in the official accounts of the Alliance University and instead asked the parents to deposit the fees of their children into the illegally opened bank accounts by Madhukar Angur and others in the name of Srivari Educational Services.

Hence, the parents of about 4,500 students were persuaded to deposit the fees in the said illegally opened bank accounts, which amounts to the tune of Rs 107 crore which was siphoned off by Madhukar Angur and others by collecting the tuition fees, hostel fees and other fees illegally from the student community.

"The accused was produced before the Hon'ble City Civil and Sessions Judge and Special Judge for PMLA cases at Bengaluru on saturday. The ED sought the judicial custody of the accused. The court after hearing the arguments of both the sides allowed the move of the ED. The court has remanded him to seven days judicial custody," said the ED official.

The official said that further probe in the matter was on.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The Delhi Government has announced to give relaxation on the occasion of Prakash Parab of Guru Govind Singh to be held on January 9.

The government has allowed devotees to visit the Gurdwaras on the occasion of Prakash Parab with strict compliance of Covid guidelines and the Covid appropriate behaviour.

"The devotees will be allowed to visit Gurdwaras of Delhi on the occasion of Prakash Parab of Guru Govind Singh Ji to be held on January 9, subject to the strict compliance of the guidelines of government of India and government of NCT of Delhi issued from time to time and to observe the Covid appropriate behaviour", said a notice issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

The national capital Delhi has gone into weekend curfew starting on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday to check the sharp increase in coronavirus cases. The daily Covid caseload has crossed the 20,000 mark in the city.

Delhi on Saturday reported 20,181 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day spike since May 5 last year when the tally reached 20,960. The infection rate in the city has climbed at 19.60, highest in last eight months. Delhi has as of now total 48,178 active cases.

Meanwhile, the national capital Delhi has also reported 48 new Omicron cases in last 24 hrs, pushing the tally to 513. Of total, 57 have recovered from the infection so far.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chandigarh, Jan 8 : Despite getting the maximum 14 councillors elected to the 36-member House of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which contested the polls for the first time, on Saturday failed to get its Mayor and his Deputy installed in the House.

The BJP, with the support of 13 councillors and its sitting MP Kirron Kher, got its candidate Sarabjit Kaur elected as Mayor, with Anup Gupta as her Deputy.

A total of 28 votes were polled as the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal abstained from voting.

The BJP got 14 votes, the AAP 13 while one vote was declared invalid.

Gupta won through a draw of lots after votes were tied 14:14 between him and AAP's Ram Chander Yadav.

Later, AAP leader Jarnail Singh accused the BJP of murdering democracy in the mayoral election.

He said that in the corporation elections, the residents of the city had voted the maximum number of 14 seats for AAP.

AAP's victory in the Mayor election was certain, but the BJP deliberately cancelled a vote of AAP by insulting the verdict of the public and declared its Mayor forcibly, he told the media.

He said the elections for Mayor showed that there was a clandestine understanding between the BJP and the Congress to defeat the AAP.

After winning 12 seats in the elections, the BJP inducted a councillor from the Congress.

"Somehow BJP's vote figures reached 14 by including one vote of from an MP and it equalled AAP's 14 votes. But the BJP, by flouting all the rules and regulations, got its candidate appointed as the Mayor," Singh added.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : Women participation in the electoral process has increased in all the five states going to polls -- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, and Manipur as compared to the last assembly elections with UP witnessing the maximum participation of the fair sex at 29 points, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said on Saturday while announcing the poll schedule.

As many as 18.34 crore electors from the five states will take part in the democratic exercise and out of that 8.55 crore are women electors. In the women participation, UP is followed by Goa with 24 points, Manipur with 19 points, Uttarakhand with 18 points, and Punjab at 10 points.

In the gender ratio, Goa recorded 1056, Manipur 1065, Punjab 902, Uttarakhand 928, and UP at 868, Chandra said.

Notably, out of the 24.9 lakh first-time voters, 11.4 lakh are also women.

Nearly 13.01 lakh are differently-abled voters and 31.47 lakh senior citizens mostly above 80 years will exercise their franchise and this will inspire the younger generation, he said.

The CEC said service electors including Security Forces deployed in far-flung places, Mission staff, and others are about 5.29 lakh.

Polling time has been increased by one hour in all the states. The final electoral rolls were published on January 5. The EC has made an effort to increase the number of voters and as a result, all states have seen an increase, with the maximum voter increase in Uttar Pradesh.

The EC has capped the number of voters per booth to 1,250, resulting in an increase in the number of polling stations to 30,334 as the average number of voters per polling booth has decreased.
Imphal, Jan 8 : Political parties, both ruling and opposition on Saturday, welcomed the Manipur assembly election schedule and are confident of winning the polls to be held in two phases -- on February 27 and March 3.

The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Election Commission officials in Imphal said that similar to this year, the elections to the 60-member Manipur assembly were held in two phases on March 4 and 8 in 2017 and they are fully geared up to conduct the upcoming polls following the poll panel guidelines and Covid protocols.

The leaders of the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress while welcoming the election schedule have expressed confidence of victory.

Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik, who is one of the election in-charge of BJP for Manipur, said that her party is fully ready for the polls and will win with a landslide victory.

"As the Election Commission imposed restrictions on the physical campaign, we would undertake a massive virtual campaign at the earliest. All the central leaders in-charges of Manipur are now in the state. We would discuss everything including the strategies with the state leaders and act accordingly," Bhowmik told IANS.

She said that Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav, Assam's Urban Development Minister Ashok Singhal, BJP's central observer for Manipur and party's national spokesman Sambit Patra are now in Imphal and they are discussing the next course of action with the state leaders including Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.

Manipur Congress spokesman Ningombam Bupenda Meitei welcoming the ECI's poll dates announcement, emphasised on level playing field to all the political parties and effective implementation of ECI's orders and directives on ground.

"I am confident that Congress will be back to power not only in Manipur, but also in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa," the Congress leader told IANS.

After 15 years, Congress was ousted by the BJP-led alliance in the 2017 Assembly polls, despite emerging as the single largest party with 28 seats. But the saffron party, which had bagged 21 seats, stitched together a coalition government with the support of four National People's Party (NPP) MLAs, four Naga People's Front (NPF) members, the lone Trinamool Congress MLA and an Independent member.

The NPP headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, however, already announced to contest the elections on their own this time and would field candidates in at least 40 seats.

The political parties have already started their campaign for the ensuing elections in Manipur. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Manipur and addressed a public gathering at the Hapta Kangjeibung ground in Imphal after inaugurating 13 projects and laying foundation for nine projects with a total investment of Rs 4,815 crore.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was scheduled to visit Manipur on Thursday and Friday, cancelled his trip, instead virtually inaugurated and laid foundation for 29 projects worth of Rs 2,450 crore, from Delhi.

BJP President J.P. Nadda and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, who is the party's election in-charge for the northeastern state, and many other Central ministers and leaders have already visited the poll-bound state and addressed several public rallies in different parts of Manipur.
Panaji, Jan 8 : Political parties in poll-bound Goa have welcomed the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold state assembly elections on February 14. While state Bharatiya Janata Party president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said that the party is geared up for the polls, All India Congress Committee senior observer for the Goa polls P. Chidambaram also said that while the Covid situation was worrying, holding elections is also important.

"I welcome the decision of the ECI. They have prescribed guidelines, which say that no road shows and public meetings should be held till January 15. The BJP had already postponed public meetings from January 5. We have already taken the decision in view of Covid," Tanavade said.

"BJP will win with the blessings of people of Goa and hardwork of party workers. We will win with a full majority," he said.

"We will abide by the law. The pandemic situation is worrying. But we will observe the rules and conduct our election campaign in accordance with the guidelines. We appeal to the people to follow Covid restrictions," Chidambaram said, while "accepting" the poll schedule. "But elections are equally important. Elections must be held," he also said.

Earlier on Saturday, Goa's Chief Electoral Officer Kunal (he does not use a surname) said that the election machinery was in readiness to implement the guidelines put forth by the ECI in Goa.

"No padyatra, no nook meeting or any kind of meeting (will be allowed). We will be strictly monitoring. Right now our teams are in places to enforce from the defacement point of view. Goa Prevention of Defacement of Public Property will be strictly enforced. Request all stakeholders to ensure that they adhere to law of land," Kunal told reporters here, adding that apart from static surveillance, two flying squads had been constituted in each of the 40 assembly constituencies.

"Covid situation we are monitoring daily. One is the Health department guidelines and secondly is the guidelines by the ECI. So, Health department has said no meetings over 100 and ECI has said no meetings until January 15," Kunal also said.

"So we expect around 20,000 personnel will be part of the election process to man 1,722 polling booths in Goa," he said.

Goa polls would be formally notified on January 21, while the last date for nomination of candidates is January 28. The candidature will be scrutinised on January 29 and the last date for withdrawal of candidates has been set at January 31 for the polls, which will be held on February 14, which incidentally is Valentines Day. Results will be declared along with all other four states on March 10.

The state has 5,62,500 male and 5,93,960 females listed voters, along with four third gender voters taking the total tally of eligible voters to 11,56,464.

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Hyderabad, Jan 8 : Railway and bus stations in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad on Saturday saw huge rush of passengers heading home in the Telugu states for Samkranti festival.

Secunderabad, Kacheguda and Nampally stations witnessed big festive rush. Large number of families were seen on platforms waiting to board next available trains to their destinations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Secunderabad Railway Station, which is the biggest railway station in the twin cities, saw festive rush since early morning.

With South Central Railway (SCR) operating special trains to clear Samkranti rush, hundreds of men, women and children were seen flocking to the station.

The SCR officials were taking steps to ensure strict adherence to Covid-19 precautions by the passengers. Police personnel were also seen advising the commuters to follow all the precautions like wearing of masks, maintaining social distance and hand sanitization.

The passenger rush is likely to increase in the coming days. The officials of different wings were coordinating to prepare plans to control the rush and ensure that all passengers follow Covid regulations.

Meanwhile, bus stations in the twin cities also saw big rush of passengers to board buses to their destinations. Both Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS) in Hyderabad and Jubilee Bus Station (JBS) in Secunderabad were crowded with passengers leaving for their home towns in both the Telugu states.

Both Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) and Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) are operating special services to clear the festive rush.

The RTC officials have also taken steps to handle the crowd in view of Covid situation. An official of TSRTC said they were taking all precautions and were also advising passengers found not wearing mask or not abiding by other Covid guidelines.

Both the Telugu states have been witnessing a surge in Covid cases for last one week. Telangana saw a four-fold jump in the daily count of cases since the beginning of the new year. The state saw over 2,500 cases on Friday.

Andhra Pradesh on Friday reported 840 new Covid cases, the highest single-day spurt in four months.

Health officials have warned of a bigger surge after Samkranti festival.

Every year, lakhs of people living in Hyderabad and its surroundings go to their homes towns for Sankranti, the harvest festival which is celebrated with enthusiasm in both the states.

Every year, an estimated 20 lakh from Hyderabad and its surroundings visit their hometowns for Samkranti. Majority of them head towards coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions in Andhra Pradesh.

On no other festival people in such large numbers go home. It leaves the usually busy roads and intersections in Hyderabad rather deserted.

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New Delhi, Jan 8 : Leaders from Pakistans opposition parties, Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Maryam Nawaz and others, have lambasted the Imran Khan-led government for the Murree disaster, blaming it for what they called "criminal negligence", Samaa TV reported.

At least 21 people died of severe cold after they were stranded in their cars during the snowstorm in Murree on Friday night. The hill station was crowded after tourists headed there to witness snowfall.

The opposition leaders expressed grief over the deaths of tourists in Murree, and criticised the government for victim-blaming.

Shehbaz Sharif said the incident was an act of "criminal negligence" on the part of the government, which has exposed the incompetent government that cannot even handle a traffic situation, the report said.

The PML-N President questioned why the government did not make arrangements to protect the people, knowing that such heavy snowfall would hit the area.

"Does this government deserve to be in power if it cannot handle 1,000 cars? If tourists were headed towards Murree in such huge numbers, why did the government not know about it? Was the administration asleep," he asked.

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed sorrow over the demise of 21 people and said that the entire nation, like him, is saddened over the unfortunate incident in Murree.

"It would have been better had [the administration] informed the tourists about the weather situation in Murree. The local authorities should immediately begin the rescue operation," he added.

Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the Murree incident is a huge failure of the government. Rather than commencing rescue operations, the federal ministers are blaming the victims, the dead tourists, he alleged.
San Francisco, Jan 8 : Health platform Binah.ai has announced that it has added blood pressure monitoring to the suite of health tools available on its app, which is available through partnered businesses.

According to The Verge, the company said it can calculate blood pressure using only video of someone's face through a smartphone or laptop camera.

However, experts said they need to see significantly more data from the company before they would trust the feature.

Tracking blood pressure without the usual cuff is a longstanding goal for cardiologists and tech companies, the report said.

"We designed this to replace home cuff devices," David Maman, CEO and Co-founder of Binah.ai, was quoted as saying.

To monitor blood pressure, the tool analyses the light reflected off of the face to calculate changes in blood flow a" a technique called photoplethysmography (PPG).

Device and app makers have leveraged that strategy on various body parts to calculate things like blood oxygen levels and heart rate.

Using it for blood pressure, though, is more challenging. Researchers are making progress toward that goal, but experts said that there is still not enough data to show people can rely on this technique clinically.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The VRS request of Joint Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED), Rajeshwar Singh, has been accepted by the department. Singh is now likely to contest upcoming UP Assembly elections.

In August last year, Singh, who was posted in Lucknow, had applied for the VRS. Six months after his request, the concerned department took cognisance of the matter and allowed his move.

There are possibilities that he might contest election from Shahibabad.

As of now Singh has not made any official statement regarding his joining BJP and about his VRS. So far he is keeping mum on the matter.

During his long tenure in ED, he probed most sensitive cases i.e 2G spectrum allocation case. He was also given case of alleged irregularities in 2010 Common Wealth Games. PMLA cases lodged against former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda were also probed by him.

In 2018, Singh got into controversy after he received a suspicious call from Dubai. This call was detected by the intelligence agencies who informed the apex court regarding this. Karnail Singh, the then ED director had said that he (Rajeshwar Singh) was a responsible official.

Singh is holding a B.Tech degree and did his PhD in police, human rights and social justice subject. He became 1996 batch PPS official of UP and was a UP Police official. In 2009 he joined the ED. He was permanently absorbed into the ED cadre in 2015. Abha Singh, his sister who is a practicing lawyer in Mumbai has lauded his likely move saying country needed him. Rajeshwar Singh is married to IPS Luxmi Singh.
Bhopal, Jan 8 : Madhya Pradesh reported 1,572 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, out of which, 618 were registered in Indore and 347 in Bhopal, according to the daily health bulletin issued by the state government on Saturday.

Covid infections have reached to 26 out of 52 districts of the state, of which, Indore and the capital city have been reporting the maximum number of cases. Other districts where daily cases were reported above 50 are - Gwalior (111), Jabalpur (96), Ujjain (65), Vidisha (39), Sagar (36) and Ratlam (24), while the daily cases in other districts remained below 20.

With this, the total active cases in the state have crossed 5,000 (5038), while 166 Covid infected people were reported to have recovered in the last 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate that has been below 1 per cent till last couple of days, was reported at 2.1 per cent on Saturday.

A total of 74,088 Covid samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

There was no Covid related death in Madhya Pradesh in the last 24 hours, whereas a total 10,536 people have lost lives since the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

During a review meeting on Covid pandemic on Saturday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan directed district administrations to monitor the situation at block and village level and prepare a report. As per the official statement, Chouhan will hold a meeting with district collectors on Monday to take stock of Covid situation and preparation.

Meanwhile, earlier on Saturday, Madhya Pradesh High Court taking a suo-motu cognizance sought a report from the state government on its preparations to fight the third wave of the Covid pandemic in the state. The bench headed by Chief Justice R.V. Malimath has asked the state government to submit its report next week.

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Mumbai, Jan 8 : Maharashtra Covid-19 cases remained above 40,000 mark but its variant Omicron infections shot above the 1,000 mark, as the state entered into an era of night curfew, besides extending closure of all schools till February 15, health officials said here on Saturday.

The state reported a slight spike in Covid-19 infections and 'suspect cases' whose samples have been sent for genome sequencing touched 900 for the day.

The state Covid-19 count shot up - from 40,925 on Friday to 41,434 cases on Saturday - and fatalities dropped from 20 a day earlier to 13 on Saturday, while the mortality rate fell from 2.07 per cent to 2.05 per cent.

After recording zero Omicron infections on Friday, the number suddenly shot up to 133 of the variant on Saturday, with tally crossing the 1K mark to touch 1,009, with Mumbai remaining at the top of the list.

Worried by the spread, the state government announced curfew-style measures akin to the first wave in 2020 - ban on groups of five or more persons during daytime from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., total ban on all public movements from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., barring essential services, starting from midnight of Sunday-Monday.

Entry will be strictly regulated and enforced in government offices and only 50 per cent attendance with staggered working hours will be allowed.

Gathering for marriages, and other social functions further scaled down to 50 only, only 20 mourners for funerals, 50 per cent intake in restaurants, cinemas and malls, and the shutting of all schools extended from Jan 31 to Feb 15, barring for critical academics for board students in Class X and Class XII.

Swimming pools, gyms, spas, saloons will be shut, barber shops to serve only 50 per cent capacity, besides a host of other restrictions as the third wave has settled in.

Of the 133 new Omicron infections, 129 are from Pune district, 2 from Palghar and one each from Ahmednagar and Mumbai.

Omicron has spread extensively across several districts in the state, and out of the 1,009 cases till date, 439 have recovered.

Mumbai accounts for the bulk of Omicron cases, 566, followed by 286 in Pune, 63 in Thane, 30 in Nagpur, 18 in Raigad, 10 in Kolhapur, 8 in Satara, 6 each in Palghar and Osmanabad, 3 each in Amravati and Nanded, 2 each in Aurangabad, Buldhana, Ahmednagar and Sangli, and 1 each in Akola and Latur.

The health authorities are continuing the intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports - Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur - since December 1.

A total of 36,624 travellers have landed here from the "high risk" countries of which 436 have tested positive and 464 from other countries, with all their reports sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron.

Besides, another whopping 3,076 positive samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 have been sent for genomic sequencing with the results of 97 are awaited, the officials said.

Of the 41,434 new Covid-19 cases, Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone accounted for 33,134 infections, while Mumbai city remained above the 20K mark with 20,318 new cases.

The next is Pune Circle's 4,749 infectees, Nashik Circle 1,392, Nagpur Circle 981, Kolhapur Circle 489, Latur Circle 251, Aurangabad Circle 226 and Akola Circle's 212.

The number of people sent to home quarantine shot up hugely - from 742,684 on Friday to 845,089 now, and another 1,851 have been shunted to institutional quarantine.

Mumbai, Pune and Thane remain at the top with the highest number of 'active cases' currently in the state, with the afflictions shooting up from 141,492 a day before to 173,238, with the recovery rate improving from 95.08 per cent a day earlier to 95.37 per cent.

The state's cumulative figures of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic stands at 68,75,656 cases and 1,41,627 deaths, while another 65,57,081 patients have fully recovered till date.

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Bhopal, Jan 8 : The Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed an order issued by the state government's Child Welfare Committee (CWC) regarding shifting of 44 children from the St. Francis Orphanage located in Sagar district to some other place.

The principal bench of the high court headed by Justice Nandita Dube, while hearing the petition, questioned the government's unusual move, saying there is nothing on record as to under what circumstance and what provision are the children being shifted from the orphanage to some other place.

"I deem it proper to direct the authorities not to shift the children right now. There is nothing on record as to under what circumstance and what provision the children are being shifted from the orphanage," Dube said adding, "The order of shifting the children dated December 29 has been stayed." The court was hearing a petition filed by St. Francis Orphanage challenging an order issued by the CWC regarding the shifting of children from the orphanage on December 29.

The petitioner stated that on January 6, the CWC along with the police forcefully tried to shift children to other centres.

The court has also directed the district CWC to submit a report within two weeks explaining why the children are being shifted in this cold weather and this difficult time when there is a rising threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the court also asked the state government and the CWC to submit a report on the condition of the orphanage where the children are staying presently, and what is the condition or availability of space where they were intending to shift all these 44 children.

Father Sinto Varghese, Director of St. Francis Orphanage, told IANS on Saturday said that the CWC through the police was trying to remove 44 children forcibly from the orphanage.

He further said that on January 6, government officials accompanied by the police came and began forcing children to accompany them.

An official in CWC, Sagar, claimed the order regarding the shifting of children was issued as the registration of the orphanage expired in 2020.

Replying to this, Varghese said, "We had applied for renewal of licence and had submitted all the documents required to seek extension before the tenure of registration was over. However, the government did not reply on that and instead tried to shift children from here." He added that false information was being spread against the Catholic institute despite its selfless service to the poor and marginalised people of the society for the past 145 years.

He claimed the orphanage was located on a portion of a prime 277-acre of land granted to the church during the British era.
Bhubaneswar, Jan 8 : A total of 14 persons tested positive for Omicron in Odisha on Saturday, officials said.

Of these, 8 have travel history, while four are local cases. The travel history of 2 other persons is yet to be ascertained, officials said.

With the latest additions, the state's Omicron tally has gone up to 75, of which five have recovered.

The Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, which is conducting genome sequencing to detect Omicron cases, has informed the state Health and Family Welfare department about the new cases.

Odisha had reported the first two Omicron cases on December 21 and both had travel history from Nigeria and Qatar. Within a span of 19 days, the cases have gone up to 75.

Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared a hostel of the Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB) as a micro-containment zone following the detection of large number of Covid cases there. According to sources, 30 students of XIMB tested positive for Covid on Saturday.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : A court here has sentenced a former court employee to a five-year jail term for threatening and trying to extort money from a judge in 2007. Highlighting as an extraordinary case, the prosecution submitted that he committed this crime by putting the victim Judge in fear for a considerable time for his illegal gain.

Maximum punishment should be awarded to him so as to send a message to the society, it was argued. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dr Pankaj Sharma held the man guilty of offences under Section 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) and 506 part II (if threat be to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.

The convict submitted that he has already suffered a lot as his job has been lost and he has faced humiliation and indignity in the society. It is submitted that convict is the only son of his parents as his mother is old having disc fracture of backbone and is bed ridden. His father has mouth cancer and he is also severely ill. As a son, he is taking care of his ailing parents through a meager income from tuition. It is submitted that accused has four months old daughter and he is taking care of the family.

The accused worked as a Ahlmad with the complainant and obviously during that time, became aware of her family members and her vulnerabilities. The convict acted like an obdurate criminal by continuously texting threatening messages to the victim for extortion, the order read.

It is a matter of fact that at a workplace trust plays an important role and generally co-Aemployees or officer trust his or her support staff. The convict misused that very trust by becoming aware of the vulnerability of his boss and made a sinister plan to extort money from her by putting her in fear of death of her children.

The threat extended by him were direct and same were capable of putting the complainant in fear and the tone and tenor of the messages was enough to raise an alarm to her which had infact caused great fear, anguish and agony in her mind. Being the mother of two children she would have naturally got threatened and the same had in fact impacted her mind and work.

The terror created by convict had certainly disturbed her peace of mind and even the tempo of doing her official duties. Convict has not only betrayed the trust of her boss i.e. complainant but he has also shattered the trust which an officer reposes with his/her support staff, the court observed.

It was also noted that creating fear in the mind of the Judge affects his/her ability to function properly which directly affects the justice dispensation system and same is an unpardonable act. The crime of the convict is an egregious act that has affected the stream of justice and also created trust deficit among Judges and support staff. The crime committed by convict is required to be dealt in a manner which could prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.
Agartala/Imphal, Jan 8 : The first Janshatabdi Express train connecting three northeastern states -- Assam, Manipur and Tripura -- was flagged off by Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, Union DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) Minister G. Kishan Reddy said that the much-awaited train service would provide major boost to trade and tourism in the northeast region.

The Janshatabdi tri-weekly service from Manipur to Tripura via Arunachal station in southern Assam's Silchar would connect some important towns like Silchar, Badarpur, New Karimganj (all in Assam), Dharmanagar and Ambassa (in Tripura) apart from Jiribam (Manipur) and Agartala (Tripura) -- the two terminal stations.

According to the Chief Public Relations Officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Guneet Kaur, the train journey shall cut the travel time by half as the journey time will be around six hours covering a distance of 300 km against about 12 hours travel by road.

Reddy expressed his gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the vision to work with the 'HIRA' model (H for Highway, I for Internet, R for Railways and A for Airways) for the development of the northeastern states.

Railway Minister Vaishnaw said that this train would be a link connecting the culture of northeastern states.

The proposed Imphal-Moreh (along India-Myanmar border) rail section would be a very strategic line, due to which the relationship between India and other Southeast Asian countries would be very important, he said, adding that efforts would be made to expedite the work of the Agartala-Akhaura (Bangladesh) rail project.

The flag-off ceremony took place in virtual mode between the Railway Board in Delhi, the Chief Minister's Office in Imphal, and the railway stations in Jiribam and Agartala.

Besides Vaishnaw and Reddy, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, his Manipur counterpart N. Biren Singh, central ministers Pratima Bhowmik and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, and Railway Board Chairman and CEO V.K. Tripathi were, among others, were present in different locations during the inaugural ceremony.

The NFR CPRO said that this train service would provide an impetus to trade, tourism and transportation sector in the northeastern region.

There was no direct train between Manipur and Tripura and only one train runs between Agartala and Silchar, that too in the morning hours.

The Janshatabdi Express will now provide direct connectivity to the people of Manipur going to Tripura for educational and health facilities and the people of Tripura will also get the opportunity to visit Manipur for trade and tourism, boosting the overall economy of the region, the Kaur said.
New Delhi, Jan 8 : The feature of online appointment for precautions dose was made operational on the CoWIN portal on Saturday late night. Those eligible to receive precaution dose of Covid vaccines can book online appointment.

However, the health ministry has said that there would not be any need for new registration of such beneficiaries.

"The feature for online appointments for 'precaution dose' for healthcare, frontline workers and senior citizens (60+) is now live on CoWIN", said Vikas Sheel, Additional Secretary & Mission Director, National Health Mission, in a tweet on Saturday late evening.

"Those who have taken 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccine can directly take an appointment or walk-in to any Vaccination Centre", said the health ministry on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced on December 25 that the vaccination process of third precautionary dose for health workers, frontline workers and vulnerable senior citizens will begin from January 10.

The ministry has also made it clear that the precautionary Covid vaccine dose will be the same vaccine as has been given to beneficiaries previously as primary dose. Those who have received Covaxin as primarily will receive Covaxin as precautionary dose and those who have received primary two doses of Covishield will receive Covishield, Dr V.K. Paul, Member-Health, NITI Aayog, had said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Vantage LED Announces ESOP and New CEO at Company Party "Without the dedicated people at Vantage, we couldnt make this happen and I couldnt be more proud. Chris Ma, Vantage LED Chairman

Vantage LED, an LED display company out of Corona, California announced earlier this week the completion of a 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), followed up by an official hand-off from the current CEO, Chris Ma, to his hand picked replacement Yuusuke Arimura.

These changes will serve to usher in the next phase of growth for us, explained Mr. Ma, We are setting the stage for expansion in many ways like acquiring other great companies, hiring new talent to join the family and of course our new CEO and ESOP. Without the dedicated people at Vantage, we couldnt make this happen and I couldnt be more proud.

Vantage LED joins a unique group of forward thinking ESOP companies accounting for only 1% of businesses in the US, or just under 7,000 total. In an ESOP all employees become stakeholders, aligning their hard work and rewards directly to the success of the company, providing safety and stability for everyone. According to Josie Salitrero, National Sales Manager, its all about success as a team.

We are a very team oriented company, department separation is minimal, and everyone is ready to take ownership wherever its needed, she said, The ESOP really helps focus that energy even more, and were excited to bring it into 2022 and beyond!

The timing of the move is both impressive and smart, considering the significant impact COVID-19 had on the working economy in general. Employee programs like an ESOP help attract more talent looking for stability and value in their work. It also helps the new CEO and management teams maintain ownership of company wide decisions, incentivizing more growth, new products, and a great experience for customers and employees.

We partnered with the great people at Ambrose Advisers, RPB CPA, and American Business Bank to make sure we did this right, explained Ivan Perez, HR Director, Our Employee Stock Ownership Plan will function as an additional retirement benefit along with our 401(k) and, like most ESOP organizations, it will be funded entirely by the company, not employee contributions. This means everyone receives the benefits of the program, regardless of their role in the company.

Vantage LED started in 2003, with the mindset of building a better product and experience in the evolving market of LED displays. After years of development and steady growth in the OEM marketplace, they expanded into the general wholesale market in 2010. Continually developing its team of industry professionals, Vantage has aggressively grown in the market over the past 11 years, taking on the big players with fearless innovation and redefining key factors in the market.

I love being part of a company that pushes boundaries, said Kyle Carnes, CIO for Vantage LED, We pioneered offerings like cloud based display management, nationwide emergency alerts integration with FEMA and IPAWS, built in professional content services, an amazing warranty and many other revolutionary features that continue to significantly impact the market today.

According to Mr. Ma, this culture of innovation and generosity is the foundation that the new leaders will build on step by step, much like Mr. Arimuras own journey through the company.

Yuusuke Arimura started at the company as a software engineer in 2003 then stepped up to head the R&D Department when the opportunity arose, explained Mr. Ma, He then filled the role of Chief Operations Officer for the past 5 years. Now, he has earned the position of the Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Ma will be staying on as Chairman to help facilitate the transition and assist with any needs, while Mr. Arimura and his management team will manage the direction and day to day operations of the company moving forward.

I am excited for the opportunity to grow the company through quality products and with a great team backing me up, explained Mr. Arimura, Well continue to thrive by building on the amazing culture inspired by Chris [Ma] and enhancing it with even more collaboration, feedback and ownership of the work required to succeed.

Ricky Chai, Production Manager for Vantage LED explained that Mr. Arimura has been the backbone of the engineering side of Vantage LED for close to 18 years. His servant leadership style and extensive knowledge have affected every aspect of the company from initial design, to production and support.

Hes had a hand in virtually every signature project weve produced, like the re-engineered LED sphere at Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, or the giant multi-city video boards we produced and set up in Brazil for the FIFA FanFest. His hard work and vision has earned him the absolute trust and loyalty from our entire production crew and Vantage family.

According to Mr. Arimura, the ESOP and leadership changes are just the beginning.

Change isnt always easy, but absolutely necessary to evolve and grow the company. Weve got a lot of great things in store for the future; the ESOP and leadership structure are just the beginning! he explained, Our ultimate goal has always been the success of our amazing dealers, display owners, and our own people and their families. Im committed to continuing our journey together, and look forward to the work ahead as we enter new markets, with more features, improvements and a great experience.
2022 Hyundai Santa Fe is now at Hiley Hyundai of Burleson

2022 Hyundai Santa Fe is now available at Hiley Hyundai of Burleson in Burleson, Texas. They are one of the most reliable Hyundai vehicle dealers in the area. The 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe is available in SE, SEL, XRT, Limited, and Calligraphy trim levels. It comes with a striking exterior and a well-designed interior.

It is equipped with two engine options. A 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline-4 engine delivers 191 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque. Another 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-4 engine is available for Limited and Calligraphy trims, generating 277 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque.

2022 Hyundai Santa Fe cabin is similar to last year's model. The dashboard has a floating touchscreen that gives it a modern look with a cabin consisting of soft-touch materials, and the seats are very comfortable. A few convenience features of the vehicle are power adjustment for front seats, heated front and rear seats, dual-zone automatic temperature control, and more.

The dealership has car reviews page to give more information to customers about the latest Hyundai vehicle. Customers can visit Hiley Hyundai of Burleson for maintenance and repair services as qualified technicians inspect the vehicle. The dealership makes sure to give speedy services.

Interested individuals can visit the Hiley Hyundai of Burleson website. For further assistance, contact dealership staff at (817) 945-9900. The showroom is located at 320 N Burleson Blvd, Burleson, Texas, 76028.
Santa wound his way through the streets of Wheaton, Illinois on December 11th from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm in a procession of festively decorated cars and led by a police escort. Agents from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicagos Wheaton office coordinated the event with Santa and his elves. The parade route was posted in advance and the event was livestreamed so that everyone could enjoy the event.

Joe Stacy, senior vice president, general sales manager and Wheaton office managing broker said, We posted the parade route online and shared it with members of the community so they could come out and see Santa. Kids of all ages were delighted by the opportunity to see him before he had to return to the North Pole.

Wheaton office brokers Sam Bauman and Beth Seibert played a big part in the planning process. Sam said, It was an absolute joy for Beth and I to see the excited faces of kids along the parade route. We enjoyed the event whole-heartedly and hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

ABOUT BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY HOMESERVICES CHICAGO

The Wheaton office is located at 145 Danada Square East. To reach the office, please call 630.682.8222. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago is a full-service real estate firm with more than 1,400 real estate professionals and staff in 25 offices serving customers throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, the North Shore, West and Southwest communities, Southern Wisconsin, Northwest Indiana and Harbor Country, Michigan. Recognized as a Top Workplace in Chicago, their local roots are complemented by the extensive global reach of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, one of the nations leading real estate brands. Clients can experience all-inclusive homeownership services from their affiliated companies: Prosperity Home Mortgage, Fort Dearborn Title, and HomeServices Insurance. Visit BHHSChicago.com.
Ribbon cutting for Crimson Cup Coffee Shop West Chester In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to re-examine almost every aspect of our business. We entered 2021 with a renewed focus on our vision: to establish meaningful relationships that inspire healthy communities. - Founder and President Greg Ubert

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021, Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea grew by sourcing exceptional coffees, serving terrific drinks to coffee lovers, helping independent coffee shop owners prosper and expanding its impact in coffee-growing communities.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to re-examine almost every aspect of our business, said Founder and President Greg Ubert. We entered 2021 with a renewed focus on our vision: to establish meaningful relationships that inspire healthy communities.

Pouring a cup of coffee is about more than just enjoying a delicious drink, he added. Its about focusing on the good the coffee can create.

The companys 2021 milestones included:



Celebrated its 30th anniversary with limited-edition 1991 Blend coffee and a series of nostalgic brew bar drinks, coffee shop specials, retro garb and giveaways.

Opened 19 new independent coffee shops through the 7 Steps to Success coffee shop startup program.

Launched Crimson Cup Coffee Shop West Chester inside the new Beckett Ridge Branch of Telhio Credit Union in West Chester, Ohio.

Sourced and roasted exceptional limited-edition coffees, including 1991 Blend and Colombia Arcila Cinnamon Pink Bourbon

Gave back to local communities in Ohio and coffee growing countries.

Looking back on 2021, Ubert said he was proud that Crimson Cup helped so many entrepreneurs succeed despite supply chain and staffing challenges affecting almost all businesses.

I was amazed at the grit and determination of the new owners, he said. We look forward to supporting them with award-winning coffee and ongoing teaching and training for many years to come.

Crimson Cup also helped its hundreds of existing independent coffeehouse customers continue to adapt to changing consumer demands for convenience and safety.

Our independent coffee shop owners are an amazing group! Ubert said. By focusing on speed, efficiency, and contact-free delivery of terrific beverages, many streamlined their operations.

Another highlight of the year was the November opening of Crimson Cup Coffee Shop West Chester.

We are excited to bring our award-winning coffee and focus on good to the Cincinnati metro area, Ubert said Our partnership with Telhio enhances the commitment we both share of serving the best to our consumers and the community.

The West Chester location is the companys fifth Crimson Cup Coffee Shop, joining three locations in central Ohio and a shop in Tallmadge, Ohio. In 2020, the roaster also launched a retail flagship store, Crimson, at Easton Town Center in Columbus.

Limited-edition 1991 Blend and Colombia Arcila Cinnamon Pink Bourbon coffees headlined the roasters 2021 coffee roster.

1991 Blend represents our origins and our journey as a coffee roaster over the past 30 years, Ubert said.

To create the light-roasted blend, Sustainability Director Brandon Bir and Coffee Buyer Dave Eldridge blended Guatemalan and Peruvian coffees sourced through long-term farmer relationships.

1991 Blend showcases the hard work of our farmers with flavors of chocolate-covered raisins and smores, Bir said. Its a really approachable coffee, but nuanced for people who like a more exciting cup.

In October, Crimson Cup airlifted an experimental micro lot of Colombia Arcila Cinnamon Pink Bourbon coffee to Columbus, where it debuted at Crimson.

in the mountains of Colombias Quindio Region, Grower Jairo Arcila has transitioned 10 hectares of his Finca Villarazo from avocados to coffee, focusing on the superb Pink Bourbon variety.

To create the unique coffee, Finca Villarazo workers exposed a micro lot of their best cherries to dry anaerobic fermentation of 72 hours.

During fermentation, they added tartaric acid and cinnamon to enhance the flavor. In the last step, they dried the cherries on raised beds to 10.5 percent moisture content.

The result is a sweet cup with subtle notes of cinnamon, Bir said. Rare cups and relationships like these are at the core of Crimson Cup.

Over more than a decade, Crimson Cup has forged strong relationships with small-plot farmers around the globe, investing in their communities through its unique Friends2Farmer initiatives. These relationships give the roaster access to some of the worlds best coffees.

With in-person trips to remote coffee farms off the table during the pandemic, Crimson Cup used video conference calls and other software tools to consult with coffee farmers.

The company also continued its tradition of giving back to the community. In central Ohio, Crimson Cup supported Cancer Support Community Central Ohio and other non-profits. Through Friend2Farmer, it funded education, water filtration, home building, raised coffee beds and other projects in coffee farming communities.

In June, for example, a Hope House exhibit at Easton Town Center raised $1 for every drink at Crimson for the companys work in Siguatepeque, Honduras.

During frequent visits to work with farmers, weve seen that lack of safe housing, access to clean drinking water and education are serious issues  especially for families with children, Eldridge said. Working with community leaders and our local charity partner, we chose these three priorities for investment.

Looking ahead to 2022, Ubert said Crimson Cup plans innovations to create positive impact throughout its value chain  from coffee drinker to coffee shop to coffee farmer.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present challenges to all of us, he said. But Ive never been more confident of the role terrific coffee plays in bringing people together  and in Crimson Cups strength in building communities through coffee.

We invite all our customers and coffee lovers to join us in our focus on good, creating a more sustainable future for coffee and the workers who produce it.

About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea

Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is celebrating 30 years of Coffee + Community. Since May 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced craft coffee for consumers and wholesale coffee customers. It is a 2020 Good Food Award winner, 2019 Golden Bean Champion for Small Franchise/Chain Roaster and Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year.

Through its 7 Steps to Success coffee franchise alternative program, the company teaches entrepreneurs to run independent coffee houses in their local communities. By developing a coffee shop business plan, entrepreneurs gain insight into how much it costs to open a coffee shop.

Crimson Cup also supports life-enriching projects through its Friend2Farmer initiatives, promoting the education, health, sustainability and economic growth of small-plot coffee farmers and their communities.

Crimson Cup coffee is available through over 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 30 states, Guam and Bangladesh. The company also operates several Crimson Cup Coffee Houses and a new Crimson retail flagship store. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com, or follow the company on Facebook and Instagram.


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Greenberg Traurig Advises Linus on Structuring Private Debt Funds and Securing Funding Line

Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP advised Linus Digital Finance AG (Linus), an alternative commercial real estate lender, on the structuring of Luxembourg private debt funds and securing a 183 million limited recourse, revolving funding line from Bain Capital Credit (Bain) and a German bank. Linus reported that the move will enable it to further grow its private funds platform and real estate lending activities in Europe.

The funding line will be used by one of the debt funds, which will issue notes to Bain and the German bank, the proceeds of which will be used to make loans to commercial real estate investors and developers. The funding line may be used across Europe, starting with Germany and the UK. The first loan to be made using the funding line is scheduled to close in January 2022. The other debt fund will make or acquire real estate loans without using the funding line.

The Greenberg Traurig team comprised lawyers resident in the firms London and Berlin offices. The London team was led by Shareholders Partha S. Pal (Real Estate Finance) and Ben Eaton (Tax) and included Associates Priyanka Verma, Faheem Ahmed, and Calum Young. The Berlin team was led by Shareholders Anika Mitzkait (Finance) and Kati Beckmann (Finance/Private Funds) and Local Partner Claudia Stremel (Tax) and included Associates Peter Zingel (Corporate/Private Funds) and Paul Renger (Finance). Luxembourg law advice was provided to Linus by Arendt & Medernach and Jersey law advice by Bedell & Cristin.

Commenting on the transaction, Pal stated, The funding of alternative commercial real estate lenders is evolving. While the first generation of alternative lenders used unleveraged or leveraged structures with full sponsor recourse, the next generation is using leverage in more creative but controlled ways. Transactions like this can allow alternative lenders to increase their capacity to originate loans. We congratulate the Linus team on this achievement and are delighted to have supported them in achieving this significant step in the development of their business.

Beckmann further stated, The Luxembourg debt fund platform implemented should enable Linus to provide investors with the ability to invest in leveraged and unleveraged real estate debt. We are excited to be a part of this.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,300 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 25 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 4.0 Plus Certified. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com
Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLPs Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group will host two webinars in conjunction with the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. The webinars, titled Biotech Pharma Trends for 2022 and Trends in Medical Devices, Digital Health & AI, take place Jan. 10-11. Click on the following links to register: Biotech Pharma Trends for 2022, Trends in Medical Devices, Digital Health & AI.

Biotech Pharma Trends for 2022 will be moderated by Greenberg Traurig Shareholders Fiona Adams and Wayne H. Elowe Jan. 10 at 11 a.m. EST. The panel of industry leaders will discuss the latest trends in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals including deals, financings, and areas and technologies attracting investment. The panelists include: Shaun Grady, AstraZeneca; Luba Greenwood, Kojin Therapeutics; Uciane Scarlett, MPM Capital; and Richard Yu, Huadong Medicine Co.

Trends in Medical Devices, Digital Health & AI will be moderated by Shareholders David J. Dykeman and Ginger Pigott Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. EST. The latest trends in medical devices, digital health, and artificial intelligence will be discussed by panelists Tracy MacNeal, Materna Medical; Jeff Mann, BD; Jeremy Sohn, Magnetar Capital; and Angela Wang, Neusoft.

About Greenberg Traurigs Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group: Greenberg Traurigs Life Sciences & Medical Technology Group advises clients ranging from start-ups to large multinational public companies to leading research institutions. The groups attorneys work closely with clients, providing innovative legal counsel to help them achieve their objectives  from discovery through commercialization and product marketing.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,300 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 25 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 4.0 Plus Certified. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com
Magan Pritam Ray, shareholder of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, has been re-elected to the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU NorCal).

Ray previously served on the board from 2009 to 2020, including three years as chair. During her tenure, she chaired the Governance and Legislative Policy Committees and was a member of the Development, Executive, Finance, and Personnel Committees. Rays current term began Jan. 1, 2022.

As a first-generation immigrant and member of the bar, the ACLUs mission to uphold the Constitution and ensure civil rights and civil liberties for all persons in the United States, resonates deeply, Ray said. It is an honor to rejoin the board and continue the necessary work of ensuring equal protection and justice for all.

The Northern California chapter is one of the largest ACLU affiliates in the United States with more than 100,000 members, according to the organizations website. The ACLUs overall mission is to protect Americans individual freedoms and civil liberties at critical moments in history. The national organization has more than 1.7 million members, 500 staff attorneys, and thousands of volunteer attorneys.

Ray, part of the Benefits & Compensation and Tax Practices at Greenberg Traurig, has wide-ranging experience in all facets of employee benefits and ERISA matters, including the design, implementation, and operation of retirement plans, health and welfare benefit plans, cafeteria plans, fringe benefit plans, and non-qualified deferred compensation programs. She focuses on counseling clients on the business impact, strategic response, plan design, and compliance with the evolving legal requirements and industry changes impacting the health care sector. Ray regularly advises Fortune 100 companies on issues in mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and joint ventures. She also has experience representing companies undergoing employee benefits and tax audits before the IRS and Department of Labor. In addition to her employee benefits practice, Ray serves as co-chair of the Greenberg Traurig South Asian Affinity Group. Ray also serves on the board of directors of Advancing Justice  Asian Law Caucus and RIP Medical Debt.

About Greenberg Traurigs Diversity Initiative: From its inception, Greenberg Traurig has been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Greenberg Traurig is a uniquely empowering and diverse firm built on a foundation of fairness, equality, and authenticity. Through its Social, Racial, and Economic Justice Action Plan, the firm has committed $5 million over five years to help combat systemic racism and support impoverished communities. In addition, the firms efforts have been recognized through its Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certification Plus, administered by The Diversity Lab, and by local, national, and global publications and organizations including Chambers and Partners. Web: https://www.gtlaw.com/en/general/our-firm/diversity Twitter: @GT_Drives.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,300 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 25 on the Am Law Global 100. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com
In an attempt to support Louisvilles restoration efforts, and help those impacted by the Marshall Fire, StorQuest is donating $1 from every rental at 28 Colorado facilities to support the Boulder County Community Foundations Wildfire Fund.

The Marshall Fire, which started on Dec. 30, destroyed over 1,000 structures and 35,000 people were forced to evacuate from Boulder County, including the city of Louisville where StorQuests facility is located at 1200 Lock St. StorQuests donation will assist in aligning resources while the non-profit foundation will work with government and nonprofit partners to disperse the funds to support those impacted.

The Wildfire Fund is distributing $5M in financial assistance to those whose homes have been destroyed or damaged and an additional $500K to support the needs of the evacuees. By choosing Boulder Countys Community Foundation, StorQuests is committed to supporting the immediate needs of the community throughout this devastating crisis as we continue to restore and rebuild Boulder County. StorQuest deeply values the relationships with its Guests and is committed to supporting them through this difficult time.

To learn more about Boulder Countys Community Foundation Wildfire Fund please visit http://www.commfound.org/grants/get-grant/Boulder-County-Wildfire-Fund.

About The William Warren Group & StorQuest Self Storage. The William Warren Group, Inc. is a privately held, entrepreneurial real estate company that develops, acquires and manages self storage properties under the vibrant StorQuest Self Storage brand. With over 200 locations nationwide, StorQuest has developed an industry-wide reputation for extraordinary guest service, driven by a best in class operating team and leadership in technological innovation. Leveraging our advanced digital marketing program, in-house call center and robust revenue management system, our cutting edge third-party management platform continues to deliver immediate performance results. To learn more about The William Warren Group and its proprietary brand of StorQuest Self Storage visit: http://www.williamwarren.com and http://www.storquest.com.
Pressure on the fashion industry to reduce its sizable negative impact on the environment is rising, and vegan alternatives to leather, animal, and petrochemical-based materials are being embraced as a promising solution. One of the fashion industrys newest must-haves is mycelium, a mushroom material grown from fungi which can be engineered to replicate the look and feel of calfskin or sheepskin leather, and just might help save the planet. Ecovative, which runs the worlds largest mycelium leather foundry, has signed an agreement with international multi-brand fashion companies Bestseller and PVH Corp to integrate the sustainable alternative material into different product lines for the two companies stable of brands, including Tommy Hilifiger, Calvin Klein and Vero Moda. Mycelium mushroom leather can outperform traditional animal-based materials in strength and durability, and recently made its high-fashion debut as a Hermes handbag. The leather can be grown in pieces to the specific shape and size required by a designer, eliminating the need for cutting room waste. Because the cost of mycelium leather at scale is comparable to that of mid-range of animal-based leather, it provides an attractive option outside of its sustainability benefits from both a performance and economic perspective, turning positive social and environmental impact for fashion companies into brand value.

Through its fungi foundry, which utilizes vertical farming infrastructure, Ecovative is able to provide millions of square feet of mycelium annually. The company has more than a decade of experience providing mycelium materials for partners throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, and its latest 100% bio-based alternative leather material product, called ForagerT Hides, was launched in March 2021 after five years of research and development. The growth process only takes nine days, and yields a ready-to-finish material up to 80 feet long, free of environmentally harmful plastic scrims and petroleum based coatings. Bestseller and PVH will work directly with Ecovative to co-develop mycelium materials for a range of product applications, including accessories like belts, and footwear, with the goal of producing prototypes by the end of this year before moving into wider commercial production in 2023.

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This article originally appeared in a PSFK guide for Delivering Sustainability in Retail with Merchandise & Sourcing Strategies
When asked why she became a historian, Deborah Cohen mentions something she noticed about her mothers and fathers families while growing up in Louisville, Ky., in the 1970s and 80s. Though both branches of the family tree stretched back to the Pale of Settlement in czarist Russia, one side was all about the Betamax, she says with a laugh, while the others were really nostalgic, and spent all their time thinking about the past. I think I was drawn to the backward-looking people.

Speaking over Zoom from her handsome, book-lined office at Northwestern University, where shes chair of the history department, Cohen says she went to college thinking shed wind up in public health. Then I found archives, and I was like, Man, this is where Im meant to be. Though, I have to say, she interjects, shaking her head in disbelief, never, never, never have I worked in a set of archives like these.

The archives shes referring to250 boxes of journalist and novelist John Gunthers letters, diaries, and notebooksform the backbone of Cohens new book, Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War (Random House, Mar.). Sweeping in scope yet saturated with a startling intimacy, its the story of a close-knit circle of American newspaper correspondents who reported on the global tumults of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. Largely forgotten today, Gunther and his friends H.R. Knickerbocker, Vincent Jimmy Sheean, and Dorothy Thompson were celebrities of their era, the sources millions of Americans turned to for up-close views of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, the Spanish Civil War, and nearly every other international imbroglio of those turbulent decades.

Cohen first visited the John Gunther papers at the University of Chicago after rereading Death Be Not Proud, a poignant, taboo-breaking memoir about Gunthers teenage sons death from a brain tumor. Among the hundreds of boxes, she opened the miscellaneous correspondence from 1937 just for the hell it and found a private letter from Indian nationalist leader Jawaharlal Nehru describing his feelings for his late wife. Another set of files contained a note from Czech foreign minister Jan Masaryk joking about the abdication crisis in Britain.

It was crazy and unimaginable, Cohen says. For me as a European historianit was riches and riches and riches.

Just as remarkable as the candid view of the eras political power brokers was Gunthers intense, no-holds-barred chronicling of his private life. He left notes on the affair he had with Knickerbockers wife, dream journals he kept at the behest of his Freudian psychoanalyst, and even a confession from his wife, Frances Fineman Gunther, a fellow reporter, that she had been faking her orgasms.

Cohens three previous bookson the treatment of veterans in Germany and Britain after WWI (The War Come Home), the Victorian obsession with homemaking (Household Gods), and shame and secrecy in modern Britain (Family Secrets)are linked by the depth of their archival research and their close attention to the relationship between the individual and society and to the nature of private life. Her dip into Gunthers papers, which, she says, soon exploded to include the equally riveting archives of his friends and fellow correspondents, had revealed a group of people for whom the very same questions about the correlation between the geopolitical and the personal were at the core of their thought.

I fell in love with them from the very start, Cohen admits. In an era before jet travel and U.S. global hegemony, they were young people stuck out at the end of the world, in American terms, who became the arbiters of an international competition between democracy, fascism, and socialism. Sheean filed the first detailed reports on the 1929 Palestine riots. John and Frances Gunther witnessed the Austrian governments shelling of its own citizens in 1934. Knickerbocker won the Pulitzer Prize for documenting the suffering caused by Stalins first five-year plan. After she was kicked out of Nazi Germany in 1932, Thompson launched the first syndicated opinion column by an American woman and helped mobilize public sentiment in favor of going to war.

Throwing themselves from one world crisis to the next, Gunther and his cohorts led lives as combustible as the politics of their era and brought the same level of scrutiny to their marriages, infidelities, and neuroses as they did to the legacy of British imperialism in India and the 1935 Hoare-Laval Pact that sought an end to the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. In the archives, Cohen turned up records of Thompsons affairwhile she was married to Sinclair Lewiswith the novelist and playwright Christa Winsloe, and Sheeans dalliances with two of the Bloomsbury Groups demi-gods: Duncan Grant and Eddy Sackville-West.

For Cohen, who spent eight years researching and writing Last Call at the Hotel Imperial, striking the right balance between the geopolitical and biographical elements of the story was crucial. I really wanted you to hear them, she says of her subjects. I wanted you to feel like you were right there with them. That, in the writing, was a complicated thing to try to pull off. The amount of background versus foreground. What can you assume? What is best quoted? What is best paraphrased? You only want to know a certain amount about the factional battles of Austrian socialism, but you also only want to know a certain amount about so-and-sos love life after their divorce from their wife.

Cohen credits her editor at Random House, Marie Pantojan, with helping her to sort through those questions about how much context is too much. Pantojan says working with Cohen was a dream come true. As a graduate student in the English department at Northwestern, she had gone to Cohens talks all the time and considered her one of the schools superstars.

Pantojan says part of her role in the editing process was to remind Cohen that readers dont have the same handle on history as she does. Still, she adds, this sweeping, global history ends up reading very much like a novel because of the character work and character development Deborah has put into it.

Any reservations Cohen may have had about unearthing her subjects most private matters were alleviated by their commitment to preserving those materials. For Frances Gunther, the orgasm was an unspeakable thing that she insisted on writing about, Cohen says. But she saved it. She wanted her papers to go into an archive, because she wanted precisely that struggle to be understood. The same thing is true of all of them. That was their crusadeto expose these areas of private life to public view.

And it wasnt just a matter of breaking sexual taboos. In sounding the alarm about the rise of totalitarianism in Europe and documenting the abuses of colonial regimes in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, the Gunthers and their cohort called into question the prevailing standards of journalistic objectivity and made arguments against both-siderism that will be familiar to readers of todays news.

Cohen also sees similarities between the Trump era and the 1930s. When all the parallels between the 30s and now became a little cottage industry for historians, she says, I kept thinking that one of the things thats most 30s-ish to me was the collapse of the shield that liberal democracy had formerly provided for people to actually have a private life. That was a kind of entitlement, and, of course, it was a kind of complacencyto be able to go home and actually not think about politics. Michelle Goldberg had a really good column where she talked about marinating in current events. And I do think theres a toll that it exactseven for people who are bystanders.

Cohen admits, however, that shes completely incapable of drawing any lessons from the Gunthers, Knickerbocker, Sheean, and Thompson about how to be less affected by the news. But there was a way that it was strangely comforting to spend time with them, she says. Not because things turned out greatactually things turned out pretty disastrously badly. Too much drink, too much trouble, too much sadness. But you feel like, okay, this way we have also come.

David Adams is a reviews editor at Publishers Weekly.
Adoption narratives, genre-bending novels about the horrors and inequities of life, and promising collections round out this seasons notable fiction debuts, some of which are already making their way to a TV near you.

Decolonize This

Lisa Bird-Wilson

Like Ruby, the protagonist in Probably Ruby (Hogarth, Apr.), Saskatchewan Metis and nehiyaw writer Lisa Bird-Wilson was raised by adoptive white parents in the 1970s, during a decades-spanning period when Indigenous children were systematically taken from their biological parents by the Canadian government and placed into foster care.

Ruby is Bird-Wilsons U.S. debut. She published her first book in Canada in 2011, a work of nonfiction commissioned by the Gabriel Dumont Institute for Metis education and culture, an organization she now heads. A story collection followed, and then a book of poems. In 2016, she returned to fiction.

I just started writing stuff about being adopted and being indigenous, Bird-Wilson says.

Ruby is meant to embody and connect to a multitude of Indigenous perspectives, not just her own, and Bird-Wilson notes that the character came to her after speaking with white people who had adopted kids like her and responded defensively to her story collection at book events. Her work challenged the colonial myth that they had saved their adopted children from some kind of horrible fate, she says.

David Ebershoff, editor-in-chief at Hogarth, says Probably Ruby is an in-house favorite that stood out to him for two reasons. First, hed never come across a story of an Indigenous adoptee; and second, he felt great affection and love for the character. He also pointed out that while its a story from Canada, it will resonate with readers in the U.S. Its not just a Canadian story, its a North American story, he explains, in that it shows how for the Metis and other Indigenous peoples, the border is porous. The author adds that its artificial.

Bird-Wilson recalls that Ruby felt real to her after she discovered her laugh, which Ruby uses to protect herselfwhether to dismiss her feelings or to shrug off other peopleand to express genuine joy. Thats when her character was able to just go and be as wild as she is, she says.

A Recovered Goth

Isabel Canas

Berkley editor Jen Monroe has high hopes for Isabel Canass The Hacienda (Berkley, May), a reimagining of Rebecca in 19th-century Mexico. I think were moving away from traditional suspense, and horror feels like the natural next place for domestic suspense, Monroe says. She also notes how recent successful books like Silvia Moreno-Garcias Mexican Gothic have opened the door for commercial genre fiction that takes on racism.

Canas, a Mexican American writer and PhD candidate in medieval Islamic literature now living in New York City, says she anticipated the Mexican Gothic comps and figures her timing helped land her a swift, competitive book deal last September. She greatly admires Moreno-Garcia, noting that they come from the same very nerdy sci-fi fantasy and horror short story background and that her success was inspiring. Still, shes quick to point out that shes not a copycat.

The Hacienda touches on similar themes of Mexican historycolorism, class difference, the question of who holds land and who holds power, is echoed between the two books, Canas saysbut it goes further than Mexican Gothic into the supernatural realm. Real ghosts haunt the house, and the protagonist, a young bride turned widow, relies on a priest friends witchcraft skills to ward them off.

Asked what drew her to writing a haunted house story, Canas says she continues to be as afraid of the dark as she was at eight, growing up in a house built in the 1920s in the Chicago suburbs that she swears to this day was totally haunted. She began writing fiction with a series of YA manuscripts that she worked on with her agent, Kari Southerland at Bradford Literary, inspired by her interest as a recovered goth child in her Mexican ancestry, theology, and the Aztec gods of death and sorcery.

Canas started The Hacienda in November 2019 and finished it at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdowns in a tiny Brooklyn studio after moving there from Chicago. I was trapped in a tiny space, Canas says. I think back to everybody being trapped at home, and Im like, of course this was finished during lockdown. Could it have become itself at any other time?

Love Life

Kate Folk

Its rough out there in Kate Folks slightly tweaked present-day San Francisco. Male catfishing androids known as blots haunt dating apps, pretending to be viable boyfriend material until they get close enough to steal their targets passwords and credit card info. So goes the setup of the title story in her debut collection, Out There (Random House, Mar.). After the story was published in the New Yorker last year, she signed a deal with Hulu to write an adaptation.

Lots of literary fiction writers are getting TV writing gigs and development deals nowadays. Folk says films are an influence on her work, but that she doesnt write fiction with adaptations in mind. When I wrote the stories, I felt like they were two completely separate fields, and I didnt really know anyone else doing that kind of thing, she recalls. But after film agent Will Watkins approached her agent Emma Patterson at Brandt & Hochman for something that might be well suited for adaptation, Folk says Watkins immediately latched on to her stories.

Folk does have a long-standing interest in filmshed always wanted to work in the industry or become a director, and she worked at Videology in Brooklyn after graduating from NYU before moving to San Francisco in her 20s. She wonders if her interests as a writer happened to coincide with what might make a good movie, or if its simply a matter of good timing, given the film industrys increased appetite for speculative stories. Whatever the case, fiction writers do have a bit of leverage to adapt materials, she acknowledges. Im coming in as a writer with existing IP, as they call it, which seems like a really good way to get a foot in the door.

Folk arrived in San Francisco a few years before the ubiquitous tech bros who represent the mediocre alternative to the blots in her stories. As the cost of living increased, she got by with teaching and support for her writing at the Headland Center for the Arts, which gave her a studio, and most recently with a Stegner Fellowship.

The stories in Folks collection represent years of work. In the end shes pleased to find them cohering into something larger, with an emotional arc and the feeling of a concept album.

Welcome to Flavortown

Joseph Han

A Korean American familys restaurant in Honolulu provides the nexus for Joseph Hans ambitious and occasionally supernatural novel Nuclear Family (Counterpoint, June). Chos Delicatessen is poised to take off after getting its airbrushed seal of approval from Guy Fieri, but the businesss reputation is compromised after 20-something grandson Jacob is caught on video attempting to cross the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Han was born in South Korea, and his parents sent him to Hawaii as a child to live with his grandparents. At the time, his grandfather worked at a restaurant. He says the story came partly from imagining what his family would be like if they had stayed in the industry, and from his ruptured relationship to Korean language and history as a result of his English education.

When Jacob attempts to cross the DMZ, its because his body has been possessed by the ghost of his grandfather, Tae-woo. Tae-woos home was on the northern side of the border, but he died in the south, and hes spent his afterlife trying to return.

Nuclear Family is also a Hawaii story, and Han brings the two places together by featuring the 2018 false missile alert on the islands, which happened just before he began the first draft. I found it was something I had to write toward and process, he says, noting that the renewed blame of North Korea for the continued tension was frustrating, and that Cold War relics like the siren continued to propagate a fear for ones own safety.

Han tackled the relationship between Korean Americans and the U.S. military in Hawaii in an earlier story titled Fare, in which Korean cabbies drive military families to tourist destinations. Published in Joyland, where hes now an editor, it caught the attention of agent Danielle Bukowski at Sterling Lord Literistic, who now represents him. I was so excited to hear from her, Han says, because she represents Bryan Washington, one of my favorite writers.

His editor at Counterpoint, Jenny Alton, says she was struck by the humor and playfulness in the writing, even as the book takes the reader through heavy themes of American imperialism and war.

On writing as a resident of Hawaii toward an outside audience about both Hawaii and Korea, Han says it was a really nice goal to take on both in such a way that the reader can understand how these histories and our communities are entangled.

Nightclubbing

Calla Henkel

Artist and writer Calla Henkel spent a year in Berlin right after the trial of Amanda Knox, an American student convicted of murder in Italy and later exonerated. The case inspired Henkels debut novel, Other Peoples Clothes (Doubleday, Feb.), about two art school friends who room together in a true crime authors apartment in Berlin and concoct an idea for a performance piece inspired by Knox that goes disastrously awry.

I wrote this book more or less true to the timeline of my own year abroad, but filled it with pulp, says Henkel, who now operates New Theatre, a bar and performance space in Berlin below her apartment. With her collaborator Max Pitegoff, she has exhibited documentary photography installations around Europe and at the Whitney Museum in New York City. Shes always had an interest in thrillers and grew up reading authors such as Carl Hiassen. Thrillers are like math problems, she says, and I think theres a type of poetry in that sort of math.

In Other Peoples Clothes, which is in development with Mark Gordon Pictures, Hailey, a young woman aware of her sexual power and objectification, becomes jealous of Knox for the attention she received. How do you harness that power is I guess Haileys question, Henkel says. Shes like, If Im gonna be abused and used for my image, how can I in the end own it?which is why I find Amanda Knoxs Instagram so interesting, and also Brittany Spears being like, Now I have my own Instagram. 

Lee Boudreax, executive editor at Doubleday, notes Henkels ingenious choice to set a story of image-conscious young women just before the rise of social media, and immediately recognized it as a timeless story of female friendship. Its about the road from innocence to experience, where one woman kind of gloms onto the other in the hopes of being brought through that doorway into the hidden room beyond, Boudreax says. While reading it during the first summer of Covid-19, she felt completely transported to some hot sweaty druggy nightclub, she says, and I cannot tell you how much I loved that.

The Double

Zain Khalid

Zain Khalid, a New Yorker whose Believer essay How to Make a Bodega Sandwich carries a particular resonance for those who left the city over the past couple years, fulfilled his lifelong dream of writing a novel with support from savings earned from punch-up work on TV scripts and other writing gigs. His bold, ambitious debut, Brother Alive (Grove, July), features three adopted brothers raised by an imam in Staten Island, including Youssef, a boy of Middle Eastern descent who has a double named Brother.

Khalid says the theme of the double has long captured his interest. You know, keeping with that long literary tradition, the classic exploration of the Jungian shadow or whatever..., he says. But I also wanted to build the double as a sort of sublimation of structural theft, to explore what families, governments, the past, and even lovers can take from one another, and what kind of person that leaves behind.

As for literary influences, Khalid says, I pulled from a lot of placesBruno Schulz, Jose Saramago, Akwaeke Emezi, James Salterhe trails off, indicating that the list could go on much longer.

Its a New York story, with rich descriptions of Staten Islands Coolidge neighborhood, and its also a speculative story of a futuristic city in Saudi Arabia, which the brothers visit when theyre older. Khalid says it had to be set in New York because thats where he grew up. All the boroughs except for the Bronx, which is a stain..., he jokes, adding that hell have to move to Arthur Avenue and eat a lot of Italian food. The city in Saudi Arabia draws on Mohammed Bin Salmans Vision 2030 program, he adds, noting that the cost of that city is born out in the tragedy at the center of the lives of the brothers.

Agent Kent Wolf at Neon Literary says he discovered Khalid from a New Yorker Shouts & Murmurs piece, and that Khalid is probably one of the most well-read writers I work with. He says this is evident on the page, but theres also a real beating heart to his work, which makes it a living thing rather than an exercise.

Peter Blackstock, v-p, deputy publisher at Grove, also references Emezi, saying he recognized the imprint of the Nigerian writers work when he read the manuscript, and was surprised and impressed by the shift to Saudi Arabia. It blew me away with how much there was, he notes. Its not a long novel, but it contains a huge amount.

Vampire Daughter

Claire Kohda

As a British writer who is half Japanese, Claire Kohda says it took her a long time to figure out which literary heritage she could claim as her own, and which space she belonged in. A lot of my earlier attempts at writing were too consciously Japanese or too consciously kind of English, she says. Or I was trying to be this thing that I wasnt.

As a critic, shes happy to review literature in translation from Japanese, sometimes from Korean and Chinese as well, but doesnt want to get pigeonholed for her own writing because of her ethnicity, such as having a book come out with a Japanese womans face on the cover or a rising sun, or like chopsticks or something.

A path forward came to her with the idea for a vampire story, which became Woman, Eating (HarperVia, Apr.). The vampire worked because its this divided creature by nature, she says. It has a human body and human memories, but it has this demon side as well.

Lydia, the young woman at the center, is an artist and a vampire with a complicated relationship to food. Shed love to eat sushi, but all she can have is blood, which her Malaysian-English vampire mother prepares for her. When her mother moves in to a nursing home, Lydia begins exploring her late fathers Japanese heritage.

Kohdas editor at HarperVia, Tara Parsons, has a Japanese mother and says that at this stage in her career, shes looking for books with stories she can see herself in, which made the manuscript instantly exciting for her. There are so many layers to the book, she adds, noting that the short length and propulsive story have helped it quickly build early buzz among booksellers.

Now Kohda is at work on an eight-part TV series adapted from Woman, Eating, after it was optioned by Heyday in a heated auction. So much of the novel takes place inside Lydias head, she says, describing the challenge of rewriting the story for the screen. With TV you cant just have her rolling around on the studio floor doing nothing. So its been interesting translating her kind of inner world into a visual world.

A Long Journey

Tsering Yangzom Lama

Tsering Yangzom Lama was raised in a community of Tibetan exiles in Nepal. In Canada, where she settled with her family as a preteen, she began to see that she could become a writer, but it was a long time before she worked her way into writing about Tibetan people, the subject of We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies (Bloomsbury, May).

There were decades of knowing the Tibetan identity to be really central to my family, says Lama, who went on to become an activist for Tibetan independence and now works for Greenpeace as a storytelling adviser. But she had a hard time finding a way in through the world of letters or literature, she recalls, because she doesnt come from an academic or literary background. Thats not necessarily something that was central to my experience.

In the novel, two young sisters flee their village in Tibet after the Chinese invasion in 1959. Their parents dont survive the journey to Nepal. Once there, Lhamo, the oldest, encounters a man bearing a statue that had escaped destruction by the Chinese authorities and is alleged to have healing powers. Decades later, Lhamos niece, a scholar who lives with her in Toronto, comes across the statue, which had been loaned to a museum by an art dealer, and suspects it was stolen.

Lama and her agent, Michelle Brower at Aevitas Creative, met at an AWP event several years ago. Brower says she was struck by the quality of her writing, and that one of the things they talked about was that the novel is not a book for white people about Tibet.

Lama says, When I think of the people who would really love a book thats anti-colonial with a level of historical detail, its like maybe a hundred folks that are my good friends already. Still, she aims for a big audience. I want everybody to read this and understand it, but Im also really trying to capture Tibetans sensibility.

Brutal Honesty

Brendan Slocumb

In Brendan Slocumbs high-velocity debut mystery, The Violin Conspiracy (Anchor, Feb.), a Black 20-something violinist is on the rise in the classical music world despite blatant racism. Then, his heirloom Stradivarius is stolen from his hotel room in New York City.

Slocumb, a classical violinist who lives in Washington, D.C., has performed with many symphonies and currently plays with the NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra. Asked what he wanted to convey about the classical music world in his novel, he says, I wanted to pull back the curtain and let everybody know this is how the sausage is made. Classical music is a very cutthroat profession, though its especially tough for people of color. And for a Black man in classical music, you know, we are almost nonexistent.

In The Violin Conspiracy, Ray is refused entry to a wedding that he was hired to play at. When he was in college, fellow students muttered about him being there to fill a quota. At one point, a symphonys music director assumes he would want to play Gershwin instead of something by one of the  real European composers, Slocumb writes.

Slocumbs agent, Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary, says he immediately latched onto Slocumbs voice when he received a query. They worked together on a number of story ideas last summer, and Kleinman said the one about the stolen Stradivarius had the most potential. Slocumb banged out a draft in a few months. By November it sold to Edward Kastenmeier at Anchor, and Kleinman and Slocumb already have another one in the works. When they spoke with PW, it was during a break from a day spent working on edits.

Jeff is really good about keeping me on a schedule for writing, Slocumb says. He also notes Kleinmans brutal honesty with Violin Conspiracy, which helped push him to bring every bit of emotion out of a sentence.

A New Master

Morgan Talty

Burn, the opener of Morgan Taltys collection Night of the Living Rez (Tin House, July), evokes the short, sad misadventures in Denis Johnsons Jesus Son. A man gets stuck in a swamp during winter after passing out with the water frozen around his long braids, while his friend Dee tries to buy drugs without any money. Later, Dee makes a triumphant gesture at redemption with the dealer.

For a fan of Johnsons work, the comparison forms with an instant, pleasurable shock. Taltys agent, Rebecca Friedman, and his editor at Tin House, Masie Cochran, felt it too, as did the author Tommy Orange, who provided a generous blurb for the collection. The stories take an empathetic and unflinching look at reservation life for citizens of the Penobscot Indian Nation, a small community near Bangor, Maine, where Talty grew up.

The stories triangulate between the characters relationships to one another in their community and to the outside world. I mean, obviously different cultures have different experiences with colonialism, Talty says, reflecting on his potential audience. But at the end of the day, Im very focused on these characters problems and how theyre unique to themselves, but also how we experienced them on a broader level. Im writing it for Penobscot people, but non-Native folks as well.

The collection is shuffled with stories of a boy named David about growing up on the reservation and glimpses of the struggling Dee, who might be an older version of David. It has that feeling that a novel gives you, Friedman says, because youre seeing the transformation of a character over time.

When Cochran received the manuscript, her first reaction was, I cant believe this is a debut writer. Thinking through the comparisons to older white writers such as Johnson, Larry Brown, Raymond Carver, and Alice Munro, she says the book stands on the shelf with her all-time favorite collections, but that maybe the most important thing to say is that there arent really comp titles.

Corrections: This piece initially misnamed a character in Joseph Han's Nuclear Family, referring to Jacob as "Jason," and stated that the mother in Woman, Eating is English, when she is Malaysian-English. In addition, Brendan Slocumb lives in Washington, D.C., and not North Carolina as previously stated. We regret the errors.
DEAL OF THE WEEK

Valdes Does Double at Thomas & Mercer In a six-figure acquisition, Liz Pearsons at Thomas & Mercer bought the thrillers Hollow Beasts and Blood Mountain by Alisa Lynn Valdes (The Dirty Girls Social Club). The world English rights agreement was brokered by Alicia Brooks at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency. The books both feature Jodi Luna, a game warden who, Brooks said, is an honorable, powerful, alluring Latina heroine who will stop at nothing to get justice for the voiceless.

Roc Lit Takes on Lemieuxs She Bad

For Penguin Random Houses Roc Lit 101 imprint, Kierna Mayo bought She Bad: Tales of Love, Hate and Bad Motherhood by Jamilah Lemieux. PRH called the essay collection a bold testament to the multifaceted Black single mother and an invitation to all readers to finally recognize this powerful figure for who she isnot bad, but so, so good. The author suffers no fools while also courageously revealing the scars of her own parenting journey and search for self-acceptance in a world that doesnt see the full worth of women like her. Lemieux is a cultural commentator who has appeared on CNN and MSNBC and has written for, among other outlets, the Cut, Essence, and the L.A. Times. She was represented by Tanya McKinnon at McKinnon Literary in the world rights agreement.

Polis Prays for Ramans Mantis

For Polis Books, Chantelle Aimee Osman bought world rights to two new books in RV Ramans Harith Athreya mystery series. Priya Doraswamy at Lotus Lane Literary represented the author, who lives in India, where the series is set. The series debut, A Will to Kill, was released in fall 2020; A Praying Mantis, the first book under this contract and third in the series, is slated for fall 2022. The publisher said it sees Athreya, a detective, sleuthing at a boutique hotel in the Himalayan foothills, where five friends have checked in, pretending to be mutual strangers. The second book under contract is currently untitled.

Bloomsbury Nabs De Bress Multiple

Philosophy professor Helena de Bres sold How to Be Multiple to Callie Garnett at Bloomsbury, in a North American rights agreement brokered by Tisse Takagi at the Science Factory. The publisher said the nonfiction book, which features illustrations by the authors twin sister (Julia de Bres), takes the curious experience of being a twin as a uniquely clarifying lens through which to consider our place in the world and how we relate to others.

Nat Geo Road Trips with Harbuck

National Geographic Books Allyson Johnson acquired world rights to Preethi Harbucks The Ultimate Family Road Trip. Harbuck is behind the Local Passport Family blog and Instagram account, and the publisher said the book highlights the best tips and tricks for road tripping with kids, with family-friendly road trip itineraries in all 50 states. Set for April 2023, the title also features illustrated maps and National Geographic photography. The author did not use an agent in the deal.

Mogollon Says Oye to Hogarth

Oye, Melissa Mogollons debut novel, was bought at auction by Hogarths Jillian Buckley. Mogollon, a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, was represented by Mariah Stovall at Trellis Literary in the North American rights deal. Hogarth said in the book, a grandmothers refusal to evacuate Miami ahead of a hurricane sparks a tender, joyful portrait of caretaking crises, sibling feuds, psychic readings, neighborhood gossip, and the story of one Colombian American familys telenovela-worthy origins, told exclusively through one side of many phone calls between her two granddaughters.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Liz Pearsons.
Sales Snapshot

The Brightest Night, the graphic novel adaptation of the fifth entry in Tui T. Sutherlands Wings of Fire series, is the #1 book in the country. The Comfortable Kitchen by Alex Snodgrass, #2 in the country and a versatile collection of nourishing dishes that never fall short on flavor, per our review, enjoyed particularly strong sales in the South. Other regional picks include the TikTok hit It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover#1 in the Middle Atlantic and #3 in the countryand Nikole Hannah-Joness The 1619 Project, a November release and the weeks favorite in New England.

Remembering Joan Didion

Acclaimed journalist and novelist Joan Didion died on December 23, sparking renewed interest in her best-loved books.

A 2007 trade paperback edition of her National Book Awardwinning The Year of Magical Thinking, which our starred review called a taut, clear-eyed memoir of grief, sold 13K copies the week after her death, almost five times as many copies as the week before.

When Didions first essay collection, 1968s Slouching Towards Bethlehem, received its paperback reissue the following year, PW deemed the essays by a young, cool, hip writer... very good indeed and expressive of many new trends in American life. A 2008 edition sold about 6,500 print copies this week, more than three times as many as it sold the week before.

NEW & NOTABLE

HERE'S TO US

Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

#6 Childrens Fiction

This is the follow-up to 2018s What If Its Us?, which our starred review called a charming, sweet-natured love story between two very different boys, and which has sold 142K print copies. The authors both are bestsellers in their own rights; Albertalli is the author of 2015s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and Silveras previous books include the TikTok favorite They Both Die at the End, a 2017 title that sold 18K print copies this week alone.

STACEY'S EXTRAORDINARY WORDS

Stacey Abrams, illus. by Kitt Thomas

#5 Picture Books

With warmth and candor, our review said, politician and voting rights activist Abrams tells a fictionalized story of her first spelling bee, emphasizing the value of education, of focusing on effort over result, and of standing up to bullying.
Dav Pilkey, the 2019 PW Person of the Year, continued his yearslong remarkable sales performance in 2021. Pilkey boasted three of the years top 25 bestselling print books overall and five of the top 25 on the childrens print list, and was #1 overall with the 10th and latest entry in his Dog Man series, Mothering Heights, with sales nearing 1.3 million. Jeff Kinney, of Diary of a Wimpy Kid fame, also placed three books on the list, including Big Shot, the 16th Wimpy Kid entry, at #3 overall. Juvenile fiction sales did well last year in general, posting a 9.6% increase over 2020 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan.

At #2 on the list was American Marxism, the latest from conservative radio and Fox News host Mark R. Levin, which sold just over a million copies. It was the only work of political nonfiction to crack the overall top 25, a possible indication of change in reading habits. The subcategory was particularly popular during the Trump era on both sides of the aisle, but failed to produce the same number of hits last year. (2020 saw several political nonfiction titles among the top 25 bestsellers, including autobiographies by Barack and Michelle Obama and books by Mary L. Trump, former national security adviser John Bolton, Fox News pundit Sean Hannity, and political journalist Bob Woodwardnot to mention multiple books on issues of racial discrimination and white supremacy.)

Other notable bestsellers this year included Charlie Mackesys The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Barnes & Nobles 2019 Book of the Year, which sold more than 120,000 more copies in 2021 than it did in 2020, and The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman, the poem read at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, which was the only poetry title to crack the top 25, selling nearly 552,000 copies.

This year, only two books sold more than one million print copiescompared to seven last year, including Barack Obamas A Promised Land, which sold more than 2.5 million copies.
British journalist Natasha Lunn launched the Conversations on Love e-newsletter in 2017 to answer three questions: How do we find love? How do we sustain it? How do we survive when we lose it? Her interviews with Alain de Botton, Roxane Gay, Esther Perel, and many others have covered all forms of loveromantic, familial, parentaland, along with personal essays, are compiled in her forthcoming debut, Conversations on Love (Viking, Feb.).

While Lunns subject matter is famously known to inspire cliches, PWs review said, these insightful conversations resist that impulse with their rawness and wry wisdom. Lunn, meanwhile, concedes that even wisdom has its limits. Theres no magical set of answers, she says. I set out hoping to understand love. Im now at peace knowing that it will always be a mystery.

Lunns book is among several this season that grapple with the elusive, transformative, and all-consuming emotion of love.

Love and marriage

In what PWs review called the deliciously sardonic Foreverland (Ecco, Feb.), Ask Polly advice columnist Heather Havrilesky ponders the nature of matrimony, starting with her own partnership. The review concluded, Havrileskys candid reflections will delight those whove taken the plunge, for better or for worse. (See Put a Ring on It, p. 27, for our q&a with the author.)

Memoirs such as Havrileskys can provide deeply personal portraits of intimacy while illuminating more universal concerns. Screenwriter and playwright Abi Morgan, in This Is Not a Pity Memoir (Mariner, June), recounts her husband Jacobs recovery from a medically induced coma, and his belief after awakening that Morgan was an imposter. The heart of the book is the challenge to my very existence, on a literal level, with my partner no longer remembering who I was, she says. I wanted to interrogate the nature of love and how much of that is bound in what you know of someone, and what happens when that person unravels and disintegrates in front of you.

The book ends on a hopeful note and urges readers to accept and adapt to the ebbs and flows of any relationship. The threads of marriage are such that at times they break, Morgan says. How do you recognize that and learn how to jump those breakages and those points of change?

Not all marriages survive lifes uncertainties. In Dinner for One (Park Row, June), which grew out of Sutanya Dacress podcast of the same name, the author rebuilds her life one meal at a time after her French husband walks out on her. The Jamaica-born, Bronx-raised Dacres mends her broken heart in her Montmartre kitchen; along the way, she forges new friendships, dips into the dating pool again, and examines what it means to be a Black American woman in France.

Available by Laura Friedman Williams (Borough Press, May) is about sex after divorceone-night stands, multiple orgasms, 10 lovers in eight monthsand how joy and sorrow can coexist at the end of any relationship. I was sleeping with all these men and living my best life, she says. I was also grieving. I looked at my children and my heart broke. I would have five orgasms one day and cry all day the next.

Though her book is about her marriage and subsequent divorceshe set out to write a Sex and the City for the middle-aged set, she saysFriedman Williams stresses that Available speaks to second acts of any kind: Its a story of knowing yourself before you align yourself with another person.

Make up, break up

Other authors train their lenses outward, leaning more heavily on reportage. In The Newlyweds (Atria, June), journalist Mansi Chokshi presents portraits of three against-the-grain marriages in modern India. The country is undergoing an astounding transformation, she writes, yet young people are expected to adhere to centuries-old expectations of marriage: arranged, heterosexual, in-community. Her subjects defy all norms she profiles a lesbian couple, an interfaith couple, and an intercaste couplein the face of exclusion, estrangement, even death.

Jessie Stephenss Heartsick (Holt, June), in contrast, documents difficult breakups, and was inspired by the authors own messy heartbreak. As part of her healing, the podcaster, who lives in Sydney, went in search of resonant stories. Her subjectsClaire, who has returned to her hometown after leaving her love, Maggie, in the city; university student Patrick, who is conflicted about his feelings for his classmate, Caitlin; and married-with-children Ana, who falls for her best friendshare similar takeaways despite their disparate experiences.

New intimacies

Some books challenge accepted understandings of love and partnership. We think of love and intimacy as private experiences; we think of love as a refuge from the world, says cultural critic Laura Kipnis, whose next book is Love in the Time of Contagion (Pantheon, Feb.). The title, she explains, refers to more than the current pandemic. Were always living in history; were not immune from it. It seeps in. You get infiltrated and penetrated and infected by history and culture.

Kipniss book documents the pandemic, drawing on insights gleaned from feminism, gender studies, philosophy, psychology, and her own life. In four essays, she examines how the pandemic, in tandem with fractured politics, vast economic disparities, changing gender relations, and movements like #MeToo, has reshaped concepts of dating, love, and sex. PWs review found Kipniss take on relationships pessimistic and somewhat cynical while praising her as an ardent and astute interrogator of accepted wisdom, adding, Readers wont always agree, but theyll relish grappling with this bracing study of modern life.

Part manifesto, part self-help tract, essayist Aimee Lutkins debut, The Lonely Hunter (Dial, Feb.), attempts to reframe the cultural narrative around the uncoupled. We need to let go of romance and couplehood and talk about building community, Lutkin says. People get married for health insurance or because of their immigration status, because its the easiest way to file their taxes or for protection of their property. Its scary to think that you might not have that or get to keep it or lose it at some point and lose your status and safety net.

The book has its roots in a dinner party, Lutkin says, where she answered a question about her love life with I dont really know if Im ever going to date anyone ever again. The other guestsall coupled, she explainshad this very visceral reaction to that; they were almost angry with me that I would suggest such a thing. (She wrote about the experience in a 2016 Jezebel essay, When Can I Say Ill Be Alone Forever?)

In response, Lutkin went on two dates a week for a year. I got very good at first dates; I didnt necessarily find a relationship, she says. Instead, she discovered a desire to strengthen other kinds of bonds. I end the book with wanting to build a community around me that isnt dependent on romantic relationships. The work of building community isnt always comfortable or easy. It involves caring about other people around you. Theres a reward to that care: it comes back to you and it can fill up your life in a really meaningful way.

Pooja Makhijani is a writer and editor in New Jersey.

Read More From our Feature on Dating and Relationship Books of 2022:

Put a Ring on It: PW talks with Heather Havrilesky

In Foreverland (Ecco, Feb.), Ask Polly advice columnist Heather Havrilesky brings her insight into and humor about relationships to bear on her own union.

You Complete Me: Dating and Relationship Books 2022

New books about rom-coms and reality TV invite the reader to Netflix and chiller, distill the genres deeper meanings.

Rewriting the Rules of Engagement: Dating and Relationship Books 2022

Forthcoming dating and relationship self-help books are bending and even breaking the rules, their editors and authors say. For one, theyre more progressive and inclusive.
TRAVERSE CITY  As of Friday at 4 p.m., Traverse City Area Public Schools had recorded just 14 COVID cases in district schools since Dec. 22, the beginning of their Christmas break.

The reality of pediatric COVID cases in the area is much different, local pediatricians say.

The latest on COVID-19 Continuing coverage of COVID-19 and its impact. If you have a question about the novel coronavirus pandemic and haven't been able to find an a

We have been overwhelmed with the number of kids coming into our office in the last two weeks requesting COVID testing, having symptoms of COVID and with positive COVID tests, said Dr. Stephanie Galdes, a pediatrician at Kids Creek Childrens Clinic. It has dramatically changed in the last two weeks.

KCCC had 16 patients test positive for COVID in the office between Monday and Thursday, the most doctors there have seen in one week since the beginning of the pandemic, Galdes said. They saw a 29 percent positivity rate in their office in that time frame, and they even denied appointments to patients who were presumed positive with stable, mild symptoms, she said.

At Grand Traverse Childrens Clinic, 18 out of 68 patients tested for COVID were positive  a 26 percent positivity rate  between Monday and Thursday, Galdes said.

Our patient volumes in the office are through the roof. We are so busy right now that our office schedule fills in less than an hour, said Dr. Tuan Bui, a pediatrician at GTCC. And the only reason it takes that long to build is because we only have so many people manning the phones.

KCCC and GTCC report positive COVID tests to the Grand Traverse County Health Department which is tasked with reporting school-associated COVID cases to school districts for them to record on their websites. As previously reported, the COVID case reporting and contact tracing process is often slowed because of staffing shortages at GTCHD.

Galdes and Bui are in a group of 16 pediatricians who, over the past two years, have frequently written emails to the TCAPS Board of Education to inform trustees about local COVID data, share how their clinics and patients are faring and advise on certain issues, such as in-person schooling and masking.

Recently, these emails have focused on TCAPSs universal mask mandate, which was dropped just before the first of the new year.

While TCAPS is just one of many school districts in the area without a mask mandate, it makes up about 43 percent of the students in the Northwest Education Services intermediate school district and most of the patients at KCCC and GTCC.

The decision to sunset TCAPSs mask mandate left pediatricians frustrated and concerned about how students mental health and community spread will worsen in the coming weeks.

One of the top concerns is an increase in children becoming exposed to and contracting COVID. TCAPS trustees decision to sunset the mask mandate was made around the impending approval of the vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, but even after two months of the vaccine being approved, only about 25 percent of kids in that age range are fully vaccinated in Grand Traverse County, according to Michigan.govs COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard.

Even though children tend to get less sick with COVID, if more children contract COVID, it is only inevitable that pediatric hospitalizations will go up as well, Galdes said. And its difficult to tell who will fare better than others and what the long-term impacts of even a mild case of COVID can be.

An individual kid who gets sick with COVID  assuming that theyre healthy, they dont have any underlying conditions  statistically, will probably do very well, Bui said. But I cant tell you who is going to have a good outcome and who isnt.

Ben Lamphere, a pediatric hospitalist, said right now is the worst time to drop the mask mandate at TCAPS because of the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant.

Im afraid that having a large number of unmasked people in a closed environment will serve as a vector to infect those who are more susceptible, Lamphere said. Im afraid that kids will get sicker but Im more afraid that those kids parents and aunts and uncles and grandparents and strangers at the grocery store will get sicker too.

Lamphere works with hospitalized children at Munson Medical Center and treats adult COVID patients. He is not part of the group of 16 pediatricians who email the board.

Increased COVID spread in the community can lead to a slew of other problems; increased strain on an already overwhelmed healthcare system, more anxiety among adults and children and non-COVID related medical issues slipping through the cracks.

James Robertson, who also signs onto the emails to the board, is the pediatric section chief at Munson Healthcare. He owns KCCC and sees patients there as well. He said, despite the fact that the omicron variant may be mild for some patients, the health care system still is overloaded with COVID patients, many of which are unvaccinated.

With the number of people in the ICU and in critical care in the hospital, beds are not as available to non-COVID patients, Robertson said.

We take referrals from up north, from Charlevoix, from Alpena  those people generally come to Munson, Robertson said. And so right now, if you have a stroke or a heart attack in one of those outlying places, generally speaking, Munson doesnt have any intensive care beds to accept you.

He said he is worried that exposing more kids to COVID will worsen this situation.

In order to combat COVID spread in their communities, some school districts have canceled classes for days at a time. Other school districts in Michigan, such as Lansing Public Schools and Detroit Community Schools, have shifted to remote instruction as a way to avoid COVID spreading between classmates.

However, pediatricians are weary of short-term solutions.

Without in-person school, kids struggle with mental health on a large scale, Galdes said. At the beginning of the pandemic, when classes were forced online, she said K12 age students struggled immensely with sleep routines, healthy eating and the lack of structure to their days.

What we saw at the beginning of the pandemic when schools shut down was awful, Galdes said. I mean, the amount of mental illness we saw in our pediatric population  in our elementary kids, our middle school kids, our high school kids  was horrible.

Some parents and community members have voiced concerns that students are getting more anxious and depressed from wearing masks. Galdes said she has not seen that one single bit. Robertson said it is also likely that forcing kids to make the decision of whether to mask themselves is incredibly stressful for them.

To put a high school kid in a position where they have to wear a mask and justify it to somebody else because it was left up to them or not wear a mask and justify it to somebody else, is just incredibly anxiety-producing, especially for people that have underlying anxiety, Robertson said.

In just the first week back from school, many of these pediatricians fears have come to fruition; TCAPS classes were canceled and moved to online temporarily for secondary students because of mass of teachers calling out sick. On Thursday, 93 out of TCAPSs 500 teachers were absent.

The TCAPS board of educations next meeting is Monday, and a discussion about how COVID is affecting the schools is on the agenda, said Board President Scott Newman-Bale. Trustees will discuss masking, remote instruction and staffing shortages.

While in-person instruction is highly valued by Newman-Bale and the other board members, he said virtual instruction would allow quarantining staff to still work from home. There is less flexibility this year with shifting to remote instruction for school districts, but the possibility still is there.

Newman-Bale said he is looking forward to discussing these issues with his fellow board members again, because they cannot discuss outside of meetings.

Galdes, Robertson and the other pediatricians have continued to speak with the board of education trustees in the weeks between their board meetings about local COVID cases and how the pediatrician clinics are faring.

I would love to tell the school board, Were not seeing any COVID, our numbers are down, lets take these masks off and lets move on. And I know well be there at some point. We are just definitely not there right now.
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People gathered in Harmony Parking lot in Brattleboro on Friday, April 22nd for a street festival and parade in celebration of Earth Day. According to Nancy Braus of 350 Brattleboro, the goal was to celebrate the ways in which the community is working towards climate justice and to empower 
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

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Decision 202101105/1/V1

Publisher Netherlands, The: Council of State (Raad van State) Publication Date 3 January 2022 Citation / Document Symbol ECLI:NL:RVS:2022:1 Other Languages / Attachments Decision in Dutch Cite as Decision 202101105/1/V1, ECLI:NL:RVS:2022:1, Netherlands, The: Council of State (Raad van State), 3 January 2022, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,NTL_COS,61d970454.html [accessed 3 May 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Netherlands: Council of State rules on the case of a Palestinian asylum applicant

On the 3 January 2022, the Dutch Council of State released its decision in the case of a stateless asylum applicant of Palestinian origin. The asylum applicant concerned was born in Iraq and moved to Egypt in 2006 before leaving and applying for asylum in the Netherlands in 2014. His application was rejected by the Secretary of State, firstly on the basis that Article 1(D) of the Refugee Convention applied to him and finally on the basis that this provision did not apply to him, but that nevertheless he could be expected to return to Egypt without a risk of serious harm or persecution. This decision was quashed by the District Court who held that the Secretary of State had failed to provide adequate grounds that the applicant did not fall within the scope of Article 1(D) of the Refugee Convention and had not substantiated the reversal of their initial decision.



On appeal, the Council of State noted that the first sentence of Article 12(1)(a) of the Qualification Directive (QD) contains a ground for exclusion for stateless Palestinians who receive protection and assistance from UNRWA, whereas the second sentence provides a ground for inclusion if the applicant has requested UNRWA's assistance and UNRWA is not in a position to provide support in that area. The Council of State furthermore elaborated that this determination is not so much on whether the applicant was registered with UNRWA but whether they actually received assistance from UNRWA after registration. The Council referred to AG Mengozzi's Opinion in the Alheto case which interpreted the UNHCR Guidelines on International Protection No. 13 that Palestinians who are eligible for UNRWA's assistance fall within the scope of Article 1(D) of the Convention. In light of this, the Council determined that it does not attribute significance to this interpretation, as it would result in the exclusion from the scope of the Qualification Directive of all Palestinians who were theoretically entitled to the protection and assistance of UNRWA but who did not invoke or receive this assistance. The Council regarded that this would be inconsistent with the purpose of Article 12(1)(a) of the QD to offer Palestinian refugees permanent, effective protection and referred to paragraph 60 of the El Kott judgment in this analysis.



In relation to the applicant involved, the Council of State noted that he had never received protection or assistance from UNRWA and had not resided in any of the sectors of UNRWA's operation so Article 12(1)(a) of the QD did not apply to him. The Council determined that the Secretary of State's initial position in the first asylum procedure that the applicant should not be entitled to refugee status on the basis of Article 12 QD does not stand in the way of its following view that the applicant does not fall within the scope of this provision. The Council continued that the Secretary of State's view was properly substantiated and so the judgment of the District Court is to be set aside and the case must be remanded to this Court for it to assess the merits.



Based on an unofficial translation from within the ELENA team, weekly legal update - 7 January 2022
MIG 2021:20, case no. UM5998-21

Publisher Sweden: Migration Court of Appeal (Migrationsoverdomstolen) Publication Date 20 December 2022 Other Languages / Attachments Decision in Swedish Cite as MIG 2021:20, case no. UM5998-21, Sweden: Migration Court of Appeal (Migrationsoverdomstolen), 20 December 2022, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,SWE_MCA,61d972ab4.html [accessed 3 May 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Sweden: Court of Appeal rules in favour of applicant whose detention did not fall under Article 8 of the Reception Conditions Directive

On the 20 December 2021, the Migration Court of Appeal gave its decision in the case of JB, an asylum applicant whose asylum claim had been rejected and who had subsequently been given a deportation decision. Almost a year after the Migration Authority submitted the enforcement of the deportation decision to the Police Authority, the applicant was taken into custody to implement the deportation and avoid the risk of absconding. The applicant was granted a new examination for a residence and work permit and on its rejection was kept in custody on the basis that it was considered probable that he would be deported.



The Migration Court of Appeal firstly noted that the main question in the case is whether under the Aliens Act there is a basis to take a person who has been granted a new case examination into custody and if there are conditions under EU law for the decision on detention. The Court found that a new examination of a residence permit constitutes a temporary impediment to enforcement and that it was a question of preparing or implementing the execution of a deportation decision.



Furthermore, the Court held that due to the previous rejection of the applicant's asylum claim, there was a risk of absconding and therefore reason to keep him in custody under the Aliens Act, however the Court then turned to EU law and determined that the applicant was covered by the provisions of the Reception Conditions Directive and therefore the conditions for detention in this directive must be met. Article 8 (3) (e) of the aforementioned directive sets out that an applicant can only be detained if it is necessary for the protection of national security or public order, which must be assessed on an individual basis. The applicant had previously been charged with theft and minor drug offences, which the Court determined could not be seen as a real and sufficiently serious threat nor could his personal behaviour constitute a real and current risk to public order. In light of this, the Migration Court of Appeal held that there were therefore no conditions for keeping the applicant in custody under Article 8 (3) of the Reception Conditions Directive, and or under the Aliens Act and that the Migration Agency's appeal must be rejected.



Based on an unofficial translation within the ELENA team, weekly legal update 7 January 2022
Supreme Administrative Court decision of 31 December 2021 - KHO:2021:195

Publisher Finland: Supreme Administrative Court Publication Date 31 December 2021 Citation / Document Symbol ECLI:FI:KHO:2021:195 Cite as Supreme Administrative Court decision of 31 December 2021 - KHO:2021:195 , ECLI:FI:KHO:2021:195, Finland: Supreme Administrative Court, 31 December 2021, available at: https://www.refworld.org/cases,FIN_SAC,61d974c74.html [accessed 3 May 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Finland: Supreme Administrative Court annuls decision which denied an Iraqi asylum seeker protection on the grounds of Christianity conversion

On the 31 December 2021, the Supreme Administrative Court gave its decision in the case of A, an Iraqi citizen whose asylum claim was rejected by the Finnish Immigration Service. Subsequent to the applicant's first rejection he applied on the grounds that he had converted to Christianity. These claims were rejected by both the Immigration Service and the Administrative Court who doubted the authenticity of the claims and were not convinced that this would result in the applicant's persecution in Iraq.



The Supreme Administrative Court emphasised that religious conversion can manifest in different ways in individuals and the assessment of credibility must therefore be assessed individually in each case. It elaborated that it must be determined whether the applicant has converted to Christianity as a matter of conscience and whether his practices would mean that he would be at risk of persecution in his country of origin. The Court furthermore outlined that even though the applicant's initial attraction to Christianity could be related to his asylum claim, due to his quick conversion and baptism after the negative decision, it must be considered possible that it has become a personal conviction. The Court elaborated that the renunciation of Islam, the conversion to Christianity and adoption of Christian beliefs can be an evolving process, and therefore the current state of the applicant's convictions must be assessed rather than the earlier ones.



The Supreme Administrative Court deduced that the applicant's account of his beliefs was personal and consistent and his active participation in the Christian community and parish activities over four years showed his commitment and were relevant in the credibility assessment. The Court also put significant importance on witness statements and their correspondence to the words used in the applicant's statement. The Court found that the two witness accounts were consistent with the applicant's account and supported his Christian convictions. Furthermore, the Court highlighted that individuals must not be required to live contrary to or to conceal their beliefs and noted that on the basis of country information on Iraq, the applicant would not have access to protection there.



In light of the reasons outlined, the Supreme Administrative Court held that it had been established with sufficient certainty that the applicant had developed a Christian conviction requiring him to practice and profess his beliefs openly and would therefore result in a fear of persecution within the meaning of section 87(1) of the Aliens Act if he was to be returned to Iraq. The Court thereby concluded that the conditions for granting asylum had been met and annulled the decisions of the Administrative Court and Finnish Immigration Service, referring the case back to the latter for an asylum decision.



Based on an unofficial translation within the ELENA team, weekly legal update 7 Januarz 2022
The Princeton Review has again named the Sacred Heart University Jack Welch College of Business and Technology one of the outstanding business schools in the U.S. for a masters degree in business administration.

The Princeton Review compiled its list of top MBA programs from surveys of business school administrators during the 2020-21 academic school year. It also factored in data from surveys of more than 18,900 graduate students in business administration between 2018 and the current school year. Its 80-question survey probed into academics, the student body and campus life, in addition to asking students about themselves and their career plans.

The Jack Welch College is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

The schools faculty members are recognized scholars and experienced practitioners in the business world.

Students complete required coursework and a capstone project, working with their peers to help local businesses develop a product, or a service, under the facultys guidance.

The college operates out of Sacred Heart Universitys West Campus at 5151 Park Ave. in Fairfield, in a facility that offers technology-enhanced classrooms, and labs for financial computing, and modeling, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

The college also has a trading floor, a makerspace, a student start-up incubator, a co-working area that houses numerous start-up companies, and other educational provisions.

Visit sacredheart.edu/majors--programs/business-administration---mba/ to learn more.

Resident submits weather photos of Penfield Beach

Matthew Podolsky of Fairfield recently emailed two weather photos to the Fairfield Citizen.

The weather on Jan. 2, was in the high 40s, and cloudy with very little shades of blue in the background at the Penfield Beach in Fairfield.

Wakeman Boys & Girls Clubs Southport Clubhouse receives $5,000

The Wakeman Boys & Girls Clubs Southport Clubhouse has received a $5,000 grant from the Southern Connecticut Gas company.

The money is through the Connecticut Neighborhood Assistance Act tax credit program.

The funding will help the Wakeman Boys & Girls Club complete energy efficient projects to maintain its Southport Clubhouse.

Sixty percent of the Wakeman Boys & Girls Clubs operating budget is supported by private contributors like the AVANGRID, Inc., power company, and their subsidiary companies, according to information from Southport Clubhouse Unit Director Tim Cepetelli.

AVANGRID subsidiaries United Illuminiating, Southern Connecticut Gas, and Connecticut Natural Gas, recently distributed $450,000 in grants to 65 non-profit organizations.

The Wakeman Boys & Girls Club has provided a place for youths and teens after school, evenings and weekends since 1913. The organization serves 3,330 youths annually through its Smilow-Burroughs Clubhouse in Bridgeport, the Southport Clubhouse, and the sites based at McKinley and Holland Hill schools.

Visit wakemanclub.org for more information about the Wakeman Boys & Girls Club.

Fairfield native next astronomical society speaker

Clare Burhenne, a Westport Astronomical Society member and Rutgers University Ph.D. student, is the next speaker in the Astronomical Societys online science lecture series.

Burhenne will be speaking at 8 p.m. on Jan. 18. The lecture will be titled: Physical Properties and History of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

The lecture will be hosted as a Zoom webinar and YouTube livestream.

Audience members will be able to ask questions and participate in the live meeting.

The Astronomical Societys observatory and classroom will be closed.

Burhenne is originally from Fairfield. She and her family have been members of the Astronomical Society for almost 10 years.

Art gallery hosting reception for juried artist member

The public is invited to a reception at the Art/Place Gallery in Fairfield on Sunday to honor and remember the late Barbara Bernstein with an art show of many of her paintings.

Bernstein previously participated in more than 200 group and national juried art shows, including Salmagundi, the Allied Artists of America, and Art of the Northeast.

Bernstein won 40 awards in addition to the Grumbacher Gold Medallion for outstanding achievement in oil painting. She was also a juried artist member of the Connecticut Watercolor Society, Connecticut Women Artists, and the New Haven Paint and Clay Club.

Bernsteins works are also in many private, and public collections, including with the General Electric Corp., the Town of Westport, and the Connecticut National Bank.

The Art/Place Gallery is located at 70 Sanford St. and shares the space with the Fairfield Theater Company.

The show opened at the gallery on Monday and concludes Jan. 30. It can been seen every day from noon to 5 p.m.

Call 646-258-6912 for more information.
Bahraich (UP), Jan 8 (PTI) A 12-year-old girl was killed in a tiger attack in Abdullah Ganj forest area on Nepal border, a senior forest department official said here on Saturday.

Seema Yadav, daughter of Parshuram Yadav, resident of Chenaini village had taken out their goats for grazing in the dense Charda forest on Friday when the tiger dragged her away, forest officer Ahmed Kamaal Siddiqui said.

The forest falls in Abdullah Ganj Range under Bahraich Forest Division.

The villagers and forest workers, who searched for the girl on the basis of blood and footprints, found her in a badly injured state and with head injuries.

She died before reaching the hospital, Siddiqui said.

He said the forest department has provided assistance to the girl's family members and compensation as per the norms will be given after receiving her autopsy report. Siddiqui said the forest workers are constantly cautioning the villagers in order to prevent encounters with wild animals. Children are being advised to stay away from the forest and villagers have been asked to go out in groups, he pointed out.

In another incident in Katarniaghat Wildlife Division on Thursday, a leopard allegedly dragged a 10-year-old into a forest and left him seriously injured.

Divisional Forest Officer Akashdeep Badhawan identified the child as Santosh Yadav.

He said the leopard left Yadav in a badly injured state and strayed away into deep forest after villagers raised alarms. Yadav was sent to Medical College in Bahraich and later referred to Trauma Centre, Lucknow, the DFO said on Saturday. PTI COR SAB CJ CJ

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Amid rising intolerance against Muslims, a video has surfaced from Kundikala village in Chhatisgarh's Sarguja district on Friday where Hindu villagers are seen taking an oath boycotting Muslims. The video, dated 5 January, shows a man leading almost 200 people in an oath banning Muslim vendors, boycotting Muslim shops, employers and banning sale or lease of any land to a Muslim. As per reports, police is investigating into the video.

Hindu villagers take oath to boycott Muslims

The villagers are heard saying, "We Hindus will not buy any goods from any Muslim shopkeeper. We Hindus will not sell or rent our land to any Muslim. If we have leased any land to a Muslim, it will be immediately taken back. We Hindus will not work with Muslims. Only vendors who are Hindus will be allowed to enter the village. We will follow this oath till we die." Louds of chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Jai Shri Ram' followed.

The shocking oath was due to a fight between the people of two villages. As per sources, a Muslim family from Aara travelled to Lundra on January 1 to celebrate the New Year. On that day, the visitors allegedly got into a tussle with a local resident and beat him up. The victim alleged that the six Muslim visitors had barged into his house and thrashed him and two family members, including his niece. Police filed an FIR based on the complaint.

However, on being produced in a local court, all six accused got bail. Villagers were irked with the police as they had filed the FIR on general IPC sections instead of invoking the SC/ST act. As the accused burst firecrackers, celebrating on getting bail, villagers accused the police of shielding the accused. Angry villagers gheraoed the police station, claiming that the complaint should have been filed under SC/ST act as the victims were Adivasi. They have given the police a 10-day ultimatum for strict action on the accused or there would be a big protest.

A few days after the tussle - on January 5 - the irked villagers took the shocking oath boycotting Muslims. Surguj collector Sanjeev Jha told PTI on Friday that after the video surfaced, the districts additional superintendent of police (ASP) and sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) visited the village on Thursday and gathered details about the incident. The video has faced massive backlash online.

This incident comes days after the controversial Dharam Sansad held in Chhattisgarh's Raipur where a Hindu leader Kalicharan Maharaj used insulting language against Mahatma Gandhi, hailing his assassin Nathuram Godse. Kalicharan claimed that Muslims captured Pakistan and Bangladesh via politics and were aided by Gandhi. Thanking Godse, Kalicharan blames the administration for being mere puppets (of the Muslims). He has been arrested by Raipur police and is currently in judicial custody.
Mumbai, Jan 8 (PTI) The selection process of Haj 2022 pilgrims will be done as per the complete vaccination of both the doses and criteria to be decided by the Indian and Saudi Arabian governments, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here on Saturday as he called for the precaution, prevention and prayer to eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic and to make the annual Islamic pilgrimage possible this year.

He inaugurated a two-day programme for trainers of the Haj 2022 pilgrimage at Haj House in Mumbai.

Naqvi said that the entire Haj 2022 process has been chalked out with significant reforms and changes giving utmost priority to the health and well-being of the people.

The Minority Affairs Minister, who is also deputy leader of Rajya Sabha, said in a statement that making the entire Haj 2022 process 100 per cent digital/online will be extremely beneficial to ensure the health and well-being of the people besides transparent, accessible, affordable and convenient Haj pilgrimage with pandemic precautions.

The last date for applying for Haj 2022 is January 31.

India is seeing a steady rise in COVID-19 cases.

The country saw a single-day rise of 1,41,986 new coronavirus cases, raising the tally to 3,53,68,372, which included 3,071 cases of Omicron variant reported across 27 states and union territories so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

People are applying for Haj online and also through the Haj Mobile App equipped with modern facilities. The Haj Mobile App has been upgraded with the tagline Haj App in Your Hand. The app contains several new features which include frequently asked questions, information to fill up the application form, videos giving information to applicants to fill up the form in a very simple manner, Naqvi said.

More than 53,000 people have applied for Haj 2022 so far including more than 1,000 women who have applied under the "without Mehram (male companion) category.

Naqvi said that the selection process of Haj pilgrims will be done according to the complete vaccination of both the doses and guidelines and criteria to be decided by the Indian and Saudi Arabian governments, as per COVID-19 protocols during the time of Haj 2022.

The minister said that embarkation points for Haj 2022 have been reduced from 21 to 10- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cochin, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Srinagar.

Naqvi also said that Digital Health Card, E-MASIHA health facility and E-luggage pre-tagging, providing all information regarding accommodation/transportation in Makkah-Madinah, will be provided to all the Haj pilgrims. Arrangements for special training for Haj 2022 regarding Coronavirus protocols and health and hygiene have been made in India and Saudi Arabia for the Haj pilgrims.

He said that more than 3,000 women had applied for Haj 2020 and 2021 under without Mehram category. Their applications will be eligible for Haj 2022 also if they want to go to perform Haj 2022. Other women can also apply for Haj 2022 under without Mehram category. All the women under this category will be exempted from the lottery system.

The two-day programme in Mumbai is being attended by 550 trainers, virtually and physically, from different states.

Keeping in view the pandemic challenges, this training programme is focused on health and hygiene.

Officials from the Haj Committee of India, the Royal Consulate of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Customs, Immigration, airlines and doctors are informing about Do's and Don'ts during Haj pilgrimage. It includes information about transport, accommodation in Saudi Arabia and the laws of Saudi Arabia. These trainers will now train the Haj pilgrims in training camps across the country. PTI MR NSK NSK

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Chennai, Jan 8 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Minister Gingee K S Masthan on Saturday appealed Tamils living abroad to invest in the state and said the role of expatriate Tamils was essential for economic development.

The Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non Resident Tamils' Welfare said Tamils living abroad should come to Tamil Nadu to start business and Chief Minister M K Stalin was taking special steps in this connection.

Masthan made these comments at an event in which Dr Vishnu Prabhu was appointed as the Trade Commissioner of Papua New Guinea in the presence of Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management Palanivel Thiaga Rajan here on Friday, a press release said.

Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said global trade relations were essential and it was gratifying to see the development of trade relations between India and Papua New Guinea.

Prabhu, on taking over as the new trade commissioner in the presence of Papua New Guinea High Commissioner Paulias Korni, said he would try to popularise Indian products in that country as part of boosting trade ties. PTI VIJ HDA HDA

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Japan's aircraft manufacturing company SkyDrive, which unveiled its ultra-light compact flying car, the SD-03 at the CES 2022, is aiming to start its flying taxi service by 2025. The Tokyo-based company was established in July 2018 and has invested in developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles and cargo drones. According to the company, they are designing super stable eVTOLs to enable fast and safe door-to-door transportation anywhere, including uses for emergency rescue.

CES 2022 attendees - have you seen our full-scale flying car yet?



It is the first time for us to showcase this ultra-light and compact flying vehicle that had completed a piloted flight test in countries other than Japan. pic.twitter.com/JUUWYxyjUP  SkyDrive Inc. (@Skydrive_Global) January 6, 2022

SkyDrive CEO Tomohiro Fukuzawa said as per a company statement, "SkyDrives emission-free vehicles can quickly take off from and land in your parking lot and helipads atop buildings, making door-to-door air service a realistic choice of daily urban transportation. We are working harder and faster than ever to make this once-in-a-century mobility revolution a reality". As mentioned above, the company showcased its innovation at the ongoing CES 2022 event in Las Vegas, which was also SkyDrive's first event outside Japan.

The vehicle showcased at the event was Model SD-03, which was a demonstration for the autonomous SD-05 which is currently under development. The company is aiming to kickstart its business with the latter after unveiling it as a flying taxi at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka. It is worth mentioning that SkyDrive has been tested for manned flights and recently got certified by the Japanese government. "SkyDrive recently advanced toward commercialization with the Japanese transportation ministrys acceptance of its type certificate application, a major milestone that no other flying vehicle developers have reached in Japan", the company said in its statement.

Features of SkyDrive's SD-03 unveiled at CES 2022

The model released by SkyDrive at the CES 2022 is a driver-only vehicle that runs on electricity and is equipped with eight propellers. As per SkyDrive's description of the vehicle, it can carry a maximum weight of 400 kg and is capable of cruising at 40-50 kilometres per hour for five to ten minutes. The company had revealed the first prototype of its eVTOL in 2018 and conducted the first manned flight in 2020. According to a report by Interesting Engineering, more companies such as Lilium and Volocopter are also planning to kickstart their flying car business this decade.

Image: Twitter/@Skydrive_Global
Amid the surge of Omicron cases across the globe, a recent assessment from Johns Hopkins University on Thursday revealed that the total number of COVID-19 instances which have been recorded worldwide have topped 300 million. According to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, the overall number of global cases documented so far has risen to 302,588,049, resulting in approximately 5.5 million virus-related deaths globally.

In the previous week alone, 13.5 million instances were reported throughout the world, up by 64% over the preceding seven days. Simultaneously, the world average of mortality fell by 3% in the last week, confirming indications that omicron produces less severe sickness than other forms, DW News reported. Furthermore, according to France's public health authorities, the probability of omicron-related hospitalisation is roughly 70% lower.

Even though studies show that the 'highly mutated' Omicron strain seems to be less severe than the previous COVID-19 variants, experts predict that the spread of Omicron will overburden health systems throughout the world due to the significant volume of cases.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Omicron appears to cause less serious sickness than Delta, however, it should not be classified as "mild".

Global COVID-19 tally

Meanwhile, approximately 32 million additional instances have been verified in the last 28 days, with the United States accounting for roughly a quarter of that total, which is around 8.8 million instances. As per Johns Hopkins statistics, the United Kingdom and France are the next-closest countries in terms of COVID-19 infections, with roughly 3.4 million and nearly 3.1 million fresh infections recorded in the last 28 days, respectively.

To respond to an increase in Omicron instances in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the nation's 16 state premiers have decided to impose further limitations. On Friday, India reported 117,100 new daily cases, which is a five-fold rise in only one week.

Further, the fast-spreading Omicron strain has fueled this increase, which is considered to be the highest in the nation in over seven months. Thailand has also extended the term of its quarantine waiver programme and added new limitations in response to an increase in new coronavirus infections.

In addition to this, the Sri Lankan government has started immunising youngsters aged 12 to 15 as specialists predicted a new wave of illnesses in the upcoming days. Japan has announced quasi-emergency measures in three areas to combat an outbreak of diseases related to US military posts in the nation.

(Image: Pixabay)
Miffed by India's cold response to its SAARC invitation, Pakistan on Friday alleged that New Delhi's 'myopic' attitude was rendering a valuable platform for regional cooperation increasingly dysfunctional.

SAARC - a regional grouping comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka - has been ineffective since 2016 and its biennial summits have not taken place since the last one in Kathmandu in 2014.

Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said India's "obstruction of the SAARC process was an established fact."

Pakistan's response came a day after India said there was no "material change" on the decision of participating in the SAARC summit being held by Pakistan.

"You are aware of the background as to why the SAARC summit has not been held since 2014. There has been no material change in the situation since then. Therefore, there is still no consensus that would permit holding of the summit," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing in New Delhi.

'India responsible for hampering SAARC process': Pakistan

Rejecting Bagchi's as false, Iftikhar blamed India for 'hampering' the 19th SAARC Summit that was scheduled to take place in Pakistan in 2016. The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.

"Motivated by its partisan reasons, and acting in violation of Charter provisions requiring exclusion of bilateral issues, India was responsible for stymieing the 19th SAARC Summit scheduled to take place in Pakistan in 2016," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Iftikhar said India's myopic attitude was rendering a valuable platform for regional cooperation increasingly dysfunctional.
Pakistan National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf is expected to visit Kabul later in January to address the raging tensions between the neighbouring countries over the issue of Durand Line fencing. As per reports from Pakistan state media Dawn, the decision to send Yusuf to the Afghanistan capital was taken during the high-level meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Cell on Thursday. The announcement comes after Pakistani military forces spokesperson Babar Iftikhar on Friday said that the "fencing alongside (the Durand Line) is...94% complete."

"A senior delegation of Pakistani officials, headed by the NSA, is scheduled to visit Afghanistan soon for further engagement with the Afghan (interim) government on all assistance-related prospects," The Dawn reported citing a statement from the meeting.

The date for the visit has not been finalised yet. Meanwhile, sources of PTI have indicated that the trip could take place around January 17-18. The development comes after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, earlier this week, assured that the issue of Durand Line would be "resolved peacefully" through diplomatic channels. "Certain miscreants are raising the issue unnecessarily but we are looking into it. We are in contact with the Afghan government. Hopefully, we would be able to resolve the issue diplomatically," PTI quoted Qureshi as saying at a presser in Islamabad on Monday.

Pakistan completed 94% fencing along Durand Line: Pak military official

It is pertinent to mention that the announcement of the meeting comes after Afghanistan state-run media, TOLO News, quoted Babar Iftikhar saying that the Line "is good for the security of the people on both sides." He also confirmed that the fencing of the 2,600 km-long fences with Afghanistan will be completed despite strict opposition from the Taliban. The border has remained a source of turmoil between Pakistan and the Taliban after Islamabad began to erect fences. Although Pakistan has claimed that it has mostly completed the work, the matter has erupted in a frequent spat between Islamabad and Kabul. Last week, the Taliban stopped the Pakistani military from building outposts in Nimroz province in Afghanistan, PTI reported. Reportedly, the Pakistan military had gone up to 15km inside Chahar Burjak district in Afghanistan to build check posts.

The international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Durand Line, has witnessed periodic skirmishes. On December 22, both sides were at loggerheads in the Nangarhar province after Pakistan reportedly completed 90% fencing work along the 2,670km border amid protests from Kabul. The line is named after Mortimer Durrand, who fixed the limits of British India in 1893 after consultation with the then Afghan government.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has reiterated its stance on the construction of barbed wire fences on the Durand Line. The militant group commander Sanaullah Sangin had stated that the Taliban "will not allow the fencing anytime, in any form... whatever they (Pakistan) did before, they did but we will not allow any more," TOLO News reported.

(With inputs from PTI)

Image: AP/@YusufMoeed/Twitter
Russia and the United States open talks in Geneva on Monday over Moscow's demand for Western security guarantees amid a buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine.

The negotiations are aimed at reducing tensions as fears grow in the West that Moscow could invade its neighbour.

Russia has insisted it has no intention of invading, and, in turn, has accused Ukrainian authorities of planning to reclaim control over the territories held by Russia-backed separatists in the country's east. Ukraine denies the charge.

Amid the tensions, Russia has demanded that Washington and its allies make a binding commitment to halt NATO's eastward expansion and rescind a 2008 promise of membership to Ukraine and Georgia.

It also wants the U.S. and the NATO alliance to promise it won't deploy weapons and conduct any military activities in Ukraine or other former Soviet nations.

Washington has dismissed the demands as a non-starter, emphasising that NATO's key principle is that membership is open to any qualifying country and no outsider has a veto power.

They acknowledge that Ukraine and Georgia aren't ready for membership yet and there's little prospect that they could be invited to join NATO any time soon, but they insist that the alliance doors must remain open to them.

Russian independent political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said that for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, it was out of the question that Ukraine or Georgia could join NATO.

Oreshkin said that by "dancing with weapons", Putin had managed to unite the West against Moscow, even though countries like Germany, France and the UK have differing agendas towards Russia.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden twice discussed the Russian troop build-up with Putin, warning that Moscow will face "severe consequences," including unprecedented economic and financial sanctions, if it attacks Ukraine.

Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has backed a separatist rebellion in the country's east where more than seven years of fighting has killed over 14,000 people.

Despite the sharp differences, Biden said he remained hopeful for the upcoming talks.

The White House has urged Russia to help create a positive environment for the negotiations by pulling back its troops from areas near Ukraine.

Russia has rejected the demand, saying that it's free to deploy its forces wherever it deems necessary on its own territory and describing the deployments as a response to "hostile" moves by NATO.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam find goods shut out of a vital market as China hunkers down for the Olympics.

A truck driver listens to phone call at a makeshift parking lot where Vietnamese container trucks are waiting to cross the Vietnam-China border in Lang Son province on Jan. 7, 2022, as thousands of trucks carrying fruit remain stuck after China tightened its border policies.

Fresh watermelons from Myanmar left to rot. Truckers trapped in long lines getting into fistfights. Trailers full of dragon fruit stuck in Vietnam.

Chinas strict border controls imposed to prevent Covid-19 ahead of next months Beijing Winter Olympics and keep a lid on an outbreak in Xian, a central Chinese city of 13 million people that began a complete lockdown last month, are causing major economic headaches for its neighbors and the workers there who depend on trade for their livelihoods.

Long lines of trucks are a fixture in Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, leaving the agricultural products the vehicles carry to spoil, raising concern that there wont be enough fruit to meet demand for the Lunar New Year holiday in late January.

Trucks are seen backed up at the border checkpoint between Laos and China at Boten, Laos, in this satellite image from Jan. 3, 2021. (Planet Labs with analysis by RFA)

Nearly every day, villagers from the town of Mong Yu in Myanmar wade through a pile of watermelons, looking for a few that are still fresh enough to eat. The cows and buffaloes that join in the feast are much less discriminating.

Either way, the circumstance is bad for the truckers and farmers who depend on the fruit trade to make a living. The daily ritual at a border crossing shows the importance to Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries of the buying power of Chinese consumers.

The new border restrictions, which require the use of Chinese trucks to carry cargo across the border, have made it almost impossible to deliver the fresh fruit from Myanmar before it spoils, traders said. Truckers have been forced to dump their cargo and now stand to face huge losses.

It now takes more than 15 days to move fruit from the sales depot here to the gate, and the fruit that has no guarantee for freshness cannot be exported, Nang Kham Khin, the owner of the Sai Myint Bo Fruit Depot inside trade zone at the border, told RFAs Myanmar Service.

Watermelons are discarded on January 3, 2022 near the entrance of Mong Yu village near the 105th mile trade zone in Muse, Myanmar near the Chinese border. Credit: Citizen Journalist

Chinese trucks only

Sai Myint Bo said that the cost of export has also increased because Myanmar traders now must hire Chinese truck drivers to move their product across the border.

Because of the high cost of the trucks and the high tariff rates on the Chinese side, we have to sort the fruit that comes to us, which is why there are so many rejects here, he said.

The border checkpoint in Muse township had been closed for more than five months due to COVID-19, and it reopened on Nov. 26. But the stricter rules have caused delays.

They are also eating into the pockets of the produce sellers. A 12-wheeler from China rents for more than 6 million kyat (U.S. $3,300), whereas a similarly sized truck from Myanmar costs about 800,000 kyat (U.S. $450). Traders that cannot afford the drastic difference in shipping costs are simply abandoning their fruit at the border, Khun Min Thant, a border trader in Muse, told RFA.

The fruit farmers want their products to get across as quickly as possible. If you cannot get a truck, you cannot sell your fruit quickly. Thats the problem, he said.

Lao and Chinese trucks wait to cross the Laos-China border at Boten-Mohan check point in Boten village in Luangnamtha province, Laos, Dec. 5, 2021.. Credit: RFA

To some sellers, the delays are still worth it. Many Myanmar watermelon farmers try for the border because they can get a higher price for their product in China.

They can only get 1.5 to 2 million kyats for the fruit in Myanmar, but on the Chinese side, the price is much higher, Kyaw Lin, a fruit trader from Myanmars largest city Yangon, told RFA.

Many of the watermelon exporters are Chinese traders who invested in Myanmar over the last year and they own brokerage houses near the border that pays farmers to grow the fruit for them.

The backup at the border gates total more than 500 watermelon trucks trying to unload their cargo in the Muse fruit depot, Kyaw Lin said.

Zaw Min Tun, deputy information minister and spokesman for Myanmars military government, told RFA that efforts were being made to eliminate the delays.

COVID regulations will not be relaxed by the Chinese side, he said.

China is helping truck drivers and exporters speed up the testing of the virus for their products, said Zaw Min Tun. I am sure we will be able to do it faster in the future, despite the limitations.

RFA attempted to contact officials at Myanmar's Ministry of Commerce over the phone but were unable to reach them. RFA also contacted the Chinese Embassy in Yangon by email, but received no response.

RFA attempted to contact officials at Myanmars Ministry of Commerce over the phone but were unable to reach them. RFA also contacted the Chinese Embassy in Yangon by email, but received no response.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin defended tough controls as an essential part of Chinas strategic victory in the fight against COVID-19 at home that would ensure a safe Winter Olympics in February.

"China adopts necessary COVID-19 protocols in light of the global COVID-19 situation with a responsible attitude toward the life and health of Chinese and foreign citizens. Chinas huge food consumer market is open to all countries, he told a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday,, saying he did not have details on specific border closure problems.

Line cutters spark brawl

Farmers and truckers in Myanmar arent the only ones being affected by tighter controls on Chinas 3,900-km (2,400-mile) land border with Southeast Asia.

Long truck lines in Laos led to a fist fight at the Boten border gate in Luang Namtha province on Tuesday, after a Chinese truck driver cut in front of a Lao truck driver while both were queuing to enter a waiting area on the border to China.

The rules do not allow drivers to cut in front of other drivers, but the Chinese driver cut in front of the Lao driver, a Lao driver who witnessed the incident told RFAs Lao Service.

The Lao driver got angry and grabbed a stone and threw it at the Chinese truck, then the Chinese driver stopped the truck and came out to look at the damage. Then he hit the Lao driver in the head, he said.

The source noted that fights between Lao and Chinese drivers occur often because many of the workers at the processing gate are Chinese and show preferential treatment to the drivers from China.

Lao and Chinese trucks wait to cross the Laos-China border at the Boten-Mohan check point in Boten village, Luangnamtha province, Laos , Dec. 5, 2021. Credit: AFP

Another Lao truck driver said that the Chinese drivers use this privilege to cut in line, infuriating the Lao drivers, but tensions were higher than normal.

This time, because there are so many trucks lined up, everybody wants to go first, the second Lao truck driver said.

The lines extend from Boten for about 20-30 kilometers (12-18 miles), passing through Nateui village, a resident of the village told RFA.

Everywhere we go its hard for even motorcycles or cars to maneuver with all the trucks lining up for the gate to China, the villager said.

Officials are trying hard, but the drivers are all cutting in front of each other to get in first, said the villager.

An official from Luang Namtha told RFA that the local government is attempting to solve the backup.

All the related sectors are cooperating with each other to solve the problem. In the future we will have shipping containers sent via rail, the official said.

The recently completed Laos-China high speed railway between Vientiane and Boten is expected to be a much cheaper shipping alternative to trucking, and shipments of rail cargo has already begun, the official said.

But before cargo trains start rolling in earnest, only 150 trucks can pass through the Boten gate in either direction each day, while there are 350 trucks waiting on each side, and the lines are expected to grow longer.

The trucks must be sprayed three times to stop the spread of COVID-19 within 20 minutes of crossing the border, and the gate is only open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., excluding holidays.

RFA previously reported lines as long as 1,000 trucks, extending 45 kilometers (28 miles) into neighboring Oudomxay province.

This file photo shows fighting between Lao and Chinese truck drivers near the Boten gate in Laos, on the border with China on Jan. 4, 2022. Credit: Citizen Journalist

Contaminated fruit

Chinese authorities shut down supermarkets in nine cities in the southeastern provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi after traces of COVID-19 were found in dragon fruit imported from Vietnam, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday.

The discovery comes after China already placed a ban on Vietnamese dragon fruit from Dec. 29 to Jan. 26, when COVID-19 was detected the imported fruit in the last week of December.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that traders could have trouble selling 300,000 tons of dragon fruit produced for the upcoming Lunar New Year, a major holiday in China which falls on Feb. 1.

Sales of dragon fruit in 2021 reached almost $1 billion, said Le Than Hoa, the deputy director general of MARDs Agro Processing and Market Development Authority.

Truck drivers eat lunch at the makeshift parking lot near the Vietnam-China border in Lang Son province on Jan. 7, 2022. Credit: AFP

The farm ministry is advising farmers and businesses in the northern Vietnamese provinces of Quang Ninh and Lang Son to stop exports to China coming out of these provinces.

Local media reported that as of Thursday around 3,000 Vietnamese trucks which were waiting to cross the border into China, most of which were carrying agricultural goods. An estimated 1,700 were said to be carrying dragon fruit, jack fruit, mango, and watermelon.

The ministry advised businesses and farmers to find measures to export agri-products via railway, by sea and also promote local consumption.

The Vietnamese Trade Ministry on Jan. 2 asked Chinese authorities in Guangxi, the region bordering Vietnam, to take urgent measures to ease congestion.

Guangxi authorities responded saying they would allow more time for customs clearance and alert higher authorities, local media reported.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane, Sidney Khotpanya and Thi Chau. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Exhibits from the Rohingya Cultural Memory Center are seen on the website of the initiative by the International Organization for Migration.

The Burmese junta has protested to the International Organization for Migration about a website the U.N. agency set up to preserve the history of the marginalized Rohingya community of Myanmar, saying the site contains false statements.

The site for the Rohingya Cultural Memory Center is an IOM initiative. The military regimes appointed Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement on Friday, criticized the IOM for creating this website.

The establishment of such a website is beyond the scope of the IOMs jurisdiction and expertise, and the Myanmar Permanent Representative Office in Geneva sent a letter of protest to the IOM on 23 December 2021 against the IOMs inability to approve the false claims of certain groups, the ministry said in the statement posted on its website and dated Jan. 7, 2022.

The term Rohingya has always been rejected by the Burmese people and is not recognized by the Burmese people. Myanmar has also rejected the false and misleading statements and information contained on the website, the statement says.

For decades, Burmese administrations have refused to call the stateless minority Rohingya. Even today, Myanmar insists on calling them Bengalis.

BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, tried to contact the ministry and the IOM to get more details but did not immediately hear back on Friday.

Myanmar, a country of 54 million people the size of France, recognizes 135 official ethnic groups, with majority Burmese accounting for about 68 percent of the population. The Rohingya ethnicity is not recognized. And both civilian and military governments have kept this status quo.

The Muslim Rohingya have centuries of history in Myanmar, a former British colony that became independent in 1948. But they are denied citizenship and voting rights, prevented from obtaining jobs and formal education, and restricted from traveling freely.

In August 2017 the Burmese military launched a brutal offensive  unleashing a host of atrocities  against the minority community in their home state of Rakhine. As many as 740,000 Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh and now live in camps in and around southeastern Coxs Bazar district.

A year later, IOM conducted a mental health assessment of Rohingya refugees and the findings are what inspired the creation of the Rohingya cultural center.

The assessment found that that 45 percent of those surveyed were living with distress symptoms, such a nightmares, panic attacks, or suicidal thoughts, according to an IOM fact sheet about the cultural center that the IOM shared with BenarNews last August.

The Rohingya community is at specific risk of mental health issues due to a number of factors, including prior history of systematic dehumanization, persecution and bearing witness to or directly experiencing extreme violence, the fact sheet said.

The survey also showed that 50 percent of Rohingya refuges surveyed had an identity crisis and 73 percent of respondents identified a loss of cultural identity following their forced exodus from Myanmar in 2017.

It was in light of the findings in Coxs Bazar, [that] IOM envisioned the concept of a Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre (RCMC), the fact sheet said.

One of the main objectives of the RCMC project is to provide the Rohingya refugees in the camps of Coxs Bazar with a creative and safe space to share their knowledge, preserve their cultural heritage and reconnect with their individual and collective memory, as a community and as an ethnic group from Myanmar."

Dildar Begum, a Rohingya chef, holds up rice cakes that she learned to make from her mother and grandmother before they died. [Photo courtesy of the Rohingya Cultural Memory Center]

The center first started as a website and now has a physical location, Shamsuddoza Noyon, an additional commissioner for refugee relief and repatriation in Bangladesh, said on Friday.

The Rohingya Cultural Memory Center was established at Camp-18 at Ukhia to store the culture and traditions of Rohingya. It would help Rohingya to remember their old memories, he told BenarNews, referring to a refugee camp in a sub-district of Coxs Bazar.

The website showcases the art, architecture, food, music, memorabilia, stories and much more of the community. For instance, one article talks about the love songs of the Rohingya.

It says: For this brave community, who have resisted generations of discrimination and displacement, love is the architecture that holds them together, that strengthens their bonds, and creates windows and doors for greater connection and meaning. Better than most, the Rohingya know that love is what makes life livable."

According to the Burmese juntas foreign ministry, the IOM and the Bangladesh embassy in The Hague had also jointly organized an online exhibition titled Art, Life, Rohingya. The website says the exhibition ran from Dec. 10 to Dec. 31.

Visitors could click through a 3D virtual gallery, moving through different rooms to view collections such as Rohingya architecture and boat models, needlework, pottery, basketry, musical instruments, and the like, said the cultural centers website.

The IOM notes in its fact sheet that many experts around the world say that ones cultural and ethnic identity is central to a person's identity, to how they see themselves, and how they relate to the world.

This is especially true for the Rohingya as their identity has historically been questioned by the Myanmar authorities, the fact sheet says.

Dil Mohammad, a Rohingya leader who lives in the no-mans land in Bandarban district, on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border lauded the idea of the center.

This center was established to remind and tell the Rohingya community about their history, culture, traditions and memories by preserving those elements, he told BenarNews on Friday.

This is a great initiative.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
This handout photo taken and released by National Television of Cambodia (TVK) on Jan. 7, 2022 shows Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) and Myanmars Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin (2nd R) walking past an honor guard upon arrival in Naypyidaw.

Cambodian Prime Minister and rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Hun Sen arrived in Myanmar Friday for a two-day visit and met with junta chief Snr. Gen Min Aung Hlaing, despite protests over what is seen as his support for the military regime and its repressive policies.

Hun Sen held an afternoon meeting with Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw, accompanied by five Cambodian Cabinet ministers, the deputy commander-in-chief of the armed forces, two deputy ministers, and a team of delegates, a source within the junta said.

While details of the meeting were not immediately clear, the two sides issued a joint statement saying that the leaders had discussed a number of bilateral and regional issues of common interest and concerns, and that Min Aung Hlaing had agreed to allow ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar Prasat Khun to join ceasefire talks between the military and armed ethnic groups in the countrys border regions.

The statement emphasized that allowing the special envoy to join talks on deescalating tension is an important step  in the ASEAN five-point consensus, agreed to by Min Aung Hlaing during an emergency ASEAN meeting on Myanmars political crisis held in April.

It said that Min Aung Hlaing had pledged full support  in fulfilling his mandate to implement the five-point consensus in accordance with the ASEAN Charter, but pointed out that its implementation should be complementary in realization of the five-point roadmap of the State Administration Council, or junta.

Min Aung Hlaing initially signaled to ASEAN that he would end the violence in his country and allow the bloc to send an envoy to monitor the situation following the April meeting. But after months of failing to implement any steps to do so, relations between the two sides have frayed, with ASEAN choosing not to invite junta delegations to several high-profile meetings, including its annual summit.

Meanwhile, nearly 8,440 civilians have been arrested and 1,445 killed by junta authorities since the military carried out a Feb. 1 coup, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, mostly during non-violent protests of its rule.

The joint statement said the meeting also included agreements on providing humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, but efforts by RFAs Myanmar Service to reach junta Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun by telephone for more details went unanswered Friday.

This handout photo taken and released by National Television of Cambodia (TVK) on Jan. 7, 2022 shows Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) greeting Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing during a meeting in Naypyidaw. AFP/National Television of Cambodia Widespread protests

The visit  the first by a foreign leader since the coup  came amid widespread protests by activists who said it would do nothing for the people of Myanmar while conferring legitimacy on the junta, despite its failure to implement any of the five-point consensus measures.

On Wednesday, Hun Sen had dismissed the suggestion that he would be soft on Myanmar and that talks would center around Myanmars obligations. However, the same day, Chan Aye, permanent secretary of Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended an ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting to prepare for a summit later this month of ASEAN foreign ministers, suggesting that Cambodia is willing to include the junta in high-level deliberations of the bloc.

On Friday, as talks took place in Naypyidaw, protests were reported in the Sagaing region townships of Shwebo, Yinmabin, Kalay and Salingyi, as well as in Hpakant in Kachin state. Similar anti-Hun Sen protests were held in Mandalay in the Sagaing townships of Debayin, Kalay and Salingyi and in Tanintharyi regions Launglon township over the past two days. Security was tight in the capital, after at least three explosions went off in the vicinity of the Cambodian Embassy in Yangon in recent weeks.

Hun Sens visit was also met with criticism from Myanmars Committee Representing the Pyihtaungsu Hluttaw, which called in a statement on Friday for the ASEAN chair to respect the prodemocracy efforts of Myanmar people.

Demonstrators protest against the visit of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Yangon, Myanmar Jan. 7, 2022. Reuters screen grab Undermining ASEAN

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, called Hun Sens unanimous decision to meet with Min Aung Hlaing an affront to the people of Myanmar and a slap in the face of the eight other ASEAN member states.

The other eight ASEAN countries should publicly demand an explanation from Hun Sen and make it clear that the majority of ASEAN states favor an approach that requires negotiations with all parties to the Myanmar conflict, not just the generals who launched the coup and led Myanmar into this unmitigated disaster of continuous conflict, violence and rights abuses, Robertson said in a statement.

Other observers similarly said that Hun Sens visit would only embolden the juntas repression of its own people.

Both Hun Sen and Min Aung Hlaing are known for committing human rights violations in their respective countries. It is ridiculous that two men who are responsible for rights violations are engaging in talks, reportedly for peace, stability and inclusivity, said Bo Hla Tint, the shadow National Unity Governments ambassador to ASEAN.

This is like meeting of two drug cartel lords who promised to work on drug eradication. We cannot expect anything from their meeting. Its superficial and their talks will only serve their personal interests.

Bo Hla Tint called on Hun Sen to demand the unconditional release of political prisoners in Myanmar if he wants to bring real change to the country.

Hunter Marston, a PhD candidate at Australian National University who researches Myanmar, said the visit suggests Hun Sen is trying to reset the ASEAN response to Myanmars crisis through his own political vision.

I think Hun Sen is trying to engage directly with Min Aung Hlaing  to earn trust and try to facilitate talks his way. It is very clear that he sees himself as the problem solver here, he said.

I don't think he really cares much for Myanmar's democracy. To him I think he will try to win quick political points by bringing about the easiest solution that presents itself, which in all likelihood will be to cede some ground to military terms.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service and Khmer Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane, Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
The site of the demolished 99-foot Buddha statue in Drago in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is shown in this Jan. 1, 2022 image.

Authorities in western Chinas Sichuan province are beating and arresting Tibetan monks suspected of informing outside contacts about the destruction of a sacred statue, Tibetan sources say.

The 99-foot tall Buddha which stood in Drago (in Chinese, Luhuo) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Region was targeted for demolition in December by officials who said the statue had been built too high.

Monks from a local monastery and other Tibetan residents were forced to witness the destruction, an action experts called part of an ongoing campaign to eradicate Tibets distinct national culture and religion.

Eleven monks from Dragos Gaden Namgyal Ling monastery have now been arrested by Chinese authorities on suspicion of sending news and photos of the statues destruction  reported exclusively this week by RFA  to contacts outside the region, a Tibetan source in exile said on Friday.

The statue is shown before its destruction in an undated photo from Tibet.

As of now, we have learned that Lhamo Yangkyi, Tsering Samdrup and four other Tibetans have been arrested for communicating outside Tibet, the source said, citing contacts in Drago and speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

And a few days before the demolition of the statue began, Abbot Pelga, his assistant Nyima, and the monks Tashi Dorje and Nyima from the monastery in Drago were taken into custody, with Chinese authorities saying they needed to be taught a lesson.

The monks were brutally beaten and not given any food in prison, and one was beaten so brutally that one of his eyes is badly injured, he said. And citing what they call the indifferent attitude shown by local Tibetans, the Chinese authorities are forcing some of them to stand outside with no clothes in the freezing cold.

Also speaking to RFA, a second source in exile said that new restrictions have now been imposed on Tibetans following the statues demolition, which was confirmed by RFA in Washington, D.C., using commercial satellite imagery

Local Tibetans are not being allowed to hang prayer flags outside their doors. And their fireplaces, which are sometimes used for purification rituals, are being destroyed, the second source said, also speaking on condition of anonymity to protect his sources.

The Chinese police are now beating Tibetans on unreasonable excuses such as not having a proper expression on their face. Some Tibetans have fainted, and others are being made to stand outside in the cold weather and are then released without explanation, he said.

In this satellite image slider, the 99-foot Buddha statue in Drago in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is shown at left sheltered by a white canopy on Nov. 19, 2019. At right is the site on Jan. 1, 2022. Credit: Planet Labs with analysis by RFA

The U.S. State Department in a statement voiced deep concern at reports of the statues destruction.

[We] continue to urge PRC authorities to respect the human rights of Tibetans and the preservation of Tibets environment as well as the unique cultural, linguistic, and religious identity of Tibetan traditions, the State Department said.

We will work with our partners and allies to press Beijing to cease ongoing abuses against Tibetans and return to direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his Tibetan representatives, without preconditions, to resolve differences.

Sophie Richardson, China director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, added that Chinas demolition of the statue and crackdown on Tibetans sharing news of its destruction show that religious believers cannot rely on legal or constitutional safeguards of their faith.

China in its current phase of ultranationalist and statist ideology gives all power to the state, and regards civil society with suspicion and contempt, Richardson said.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Demonstrators opposed to an international mining companys plans to mine lithium in western Serbia blocked roads in several cities in the country on January 8 in the latest protest aimed at forcing the government to reject the plans.

The demonstration, which began at 1 p.m. local time and lasted one hour, blocked main highways in the capital, Belgrade, and Novi Sad. An RFE/RL reporter in Novi Sad said the highway was blocked in both directions, and its off-ramps also were blocked, causing long lines of cars.

About 100 people also gathered in Pesak, blocking the main road there. Similar demonstrations were held in other towns and cities.

For weeks, demonstrators have staged regular protests and blocked roads demanding the government reject London-based Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest metals and mining company, which is studying the development of a lithium mine.

Lithium is a key component of car and other batteries, and demand for it is expected to surge in the coming years as automakers switch to the production of battery-powered cars to meet lower carbon emission standards.

The mine would have the potential to generate significant export revenue and jobs for Serbia, especially if the country pursued plans to refine it locally.

But environmental activists say mining for lithium would damage the regions farmland, ecosystem, and water.

Rio Tinto, which thus far has only carried out explorations, has said it would respect laws and environmental standards.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said her government was close to deciding to annul deals that have been reached thus far with Rio Tinto. But she said the government must first estimate what that would cost.

You don't want Rio Tinto, you don't want excavations, all right. Let's see what we owe," the prime minister told Pink TV on January 8.

Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin said he would ask Brnabic for clearer arguments for any decision to withdraw from agreements reached with Rio Tinto.

The Ecological Uprising Movement has demanded that the government make public all agreements that have been reached with Rio Tinto.

With reporting by AP
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States has questions about Kazakhstans request for assistance from a Russia-led security organization to help quell protests that have left dozens of people dead in the Central Asian country.

The top U.S. diplomat said the Kazakh authorities certainly have the capacity to deal appropriately with protests in a way that respects the rights of protesters while maintaining law and order.

So it's not clear why they feel the need for any outside assistance, so we're trying to learn more about it, Blinken said January 7 during a press conference at the State Department.

Kazakhstan earlier this week requested help from the six-member Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) made up of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Armenia amid nationwide protests sparked by higher energy costs.

Russia has sent a few thousand troops to Kazakhstan under the auspices of the CSTO.

I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave, Blinken said.

Blinkens comments came after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev issued a stark warning to protesters that he has given security personnel a green light to shoot to kill even as the countrys police forces appeared to be in control of most cities in Kazakhstan.

Dozens were killed in the unprecedented anti-government demonstrations over a fuel price hike before law enforcement took control of the situation. It was the worst violence in the Central Asian state's 30 years of independence.

The Interior Ministry said Republican Square in Almaty, one of the main flashpoints of violence, had been cleared of criminal groups. RFE/RL journalists said they saw three bodies in different locations around the square as they surveyed it.

Correspondents in Shymkent said earlier on January 7 that the situation was calm, with an unknown number of people dead or injured.

The dead included 18 security officers killed in the clashes, the Interior Ministry said. The number of people detained reached 3,811, the ministry said, according to state television channel Khabar 24.

Toqaev said early on January 7 that order had "basically" been restored in the country, but later followed up those comments in a televised state address that bandits -- a word officials have used repeatedly to describe protesters who have threatened his authoritarian governments survival -- would be dealt with severely.

"I have given the order to law enforcement agencies and the army to shoot to kill without warning," Toqaev said in the address while rejecting international calls for dialogue.

The protests erupted in the western region of Mangystau on January 2 over the doubling in the price of subsidized liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) before spreading and morphing into calls for political reform in the tightly controlled country.

Mobs stormed government buildings, setting some of them on fire, looted businesses, and torched and overturned cars as they called for reforms after decades of stifling rule in the oil-rich former Soviet republic.

In response, Toqaev declared a nationwide state of emergency until January 19, with curfews, restrictions on movements, and bans on mass gatherings.

Blinken said the U.S. hopes the government can quickly address the problems, which he said were "fundamentally economic and political in nature."

He said the United States values its relationship with Kazakhstan in calling for a "rights-respecting resolution" to the crisis.

The first Russian paratroopers arrived on January 5 after Toqaev asked the CSTO to help "stabilize the situation. They were followed by troops from CSTO member Belarus on January 6. More Russian troops were expected to arrive on January 7 alongside units from Armenia and Tajikistan, which approved sending 200 troops to its neighbor. Kyrgyzstan also approved on January 7 sending 150 troops and military equipment to Kazakhstan.

The speed at which CSTO arrived on the scene in Kazakhstan was seen by some analysts as another sign of the Kremlin's strategy to act quickly to safeguard its influence in the former Soviet Union.

Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan's BTA Bank and outspoken critic of the government, told Reuters on January 7 that claims by Toqaev and officials in Moscow that foreign-trained terrorists were behind the protests were an attempt to distract people from the fact that the unrest is a result of internal problems caused by the government.

He added that Kazakhstan is now the focus of a geopolitical play, with Russian President Vladimir Putin looking to use the situation to methodically impose his program: the re-creation of a structure like the Soviet Union."

Ablyazov is the leader of the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement, which for months has openly called on Kazakhs to rally against the government. The authorities labeled the DVK "extremist" and banned it in March 2018.

Ablyazov managed BTA when it was the country's largest private bank, but he later had a falling out with government officials. He accused former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and many of Nazarbaev's family members of being involved in large-scale corruption and embezzlement and fled to London in 2009. The bank was subsequently nationalized by the Kazakh government.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, AFP, AP, dpa, and Reuters
NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakh authorities said on January 9 that they have detained nearly 6,000 people in security operations around Kazakhstan to quell the worst violence the country has seen in its 30 years of independence.

Kazakhstans Interior Ministry said at least 5,969 people had been detained so far. He said 133 of them were being held on suspicion of committing serious crimes.

The news website Vlast.kz reported that at least 164 people were confirmed dead since unrest broke out on January 5.

According to Vlast.kz, 103 of the deaths occurred in the countrys largest city, Almaty.

Internet and phone connections have been problematic in Kazakhstan since the state-run KazakhTelecom blocked services amid angry nationwide protests on January 5, making independent confirmation of casualty figures difficult.

Kazakh media on January 9 carried comments from Aidos Ukibay, the spokesman for former president Nursultan Nazarbaev, who said Nazarbaev made the decision to step down from his powerful post as secretary of the countrys security council on January 5.

Ukibay said Nazarbaev did so because he was well aware that riots and terror demanded a prompt, tough and uncompromising response from the country's leadership.

Ukibay said Nazarbaev has always supported efforts to protect the people, the country, and the future of the nation.

Nazarbaev has not been seen in public since December 28 when he visited Russia. But Ukibay said on his Twitter account on January 8 that Nazarbaev was in the capital Nur-Sultan and was calling on Kazakhstan's people to rally around President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.

On January 5, Nazarbaev was widely reported to have been sacked by Kazakh President Toqaev along with the head of the countrys National Security Committee, longtime Nazarbaev ally Karim Masimov.

Kazakh authorities announced on January 8 that Masimov was under arrest and faces charges of treason.

Toqaev said on January 9 he would announce personnel changes in the government on January 11. He didn't elaborate.

Order has been restored in most of Kazakhstan, though the countrys Khabat-24 television channel reported on January 9 that there had been another outbreak of fighting between security forces and protesters in Almaty overnight.

Small groups of protesters also were continuing to demonstrate on January 9 in the western cities of Zhanaozen and Aqtau.

The protests started in those cities on January 2 in response to sharp increases in fuel prices. As emonstrations quickly spread throughout the country, they turned into protests against the failure of authorities to make good on promises of economic and political reforms.

Authorities have appealed to people to stay off the streets while they continue a security operation against what President Toqaev has called foreign-trained terrorists."

Kyrgyzstans Foreign Ministry and head of Kyrgyzstans State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiev have called on Kazakh authorities to explain why one their citizens was shown on Kazakh television confessing to being a foreign terrorist.

The television station Qazqstan Ulttyq Telearnasy showed Vikram Ruzakhunov, whose face bore the marks of a recent beating, confessing that traveled to Kazakhstan to join the protests there after receiving a phone call on January 1 from someone promising to pay him 90,000 tenge (about $200) if he did so.

The Kazakh television station described Ruzakhunov as unemployed.

But RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports that Ruzakhunov is, in fact, a popular jazz pianist who regularly travels to Almaty for concerts.

Ruzakhunov's relatives told RFE/RL that he had bought his plane ticket to Almaty on December 16 in order to fly into the city on January 2 and attend a concert.

On the night of January 8 police detained civil activists Aibek Sabitov, Zhanmurat Ashtayev, Nurlan Syzdyk, Lyazzat Dosmagambetova at their homes in Shymkent, according to their relatives and other activists.



Ashtayev's wife, Moldir Nuranova,says dozens of armed men dressed in black and wearing masks had stormed into their home in the middle of the night.

Ashtayev's relatives said they tried to protect him. But they said Ashtayev left voluntarily after a gun was put to the head of his brother.

They also said Ashtayev was beaten by police.

Toqaev's office says he spoke by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 9, "noting that the situation in the country is stabilizing."



Toqaev also said that "the focus of terrorist attacks remains" and "therefore, the fight against terrorism will continue in a serious manner."

Toqaev requested help from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as the protests spread on January 5.

The CSTO quickly sent more than 3,000 troops to Kazakhstan, mainly Russian soldiers, but also small forces from CSTO member states Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia.

RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports that those troops are now guarding key infrastructure facilities, including Almaty's airport, several government buildings in Almaty, and the Soviet-era Baikonur cosmodrome that Russia continues to use for its rocket launches.

With reporting by RFE/RL Kazakh Service correspondents in Nur-Sultan and RFE/RL Kyrgyz Service correspondents in Bishkek
After completing a five-year sentence in 1987, Mehrzad Dashtbani was summoned to the "freedom room," an in-house court at Iran's Gohardasht Prison that decided if an inmate could be freed.

But instead of securing his release papers from the facility located outside the capital, Tehran, Dashtbani's visit earned him a personal beating from a prison official known only as Hamid Abbasi.

When Dashtbani refused to comply with demands that he sign forms renouncing his affiliation with a Marxist organization and stating his commitment to Iran's Islamic regime, he said, Abbasi became enraged.

"He threw his arms around my neck and circled around, saying: 'Who said you should be released? You are a villain. I will kill you myself!'" Dashtbani recalled last month in testifying that he was left bloodied by his attacker.

"You better pray that you get out of here alive,'" Dashtbani said Abbasi told him as it became clear his sentence would be extended. "There is no difference between 15 years and forever. Do not think that you have evaded us and survived."

Executing Orders

Dashtbani can be considered one of the lucky ones. He remained in prison but survived the purge of "politicals" like him the following year -- by some accounts as many as 30,000 -- and lived to put real names to the faces he saw carry it out before a foreign court.

Scores of survivors and victims' family members have given testimony in an ongoing trial in Stockholm's District Court that marks the first time a member of the Iranian regime has formally faced criminal charges relating to the mass killings ordered by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic.

Abbasi's real name, Dashtbani and others have testified, was Hamid Nouri, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and alleged judge's assistant who was arrested in 2019 after arriving in Sweden for vacation.

Nouri was essentially a henchman, they have told the court, whose job was to help determine which prisoners would enter the "corridor of death." For those chosen, it was the last stop before a hearing before one of the three-member "execution committees" set up by Khomeini to carry out his 1988 fatwa that prisoners found guilty of mohareb, or waging war against God, be eliminated.

Nouri, who has been charged with international war crimes and human rights abuses relating to the murders of more than 100 people, has denied the allegations against him. Facing his accusers in court over six days in November, Nouri cast himself as a small fish -- an employee of the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office who was stationed at a different prison from 1982-1993 and was on leave when the 1988 killings took place.

But since the trial started in August, multiple witnesses have testified that Nouri was a decision-maker who was in fact the deputy to the prison's lead prosecutor, Mohammad Moghiseh, known in Iran as the "hanging judge."

"I saw him [Nouri] for the first time in the spring of 1987 at Gohardasht Prison," former prisoner Nasrollah Marandi testified in September, adding that his position made him "responsible for whatever crimes they were committing against prisoners."

By the time the trial ends in April, more than 100 survivors and family members of victims are expected to go on record, with some making direct ties not only to Nouri's involvement in the massacre, but members of the Iranian clerical establishment's inner sanctum -- including current President Ebrahim Raisi.

'Enemies Of God'

Khomeini's fatwa initially targeted members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), an armed leftist group regarded by some as a cult that for years was considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Britain. The MKO participated in the Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah in 1979, but it was soon branded as a threat by the new clerical establishment.

Openly advocating for Khomeinis overthrow, the MKO launched an armed conflict against the Islamic regime in 1981, carrying out numerous attacks against Iranian targets from exile in neighboring Iraq. But a failed invasion deep into Iranian territory in July 1988 -- just days after a cease-fire halted the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War -- sealed its fate in the eyes of the supreme leader.

Through his fatwa, Khomeini paved the way for the immediate execution of Iranian prisoners deemed loyal to the MKO, many of whom had been rounded up for even the slightest perceived affiliation. The fatwa eventually encompassed all left-wing opponents of the regime, including communists, Trotskyists, Marxist-Leninists, and others.

The rights watchdog Amnesty International has estimated that 4,500 people were executed, while the MKO places the number at around 30,000. Many of the victims were buried in secret.

The Stockholm proceedings are focused on Nouri's alleged gross crimes of international law and murders committed in Karaj, the city some 20 kilometers west of Tehran where Gohardasht Prison is located.

Following the MKOs failed invasion of Iran in 1988, thousands of prisoners affiliated with the group were executed within days following Khomeini's order -- an act that can be defined as a war crime," lawyer and activist Abdolkharim Lahiji told RFE/RL's Radio Farda from Paris shortly after the trial began in August. "But as for the [other] leftist groups, this is not relevant, and that's why Nouri is facing two charges: one related to war crimes, and the other relating to being an accomplice to murder."

About 2,500 members of the MKO were moved from Iraq to Albania in 2013. The group was removed from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations in 2012.

High-Ranking Judges

During the trial, the prosecution has attempted to establish where "execution committee" meetings at Gohardasht Prison were held, and who was present.

Eyewitnesses have identified through their testimony those they believe were members of the death squads or helped carry out Khomeini's orders -- including current high-ranking members of the regime.

In addition to Nouri, there is his alleged superior, Moghiseh, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2020 and who was known to Gohardasht prisoners by the pseudonym "Naserian." Former Justice Minister Mostafa Purmohammadi has also been implicated, as has former deputy chief Supreme Court justice Hossein-Ali Nayeri, former Justice Minister Mohammad Esmail Shushtari, and former Revolutionary Court prosecutor Morteza Eshraghi.

But the ultraconservative Raisi, who was elected as Iran's president in June, is arguably the biggest name to emerge from the testimony.

Former prisoner Fereydoun Najafi Arya, who testified virtually from Australia in October, said he managed to identify Raisi and other alleged "execution committee" members while being interrogated.

"Nayeri asked me: Will you cooperate with us?' I said, I have done nothing, I was arrested because of my siblings,'" Arya testified. "Then Naserian was ordered to take me. [He] took me by the neck to force me to stand up and I realized if I didn't say anything, they would execute me. Then I suddenly took off my blindfold and they were shocked -- I saw them all, Raisi and others, and Hamid Nouri was sitting behind them with cases in front of him."

Dashtbani told the Stockholm court that after being transferred from Gohardasht to another notorious penitentiary, Tehran's Evin Prison, he learned of Khomeini's 1988 fatwa. From the bars of his cell, he said, the next day he caught a glimpse of Raisi and two other suspected "execution committee" members enter the prison yard.

"I had seen the photos of these people in the newspapers before," Dashtbani told the court.

Names To Faces

The lawyer Lahiji told Radio Farda that one of the biggest challenges in the case against Nouri is verifying the identities of the accused.

"They must first identify Nouri, and then talk about what they have witnessed him doing," Lahiji said, noting that it was common in the 1980s for judicial officials to use pseudonyms. "For example, [Nouri] is said to have been categorizing the prisoners to bring to the judges to decide their fate. This all must be clarified during the court proceedings."

But while Lahiji says there is little chance that Raisi himself would face charges due to his current immunity from prosecution as president, the world was watching.

"Politically this is an extremely important process because through this process [the] Islamic republic is also being put on trial and Ebrahim Raisi is the president of this republic," Lahiji said. "The way Raisi's credibility will be undermined during this process will stop him from representing the Islamic republic on the international scene."

When court proceedings resume on January 11, witnesses will continue to relive the horror many have kept bottled up for more than 30 years.

Hamid Nozari, a Berlin-based political activist who attended the courtroom proceedings in August, described a chilling scene.

"Survivors and family members experienced a difficult moment today because the prosecutor, based on the witness accounts and memoirs, gave a description of the "death corridor" and the room that prisoners stood in before the "execution committee," Nozari said. "I could see in the faces of many attendees the anguish, and I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said some were shivering."

Attorney Kaveh Mousavi, who represents the plaintiffs in the case, told Radio Farda shortly as the trial began that he was convinced that Nouri will be sentenced to life in prison.

"The only way that this can be a bit reduced," Mousavi said from London, "is if he acts wisely and accepts his crimes." More importantly, the lawyer added, is that Nouri tells where the bodies are.

"Many families contact me and say: "Please ask him where they buried our loved ones."

(Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Michael Scollon based on reporting and interviews by RFE/RL's Radio Farda.)
Jailed Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has died in a hospital in Tehran, the Iranian Writers Association has reported.

Abtin's death, which was announced on January 8, came after the 48-year-old was recently placed in a medically induced coma while attempting to recover from a severe case of COVID-19.

Abtin suffered from coronary heart disease, and after he contracted COVID-19 his family managed to transfer him from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison to a capital hospital on December 14.

A prominent writer and free-speech advocate, Abtin was serving a six-year prison sentence related to his ties to the Iranian Writers Association, whose members are frequently pressured by the authorities, and due to his visitation of graves of victims of political assassinations.

He had been imprisoned along with two fellow Iranian Writers Association board members, Reza Khandan Mahabadi and Keyvan Bajan, since September 2020.

The open expression advocacy group PEN America in October jointly awarded the three writers the 2021 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award.

Abtin's imprisonment amid the coronavirus pandemic was harshly criticized by rights watchdogs.

Reporters Without Borders in a January 8 tweet said that Abtin had been denied proper medical care and said it "blames the high regime's authorities for his death."
BELGRADE/PRISTINA -- Kosovo risks becoming a reluctant laboratory for invasive Chinese surveillance technology at the hands of neighboring Serbia, an "iron-clad" friend to Beijing.

Belgrade is quietly financing an effort to install advanced and largely unregulated Chinese surveillance tools in Kosovar communities that are partly outside Pristina's control, RFE/RL's Balkan Service has learned.

A predominantly Serb provisional authority in southeastern Kosovo signed a deal last month to purchase tens of thousands of euros' worth of small surveillance cameras, digital recorders, and other equipment from the U.S.-blacklisted company Zhejiang Dahua Technologies to monitor schools in a dozen communities, according to publicly available documents.

The documents said a Serbian government office that steers relations with the former province provided the funding.

Central Kosovar authorities including the government, police, and customs office have responded with silence or said they have no information about the plans by Belgrade, which still does not recognize Kosovo's 2008 independence declaration.

The scheme could contribute to a Chinese foothold in facial-recognition and other artificial-intelligence-based technologies in Kosovo, one of the Western Balkans' staunchest holdouts against the presence of Huawei, Dahua, and other technology and infrastructure companies that are thought to cooperate closely with Beijing.

U.S. ally Kosovo has largely spurned such products and pledged support for Washington's "Clean Network" initiative to ring-fence advanced Chinese technology.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, on the other hand, has aggressively courted Beijing within a "four-pillar" foreign policy to leverage Serbian relationships with the European Union, the United States, Russia, and China.

He has embraced Chinese trade and investment, particularly in the high-tech sector, while shrugging off Serbian protests at the rollout of thousands of cameras and other smart surveillance tools purchased from Chinese vendors amid accusations of creeping authoritarianism.

China has meanwhile withheld recognition of Kosovo and has no formal diplomatic relations with Pristina.

Stefan Vladisavljev of the Belgrade Security Forum recently noted U.S. and EU pressure in the Western Balkans to limit China's high-tech presence there.

"If China gains ground in the current and future development of digital infrastructure in the region, it could represent a security challenge not only for the region, but for the United States as well," he warned.

China has intensely marketed its "smart cities" project abroad to provide integrated biometric, sensory, and analytical technologies to help foreign governments monitor and govern urban centers, contributing to fears of Orwellian controls on residents who are ill-equipped to check potential official overreach.

In comments this week to RFE/RL, Vladisavljev said he thought the Dahua deal did not mark a major Chinese inroad but rather a small public procurement that highlights the messy state of affairs in which Pristina does not exert authority over Serb-dominated regions of Kosovo.

"If, let's say, the city of Pristina comes out tomorrow and says, 'We are implementing a "safe cities" project with the partnership of Huawei despite us aligning with the Clean Network initiative,' then I would see it as a direct confrontation with the interests of some other actors like the European Union or the United States," Vladisavljev said. "But in this specific and limited case, I'm not really seeing it as something that should be put in the grand scale of things, because I really think it is an exception, an interesting case but not as significant as maybe other examples [of adopting Chinese technology] in the region are."

A predominantly Serb provisional authority in the mostly ethnically Albanian Kosovar municipality of Gjilan (Gnjilane in Serbian) signed a deal on December 16, 2021, to purchase 39,000 euros' ($44,250) worth of Dahua technology via a company called Neva Company 2020, which was registered with Serbian authorities in September.

It specifies the purchase of 196 small surveillance cameras known as "bullet cameras," 30 hard drives, 30 DVR recorders, and 9,000 meters of cable. The contract calls for the delivery, installation, and operation of the equipment within 30 days.

It is earmarked for about 30 facilities, mostly schools, in 12 Kosovar communities.

The Serbian business registry claims that Neva's headquarters are in Ranilug, Kosovo.

But the Kosovo Business Registration Agency lists no such company.

Ranilug resident Milos Djordjevic says he's Neva's owner, although the Serbian registry lists the owner as Milena Djordjevic. Milos Djordjevic failed to respond after telling RFE/RL's Balkan Service to e-mail him its questions.

Sasa Milosevic, the president of Gnjilane's provisional Serb leadership, which is financed by Belgrade, was not available to discuss the Dahua deal.

Documents related to the purchase say the funding was provided by the Serbian government's coordination body, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Belgrade openly supports and finances Serb political parties and other organizations in Kosovo, in part to bolster its regional influence among fellow ethnic communities throughout the former Yugoslavia.

Pristina's ethnic Albanian leadership says the resulting "parallel" administrative, social, and political structures are intended to stymie the Kosovar government and hinder European and international integration efforts.

The Serbian government did not respond to RFE/RL's questions about the Dahua deal and whether it had informed Kosovar authorities of the school-surveillance scheme.

Vucic and ally Prime Minister Ana Brnabic have faced a backlash at home over the quiet introduction since 2019 of Chinese surveillance technology in Belgrade as part of a "safe city" initiative, along with facial-recognition and other advanced technologies to track the public.

The plan envisaged more than 1,000 surveillance cameras with facial-recognition technology at 800 locations in the Serbian capital.

The scheme fueled a citizens' group called Thousands Of Cameras (Hiljade Kamera) to protest the assumption "that we are all potential criminals" and the lack of consultation with the public, in addition to street art and other efforts at resistance.

So far, Belgrade has faced little public resistance over its financing of a plan to implement similar Chinese snooping tools in Kosovo.

Neither Kosovo's government, its national police, nor its customs authority has publicly responded to the Dahua deal.

The Kosovar Interior Ministry told RFE/RL last month that "at the moment we do not have any information on this issue."

The Education Ministry noted that most schools are equipped with video monitoring and there is no specific law regulating such surveillance.

But the Kosovo Information and Privacy Agency (IPA), an independent watchdog that safeguards personal data protection, cited a prohibition on video tools that identify specific individuals. Only the police have a right to such surveillance "in special cases," the IPA said.

Permits for CCTV monitoring of schools are safe because images can't be transmitted to phones or other devices, the IPA said.

The IPA acknowledged that it didn't know whether cameras were being used in schools in majority-Serb areas because it has not had staff to monitor those places.

Kosovo's parliament in July appointed a commissioner for such inspections within Serb communities, the IPA said.

Western governments have targeted Dahua and the larger and better-known Huawei over their alleged roles in helping China's government monitor and persecute its own citizens.

The United States added Dahua Technologies to its list of restricted vendors in 2018 over its supply of equipment to help China's government surveil its Uyghur community in Xinjiang, where Washington has accused Beijing of carrying out a "genocide."

Dahua expressed its "strong protest" and said it "adheres to the business code of conduct and follows market rules as well as international rules."

In 2020, Chinese tech and communications giant Huawei opened a regional innovation center in Belgrade in part to boost perceptions of Serbia as a Balkan leader in the high-tech sector, which already accounts for more than 6 percent of Serbian GDP.

Last month, a Washington Post investigative report alleged that Huawei "has had a broader role in tracking China's populace than it has acknowledged."

Then-Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti signed a "U.S.-Kosovo 5G Memorandum of Understanding" in October 2020 in support of the "Clean Network," a Trump administration initiative to counter perceived threats to data privacy and security from "malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party."

After news of the Serbian purchase of Dahua technology for Serb areas of Kosovo, the U.S. State Department said in a written response to RFE/RL's Balkan Service that "The United States is working with allies and partners on an initiative to draft principles for the responsible government use of surveillance technology in line with our shared democratic values and respect for human rights."

Written by Andy Heil in Prague based on reporting by Mila Djurdjevic in Belgrade and Sandra Cvetkovic in Pristina
The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan sent its foreign minister to Iran on January 8 to discuss Afghan refugees and a growing economic crisis.

"The visit aims at discussions on political, economic, transit and refugee issues between Afghanistan and Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on Twitter.

The Taliban delegation led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has already held a preliminary meeting with Iranian officials, he said.

It is the first such trip since the Taliban seized power amid the collapse of the Western-backed government and a chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces in August.

Iran, which has not recognized the new government formed by the Taliban, is hosting millions of Afghans and fears a new influx of refugees.

Last month its border guards clashed with Taliban fighters along a segment of the border in what Iranian-state media reported was a "misunderstanding" from the Afghan side.

Shiite Iran, which shares a 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan, did not recognize the Sunni movement's rule the first time the Taliban held power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

"Today, we are basically not at the point of recognizing" the Taliban, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a news conference earlier this week.

The Taliban has formed an all-male cabinet made up entirely of members of the group and almost exclusively of ethnic Pashtuns.

It has further restricted women's rights to work and study, triggering widespread international condemnation.

Based on reporting by AFP
Small anti-government protests in the Kazakh city of Zhanaozen continued on January 8 as Kazakhstan's security forces tightened their grip in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and in cities across the country. Dozens of people were killed in unprecedented nation-wide crackdown on protests triggered by a sharp fuel price hike.
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Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 59F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Yevgeny Korenkov, head of Russias trade mission in Tajikistan has stated that bilateral trade between Russia and Tajikistan in 2021 reached US$1.13 billion, an increase of 25%.

According to the results of 2020-2021, sixty-seven Russian regions have trade relations with Tajikistan, he said, adding that 12 of these regions account for 80% of the trade turnover with Tajikistan. Among these regions are Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow, Leningrad and Chelyabinsk regions.

Russian exports of agricultural produce to Tajikistan have more than doubled, from US$5 million in 2020 to US$10.5 million in 2021.

Tajikistan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which also includes Russia and all countries surrounding Afghanistan, with the SCO Security Council holding military exercises in the region. China is also providing PLA support to Tajikistan in the wake of NATOs withdrawal from Afghanistan. With the United States gone from Central Asia, smaller, more vulnerable regional nations are now looking to better develop trade ties with China and Russia, with this trend likely to continue as both seek to use trade and economic development as a means to defeat prospects of Islamic fundamentalism creeping into these countries.

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Vietnamese tourists as well as tourists around the world wish to find new experiences to celebrate New Year. Famous cities are still attractive destinations, but tourists tend to find more natural destinations or beaches for the holiday. Besides, tourists continue to choose luxury accommodation spots for their first trip of the year.

In Vietnam, tourists seem to prefer 4-5 star hotels to welcome New Year 2022.

This shows that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic makes people follow the staycation trend.

HCM City has maintained its position as the top destination for tourists on New Years Eve for 2 consecutive years, while Sapa in Lao Cai province is prominent in the ranking as it jumped from 7th place last year to 2nd place this year, pushing Da Lat city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong to 3rd place.

Phu Quoc Island in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang ranked 5th and Nha Trang city in the central province of Khanh Hoa jumped from 8th place last year to 6th this year. Hanoi ranked 4th in attracting tourists, thanks to the unique French architecture in many famous tourist destinations.

The northern province of Ninh Binh is a new name in the Top 10 favorite destinations for the New Year this year, because of its attractive natural beauty and many interesting experiences.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to ask the Legislature to immediately approve $1.4 billion in his state budget proposal as an emergency response to the pandemic, primarily to boost access to vaccines, testing and support for overwhelmed hospitals.

Newsom will release his budget numbers Monday, but officials in his administration offered an early look Saturday at the ongoing pandemic response. Newsom is proposing a $2.7 billion package, including the $1.4 billion, on pandemic-related spending, including expansion of testing, vaccinations and support for the health care system.

The effort to augment the states $11.2 billion allocated in the fight against COVID-19 over the past two years comes as the state is seeing a significant increase in hospitalizations amid the omicron surge.

As of Saturday, 10,104 people were admitted for the virus, with a total of 52,000 people hospitalized across the state  just 1,000 patients shy of the total during last years winter surge.

The governors $2.7 billion pandemic package also would provide funds to battle misinformation, officials said.

The package would focus on keeping our schools open and our economy moving, according to a fact sheet on the proposal.

From day one, California has taken swift and direct action to battle COVID-19 with policies that have saved tens of thousands of lives, but theres more work to be done, said Newsom, in a statement. Our proposed COVID-19 Emergency Response Package will support our testing capacity, accelerate vaccination and booster efforts, support frontline workers and health care systems and battle misinformation, with a focus on the hardest-hit communities.

Newsom will also ask the Legislature to approve a supplemental sick leave plan to help working families navigate the pandemic. Last year, the state required two weeks additional sick days offered by employers with 26 or more employees.

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.

State officials said they believe that by the end of January and into early February there will be clear signs of a downward trend in cases.

The crystal ball is hazier than it has been in the past, said a Newsom administration official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. Were watching it every single day, watching the data.

Officials noted that the governor this week deployed the National Guard to support testing given the high demand.

In the face of omicron, California has ramped up testing capacity  deploying the National Guard, expanding hours and access to Californias testing sites, delivering 9.4 million tests to students within the past month, and ensuring that 90% of Californians are within a 30-minute drive of testing sites, according to the briefing. The state has administered over 66 million vaccinations and boosters and has maintained one of the lowest death rates among large states.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

Two flight attendants on a flight to San Jose were taken to a hospital upon landing Thursday after crew members reported a mysterious odor in the planes rear galley, officials said.

As Alaska Airlines Flight 338 from Seattle was making its descent toward Mineta San Jose International Airport around 10 a.m., flight attendants reported a strong chemical smell in the back of the plane, said Cailee Olson, a media relations manager for Alaska Airlines.
As director of the Nevada County Food Bank, Nicole McNeely is no stranger to calamity. She has managed her organization through wildfire evacuations, planned power shutoffs and the pandemic, during which the number of families in need of assistance jumped from about 400 to 2,500.

But none of that quite prepared her for the freak snowstorm on Dec. 26, which toppled thousands of trees and left her family of five  along with thousands of neighbors in rural areas around Nevada City and Grass Valley  without running water, heat or power. The storm was part of a record month of snow for the greater Tahoe area, with parts of the Sierra recording more than 200 inches in December.

On Friday, before heading to the food bank to prepare snacks for the public schools and meal boxes for families stranded for nearly two weeks without power, she brought 28 loads of laundry to AAA Mobile Services, a disaster relief company that provides things like hot showers and laundry after hurricanes, wildfires or crippling blizzards. On Thursday, the company set up a trailer with 16 washers and dryers at the Nevada City Administrative Center.

McNeelys family on Friday was one of 5,200 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers who had been without power since the storm. By noon Sunday, the number was 3,198 across El Dorado, Nevada, Placer and Sierra counties, according to spokesperson Karly Hernandez.

On Sunday, the utility said it expected to restore power by Tuesday  a tall order considering the dozens of downed power lines across the area.

Its tough to watch this bring us to our knees, she said. We have dealt with snow before, but its the trees that decimated the infrastructure. It was like a hurricane. How could you be prepared for a complete annihilation of trees? You cant be prepared for that other than to have food and water on hand, which we did.

She added, The power lines look like ribbons on a package on Christmas morning. Its like, Merry Christmas  you have no power forever.

Areas without power included Cascade Shores, Alta Sierra, North San Juan and the town of Washington in Nevada County and parts of Colfax in Placer County.

Snow-weakened trees are still falling, said PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno. Two linemen working for a PG&E contractor were hospitalized Thursday night after falling 50 feet.

As we move along there are still new points of damage in the forested areas where it snowed heavily, Moreno said.

While electricity has been restored to the vast majority of the nearly 500,000 households that lost their power during the storm, residents in more remote parts of the county have mostly taken matters into their own hands, loading their trucks with hot meals for shut-ins and chain saws to help remove the fallen pines and oaks that blocked many of Nevada Countys back roads.

On Friday, Cascade Shores, a no-frills lakefront community six miles southeast of downtown Nevada City, was quiet except from the rumbling of generators. The snowbanks were crusty and brown, festooned with black and silver power lines. During that Dec. 26 storm, Ponderosa pine trees snapped, blocking roads. By Dec. 28, residents with chain saws and snowplows had made all the roads passable.

In the summer the Cascade General Store  the only retail establishment in the area  is busy packing burgers for families headed to nearby Scotts Flat Lake. Regulars gather for beers on the porch in the evening. Store owner Doug Wyatt said the storm has crippled trade but the store is determined to serve the community as best it can  even if the $50 of gas a day it costs to run the generator exceeds what he puts into the cash register.

We are the epitome of a convenience store  that is why we are staying open, Wyatt said. Its a pretty tight-knit community  everybody checks on everybody.

Jeffrey Loewe moved to Grass Valley last year after getting pushed out of the Santa Cruz Mountains by rising housing costs. The family bought a place in Grass Valleys Alta Sierra neighborhood. On the night of the storm he and his wife went out at 3 a.m. and managed to shake snow off some of the trees closest to the home. Having lived in Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz County) during wildfires, and also in snowy Colorado, he has been surprised at the lack of county or PG&E trucks responding to the downed trees or unplowed roads.

The response has been mostly community-driven  people delivering hot meals, driving around with chain saws, he said. There hasnt been any stone throwing  everyone has been focused on staying warm and staying fed.

After seven days with no power  and with a toddler to take care of  he and his family escaped to a friends house in Modesto. We hit a point where we were struggling, he said.

Most of the year Travis Davant fells hazardous trees for Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service. Winter is supposed to be his off-season. But in preparation for the Christmas storm, he got his Toyota Tacoma fitted for action with a pair of 32-inch chain saws. While some clients have called to see whether he could take care of some precarious-looking trees, he has been turning down that paid work in favor of helping rescue people unable to get out of their driveways.

In one case, while the snow was still falling, he hiked a quarter of a mile into the bottom of Deer Creek and removed eight trees that had toppled over a friends driveway.

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.

I am quite sure every tree service in the county is going to be busier than hell for a long time, he said. A lot of people werent prepared.

Davant said many snow-weighted trees that fell had been weakened by the drought and infested by bugs  mostly ponderosa pines but also black oaks, which have long, heavy limbs. We have a lot of dead trees and trees that are dying, he said. They dont have enough water left in them to put up a fight.

The food bank has worked with county agencies to deliver food to those who still cant get out and are without power, heat or water. Many residents propane tanks are empty and people have run out of firewood, McNeely said.

J.K. Dineen/The Chronicle 2021

At the Nevada County Administrative Center, Halle Meredith dropped off eight loads of laundry. She said her extended family  there are several residences on the property  is spending $120 on gas every day to power generators.

Its ridiculous, but we are grateful we have the generators, she said. We are used to power outages, but this is the longest I can remember.

Back at the Cascade Shores General Store, Wyatt said employees had plenty of milk and eggs to survive the rest of the blackout but had run out of the stores most popular item  Coors Light, which wouldnt be delivered until Monday.

Wyatt said the snow had at least one silver lining.

At least the lake is going to be full this year, he said. Summer is when we make our money. That can help us survive a winter like this.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

A man was fatally shot in the Allendale neighborhood of Oakland on Thursday evening and police are investigating it as a homicide, authorities said Friday.

Patrol officers responded to a report of a shooting in the area of the 2800 block of Abbey Street shortly before 7 p.m. and found a man with gunshot wounds, Oakland police said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom activated the National Guard to assist local coronavirus testing sites across the state to expand testing capacity, officials announced Friday.

The National Guard will deploy more than 200 California Guard members across 50 Optum Serve testing sites across the state and will provide interim clinical staff while permanent staff are hired, adding capacity for walk-ins, assisting with crowd control and back-filling for staff absences, governors officials said in a statement on Friday.

Guard members will support local communities with additional testing facilities and more Guard members are expected to be deployed next week in similar capacities, officials said.

The move comes during a surge in coronavirus cases fueled by the highly transmissible omicron variant and during a heightened demand for testing, with lines of people and vehicles wrapping around street blocks across the Bay Area region and state. Local appointments for testing sites have been booked, and over-the-counter home tests are increasingly difficult to find.

Newsom said in a statement Friday that California has led the countrys fight against COVID-19, implementing first-in-the-nation public health measures that have helped save tens of thousands of lives.

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.

We continue to support communities in their response to COVID by bolstering testing capacity, Newsom said.

To make an appointment to get tested, visit covid19.ca.gov/get-tested/

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez
UC Berkeley revoked its official recognition of three fraternities in the past few weeks for hazing-related activities, officials said.

The universitys chapters of Chi Phi and Theta Delta Chi had their recognized status stripped until January 2026. The local chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon had its recognition revoked until January 2029, said Adam Ratliff, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley student affairs.

Officials did not disclose what kinds of hazing activities led to the status change, citing university policies and federal and state privacy laws. The revocations were first reported by Berkeleyside.

The three fraternities join a list of nine other Greek life chapters at UC Berkeley that are not currently recognized by the university, meaning that they are not eligible to receive training or advising from the university and that the university does not oversee their events to ensure that they follow university policies and rules. The fraternities are not allowed to recruit students on campus while they remain unrecognized, Ratliff said.

The 12 unrecognized groups  11 fraternities and one sorority, though some are co-ed  are listed on a UC Berkeley student life website. The site says students are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to not join these groups.

While several of these organizations are working towards being re-recognized by UC Berkeley, many of these groups potentially put students at risk and (in) unsafe situations by hosting parties and other social events that do not align with campus policies, practices, and standards, Ratliff said in an emailed statement.

UC Berkeley revoked its recognition of Theta Delta Chi on Dec. 20. The university announced revocations for Chi Phi on Thursday and for Sigma Alpha Epsilon on Friday, Ratliff said.

In a letter to UC Berkeleys recognized fraternities and sororities Friday, the university said Theta Delta Chis revocation was due to violations of the Code of Student Conduct as the chapter was found responsible for hazing activities. The University took the strongest action available against the fraternity as a result of these hazing activities.

As a reminder, unrecognized groups are not considered part of the CalGreeks community, the letter continued. Therefore, recognized CalGreeks fraternities and sororities are strongly recommended to not participate in any events, programs, invites, or activities with any unrecognized groups.

Representatives of Chi Phi, Theta Delta Chi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon could not immediately be reached for comment.

C. David Strait, president of the Delta Deuteron Building Association, which is listed as a contact on UC Berkeleys Theta Delta Chi chapters website, told Berkeleyside in a statement that the chapters new member initiation process has been developed over time... but seemed to have transitioned into problematic behaviors of late.

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 alumni agree that the culture at the fraternity must change to face the realities of the modern world, Strait wrote. Brotherhood should offer mentorship and be a path to self improvement, and constructive benefit to society. That is where our focus will be directed going forward.

Students are encouraged to report hazing by visiting the universitys Center for Student Conduct website.

Our goal is for students to have a safe student experience, and we encourage them to explore the diverse recognized fraternity and sorority organizations in good standing with UC Berkeley, Ratliff said, noting that there are 58 such groups on campus. These groups have proactively partnered with the university and are working to make student safety a priority.

Andy Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon
It was a dark and misty January night out by the Cliff House on the western edge of San Francisco. It was so quiet the only sound was from the cold wind and the surf just below. The old Cliff House itself was closed, boarded up and empty. A perfect night for ghosts.

And there they were, flickering like shadows of another time, pictures of people who had come to the Cliff House over the years: San Franciscans long dead come back to life in pictures and film  the women in sweeping Victorian dresses, men in derby hats, couples riding in carriages, in antique autos, even posed in fake flying machines.

They were in photos from the 1890s, and then more from the Roaring Twenties, from World War II and later. Some of the pictures move  home movies from the 1940s and 50s, and even the 60s, couples strolling on the beach below, walking dogs, eating ice cream, climbing down the cliffs to look at a shipwreck or two.

Its a visual slice of the citys past, especially on beautiful days on the ocean when thousands of people came out to have a good time. Its like a PowerPoint presentation of another era, projected on windows not far from the closed entrance to the Cliff House.

The Cliff House was world famous practically since the day it opened in 1863, advertised as the place where San Francisco begins.

Almost every San Franciscan has some memory of the Cliff House, so it was a terrible shock when the Cliff House closed on the last day of 2020, done in by the coronavirus and a dispute between the Hountalas family, which leased the facility, and the National Park Service, which owns it as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

So on a recent trip there all I found was a small museum in the former Cliff House gift shop and the evening show of the ghostly images of thousands of people, pictures and movies projected through the glass walls of the gift shop on the north side of the Cliff House. The museum is open by day, and the show runs every night from sunset to 10 p.m. through April.

The picture show was developed by Ben Wood, a visual artist who combines old photos and film using state-of-the-art technology. Hes projected other images all over the city: on Coit Tower, on the windows of the historic Haas-Lilienthal House, and even a show on hidden 17th century murals painted by Native Americans at Mission Dolores.

Sunset is the best time to see the Cliff House show, he said. The setting sun makes a light show of its own.

The photographs in the Cliff House show come from the Western Neighborhoods Project, which has an extensive collection of material from everything west of Twin Peaks. The Western Neighborhoods group was also able to raise money to buy parts of the equipment from the Cliff House when it was auctioned off last year.

Everything was for sale: kitchen equipment, dishes, glasses, chairs, gift shop items, souvenirs  and hundreds of pictures. A lot went to private collectors, but some of what the neighborhood group bought is on display at the Cliff Houses small museum.

The movies in the nightly show came from San Franciscos Prelinger Archives, which has a huge collection of film made by San Franciscans, including home movies. The amateur films give a family view of life in the city over the years.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The pictures and movies speak for themselves. It is surprising to see how men and women dressed up years ago to go on a Sunday outing and have fun at the Cliff House and the other attractions like the Sutro Baths and Playland-at-the-Beach.

And to look at the odd attractions the oceanside promoters used to attract the crowds: fake waterfalls, a sky tram, skating rinks, museums full of stuffed animals and dubious curiosities, including snakes, apes, mummies, mechanical games, and a camera obscura that still operates.

Five presidents of the United States and the last king of Hawaii visited the Cliff House in its prime, and so did movie stars and other celebrities. But there is not a famous person in any of the pictures Wood has put together. I wanted to show ordinary people, he said.

Its wonderful to see all those people from all those years, said Nicole Meldahl, executive director of the Western Neighborhoods Project. Weve all gone to the Cliff House. It feels like coming home.

Carl Noltes column runs Sundays. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com
Two newly authorized COVID antiviral pills started arriving at a small number of Bay Area medical centers and pharmacies last week. But supply is so meager that the medications probably wont make a major impact in the current omicron surge.

The number of pills getting allocated to each county is far outmatched by the sheer quantity of new infections reported each day. And the supply is expected to be tight for the next several weeks or even months, health officials have signaled, such that by the time the pills are more widely available, the worst of the omicron wave  which modelers predict will peak around mid- to late January  will probably have subsided.

The pills were authorized in the United States only about two weeks ago, and, while the drugmakers began manufacturing them before that, months will be needed to ramp up complex production processes.

The limited availability of pills, Pfizers Paxlovid and Mercks Molnupiravir  along with national shortages of sotrovimab, the one remaining monoclonal antibody infusion treatment that works against omicron  means that only a tiny proportion of people who could benefit from the treatments will be able to get them in the near term.

Both the pills and the infusions stave off severe disease and hospitalization by treating COVID patients early during infection. The pills block the virus ability to replicate, while the infusions block the virus from infecting human cells. Pills have been hailed as the real game changers because they will make treatment more accessible  cheaper than infusions and able to be taken at home.

Weve used all of our supply of Paxlovid at this point, even though were being quite restrictive as to who can get the medication, said Dr. Sarah Doernberg, who oversees the rollout of COVID antiviral treatments at UCSF, which got 40 courses of the drug the last week of December and ran out within a week. On a public health level ... we dont have enough supply nationwide to really prevent the hospitalizations and spread of infection and other goals of giving some of these very rarely available treatments out.

Most people who get COVID probably wont need treatment, especially if they are vaccinated and dont have underlying medical conditions. Plus, omicron appears to cause less severe symptoms than previous variants. Still, for the millions of Americans who are unvaccinated, have weakened immune systems, or who are vaccinated but at high risk because of age or co-morbidities, the drugs could be life-saving.

Because of supply restrictions and soaring demand, providers are limiting Paxlovid and sotrovimab to people who are at the very highest end of the risk spectrum  those who are severely immunocompromised and unlikely to mount a response to vaccination, or those who are unvaccinated and at high risk for severe disease because of underlying conditions.

This is a change from as recently as a few months ago, when patients were able to access monoclonal antibodies if they were just moderately high risk  such as those who were vaccinated and have diabetes or cardiac conditions. But since then, two monoclonal antibody treatments have been halted because they are less effective against omicron. That has whittled the antibody options to just one, sotrovimab, for the growing number of people who need it now. Many providers are running low, or are out of sotrovimab, which is made by GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology.

Both the pills and the monoclonal antibody treatments are allocated by the federal government to states, and then from the state to local health departments, based on new case rates and an equity measure.

Merck did not immediately respond to questions about why supply of the pills are so limited. Pfizer said producing Paxlovid requires a significant amount of manufacturing capacity that takes six to eight months, and the company is expanding to ramp up production. The federal government said last week it is doubling its order of Paxlovid, from 10 million to 20 million courses, though most of it will not be available right away because of the manufacturing lag.

On top of supply constraints, lack of predictability makes prescribing the drugs challenging. Some providers didnt get their expected delivery of pills, or got them later than expected. Without knowing how much theyll get in the near future, providers find it hard to tell patients when or whether theyll be able to get treatment.

And then theres the issue of timing. The pills must be taken within the first five days of symptoms, but given how hard it is to get a test right away, that can be difficult, Doernberg said. For that reason, she recommends that people who know they are severely immunocompromised contact their provider immediately at the first inkling of COVID symptoms so they can get tested quickly.

Of the two authorized pills, Paxlovid is more effective, reducing hospitalizations by 88%, compared with Molnupiravirs 30% reduction rate. The supply of Molnupiravir is slightly better, providers say, but some consider it a less desirable option because of concerns it may lead to the virus mutating in an immunocompromised patient.

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.

California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said last week that the state is unlikely to see a huge increase in supply this month and looks forward to getting more in February and March.

Contra Costa County, for instance, has gotten just 120 courses of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir so far, while 1,300 new cases are getting reported each day. Similarly, Sonoma County has also gotten 120 courses, to be distributed by three pharmacies. San Francisco got 100 courses of Paxlovid and 500 of Molnupiravir, but at least 160 courses of the latter were delayed.

At this point, theres simply not enough of it for it to be game changer, said Will Harper, a spokesperson for Contra Costa Health Services, adding that 120 courses is a drop in the bucket when we are seeing more than 1,300 new COVID cases each day.

The pills will be allocated to more than 5,000 pharmacies and providers around the country, including nearly 400 in California, according to federal and state officials. But not all have received the pills yet. And those numbers represent a very small percentage of providers and pharmacies overall. Each Bay Area county, for instance, has nine or fewer locations receiving the pills, according to the state.

Its hard to battle this current surge with such a short amount of treatment options, said Deepak Sisodiya, director of pharmacy at Stanford Health Care, which expects to receive and begin prescribing antiviral pills this week. A glass-half-full approach looking forward, there will still be patients affected as that peak potentially subsides, there will still be a need for it as COVID will still be with us.

Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
Monique M. bared her right arm, shut her eyes and braced. A clinic worker jabbed in a shot of Pfizer vaccine, and Monique gave out a little yelp. It was over in seconds.

Well, that was scary. I hate needles, but its worth it to stay safe, especially sleeping outside like me, Monique, 51, said. The $50 theyre paying me to do this doesnt hurt either, she added with a big smile.

But seriously, I wouldve come anyway, she said. Its getting real bad out here with that coronavirus.

That same sentiment was echoed again and again Friday at the nonprofit Serenity Houses monthly outdoor homeless vaccination clinic in Oakland.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Everyone who got a shot also received a $50 gift card, along with a free meal  and those kinds of things are usually a main attraction at homeless vaccination clinics. But with the wildfire spread of the omicron variant, that all seemed a little less important. Homeless people are more worried now than theyve been since the early peaks of the pandemic.

And with lower vaccination rates than the general population, and a greater likelihood of getting sicker or dying if they get infected, theyve got plenty to worry about.

This was Serenity Houses seventh monthly clinic, and Fridays set a new record with 87 shots given out, said executive director Melissa Hellums. Shes struggling to come up with donated meals  its getting tougher every month, because everyone seems so stretched, she said  but that wont stop the clinics.

The need is just too big, Hellums said.

The urgency is getting worse, Nicole Gardner, Serenity Houses community outreach coordinator, said as she went up and down the line filling people in on which tables to go to for vaccines, testing or other services. Weve never seen a crowd like this. People are worried.

But theyre hard to reach, she said. These individuals we see dont have television or computers. They live outside. Thats why its so good to see them show up.

Monique, who asked for safety reasons that her last name not be used, read about the clinic on a flyer at a soup kitchen. She had a Johnson & Johnson vaccine shot in October, but was confused about where to get a booster until she saw the flyer.

Its so hard to hear about these things, she said. I dont want to die. Im so glad these guys are here.

For the past few weeks as omicron surged, Alameda County has been ramping up its efforts at its own health facilities and at community health clinics like Serenity House, said Lucy Kasdin, director of the countys Health Care for the Homeless program. Shes also increasing outreach team trips to administer vaccines at encampments and shelters.

Its tough to keep track of people when theyre outside and moving around a lot, and another challenge is that some people have trouble remembering what shots theyve had or when, Kasdin said. But were seeing people come out more.

Just in the last two weeks, with this omicron surge, weve had vaccine events where we usually have two to five people and now were getting lines out the door.

She said about half of the countys homeless population has been fully vaccinated. San Francisco County also estimates it has vaccinated about half of its homeless population, according to health department spokeswoman Alison Hawkes. The numbers are fuzzy because not everyone who gets vaccinated at government-run sites or other places like pharmacies has to state whether they are homeless.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Both of those 50% county figures fall far short of the fully vaccinated rate for the general populations  78% in Alameda and 81% in San Francisco. Part of that disparity lies not just in the difficulty of reaching homeless people, but in the difficulty in getting people to come back for a second dose, said Serenity Houses Gardner.

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.

Heres one mitigated comfort, though: Experts have said throughout the pandemic that despite the perilous nature of living outside, unsheltered people have about the same risk of contracting the coronavirus as the general population. Thats largely because they spend time outdoors instead of in enclosed spaces, where the spread is worse.

Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, has analyzed the disease among unsheltered people in San Francisco and said, Im not sure we have great statistics on omicron yet, but unsheltered homeless people may not be at much higher risk than the general population at contracting it while outside  although the risk could also go up as people huddle together in the cold in tents and other settings.

Also, given the toll living outside takes on a person, homeless people who do get the disease would be at higher risk of doing poorly if they got it, she said. She added that the virus surely spreads quicker in congregate settings like shelters.

Matthew Fletcher, 62, called himself Exhibit A for that risk as he stood in Serenity Houses line Friday.

Look, Ive got asthma and diabetes and Im homeless, he said. Omicron is taking over, and a lot of us are afraid. I know more and more people who are getting it.

Just ahead of him in line, waiting for a booster shot, stood Danny Martinez, a 51-year-old San Francisco man. He isnt homeless  the clinic took in everyone who walked up, including a group of Spanish-speaking construction workers  but he heard about the event from a friend. Its more personal for him than it is for many.

My wife Christina died of coronavirus in March, he said. Its very important to get these shots. This disease will kill you. He gazed around at the line.

Im so glad to see all these people here, he said. Homeless, housed, you name it. We need every shot we can get.

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron
SACRAMENTO  As California lawmakers grapple with their duties amid an ongoing pandemic, some are choosing to spend far less time working in the corridors of the state Capitol.

The Chronicle analyzed legislators attendance records for the past year and found a handful were frequently absent, with several missing 15 or more days in session. The tally includes dates when lawmakers didnt show up because of personal reasons; it excludes absences because of illness or work-related business.

Many of the most frequently absent said they decided to work remotely as often as possible to reduce their risk of coronavirus exposure because they have young children or vulnerable relatives at home. But other legislators who were regularly absent from the Capitol during the 2021 session refused to explain their reasons, despite repeated requests from The Chronicle.

The situation highlights how the Legislature, an institution steeped in tradition, continues to struggle to adjust to the logistical challenges of the biggest public health crisis in a century.

Some legislators have pushed, unsuccessfully, to allow for more remote voting during pandemics. But legislative leaders worry it could make the laws they pass susceptible to legal challenges.

The debate remained a pressing concern for many legislators as they traveled from across the state this week to begin their 2022 session, without remote voting permitted, though many legislative staffers are still telecommuting.

A few days after their return, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood (Los Angeles County), and about three dozen other lawmakers were absent from Thursday floor sessions after many attended a colleagues going-away party, where a legislator in attendance, state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, later tested positive for the coronavirus.

Its unclear exactly how many of the legislators were absent due to potential exposure to the virus. Those who were exposed must quarantine and be tested.

That frustration about a lack of remote voting is personal for state Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, who said he often avoided the Capitol last year because he worried about taking the virus home to his mother-in-law and pregnant wife. Sterns mother-in-law, who died of Parkinsons disease last year, lived with Stern and his wife after a COVID outbreak at her nursing home.

Theres got to be a better way, he said. It was frustrating for me. I still dont get the magic of standing there versus being there on the screen.

Stern took six personal absences and participated in Senate sessions remotely for about five months at the start of the year. All told, he missed 906 votes on legislation, including committee hearings and abstentions.

I would say 99% were votes I wouldve taken, but couldnt, Stern lamented.

The Senate has, at times, allowed lawmakers to participate in floor sessions remotely, though they could not cast votes. The chamber only briefly allowed for remote voting during the final days of the 2020 session, when 10 Republican senators quarantined after they were exposed to an infected colleague.

Secretary of the Senate Erika Contreras said the chamber allowed for some remote committee voting after last winters surge in infections, but slowly phased it out as access to vaccines improved and other mitigation measures like regular testing became commonplace. The Senate also allowed for some lawmakers to participate in floor sessions remotely last winter and spring, until it phased out the practice.

But the Senate moved Friday to reinstate some virtual participation after several legislators were exposed to the virus at the going away-party earlier in the week, which was held amid a statewide surge in cases due to the omicron variant.

Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, told colleagues Friday that senators in quarantine will be allowed to participate in floor sessions and vote in committee meetings remotely.

Contreras said in an email that remote voting could be an option in the future, if the threat of the virus increased such that it could again pose a threat to the continuity of government.

While many Democratic legislators who were frequently absent last year cited the threat of COVID-19, Republican legislators with regular absences did not raise the same concern.

Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore (Riverside County), was the upper chambers most frequently absent member, missing 15 days due to personal business. Three of those days included votes on the Senate floor.

Melendezs office said she did not receive per diem payments for those days, but declined to comment further. Lawmakers receive a daily per diem payment when they are in session, $211 per day in 2021, to cover lodging and meal costs.

Altogether, Melendez skipped a total of 464 votes in 2021, including committee hearings and abstentions, according to the Legislature's vote-tracking database.

Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, missed 10 days due to personal business, including four days that involved votes on the floor. Her office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. She skipped a total of 209 floor and committee votes.

The Chronicles analysis of absences includes only dates when lawmakers were absent due to personal business. The analysis, based on the chambers daily journals, does not include days when they were absent due to illness, medical leave, bereavement or legislative business.

Meanwhile, the number of absences was even higher in the Assembly, where legislators were never allowed to participate in floor sessions remotely.

Assembly Member Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, was the most frequently absent, missing 33 days in session. Wicks noted, however, that only two of those days were floor sessions where votes occurred.

Typically, the Legislature conducts most of its business during Monday and Thursday floor sessions. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually check-in sessions, where legislators briefly step onto the carpet of the chamber, a move that allows them to collect per diem for the day.

Wicks, who has two young daughters, said she felt no need to drive three hours round-trip from the Bay Area on those check-in days just to get per diem when all of her other meetings were being held via Zoom.

I was adhering to public health orders and my own sort of personal desires to keep myself and my family safe, especially because this whole year Ive had two little girls who couldnt be vaccinated, she said.

Of the two other days Wicks missed, she said one was to meet with Vice President Kamala Harris in Oakland and the other was to deal with a childcare issue. Altogether, she missed 54 floor and committee votes throughout the year.

In 2020, Wicks drew national attention after she brought her newborn daughter to the Capitol to vote on the last day of lawmakers session because her request for a proxy vote was denied.

I personally believe we should have remote voting and more flexibility for lawmakers, Wicks said. We were adjusting (to the pandemic) just as much of the rest of the country.

Rendon, the Assembly speaker, has faced criticism from some members over his reluctance to allow remote participation. A spokesperson for the speaker said while the Assembly had a policy to allow for proxy voting, it never faced an large-scale outbreak like what occurred with the Senate GOP caucus.

Though this policy is not currently in place, it has not been ruled out as a future possibility if the need arises, spokesperson Katie Talbot said in an email.

Several other members who were frequently absent echoed Wicks concerns about avoiding the Capitols corridors due to fear of COVID-19 exposure.

Assembly Member Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County), was absent 22 days to personal business; only one of those days included floor votes. He missed a total of 63 floor and committee votes throughout the year.

I chose to work remotely from home during the pandemic as much as possible, in accordance with public health guidelines, Muratsuchi said in an email.

Several legislators stressed that the pandemic changed the way that business is done at the Capitol. Unlike in a typical year, when legislators regularly hold meetings with constituents, staffers, lobbyists and others in their offices after floor sessions, such in-person meetings have become rarer. Now, much of that behind-the-scenes work occurs virtually or over the phone.

Muratsuchi said he believes its misleading to label those days that legislators didnt attend check-in sessions as absences because they are often doing the same policy and constituent work remotely.

Two other frequently absent Assembly members, Sabrina Cervantes and Philip Chen, did not respond to requests for comment. Cervantes, D-Riverside, was absent for 12 days, none of which included floor business. She skipped 147 floor and committee votes over the course of the year.

Chen, R-Yorba Linda (Orange County), was absent for 11 days, five of which included floor votes. He missed 300 floor and committee votes total.

Both the Assembly and Senate have rules stating that legislators are required to attend, unless their colleagues have excused their absence.

Practically speaking, the only consequence for not attending floor sessions is that legislators lose their per diem payment, though they can receive per diem if they are excused for an illness or legislative business. But in extreme circumstances, the sergeant at arms for each chamber can use force to compel legislators to attend.

Regardless of how many days they were absent, Assembly members and senators received the same $114,877 annual salary in 2021.

Nearly every absence a legislator had last year was excused. The exception was Assembly Member Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin (Placer County), who was absent 24 days, eight of which were not excused. He skipped a total of 272 floor and committee votes during the year.

Of the days Kiley missed, two included floor business. Four of the days Kiley missed were during his campaign for governor, when he unsuccessfully ran to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in the recall election.

Kiley said his campaign didnt cause him to miss any floor votes, noting that he regularly skips check-in sessions and declines all per diem payments. He said he also abstains from votes on many resolutions that he considers a waste of time and taxpayer resources.

I dont take per diem, so theres no reason to make a trip to the Capitol just to check in, he said in a text message. He added that a lot of legislators have fewer missed votes and abstentions because the Democrats vote for basically everything.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Kevin Kileys political affiliation. He is a Republican.

Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner
Viewed purely as architecture, the hospital that UCSF wants to build on its Parnassus Heights campus shows real promise. Its a provocative yet humane attempt to create a place of healing unique to the ridgeline setting.

But when the setting is as complex and contested as this one, inventive design can only go so far.

Thats the tension now playing out as the university seeks to build a large medical facility that would join an already crowded campus on the flank of Mount Sutro, just two blocks south of Golden Gate Park. Even the architects concede that their assignment is daunting  to insert a 15-story, 870,000-square-foot hospital into a tight site with single-family homes to the east and a forbidding older hospital slab to the west.

Its not an easy task to marry a building of this scale to the neighborhood that exists, said Jason Frantzen, a senior partner at Herzog & de Meuron, the architecture firm designing the project.

The Swiss firm is no stranger to the area: It also designed the de Young Museum on Golden Gate Parks Music Concourse. Born in controversy, with a 144-foot tall observation tower that infuriated many critics, the museum that opened in 2005 is as good as any building added to San Francisco so far this century.

The proposed hospital has design twists as well.

It would rise nearly 300 feet at the corner of Parnassus Avenue and Medical Center Way, the east edge of the congested 107-acre campus, replacing a psychiatric institute on the steep triangular parcel. But rather than loom as a single overwhelming mass, as is the case with 1955s Moffitt Hospital next door, this one would appear almost as three structures stacked atop each other.

The five-story base would be immense, with the first two floors pulled back from Parnassus Avenue to create a spacious main entrance. The four floors above it would be clad in glass and rise from the middle of a wide terrace landscaped by James Corner Field Operations, the landscape architecture firm also doing the Tunnel Tops park that opens this April in the Presidio.

And on top of that? Six broad stories that would resemble a blunt pagoda, with generous eaves to shade the rooms inside. The side facing east, toward a residential area, would have a jagged profile to be less of a monolith.

Other design elements are still evolving. Renderings show glazed terra-cotta wrapping the lower and upper sections of the building, but that could change. The idea is an earthy look, rather than metal panels or yet more glass.

The project would include internal connections to Moffitt and the adjacent Long Hospital, which UCSF built in 1982. Also, Moffitt would be brought up to current seismic standards.

The newcomer would be intrusive, no question; as the environmental impact report that was released last month states, the proposed project would contrast sharply both in height and scale with the Cole Valley neighborhood to the east.

We understood that there was concern about such a building and its impact, Frantzen said. It needs to be large because of the requirements it has, so it needs a careful response.

That understanding is part of what defines the work of Herzog & de Meuron, which on this project is the design consultant for the architect of record, HDR. Theres an uncompromising rigor that can be challenging, as with the de Young. But its also imaginative  like the de Youngs truly public perch above the park.

Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with HDR

With the proposed hospital, the firm grasps that this is a structure experienced in much different ways depending on where you are. The base is laid out to relieve the claustrophobic setting along Parnassus Avenue, while the pagoda-like summit would energize the campus skyline. As for the comparatively narrow stack of floors in the middle, their expansive terrace would serve patients and the public.

Thats what makes the design so intriguing. But the hospital is only one part of UCSFs expansion plans  and thats what fuels the current tension between the university and its neighbors.

The medical campus dates back to 1898, and it has grown to the point where it stops just one block from Golden Gate Park. There are labs and classrooms, parking garages and a utility plant.

Resistance to this growth intensified in the 1970s  no surprise, given that one nearby neighborhood is super-liberal Haight-Ashbury. Finally, in 1976, UCSF agreed to cap the size of the Parnassus Heights campus.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

This truce was reaffirmed as recently as 2014 by UCSF. But the updated plan for Parnassus Heights that UCs Board of Regents approved last year would allow another 1.05 million square feet on top of the 3.55 million square feet previously allowed.

Three lawsuits now are challenging the environmental impact report for that plan, citing a litany of concerns including transportation impacts and the shadows that would be cast on parks and playgrounds. Beyond this, though, is frustration with a state institution deciding to dispense with 45 years of local precedent.

Pledges repeatedly were made by them (UCSF), and then in 2020, all that goes out the window, said Dennis Antenore. A former planning commission, Antenore has been on an advisory group involving UCSF and its neighbors since 1991. They said they werent bound by it (the 1976 agreement) any longer.

In the new plan, UCSF cited everything from increased demand for hospital beds to new research grants in explaining the decision to loosen the limits and meet these critical space needs.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Realistically, there are good reasons to loosen the long-held limits on one of the Bay Areas most important medical centers. The world of health has changed immeasurably during this time. So have the technological demands, regulatory limits and patient expectations.

The new hospital, for instance, would be 100 feet taller than 1955s Moffitt Hospital next door, even though they both are 15 stories, in order to have room below the floors and above the ceilings for the wiring and ductwork suited to todays medical technology. The standard patient room would be roughly 300 square feet, so that it easily can be adapted to an intensive care room at some point in the future. Moffitts patient rooms are 180 square feet.

Unfortunately, by arbitrarily deciding that new times demand a new approach, UCSF has stoked the determination of already tenacious watchdogs to fight back in the courts. The design of the new facility is a compelling look at what urban hospitals can become. But not even the best architecture can heal frayed relations on its own.

John King is The San Francisco Chronicles urban design critic. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
Luka's Taproom & Lounge, a pillar of Uptown Oakland's nightlife scene, is closing at the end of January, as first reported by Berkeleyside. Co-owner Rick Mitchell says the decision comes after his landlord doubled the rent.

"We're still down revenue-wise and we're still running losses," Mitchell told SFGATE. "... It was very important to the landlord to get a certain minimum amount of rent out of this place right away."

Knowing the difficult environment for businesses at the moment, Mitchell decided the deal his landlord wanted to make wasn't a good move for Luka's.

"I just thought if I accepted his terms, which was my only option, I was pretty much living in indentured servitude," he said. "I mean, it was more responsible to just close it down based on my other options."

The taproom and restaurant first opened at 2221 Broadway back in 2004, before the Uptown Oakland neighborhood became a bustling nightlife scene. After 18 years, Mitchell says it's hard to even put into words how much he's seen the area change.

"There has been just a ton of new construction and new people moving into the neighborhood," he said. "When we opened up, there was one bar, Peter Van Kleef's [Cafe Van Kleef], and one downscale restaurant and some lunch places. But it was a place people didn't go."

Today, Lukas is surrounded by a bevy of dining and drinking options, from mainstay Brown Sugar Kitchen to the new and trendy Asian American bar Viridian.

Since people have begun to learn news of the impending closure, "there's been a lot of tears around here," said Mitchell. He credits the community for making the popular spot for happy hour beers and Californian comfort food as special as it was.

"Just getting open was just a huge group effort, and then the community really came out to support," said Mitchell. "When we opened our doors, we had a waitlist the first day. People were excited. They didn't know who we were or what we had to offer, they just were excited to see something good and positive happen in Oakland. You know, I can't credit myself too much, I just tried not to burn it down in the process."

Once Luka's closes, Mitchell and co-owner Maria Alderete, who is also his wife, plan to focus on Community Kitchens, the nonprofit they launched during the pandemic that distributes meals to low-income and unhoused people. Mitchell says he will also focus on helping his friend Nigel Jones (owner of nearby Kingston 11) with opening his new restaurant, Calabash.

Luka's last day is slated to be Jan. 29, which they plan to celebrate with a yet-to-be-announced event.

SFGATE reached out to Luka's property owners HP Investors for comment but has not heard back at time of publication.
It was promoted as a New Years Eve celebration in Cancun, Mexico  a six-night trip that included parties with open bars and a day exploring Tulum, a popular tourist destination in the Yucatan Peninsula known for its ancient ruins and the turquoise water of its beaches.

It would begin with a privately chartered plane from Montreal where the guests  a coterie of Canadian social media influencers, reality TV personalities and others  would be entertained by a DJ on the flight to Mexico.

But the trip has turned into a fiasco, with airlines shunning the group and stranding many of its members and the Canadian authorities vowing to investigate after videos of the passengers surfaced on social media showing them flouting Canadas COVID-19 restrictions.

In the videos, the passengers are seen dancing and jumping in the aisles, yelling without masks on and passing around bottles of alcohol. One woman can be seen vaping in the cabin. Another passenger, his mask hanging under his chin, yells at his fellow travelers over the cabin intercom to sit down and then to keep the energy up.

Lets hear some noise, welcome to 111 Private Club! the same passenger says in a video, referring to an online group described as invitation only that was founded by James William Awad, a musician and self-described entrepreneur who organized the trip. The passengers, many of them without masks on, yell back in approval.

About 27 of the 130 passengers on the flight are back in Canada, the countrys health minister, Jean-Yves Duclos, told reporters Friday.

They were all stopped and interrogated at the border, he said, adding that they were tested for COVID and asked about their proof of vaccination and their quarantine plans.

Many passengers apparently remained stranded in Mexico after at least three airlines said they would not fly them back.

The 111 private club is working tirelessly to get everyone back home safely as quickly as we can, Awad said in a statement posted Thursday on a personal blog. I understand why many fellow citizens are upset about the current situation, he said earlier in the statement. As someone who enjoys bringing people together, I committed to hosting a private and safe event in Cancun with my group from the 111 private club.

Transport Canada, the countrys transportation authority, said it was investigating the conduct of the passengers, who could face fines of up to $5,000 for violating Canadas COVID restrictions, which forbid passengers from traveling without masks.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the behavior seen on the plane a slap in the face to people who have abided by COVID restrictions on planes and at home.

I think, like all Canadians whove seen those videos, Im extremely frustrated, he said. We know how hard people have worked to keep themselves safe, to limit their family gatherings at Christmastime, to wear masks, to get vaccinated, to do all the right things.

Sunwing Airlines, which flew the group to Cancun on Dec. 30, said it canceled the return flight to Canada after an internal investigation found that the passengers exhibited unruly behavior and did not respect aviation or public health regulations.

Our decision to cancel the return flight was based on the groups refusal to accept all terms and our security teams assessment that noncompliance would be likely based on their previous disruptive onboard behavior, the company said in a statement Friday.

Awad said in his statement that he had agreed to every demand made by the airline but had objected to Sunwings refusal to provide meals during the five-hour return flight. He later wrote on Twitter that the sticking point was not over meals and that he had simply asked Sunwing to try and do something about it.

In its statement, Sunwing did not elaborate on how the flight crew responded to the passengers or whether the captain was aware of what was happening during the flight to Mexico.

Air Canada said it denied flights to 19 people who were linked to the group, according to CTV News.

To the extent that we can identify the passengers who were part of the group, we are denying boarding to ensure the safety of other passengers and our crews, Air Canada said.

Air Transat, another Canadian airline, said on Twitter that it refused to take the passengers back home after they tried to book a flight through the airline.

We confirm that they will be denied boarding based on our legal and regulatory obligations to ensure the safety of both our passengers and crew, which is our top priority, Air Transat said.

The passengers crowding the aisles compromised the ability of flight attendants to move through the cabin and help anyone who could have been hurt or needed medical attention, said Mark Millam, vice president of technical programs for Flight Safety Foundation, which provides safety guidelines for the aviation and aerospace industry.

Had sudden turbulence hit the airplane, the passengers standing in the aisles could have been seriously injured, Millam said. The aircraft wasnt designed to be a dance floor, he said.

In his statement, Awad said the trip was the first travel event planned by the 111 Private Club, which he described as a dream and a vision.

He added: I have significantly learned, and I am still learning from this experience.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
By Olivia Wynkoop

Bay City News Foundation

SamTrans is giving six months worth of free rides to low-income students as a part of their Youth Unlimited Pass pilot program, the public transport service announced on Friday.

The pilot, designed in part by the San Mateo County Office of Education, will provide free service to students under the California Department of Education's category of "socioeconomically disadvantaged," which includes those receiving free or reduced meals at school, students facing homelessness, foster youth, migrant students and those with parents who did not graduate high school.

Of the 28,000 pass requests, SamTrans has distributed 20,000 passes to schools so far, with the remaining 8,000 to be handed out in the future. More information on the distribution process can be found at www.samtrans.com/riderinformation/Youth/Youth_Unlimited_Pilot_Program.html.

"Everyone deserves a safe and convenient ride to school," SamTrans Board Member Charles Stone said in a statement. "We at SamTrans are proud to make sure that's a reality for every child, and we look forward to serving these riders for years to come."

Copyright  2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Copyright  2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
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At the tender age of eight, The Birds was the first horror movie Id ever watched. My mom had also seen the Hitchcock film as a child, and I guess she wanted to pass the nightmares along to me. At the time, she remembered eyeing a flock of crows as they perched on the monkey bars of her school playground, their numbers steadily growing. The birds are coming! she insisted to her classmates.

Years later, Id learn that the legendary movie was filmed in the tiny, neighboring towns of Bodega and Bodega Bay, about 60 miles north of San Francisco. The Birds still has a strong cult following, and residents say thousands of tourists flock to the area every year.
In the latest air travel developments, sparse on-site attendance at this years CES conference in Las Vegas sparked concerns that the revival of business travel in 2022 may be delayed due to the COVID omicron variant; as heavy U.S. flight cancellations continued all this week, Alaska Airlines is slashing January schedules for a COVID reset; major telecom companies agree to delay release of new 5G technology due to aviation safety concerns; Hong Kong bans U.S. flights and France toughens entry rules for the unvaccinated, but the U.K. and Ireland remove their pre-flight test requirement and Israel reopens to vaccinated Americans; United and Iberia resume San Francisco routes, plus international route news from Delta and JetBlue; Avelo starts another northern California route; Frontier kicks off a fare sale like nothing youve ever heard of; changes to Americans AAdvantage program take effect this month; and United reopens airport lounges at San Francisco and London Heathrow.

The usually huge CES expo was held in Las Vegas this week, but the in-person event (it also offered a virtual version) didnt seem that huge this year as COVIDs omicron variant continues to spread  and some saw that as a bad omen for the immediate future of business travel. Apparently expecting a bumper crop of passengers for this years CES, United had scheduled several extra flights into Las Vegas from the Bay Area and other cities, but a series of photos published by Mashable.com this week showed almost-empty exhibit halls; for contrast, it also ran pictures of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds at the 2020 expo. CES was, even before the advent of COVID-19, known as a germ soup, Mashable.com said. It's perhaps no surprise, then, that people now accustomed to remote work might chose to sit out a massive in-person event amidst a coronavirus surge in the U.S.

The Consumer Technology Association, which operates CES each year, had put strict health protocols in place, but it still cut back the schedule this year from four days to three after several major participants  including Amazon, Google, Meta (i.e., Facebook), GM, Intel, T-Mobile, Twitter and others  dropped out or decided to attend virtually instead of in person. As the Washington Post observed, This years CES conference in Las Vegas raises questions about the future of giant in-person business events. The newspaper noted that the World Economic Forum, normally held in Switzerland during January, has been pushed back to the summer, and JP Morgan Chases big annual health care conference scheduled for San Francisco later this month has been converted to an online-only event.

4kodiak/Getty Images

The trade publication Business Travel News said this week that If past is prelude, the fast-moving omicron variant will disrupt business travel in a number of ways. Companies themselves could place new restrictions on travel, and with new information about increased transmission associated with omicron coupled with the travel uncertainty wrought by airline staff shortages, short-term demand from would-be business travelers is likely to take a hit. BTN also cited CES, the World Economic Forum and JP Morgan Chase decisions as bad signs for business travel. High-profile moves like these not only eliminate the travel associated with large events, but they may have a chilling effect on other events, with decision-makers looking at them for best-practice guidance. That influence could also trickle down to transient business travel  either through company restrictions or the preferences of individual employees weighing risk-reward of each trip, the publication observed.

Those waves of U.S. flight cancellations that started just before Christmas Eve continued all through the holiday period and into this week. According to an analysis of available flight data by Thepointsguy.com, 11 large U.S. airlines canceled a total of 15,537 flights from Dec. 22 through Jan. 3, or 8% of all scheduled departures. They blamed not only the weather but also a shortage of available staff due to COVID absences and quarantines. That total included the 3,000 cancellations on Monday, Jan. 3, after that another 1,500 flights were scratched on Jan. 4, 1,700 on Jan. 5, and more than 2,100 on Jan. 6. On Friday (Jan. 7), U.S. flight cancellations topped 2,400, helped along by a big winter storm in the east.

Jim Glab

Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines said this week it has decided to reduce its overall January schedules by 10%, which amounts to more than 100 flights a day. This will give us the flexibility and capacity needed to reset while continued flexible travel policies enable guests to adjust their plans accordingly. This will also give us time and space to find our path forward together, with Covid-19 as a continued reality in our business and our world, Alaska said.

U.S. airlines, already plagued with major delays and cancellations due to weather and COVID-related staffing problems, may have dodged a bullet this week thanks to a new agreement between the federal government, AT&T and Verizon that will delay the rollout of new 5G technology pending further study of how it might affect passenger aviation. At issue is so-called C-Band service, a version of 5G that is said to be faster than the original 5G signals. The airline industry has contended that the new 5G transmissions could interfere with the radio altimeters on aircraft, and it argued that two fixes proposed last month by the Federal Aviation Administration wouldnt help  instead, according to the trade group Airlines for America (A4A), they would severely restrict the operation of all types of civil aircraft. A4A said that if the new 5G technology had been operative in 2019, even with the proposed FAA solutions, approximately 345,000 passenger flights, 32 million passengers, and 5,400 cargo flights would have been impacted in the form of delayed flights, diversions, or cancellations. In any event, the telecom companies this week agreed to delay the overall rollout of the new 5G service for two weeks (to Jan. 19)  even though they maintain it is perfectly safe  and to reduce the power of the C-Band transmissions around dozens of major U.S. airports through July 5 as additional studies are conducted of its possible effects on aircraft.

The worldwide spread of the COVID omicron variant is creating new complications for international travel. For example, the government of Hong Kong this week banned all inbound passenger flights from the U.S. and seven other nations at least through Jan. 21 and banned entry to individuals who had been in any of those countries recently. The other countries include Canada, Australia, France, the U.K., India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. In France, meanwhile, unvaccinated travelers from the U.S. can no longer avoid a quarantine by showing a negative COVID test result. France added the U.S. to its red list, meaning that unvaccinated American visitors now must undergo a 10-day quarantine after arrival and get negative test results both before departure from home and after the quarantine period. Vaccinated U.S. visitors can avoid the quarantine, but in addition to proof of vaccination, they must also provide a negative result from a COVID test taken within 48 hours of departure.

But not all the revised entry rules were more restrictive. The United Kingdom this week eliminated its recent requirement that fully vaccinated foreign visitors from countries like the U.S. must show a negative result from a COVID test taken no more than 48 hours before departure from home. Theyll still need a negative PCR test result upon arrival, but they wont have to isolate themselves while they wait for the results. Unvaccinated visitors, however, still need a pre-departure test, two PCR post-arrival tests, and 10 days of quarantine. Ireland took a similar step this week, ending a requirement for fully vaccinated visitors to show proof of a negative pre-departure COVID test. Israel, which closed its borders to all foreign visitors in late November, has now started to allow them back in from dozens of countries, and will reopen to American tourists effective Jan. 9 if they are vaccinated and take pre- and post-arrival COVID tests.

In international route news, United this week resumed its non-stop San Francisco-Singapore route, although it reportedly isnt selling seats on the westbound segment until January 19. The route had been suspended since March 2020, and the carrier reportedly plans to boost service to twice-daily frequencies on March 22. American Airlines, meanwhile, has resumed daily Los Angeles-Sydney flights after suspending them for several months. JetBlues daily New York JFK-London Heathrow service  which has been relying on a temporary allocation of takeoff and landing slots since it started in August  has been extended through October 2022, the airline said. JetBlue will also continue its JFK-London Gatwick daily service, and still plans to launch Boston-London flights this summer. We are committed to collaborating with regulators as well as the U.S. and U.K. governments to identify a pathway to staying at Heathrow for the long-term, said JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes.

Spains Iberia Airlines, a member of the American/British Airways Oneworld alliance, is planning to resume San Francisco-Madrid flights in April, and to add new service from Madrid to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Washington Dulles the same month. Iberia already flies from Madrid to Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago OHare, and New York JFK. Iberia also code-shares with the low-cost carrier Level (like Iberia and British Airways, a member of the International Airlines Group) on the latters San Francisco-Barcelona route, and with Alaska Airlines on several domestic routes beyond LAX and SFO.

Delta has dropped plans to fly from its Atlanta hub to Rio de Janeiro this summer, ending the route after March 23. Meanwhile, Delta has entered into a code-sharing agreement with ITA Airways, the new Italian flag carrier that replaced the defunct Alitalia. The pact will put Deltas code onto ITAs flights from New York JFK to Rome, and on its upcoming routes from Rome to Boston and Miami (starting in March) and to Los Angeles beginning in June. For customers flying beyond Italy, Deltas code will also be placed on ITA Airways flights to Albania, Egypt, Tunisia, Greece, Malta and Israel, Delta said.

On the domestic side, low-cost Avelo Airlines this week kicked off new service from northern Californias Redding Municipal Airport (RDD) to Las Vegas, operating two weekly roundtrips (on Mondays and Fridays) with a single-class 737-800. Avelo also flies from Redding to its home base at Hollywood Burbank Airport.

Hows this for a fare sale? Frontier Airlines this week announced a 100% discount on fares from the mainland U.S. to its 15 destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America, for both non-stop and connecting flights. But as you might expect, there are plenty of caveats. Tickets must be booked online at FlyFrontier.com by 8:59 p.m. Pacific time on Monday (Jan. 10) using the promotional code TROPICAL. The deal is good for travel through March 3, but the discount is only for the base fare  not taxes, government fees, or all those add-on charges levied by low-fare carriers like Frontier. In addition, there are day-of-the-week travel restrictions and blackout dates, and the discount might not be available on certain dates or flights, Frontier said.

Boarding1Now/Getty Images

Are you a member of American Airlines Advantage loyalty program? If so, heres a reminder that some big changes AA announced in the program took effect this month, so it might be time to study up on what that will mean for your account. The major change is that members who aspire to earn elite status for 2023 no longer have to rely on elite-qualifying miles, dollars spent or segments flown; the program now has just one metric for elite status, called AAdvantage Loyalty Points. The number of Loyalty Points needed is 30,000 for AAdvantage Gold status, 75,000 for Platinum, 125,000 for Platinum Pro, and 200,000 for Executive Platinum. Simply earn Loyalty Points whenever you fly, use an AAdvantage credit card for purchases, or earn eligible miles with AAdvantage partners, the airline said. The conversion rate is basically one Loyalty Point for one AAdvantage mile, but not all miles are considered eligible  mainly just base miles rather than bonus, promotional, or purchased miles. The mileage masters at Thepointsguy.com are the experts on this, so heres their analysis from October (1) about the overall innovations in the program, and from this week (2) about all the AA partners where members can earn Loyalty Points from their miles.

In airport news, United this week finally reopened its Polaris Lounge at San Francisco International, located in International Terminal G near Gate G1. Its open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. for customers traveling internationally in Uniteds Polaris business class, and for those with international first class or business class tickets on Uniteds Star Alliance partner carriers. That leaves the Polaris Lounge at Los Angeles International as the only one still shuttered; it is expected to reopen in the coming weeks. United also has Polaris Lounges at Newark, Chicago OHare, Houston Bush Intercontinental, and Washington Dulles.

Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Meanwhile, the airline has also reopened its United Club lounge at London Heathrows Terminal 2. In October, the carrier announced plans for a big expansion of service to London starting in March, including new daily flights from Boston; the addition of a third daily flight from San Francisco; the resumption of daily service from Los Angeles and Denver, and the addition of a second daily Denver departure; and the expansion of Newark-LHR service from five daily flights to seven. The United Club at LHR is open to club members, first and business class customers, and Star Alliance Gold members.
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Noah Hawley is an Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award-winning television writer, producer, director, screenwriter, singer and author of five novels. Hawley (Before the Fall) created and is the executive producer, writer and showrunner on FX's award-winning television series Fargo as well as the creator and showrunner on the FX series Legion. Celebrated for his literary thrillers, dynamic plot lines and memorable characters, Hawley's sixth novel, Anthem, is out now from Grand Central Publishing.

How was the idea for Anthem born, and how did it evolve?

The evolution of this novel from where it started to where it ended was pretty profound. It started with an idea from an article I read about parents who show up at their daughter's apartment and it's like the Mary Celeste. The table is set, the food is out, bags are packed but no one is there. The parents try texting and get weird messages back. The idea that an adult child had mysteriously disappeared evolved into the quest in Anthem to find the Wizard.

Anthem is a fantasy novel about the real world we live in. There was a moment when it became clear to me that there was going to be this quest and an almost Middle-earth structure to the story, but it is our world and includes language that is part of our world.

Why did you include a teenage suicide epidemic in Anthem?

The suicide epidemic adds urgency to the quest and also a sense of consequence to the behavior of the past decade or two--the idea that what we reap is what we sow. The book talks about how, when a problem gets too big for us to focus on, we shift our attention to what is easy, the soap opera of human drama. That's why when half the world might be flooding and the other half might be on fire, we focus on the latest tweets of the day.

If my job as a novelist is to reflect the world we live in and to make sense of it, what do I do when the world we live in doesn't make sense anymore? It was a journey and I was along for the ride with this book.

As a parent, which aspects of the story most resonate with you?

Anthem, on some level, mirrors my own fears. The more I do this, the more I realize that what I've been writing about, in this latest season of Fargo and in the Legion television show, is about parenting. If you want to know if a character is moral or not, look at their relationship with a child. In the latest season of Fargo, there's one man, Rabbi Milligan, played by Ben Whishaw, for whom children are a priority. That's heroic. He's not concerned with his own enrichment.

One of the things that occurred to me in figuring out how to talk about this book--and it's something I was able to include in the story--was this question of what skills we need to teach our children in order [for them] to prosper in a world where reality is up for debate.

In discussing political parties in Anthem, you refrain from specifically referencing Republicans and Democrats. Why is that?

I removed language that is burned into our brains in order to see something for what it truly is, and tried as hard as I could to write something nonpartisan because, as I say in the book, I am not interested in taking sides. I just want words to mean what they are supposed to mean. However I am under no illusion that a certain percentage of Americans won't be able to read the book without feeling that I am attacking their ideologies.

After releasing Anthem and your characters into the world, do you think about Louise, Simon and others and their prospects for survival?

I do think about them. I think about how they are going to do and I wonder if I did them justice. As the author of a novel, you have no one else to blame for what happens to your characters.

Much of what I went through in the last season of Fargo was about the experience of Black Americans, immigrants and people who have been traumatized through their outsider stories. I didn't want to create new injuries, to craft scenes where I was asking Black actors to be subjected to racism just because it was good for the plot. So it became this dance. I really wanted to protect the dignity of all the characters, but I also wanted to tell the story, and I think that's true here, too.

People carry past trauma with them, so I'm under no illusion that even if Simon, Louise and others manage to miraculously escape, they will be okay immediately. But I also know that if they can get to a place in which they can make the world simple again, that will go a long way. I'm up here in Wyoming and it's amazingly easy to lower one's blood pressure when the world is bigger than your worries and you can walk outside and experience a sense of perspective.

Your writing has been favorably compared with that of Kurt Vonnegut. Can you share this author's influence on your writing of Anthem?

As I was trying to wrap my head around this book, I thought about Kurt Vonnegut and a book like Slaughterhouse-Five and what he did in that book, which was to re-create the true story of his own war experience and a novel about a guy who's unstuck in time and ends up on the planet Tralfamadore. There is so much genre mixed into the book, yet at its heart it is a simple morality [tale] and it's this element that influenced me.

We act like the issues of our world are so complex but it's like what Greta Thunberg said, you're either fixing the problem or you're not. It's not complicated.

Which other writers have influenced you?

The first novel I read that made me realize a story could be so much more than a series of events was White Noise by Don DeLillo. DeLillo in a very profound way had a huge influence on me. I was a New York kid and his is such a New York voice. His writing is poetic, funny and tough all at the same time.

For this book I went back and reread One Hundred Years of Solitude. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's magical realism really factored in my writing. I also reread Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. There's just something about that book.

Haruki Murakami and Milan Kundera have profoundly influenced my writing. Kundera's books are essays as well as novels and made me realize that you could both be telling a story and exploring an idea at the same time.

Ayn Rand wrote a dystopian novel set in the future called Anthem. Is there a connection between these two books with the same title?

I wasn't aware until you said it that she had written a novel called Anthem, so there is no connection. But that doesn't mean the Internet won't connect them and that it won't become true! --Shahina Piyarali
SHELTON  Members of the Keystone Club, the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valleys youth leadership program, recently got a first-hand look into the world of heating and air conditioning.

The young people attended a tour at Stratford-based ENCON Heating and Air Conditioning on Dec. 20 as part of the Boys & Girls Clubs Workforce Development Initiative, a program which provides positive mentorship, skill-building, career exploration, and work experience opportunities for the Clubs youth.

The tours were led by ENCON President and Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valleys Board of Directors Vice Chair Christopher Douglas and his team.

Keystone members were introduced to employees from various departments of ENCON, watched a demonstration on how duct work is made, and watched a video about the importance of heating and cooling along with how the terms works.

The Keystone members also talked with company employees regarding their experiences in their current roles as well as their education and job training.

Traditional college education can be beyond the reach  or interest  of our members, and the Workforce Development program gives them insight into the many other options open to them, Shaye Roscoe, the Chief Executive Officer of the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley chief executive officer, said.

Hearing about different paths taken in real life can be invaluable, according to Roscoe, by helping to illustrate the many ways to achieve career goals.

Career exploration is one of the key areas of Keystoning, which goes hand-in-hand with Workforce Development, so having our teens be able to partake in a tour and demonstration at ENCON was not only a perfect match, but an unforgettable experience for them, Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley Unit Director and Keystone Club Advisor Jennifer DeLeon said.

We are constantly looking for opportunities like this for our Keystones to take part in, and we are grateful to Chris and his team for making it possible. DeLeon said.

Of the experience, Douglas said that he that was impressed with the high self-esteem and engagement of the Keystone Club.

I attribute this to the Club experience, Douglas said.

Douglas also serves as the chair of the Governance Committee of the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley. Douglas has also led the Clubs 2021-2023 Strategic Planning session and is an active member of the Boys & Girls Clubs Alumni Association.

Douglas is also an active part of the ACE Mentor Program and founder and chairman of The Own Your Future Foundation, Inc., which he says supports people who persevere through adversity by equipping youth with the knowledge and the tools that are necessary to help them enter the workforce and to maintain gainful employment, which will undoubtedly help them to enhance their futures, and the futures of the people that are around them.

In addition to ENCON Heating and Air Conditioning, the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valleys Workforce Development program is supported by the Bruce N. Griffin Trust, the George H. Gamble Trust, Newmans Own Foundation Inc., Pitney Bowes, the Own Your Future Foundation, and the Santa Family Fund.
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Recent news stories have highlighted the role whistleblowers played in curbing international financial crimes, bringing to light alleged financial mismanagement and the effects of not addressing whistleblowers' concerns on listed companies' value.

None of these cases would have emerged without the courage these individuals show. And so business leaders have a professional duty toward these heroes, who are willing to speak out. This is because, ultimately, the C-suite of any organization has a responsibility to make sure it protects the company's bottom line. One of the trickiest parts of getting this right is protecting whistleblowers who become concerned about transactions or actions that could affect the business.

Everything from international crimes, such as money laundering, to financial crimes that affect only one busines, such as petty cash fraud, can be managed better if whistleblowers are more open and willing to step forward. For this to happen, though, company leadership has a responsibility to ensure whistleblowers are safe.

Globally, we are seeing a move to encourage whistleblowers since, when issues of corruption, fraud and bribery come to light, it is because someone had the courage to speak out. Sadly, this is often done in the face of tremendous pressure and with fear of what the repercussions might be for the whistleblower. This is where both the law and businesses can play a role to encourage whistleblowers to tell their stories, in a supportive and protective environment.

In South Africa (SA), we have world-class pieces of anti-bribery and anti-corruption legislation, but the issue is enforcement, where a lot more can be done. This is not only the case for enforcement agencies such as the SA Police Service, but also an issue for businesses, individuals and communities to address.

A key piece of local legislation is the Protected Disclosures Act, which has governed disclosures since 2000. In terms of the act, organizations are required to implement measures to facilitate whistleblowing. In addition, organizations such as Corruption Watch, encourage whistleblowing and have created platforms where individuals can report corruption.

After 21 years, a number of best practices have emerged that business leaders can follow, which should be part of every company's basic HR policies and shared with employees. At a practical level, one of the key aspects is that the tone has to be set at the top of the organization.

Business leaders have to focus on creating an ethical culture, where whistleblowers are taken seriously. This includes the company being open to showing how it deals with allegations, how it investigates whistleblowers' complaints, and whether it takes decisive action against guilty parties.

There also needs to be consistency in implementation when whistleblowers do come forward, as this has been shown to have the best outcomes that encourage whistleblowers, in public and private organizations.

While companies may balk at spending money on whistleblowing systems in the current economic environment, they may also encourage employees to use external platforms where they can report corruption.

Encouraging whistleblowers need not cost your company moneyin fact, it will save your bottom line in the long run. I've done numerous investigations where we've uncovered millions of rands of fraud because someone in the organization has had the courage to speak up, the leadership has investigated, the criminals have been punished and the financial bleeding has been staunched.

Zaakir Mohamed is a partner and head of corporate investigations and forensics with CMS South Africa in Johannesburg.  2022 CMS South Africa. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology.


Dodik is recklessly fueling division & crisis in Bosnia, threatening years of peace & healing. The sanctioning of Dodik, a proxy of Russian Pres Putin, sends an important message that the US won't tolerate actions that endanger Bosnias future as a unified, multiethnic state.
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San Mateo, CA (94402)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. Low 46F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies. Low 46F. NW winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Between Labor leader Anthony Albaneses hip new spectacles, sharper suits, oversized Akubra and 15-kilogram weight loss and Prime Minister Scott Morrisons white thongs, fish curries, curiously thicker hairline and Australian flag face masks, it would appear the image makers are well into campaign mode ahead of the next federal election.

Throw in a cute pic with the family pet, and its GAME ON.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese with his dog Toto and Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Buddy.

But while both Team Albo and Team ScoMo would have us believe that there is very little thought going into what they wear (Akubras and RM William boots suddenly appear once they leave city limits) and what they post on social media, recent political history would suggest that couldnt be further from the truth.

I signed a 30-page non-disclosure contract, that still binds me today, one stylist who has worked on successful election campaigns informed me last week, still too nervous to be named.
Sydneysiders, stuck in the city because your country cousins cancelled Christmas concerned you were a COVID-carrier? New Years plans went up in smoke like the Foti family fireworks on Sydney Harbour, so you stayed at home in front of the TV with only Charlie Pickering and Jeremy Fernandez at your party?

Plenty of Sydneysiders watched the fireworks from home this year. Credit:Edwina Pickles

You are not alone. And if you are not in isolation you are lucky. So many are. So playing Pollyannas glad game  turning what might be a negative into a positive  lets count the ways to spend a summer holiday at home. Sure you can Marie Kondo your socks and undies drawers, organise your photo albums and renovate the kitchen but after two years of at home activities, surely it is time to step out yet stay safe if you are COVID-free. Here are six suggestions:

1. Swim.

It doesnt matter what the weather or temperature is like above water, below water its as beautiful as it always is. OK, on the coast you may have to dodge some bluebottles when the north-easterly winds hit, and the high tide from Queenslands cyclones may have closed some beaches. But the beauty beneath the surface is worth plunging into  at any of our more than 100 beaches.
Its got to the stage where were getting arms  archery, gun licences, the woman said tearfully before Ms Smit cut her off, saying: Stop, this is not the right forum to talk about that stuff, we can talk about that separately. Ms Smit later defended the exchange, telling The Sunday Age her followers were arming themselves to hunt for food due to concerns about shortages of a diesel additive which has threatened to halt the trucking industry and supply chains. There was no explicit discussion of hunting or shortages in the two-hour session in which followers asked their leader for advice about being ostracised from their families, being fired from their workplaces over refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine and pulling their children out of school to avoid them being vaccinated. The Sunday Age unearthed other examples of content being shared in freedom groups urging the use of violence and weapons. People actually still think that we can solve this with the same three failed methods that people have been using for the last 10 years: petitions, voting, peaceful protests. None of them work  neither do your court cases, one former white supremacist group leader said in a video days after the Old Parliament House fire, which was instigated last month by anti-vaccine, sovereign citizen activists.

No matter how violent it has to be  smashing down the doors, pulling these people out of their offices and, you know, making sure their feet dangle off the ground with a little something around their neck. Extreme rhetoric about hanging executions has been normalised in the movement by conspiracy theorist Riccardo Bosi, a former special forces soldier who presents himself as leader of the AustraliaOne Party, an outfit that is not registered as a political party. Mr Bosi, who appears at freedom rallies and whose organisation has tens of thousands of social media followers, said in a December interview his organisation would execute notable media personalities such as Alan Jones, Peta Credlin, Paul Murray and ABC chair Ita Buttrose for their apparent silence on a vaccine genocide. Months on from the introduction of vaccine mandates for essential workers, large numbers of isolated Australians have either left their jobs or been sacked for refusing to get vaccinated and have just spent their first Christmas estranged from loved ones because of their views. Last weeks fire at Old Parliament House is a warning of the potential of radicalised followers of the freedom movement. Credit:Facebook

The fire last month at Old Parliament House should serve as a warning shot of the threat posed by a small group of radicalised individuals  especially months out from a federal election, according to Deakin University extremism researcher Josh Roose. Its effectively an indicator of the potential of these groups for violence, he said. Dr Roose said the movement was a loose alliance, including militant wellness groups, anti-vax groups, the Christian Right, Evangelicals and other Orthodox religious groups, sovereign citizens and Qanon conspiracy theorists. The underpinning distrust in science and government hasnt gone away, he said. And its been actively stoked very cynically by populist politicians.

[If] its not taken seriously and investigated ... then we risk being well behind the eight-ball. The threat of violence during the pandemic has been previously associated with far-right, neo-Nazi personalities who are attempting to recruit on the fringes of the movement, but Professor Barton said rhetoric just as concerning was coming from activists with larger followings and more mainstream appeal. Ms Smits organisation has promised to back Craig Kelly and Clive Palmers United Australia Party at the upcoming federal election, and her partner, Morgan Jonas, is running as a candidate for the party in Health Minister Greg Hunts seat of Flinders. Former Liberal MP Craig Kelly at the Eureka freedom rally in Melbourne last month. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui Professor Barton said Ms Smits quasi-religious language was extremely dangerous.

Shes playing with fire because somebody like [the man responsible for Sydneys Lindt Cafe siege] will respond to that language and say, okay, Im going to be that person, Professor Barton said. Loading Thats why people are starting to think of ways to support themselves with food and community, she said. Ms Smit, who has propagated a theory to her followers that they may eventually be placed in concentration camps for the unvaccinated, assured them in the December video conference that their commitment to staying unvaccinated was a trial from God. God has given us these trials, because he wants us to stand up, he wants us to be better, she said.

A social media post issued by Reignite Democracy Founder Monica Smit in November. Credit:Reignite Democracy Australia You can be in the quarantine camp with your head held high knowing that you did your best. Ms Smit told The Sunday Age that her organisation has and never will advocate for violence. In fact, weve openly discouraged it and always advocate for peaceful campaigning only, she said. Nothing Ive ever said could be misinterpreted to be calling for any type of violence whatsoever. Im a Christian and we never solve things with violence, we use our words and negotiation.

Loading Mr Bosi did not respond to a request from The Sunday Age to explain his violent rhetoric. A spokesperson for national security agency ASIO said it believed the threat posed by a subset of these minority groups who wish to escalate protest to violence would not diminish any time soon  and may well grow. The online environment is a force multiplier for extremism; fertile ground for sharing ideology and spreading propaganda, they said. We are seeing a growing number of individuals and groups that dont fit on the leftright spectrum at all, the spokesperson said.
This week Australia hit a new low point in the COVID-19 pandemic, with record cases, a shambolic collapse in the testing system, businesses closed, workers furloughed without pay, supermarket shelves stripped bare and mass public confusion.

Two years into the pandemic and Australias federal system of government is struggling with some of the most basic elements of pandemic response. While the blame game between Canberra and the states has become more than just unedifying, it is a failure of duty by political representatives to the public they are elected to serve.

Public trust has swung towards state leaders during the pandemic, exposing the Prime Ministers lack of power or lack political will. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Which level of government is responsible for the procurement and distribution of rapid antigen tests? Depending on which politician is speaking, it is either the Morrison government, the state premiers, or the free market.

Who is responsible for international tennis players entry into the country for the Australian Open? On Wednesday, the Prime Minister was telling us it was Victoria, but the following day he was proudly boasting it was him.
Residents in upmarket Paddington are opposing plans for a new small bar, arguing the suburb is being ruined by drunken louts because there are too many licensed venues.

Yet they face an uphill battle convincing the local council, which says small bars add to the social fabric of the community, as the sector calls on residents to put up with more night-time noise following the end of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Elliot Scali has submitted a development application for a small bar and bottle shop in Paddington, which has attracted opposition from some residents. Credit:Flavio Brancaleone

Elliot Scali plans to transform a fashion shop in William Street, off Oxford Street in Paddington, into a small wine bar and boutique wine shop operating seven days a week up to 11pm.

Mr Scali said the venue was an extension of his online Notwasted business selling wine made by organic and biodynamic natural winemakers.
More than 200 years ago, the smallpox vaccine was also opposed by some Christians who believed that vaccines interfered with Gods will. Its no wonder that the government proposed religious freedom legislation is taking so long to appear.

Doctors and nurses are greatly fatigued after two years on the frontline treating COVID patients (Health system is creaking at the seams, January 2). The explosion of cases in NSW, and the overload on our health system, is due to recent poor decision-making by the government. It expects health staff to now return to the frontline before the completion of seven days isolation. These underpaid health professionals are returning prematurely to cover for the crisis created by our shortsighted Premier. John Cotterill, Kingsford

A bit of perspective

What a contrasting world we live in (The girl sold to feed her family, January 2). Here we are in the middle of the summer sales frenzy buying goods, some of which we probably dont need but as we consider it cheap we snap them up anyway. And we read of families in Afghanistan selling their children, some of them girls as young as seven, into marriage for the sole reason of getting the money to feed the already starving family. Its easy for us to be horrified by this but then again they would think the same about us wasting money on goods we will never use. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury

Religious freedom needs honest debate

Daisy Turnbull is a strong advocate for teenage girls and young women and her insights on coercive control should be heeded (Talk every parent should have with their teen, January 2). Her lens is focussed on the romantic/sexual context for controlling behaviours, where the potential for harm is clearly prevalent. But when it is known that the most at-risk age range is 16-25, other settings should be open to scrutiny. Cultural practices based on concepts of male headship involve daughters and other female relatives, and they too can be viewed as a form of domestic abuse. Given the recent controversies over proposed religious freedom legislation at the federal level, we might anticipate this could be another contested debate. Are we prepared to be honest, consider the wider implications and not be fearful of treading on religious toes? Margaret Johnston, Paddington
Surf lifesavers, students and other volunteers are filling hundreds of paramedic shifts every week in Victoria in a crisis measure to deliver emergency care, as frustrated medical leaders say Australias politicians have turned their back on sound public health advice and let it rip.

Victorias daily COVID-19 case tally surpassed 30,000 cases on Saturday, delivering a scenario that just a week earlier had been described by a government minister as worst case. Meanwhile, there are now almost 1800 patients with COVID-19 in NSWs hospitals, a pandemic record, with thousands more expected in coming weeks.

Ambulance Victoria was under a code red alert in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Credit:Paul Rovere

Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said Australians were paying for state and federal governments decisions not to heed warnings from doctors and public health experts before Christmas that even if Omicron proved to be mild, the sheer number of cases could overwhelm hospitals.

The strategy has been to let it rip. Thats very clear, he said.
In the past week, Benjamin Nichol has slept in a paddock and an empty house, and will now sleep in a tent until he can go home.

The 26-year-old theatre director lives in a share house of four young people in Northcote, and the household, except for him, has come down with COVID-19.

Benjamin Nichol is on the road with a friend as the try to avoid COVID-19 which has spread through their sharehouses. Credit:Daniel Sewell

Just by chance, Mr Nichol had not seen his three housemates in the lead-up to them testing positive on Monday and had a window to get out and stay negative. He paired up with an unexposed friend whose own housemate had also tested positive.

The both of us were like, well, well jump in the car and well just go camping for a few days and see if we can wait this out until our houses are safe again.
Ms Haythorpe said teachers and school staff welcomed the move given concerns about multiple unresolved pressure points regarding safety and response to large outbreaks. She said the union, which has not yet been consulted, wanted clarity on infrastructure such as ventilation and space for social distancing, how staffing shortages would be managed and a testing strategy. Many children will be unvaccinated when term begins and then for the first two months it will be, at best, first dose protection, Ms Haythorpe said. Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe said remote learning may be the only option in large outbreaks. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Schools have the potential to be superspreader environments. If teachers feel they need to do a rapid antigen test every day then they should be able to.

Childcare centres have already experienced the impact of soaring cases: 439 were shut across the country on Friday, including 48 in Victoria and 322 in New South Wales. Loading Children are eligible only for the Pfizer vaccine and will receive one-third of the adult dose. They will be administered by GPs, pharmacies and 40 state-run clinics in Victoria, where over 500,000 kids aged five to 11 are eligible. Melbourne mother Jade Cruse spent most of this week hunting down an appointment for her daughter Isla and son Ari, aged 11 and five. I called every GP in our area who said they couldnt book us in because they werent sure about supply. Were going on holiday on the Mornington Peninsula next week so I called every GP and pharmacy there too, Ms Cruse said.

I ultimately got one at a state clinic for next week but Ive spent hours and hours being relentless. Most appointments I saw were in February. Ms Cruse said she was stressed about her children returning to school, particularly as Ari, who is starting prep, has asthma. Ms Cruse said she would have preferred her children to be fully vaccinated before term starts. Credit:Simon Schluter If cases become rampant at their school, I wont send them back until theyre fully vaccinated, said the 42-year-old from Montmorency, in Melbournes north-east. Fellow Melbourne mother Ashleigh Bennett had booked an appointment for her seven-year-old daughter 30-minutes from their home at a GP clinic, which called her on Wednesday to cancel.

Our local GP said they were booked out until mid-March. We found a booking at a state clinic the day before school goes back, she said. I have limited confidence that many kids will actually have the chance to get vaccinated before school goes back based on our experience, she said. President of the Victorian Principals Association Andrew Dalgleish said remote learning had to be under consideration to provide continuity for students. But its not possible for teachers to deliver face-to-face classes and remote learning simultaneously. It really has to be one or the other at a point, he said. Mr Dalgleish suggested the solution for children who have to isolate may be a series of digital learning modules that they can access at home.

Though that would be much easier for older primary school children than those younger kids. Fourty state-run clinics will offer childrens vaccinations from Monday in Victoria. Credit:Jason South Victoria recorded 51,356 new infections on Saturday. A state government spokesman backed national cabinets discussions about a countrywide framework. Our school workforce is almost entirely fully vaccinated and were providing an opportunity for every child aged 5 to 11 to receive at least one vaccine dose before Term 1 and their second before the end of term, he said.

Anita Munoz, Victorian chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said many practices had over 2000 children on their books who were currently fighting for 100 doses per week. Anita Munoz, Victorian chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Parents who meet a series of barriers may decide that its too hard, that they cant be bothered with the process. Thats a really big problem, she said. Victorias COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar revealed on Friday that schools will be used as vaccination sites once term begins, however Dr Munoz said in the meantime GPs and parents were hamstrung by an unreliable supply chain. Weve had so much experience in this pandemic that its disappointing we are still seeing the same mistakes, said the GP, who works at a clinic in Melbournes CBD.
Victorians stuck in isolation waiting for test results for a week have been told their samples are no longer suitable to be tested amid a tsunami of demand at Melbourne laboratories.

Infected people who registered their rapid antigen test results with the Department of Health were also mistakenly informed they were free to leave isolation late on Saturday as the new system was rolled out, in what Health Minister Martin Foley has acknowledged would likely involve inaccuracies in its first days.

Melbourne Pathology sent text messages on Saturday that COVID-19 samples taken up to seven days ago were no longer able to be tested. Credit:Helen Tierney

Private clinic Melbourne Pathology, which closed its PCR testing sites to the public this week to deal with a backlog, on Saturday sent text messages informing test patients their samples could not be processed.

Your COVID-19 PCR sample is no longer suitable to be tested and no result can be provided, the text messages said. If currently symptomatic, assume you are positive and arrange rapid antigen or repeat PCR swab confirmation as appropriate.
Almaty: Kazakhstans former intelligence chief has been arrested on suspicion of treason, the state security agency said on Saturday, as the former Soviet republic cracks down on a wave of unrest and starts to assign blame.

The detention of Karim Massimov was announced by the National Security Committee which he headed until he was fired by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday after violent protests swept across the Central Asian nation.

The former Prime Minister Karim Masimov, right, and the then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Credit:

Tokayevs office said he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the situation was stabilising.

At the same time, hotbeds of terrorist attacks persist. Therefore, the fight against terrorism will continue with full determination, it quoted him as saying.
One of Joe Bidens most ambitious attempts to tackle COVID-19 could soon be thwarted by Americas highest court, adding to the US Presidents woes ahead of this years midterm elections.

As coronavirus infections reached new records this week, a White House push for large employers and health facilities to force staff to get vaccinated became the subject of a fiercely contested legal challenge in the Supreme Court on Friday (AEDT Saturday).

The US Supreme Court in Washington DC. Credit:AP

The vaccination mandate, which could impact more than 100 million workers, formed part of a plan announced in September as the Delta strain of coronavirus ravaged the US, months before Omicron became the nations most dominant variant.

Biden directed the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to order employers to implement a vaccination mandate for every business with 100 or more employees. Mandates were also issued for healthcare personnel that receive federal Medicaid and Medicare funds.
Somerset, KY (42501)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Starlink is the name of a satellite network developed by the private spaceflight company SpaceX to provide low-cost internet to remote locations. SpaceX eventually hopes to have as many as 42,000 satellites in this so-called megaconstellation.

The size and scale of the project flusters astronomers, who fear that the bright, orbiting objects will interfere with observations of the universe, as well as spaceflight safety experts who now see Starlink as the number one source of collision hazard in Earth's orbit. In addition to that, some scientists worry that the amount of metal that will be burning up in Earth's atmosphere as old satellites are deorbited, could trigger unpredictable changes to the planet's climate.

Starlink:The satellite internet plan

SpaceX's first 60 Starlink internet communications satellites are released all at once in this animation of images taken during the successful May 23, 2019 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX's satellite internet proposal was announced in January 2015. Though it wasn't given a name at the time, CEO Elon Musk said that the company had filed documents with international regulators to place about 4,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.

"We're really talking about something which is, in the long term, like rebuilding the internet in space," Musk said during a speech in Seattle when revealing the project. (Musk also owns electric car company Tesla, but Tesla does not produce satellites.)

Musk's initial estimate of the number of satellites soon grew, as he hoped to capture a part of the estimated $1 trillion worldwide internet connectivity market to help achieve his Mars colonization vision. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted SpaceX permission to fly 12,000 Starlink satellites, and the company has filed paperwork with an international regulator to loft up to 30,000 additional spacecraft.

To put that into perspective, as of Jan. 5 2022, 12,480 satellites have been launched in all of history with only 4,900 still active, according to the European Space Agency.

SpaceX launched its first two Starlink test craft, named TinTinA and TinTinB, in February 2018. The mission went smoothly. Based on initial data, the company asked regulators for its fleet to be allowed to operate at lower altitudes than originally planned, and the FCC agreed.

The first 60 Starlink satellites launched on May 23, 2019, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellites successfully reached their operational altitude of 340 miles (550 kilometers)  low enough to get pulled down to Earth by atmospheric drag in a few years so that they don't become space junk once they die.

Starlink service costs and service

SpaceX has a dedicated website to order Starlink terminals. Go to the main page of the Starlink website and scroll down to the section that says "Order Now."

After plugging in your service address, you can see whether Starlink is available for your region. Note that there may be shipping delays due to ongoing supply chain issues associated with the pandemic.

While pricing varies by region, a search for an address in Brooklyn in April 2022 gave a hardware price of $599.00, a one-time shipping and handling charge of $50.00, and a monthly service charge of $110.00.

Speeds are said to be much faster for many users in rural regions compared to local options, although again, this varies by region. "Users can expect to see download speeds between 100 Mb/s and 200 Mb/s, and latency as low as 20ms in most locations," the home page states.

Once your box arrives, you should see within it a Starlink kit that will allow you to connect to the Internet. A Starlink app, as well as a website user guide, are meant to guide you through the installation.

The company says that nearly anybody with a clear region of the sky visible should be able to find a satellite, although those very close to the north and south poles might be out of luck.

"Starlink is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has been unreliable or completely unavailable," the Starlink main page states. "People across the globe are using Starlink to gain access to education, health services and even communications support during natural disasters."

More information about Starlink setup, along with answers to frequently answered questions, are available on the customer service page.

How Starlink satellites work

SpaceX's Starlink internet service consists of a ground terminal (right) and antenna for high-speed satellite internet. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The current version of each Starlink satellite weighs 573 lbs. (260 kilograms) and is, according to Sky & Telescope magazine, roughly the size of a table.

Rather than sending internet signals through electric cables, which must be physically laid down to reach far-flung places, satellite internet works by beaming information through the vacuum of space, where it travels 47% faster than in fiber-optic cable, Business Insider reported.

Current satellite internet works using large spacecraft that orbit 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above a particular spot on Earth. But at that distance, there are generally significant time delays in sending and receiving data. By being closer to our planet and networking together, Starlinks satellites are meant to carry large amounts of information rapidly to any point on Earth, even over the oceans and in extremely hard-to-reach places where fiber-optic cables would be expensive to lay down.

Musk has said that the Starlink network would be able to provide "minor" internet coverage after 400 spacecraft were up and running, and "moderate" coverage after about 800 satellites became operational.

As of early January 2022, SpaceX had launched more than 1,900 Starlink satellites overall. The constellation is now providing broadband service in select areas around the world, as part of a beta-test program with download speeds of between 100 Mb/s and 200 Mb/s and latency as low as 20 milliseconds, according to a Starlink guide.

Users on the ground access the broadband signals using a kit sold by SpaceX. The kit contains a small satellite dish with mounting tripod, a wifi router, cables and a power supply, according to the company's website.

Starlink versus astronomy

A train of SpaceX Starlink satellites are visible in the night sky in this still from a video captured by satellite tracker Marco Langbroek in Leiden, the Netherlands on May 24, 2019, just one day after SpaceX launched 60 of the Starlink internet communications satellites into orbit. (Image credit: Marco Langbroek via SatTrackBlog

Within days of the first 60-satellite Starlink launch, skywatchers spotted a linear pearl string of lights as the spacecraft whizzed overhead in the early morning. Web-based guides showed others how to track down the spectacular display.

"This was quite an amazing sight, and I was shouting 'Owowowow!' when the bright 'train' of objects entered into view," Netherlands-based satellite tracker Marco Langbroek told Space.com in 2019 via email. "They were brighter than I had anticipated."

That brightness was a surprise to almost everyone, including both SpaceX and the astronomical community. Researchers began to panic and shared photos of satellite streaks in their data, such as this one from the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

They expressed particular concerns about future images from highly sensitive telescopes such as the Vera Rubin Observatory (formerly known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope), which will study the entire universe in exquisite detail and is expected to come online in 2022. Radio astronomers are also planning for interference from Starlink's radio-based antennas.

In photos: SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites to orbit

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) expressed concerns in a statement released in June 2019. "Satellite constellations can pose a significant or debilitating threat to important existing and future astronomical infrastructures, and we urge their designers and deployers as well as policy-makers to work with the astronomical community in a concerted effort to analyze and understand the impact of satellite constellations," the statement said.

In April 2021, Thomas Schildknecht, the deputy director of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern, who represents Switzerland in the IAU, said at the European Space Agency's space debris conference that the union was calling on the United Nations to protect pristine night sky as cultural heritage against the uncontrolled expansion of megaconstellations.

In a report released in October 2022, the American Astronomical Society (ASS) likened the impact of megaconstellations on astronomy to light pollution. The report said the sky may may brighten by a factor of two to three due to diffuse reflection of sunlight off the spacecraft.

Starlink as a major source of orbital collision risk

SpaceX received more backlash in September 2019, when the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it had directed its Aeolus satellite to undertake evasive maneuvers and avoid crashing into "Starlink 44," one of the first 60 satellites in the megaconstellation. The agency took action after learning from the U.S. military that the probability of a collision was 1 in 1,000  10 times higher than ESA's threshold for conducting a collision-avoidance maneuver.

In August 2021, Hugh Lewis, the head of the Astronautics Research Group at the University of Southampton, U.K. and Europe's leading space debris expert, told Space.com that Starlink satellites represent the single main sources of collision risk in low Earth orbit.

According to computer models, at that time, Starlink satellites were involved every week in about 1,600 encounters between two spacecraft closer than 0.6 miles (1 kilometer). That's about 50% of all such incidents. This number rises with every new batch of satellites launched into space. By the time Starlink deploys all 12,000 satellites of its first-generation constellation it could reach 90%, Lewis said.

Lewis also expressed concerns that Starlink's operator SpaceX, a newcomer into the satellite business, is now the single most dominant player in the field whose decisions can affect safety of all operations in low Earth orbit.

Starlink's effects on the atmosphere

SpaceX plans to refresh the Starlink megaconstellation every five years with newer technology. At the end of their service, the old satellites will be steered into Earth's atmosphere where they will burn up. That is certainly commendable when it comes to space debris prevention, however, there is another problem.

The vast amount of satellites that will be burning in the otherwise pristine upper layers of the atmosphere could actually alter the atmospheric chemistry and have unforeseen consequences for life on the planet.

In a paper published in May 2021 in the journal Scientific Reports, Canadian researcher Aaron Boley said the aluminum the satellites are made of will produce aluminum oxide, also known as alumina, during burn-up. He warned that alumina is known to cause ozone depletion and could also alter the atmosphere's ability to reflect heat.

"Alumina reflects light at certain wavelengths and if you dump enough alumina into the atmosphere, you are going to create scattering and eventually change the albedo of the planet," Boley told Space.com.

That could lead to an out-of-control geoengineering experiment, a change in the Earth's climate balance. The effects of such alternations are currently unknown.

Karen Rosenlof, an atmospheric chemistry expert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), told Space.com she too was concerned about the effects of the particles from the burning satellites in the atmosphere. Rosenlof actually has expertise in modelling the effects of geoengineering interventions.

David Fahey, the Director of NOAA's Chemical Sciences Laboratory, and Martin Ross, a physics and meteorology scientist at the Aerospace Corporation, both told Space.com that more research is urgently needed to understand the effects of burning increasing amounts of satellites in the atmosphere.

The problem, the scientists said, is that in those high layers of the atmosphere, the particles are likely going to stay forever.

Boley said that while the amount of satellites burning in the atmosphere will be considerably smaller than the amount of meteorites, the chemical composition of the artificial objects is different, thus the presence of the products of their burning is something scientists know nothing about.

"We have 54 tonnes (60 tons) of meteoroid material coming in every day," Boley said. "With the first generation of Starlink, we can expect about 2 tonnes (2.2 tons) of dead satellites reentering Earth's atmosphere daily. But meteoroids are mostly rock, which is made of oxygen, magnesium and silicon. These satellites are mostly aluminum, which the meteoroids contain only in a very small amount, about 1%."

As the accumulation of those particles would increase over time, so would the intensity of the effects. It thus cannot be ruled out that over decades the pollution from burning megaconstellation satellites could lead to changes on a scale akin to what we are currently experiencing with fossil-fuel-induced climate change.

"Humans are exceptionally good at underestimating our ability to change the environment," said Boley. "There is this perception that there is no way that we can dump enough plastic into the ocean to make a difference. There is no way we can dump enough carbon into the atmosphere to make a difference. But here we are. We have a plastic pollution problem with the ocean, we have climate change ongoing as a result of our actions and our changing of the composition of the atmosphere and we are poised to make the same type of mistake by our use of space."

Starlink did not respond to Space.com requests for comment.

What SpaceX plans to do

SpaceX has stated that it will work with organizations and space agencies to mitigate the impacts of its megaconstellation. And the company has tried to assuage astronomers' concerns over Starlink's effect on the night sky.

"SpaceX is absolutely committed to finding a way forward so our Starlink project doesn't impede the value of the research you all are undertaking," Patricia Cooper, SpaceX's vice president of satellite government affairs, told astronomers at a January 2020 meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu, Nature reported.

SpaceX has taken action to this effect. For example, recently launched Starlink satellites sport visors designed to prevent sunlight from glinting too brightly off their most reflective parts.

But the huge numbers of satellites in megaconstellations from SpaceX and other private space companies, such as OneWeb, suggest that light-pollution and other issues may continue, and advocates have called for greater regulations from government agencies.

"Here is a gift for the leaders of the world, a task more non-partisan than any other which has come before: protect our skies," stargazer Arwen Rimmer wrote in The Space Review, a weekly online publication devoted to essays and commentary about space, in early 2020.

On Feb. 3, 2022, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket made a routine and successful launch of 49 Starlink satellites from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But only a day later, a geomagnetic storm above Earth pushed up the density of the atmosphere, increasing the drag on the satellites and dooming the bulk of them to an early death.

"Preliminary analysis show the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe mode to begin orbit-raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earths atmosphere," SpaceX wrote in an update Feb. 8.

Each satellite was put into a low initial orbit that had a minimum altitude as little as 130 miles (210 kilometers) above Earth, at the orbit's lowest point. SpaceX has said it intentionally releases Starlink batches into such an orbit to allow for quick disposal, just in case something goes wrong during launch. But this positioning also leaves satellites vulnerable to solar activity that affects Earth's atmosphere.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 49 Starlink internet satellites to orbit on Feb. 3, 2022. Most of them fell back to Earth due to a geomagnetic storm just one day later. (Image credit: SpaceX)

"In fact, onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches," SpaceX wrote in its update.

The company tried to save them, by placing all the satellites in a a protective "safe mode" and commanding them to fly edge-on "like a sheet of paper" to minimize drag. SpaceX also spoke directly with the U.S. Space Force and the company LeoLabs to track the machines with ground-based radar, it added.

Ultimately, however, most of that Starlink batch was lost. SpaceX noted the upshot is the satellites "pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry." That latter part means the satellites won't generate any debris that hits the ground.

"This unique situation demonstrates the great lengths the Starlink team has gone to ensure the system is on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation," SpaceX added.

Starlink in Tonga and Ukraine

On Feb. 26, 2022, two days after Russia invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked attack, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked Elon Musk for aid.

Federov's tweet pleading for Starlink terminals resulted in a shipment coming in just two days later, which was incredible given supply chain disruptions and other issues induced by the conflict.

In reality, however, SpaceX was already working behind the scenes on a Ukraine delivery for six weeks. It was awaiting final permission to enter the country and took Federov's tweet as that permission, given the official paperwork wasn't able to get through in time.

SpaceX worked on this initiative in concert with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). According to a USAID press release in April 2022, the public-private partnership has sent 5,000 Starlink terminals to the country, which remains under attack as of this writing on April 12.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister and the country's minister of digital transformation, shared this photo on Feb. 28, 2022 of Starlink internet terminals arrived in Ukraine after Russia invaded. (Image credit: Mykhailo Fedorov/Twitter)

The situation in Ukraine was not always smooth, as Musk noted in March 2022 that the Starlink terminals have been jammed near Ukraine conflict areas. The company was already working on an upgrade when Musk announced this, and he pledged a further pivot to cyber defense to keep the Starlinks operational.

Also in February 2022, Musk and SpaceX sent at least 50 Starlink terminals to the island nation of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The goal was to give its residents free Internet access, especially in remote villages.

Tonga needed the terminals after suffering a massive volcano eruption and tsunami in January, according to Reuters. At the time, SpaceX said the terminals will allow for communications to flow in some of the regions with the worst effects due to the eruption.

Additional resources

Watch this video describing the Starlink satellite project, from SpaceX.

Read how astrophysicist Ethan Siegel thinks SpaceX can fix the damage Starlink satellites are causing to astronomy, published in Forbes.

Follow the #starlink hashtag on Twitter to catch the latest news and opinions about Starlink.

Bibliography

NOIRLab, Report of the SATCON2 Workshop: Executive Summary, July 16, 2021 https://noirlab.edu/public/media/archives/techdocs/pdf/techdoc031.pdf

Boley, A., Byers, M. Satellite mega-constellations create risks in Low Earth Orbit, the atmosphere and on Earth, Scientific Reports, 20 May, 2021 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-89909-7

McDowell, J. The Low Earth Orbit Satellite Population and Impacts of the SpaceX Starlink Constellation, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, April 6 2020 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab8016/meta

Massey R. et al. The challenge of satellite megaconstellations, Nature Astronomy, 6 November, 2020

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01224-9

This article was updated on April 12, 2022 by Space.com contributor Elizabeth Howell
Kenitra (Morocco), 8 January 2022 (SPS) - Sahrawi civilian prisoner, Abdallah Wali Ahmed Khafouni, within the Agdim Izik group, who is in the Kenitra Central Prison, north of the Moroccan capital, Rabat, embarked Thursday on a 48-hour hunger strike, according to a Sahrawi human rights source.



The source added that the strike came as a condemnation of the Moroccan state's continued arbitrary detention of the Sahrawi civilian prisoner and in protest against the degrading and inhumane conditions he suffered inside the prison and the associated deliberate indifference aimed at exercising all forms of restrictions on the latter and circumventing his basic and legitimate rights.



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BRIDGEPORT  The citys homicide solve rate surpassed the national average last year, with arrests or warrants secured in about 80 percent of the cases, according to police officials.

While all 22 killings occurred in Bridgeport, one took place on the highway, putting it under Connecticut State Police jurisdiction rather than with city detectives.

In 2021, the Detective Bureau made arrests, secured arrest warrants or closed all but four homicide cases, Capt. Kevin Gilleran said. The national average clearance rate for homicides in 2020 was 54.4 percent, according to the FBI. By years end in 2020, arrests had been made in eight of the 24 cases in Bridgeport  a roughly 30 percent clearance rate by the end of the year.

There were 107 individuals hit by gunfire in Bridgeport last year, down from 138 the year prior, according to data provided by the police department.

Acting Police Chief Rebeca Garcia attributed this years clearance rate to what she said were proactive strategies and the departments commitment to combating crime.

Garcia said she and other members of the department are continually revisiting and assessing our strategies for efficacy and establishing new and different ideas to continue disrupting the instances of violence and crime.

To those that have lost a loved one due to violence and/or tragedy, the Bridgeport Police Department offers our sincerest condolences, Garcia said.

She urged anyone with information on any unsolved incident to call the tips line at 203-576-TIPS.

There are four cases where authorities have not identified a possible suspect, secured a warrant or made an arrest. Gilleran said police continue to seek suspects in the deaths of Benjamin Bagley in March, Charles Barnes and Norman Peters in May, Shamar Swinton in June and Joselito Calderon in July of last year.

Beyond the citys roughly 80 percent clearance rate for last years cases, detectives also made arrests in two cold cases: the April 2, 2020, killing of Eduardo Jimenez and the Sept. 24, 2013, death of Aryndel Castro.

In November 2021, Calvin 40 Williams was charged in connection with Jimenezs homicide. The case is still pending in the judicial system.

The day of the April 2020 fatal shooting, law enforcement officers responded to a gunfire activation on Trumbull Avenue and found the 33-year-old Jimenez with multiple gunshot wounds. Jimenez was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

In early December, investigators charged a local man, 45-year-old Shawn Gibson, and 55-year-old Terrance Boyd, of South Carolina, in connection with the 2013 cold case homicide of 24-year-old Aryndel Castro. Their cases are still pending.

Police said Boyd recently admitted he helped Gibson kill Castro. Boyd allegedly told detectives he and Gibson brought Castro to a rooming house on Noble Avenue that Gibson owned and Gibson beat Castro to death.

Authorities said the men later put Castros remains in a large plastic bag. They tried to dispose of him at a house Gibson owned on Moffitt Street, then tried to bury him in Beardsley Park before ultimately burying him in the basement of a Noble Avenue residence.

Here is the full list of the citys 2021 homicides:

1. Jan. 20: Angel Luis Valle III, 36. He was stabbed to death in his Pennsylvania Avenue home after a fight. His brother, 25-year-old Julian Daivon Valle was charged. His case is still pending.

Valle was a licensed truck driver who his family and friends described as a fashionista that was known for his creative wardrobe and had an artistic eye for life.

2. March 13: Gregory Ingram, 33. He was fatally shot through a window on Seaview Avenue after he went to check on a noise he heard on the back porch. Eric Ayala, 22, was charged. The case is still pending.

Authorities said after Ayalas arrest that he shot Ingram in a case of mistaken identity. Investigators said the 20 to 30 gunshots fired that night were believed to have been intended for a prior resident of the home who had moved.

3. March 17: Benjamin Bagley, 22. He was killed in a shooting on Blackstone Street. The investigation is ongoing.

Bagley was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the 100 block of Blackstone Street and was rushed to Bridgeport Hospital, where he later died. He was one of six siblings and he had three children.

4. March 19: James McClain, 58. He was stabbed on Norman Street during a robbery near Went Field Park. Laquan Victoria, 33, was charged. His case is still pending.

Authorities said McClain was found with a stab wound to the chest and his wallet missing. Victoria was arrested the next day by officers responding to a call about an attempted robbery who found Victoria with a folding knife and blood on his pants. The DNA of the blood matched McClains DNA, officials said.

5. May 16: Charles Dimples Barnes, 38. He was fatally shot on Main Street at an illegal club. Barnes, who was shot in the head, and another individual were left bleeding on the floor when those gathered evacuated the basement club when gunfire rang out.

Mitchel Noel, the owner of a club who rented out the basement space; Christopher Mojica; and Josiah Israel, the pastor of a church using the basement space, were charged in connection with the operation of the night club. Their cases are still pending.

No arrests have been made in connection with the double homicide.

6. May 16: Norman Charles Peters, 46. He was also fatally wounded in the shooting at the illegal Main Street club. Peters, who was shot in the arm, abdomen and thigh, was rushed to the hospital, where he later died. The investigation is ongoing.

7. June 14: Shamar Swinton, 39. He was killed in a shooting on State Street. Officers responding to a reported crash and gunfire in the area of Park Avenue and State Street found Swinton with multiple gunshot wounds. He died at the hospital. No arrests have been made in this case.

8. June 15: Dhamoni Lockhart, 21. He was killed in a shooting on Route 8. This case is being investigated by state police since it occurred on a state highway. State police said the Western District Major Crime Unit continues to investigate and has developed strong leads.

9. June 30: John Randall Patrick Jr., 22. He was found fatally shot in a bedroom on the second floor of a Howard Avenue apartment. Giovanni Ramos, 21, was charged. The case is still pending.

Ramos told police Patrick was the one to pull out the gun when they were in a bedroom in Ramos grandmothers apartment, according to police. Patrick gave him the gun, Ramos told police, but then thought he heard Ramos grandmother approaching and tried to grab it back. Ramos said he was pointing the gun at Patrick, finger on the trigger, when the gun went off as Patrick tried to grab it.

An individual also in the room at the time of the shooting, who said the gun belonged to Ramos, told investigators she saw Ramos playfully pointing the gun at Patrick, who was sitting down. She told police Patrick told Ramos to stop playing around, and Ramos said there were no bullets in the gun. Moments later, she heard the gunshot and saw Patrick fall to the floor.

10. July 11: Joselito Calderon, 54. He was fatally shot on Lexington Avenue. Officers responding to the intersection of Lexington and Harral avenues for a ShotSpotter gunfire activation and calls about people shot inside the Copa Restaurant found Calderon and a 30-year-old suffering from gunshot wounds. Calderon died at the hospital. The other man recovered. No arrests have been made in this case.

Calderon was well known locally as a martial arts instructor.

11. July 12: Javier Flores, 27. He was killed in a shooting on Rennell Court. Dondre Nesmith was charged in the homicide of the Ansonia man. Authorities said Nesmith confessed to the shooting, claiming he fired at the vehicle Flores was in as retaliation for Flores and another man allegedly robbing him previously and forcing him to remove his clothes.

Flores was found unresponsive in the drivers seat of a parked car in the area of Gregory Street and Rennell Court after responding to reports of gunfire and person shot. Flores was rushed to the hospital, where he died soon after.

12. July 20: Rosali Umanzor, 61. He was fatally wounded in a stabbing on Whitney Avenue. The alleged attacker was identified by police as Ricardo Garcia, 41. Police hold an active warrant for Garcias arrest and continue to seek information on his whereabouts.

13. Aug. 28: Jamel Hayden, 21. He was found fatally wounded in his car on Lincoln Avenue after a shooting. Syshone Joyner, 16, and Edwin Abrams, 18, were charged. Joyner is being tried as an adult. Their cases are still pending.

Police said surveillance footage nearby showed Joyner and three others crowded around Haydens car at the time of the shooting. Joyner allegedly saw Hayden advertising weed for sale on Snapchat and reached out, setting up a meeting on Lincoln Avenue so Joyner could buy $250 marijuana, the affidavit said. Four teens showed up to the meeting and one of them pulled out a gun and shot Hayden, the affidavit said.

14. Sept. 9: Candace Goodwin, 19. She was found dead inside a Platt Street home after a shooting where the alleged suspect kept police at bay for two hours after officers responded to a report of people shot. Tarik Francis, 25, who authorities said knew the victims, was charged. The case is still pending.

15. Sept. 9: Austin Burgher, 59. He was found dead inside the Platt Street home in the same incident as Goodwin. Francis has also been charged in Burghers death. The case is still pending.

16. Oct. 2: Jonathan Dasilva, 29. He was shot in the head during an altercation outside the VIP Lounge on Pembroke Street. He was rushed to the hospital by private vehicle but later died from his injuries. Robert Sorrells, 27, and Kadeem Frazer, 28, were charged. Their cases are still pending.

17. Oct. 6: Victor Cruz, 48. He was stabbed on Cottage Street and found by officers with a deep wound on his back. After being rushed to the hospital, Cruz died hours later.

The 30-year-old woman authorities said was responsible for the deadly stabbing did so in self-defense and was not charged in Cruzs death. Investigators said Cruz allegedly tried to rob the woman of her heroin and she attacked him, defending herself. She was found in possession of heroin and was picked up on drug offenses. Police have the case marked closed, calling it a justified homicide.

18. Oct. 11: Nigel Powell, 16. He was fatally shot on Valley Avenue by his friend, also 16, who was playing with a gun, police said. Days after the shooting, police arrested the friend. A judge transferred Elijah Reids case to the adult docket, where hell be tried as an adult in connection with the fatal shooting.

Police said the incident was first reported as a self-inflicted shooting, but investigators soon learned Powell was shot by another teen. At the time of the shooting, police learned, Powell was with three others, including one who was playing with a gun when it fired and a bullet hit Powell.

19. Nov. 6: Raheem Lynch, 24. He was fatally shot near the Mystique night club on Main Street. Police charged Jaquan Bryant, 32. The case is still pending.

Police said Bryant was involved with a physical altercation with one of the members of the gentlemens club around closing. Authorities say he left the club and drove by the customer, firing six shots at the man. Police said Bryant missed his alleged intended target and hit Lynch, who was sitting in a nearby car.

20. Dec. 3: Jalen Parilla, 37. He was found shot in the area of West Avenue and West Liberty Street. He was rushed to the hospital, where he died. Police charged 28-year-old Miguel Rojas, who authorities said stalked and fatally shot his former girlfriends new boyfriend. The case is still pending.

21. Dec. 12: Michael Harrigan, 42. He was found dead from a gunshot wound in a vehicle on Black Rock Avenue after officers responded to a report of an unresponsive man. No arrests have been made in this case, but authorities hold an active warrant for the alleged shooter.

Harrigan grew up alongside City Council member Marcus Brown, who said Harrigan was like a brother to him. Brown said Harrigan, who he described as an artist, leaves behind two sons.

22. Dec. 17: Clinton Clint Taylor, 23. The grandson of former City Council member Denese Taylor-Moye was shot and killed in Sammys Grocery & Dollar Store on Park Avenue. Police arrested 31-year-old Luis Morales. The case is still pending.
EAST HARTFORD  Two local residents were charged with federal firearm offenses in connection with making and selling ghost guns, according to prosecutors.

John Lee Ortiz, 28, and Audley Reeves, 30, were arrested this week after a court-authorized search of a Church Street apartment led investigators to six fully assembled firearms, 12 partially assembled guns, three high-capacity magazines, various gun parts and tools used to construct guns, prosecutors said.

A 3-D printer in the apartment was in the process of printing a stock of an AR-15-style rifle when law enforcement showed up for the search, prosecutors said.

The East Hartford residents were each charged with engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license. The offense carries a maximum term of five years in prison. Ortiz was also charged with an additional offense of selling firearms to a prohibited person, an offense that carries a maximum term of 10 years.

Ortiz and Reeves have been detained.

At the end of last year, prosecutors said, the FBIs Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force learned that Ortiz and others were selling ghost guns  firearms that are homemade and dont have serial numbers or other identifying markings, preventing it from being traced back to the owner, seller or manufacturer.

During the investigation, prosecutors said, law enforcement learned that Reeves was the one fabricating the ghost guns.

Last month, investigators set up controlled buys of seven guns, a rifle and numerous rounds of ammunition from Ortiz. Prosecutors said most of the guns did not have serial numbers and had plastic lower receivers that seemed to be made with a 3-D printer.
Sen. Gene Yaw was elected to represent the 23rd Senatorial District consisting of Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Union counties and a portion of Susquehanna County. He serves as Chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.


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McDONOUGH COUNTY, Ill.  Scott Schwerer wonders about the funding.

Over the past decade, McDonough County, where Schwerer serves as county board chair, has lost about 5,000 people, dropping its population below 30,000. At a 16% reduction, its the greatest decline among rural counties in the state, and its going to hit the area, particularly its largest city, Macomb, in the pocketbook.

They will lose a lot of funding because of the census being lower, he said.

McDonough County, about 150 miles north of St. Louis, isnt alone. All but three rural counties in Illinois have lost population since 2010, reflecting a nationwide trend. The exodus is likely caused by, among other things, losing young people to big cities and the loss of agricultural jobs to technology, experts said.

One of the issues that really sort of restructured the entire rural landscape over the past century has been this mechanization of agriculture, said Christopher Merrett, professor and director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University, in Macomb.

At the same time, all but two rural counties in Illinois are now more diverse, according to an Investigate Midwest analysis of 2020 Census data.

The increased diversity in some rural areas  such as Cass County, home of the JBS Beardstown meatpacking plant  could be attributed to jobs in the meatpacking industry, which depends heavily on immigrant labor, Merrett said.

Cass County lost 4% of its population, equaling several hundred people in the county of about 13,000. Since 2010, its Hispanic population increased by about 20%, now accounting for about 3,000 residents.

Urban areas have experienced the greatest growth over the past decade. Urban populations grew 9%, while rural populations continued to decline. As of 2020, nationwide, 46 million people lived in rural areas, making up 14% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In Illinois, the states entire population only dropped 0.1% between 2010 and 2020. But the population in all rural counties  counties that have less than 50,000 people  fell by 5.8%, according to the USDA.

Schwerer attributed McDonough Countys dwindling population to lower enrollment numbers at Western Illinois University. School data shows fall enrollment has declined for at least the past seven years.

That has seemed to me to be the biggest exodus of our population, he said.

Low birth rates, outsourced jobs

States with the highest rates of rural population loss depended more on manufacturing, natural resource extraction and, in Illinois case, farming, USDA researchers found.

Farming came to rely more on technology around the 1930s, and the need for workers decreased, Merrett said.

With fewer jobs available, young people left en masse. An Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs paper found that the odds of a person between 18 and 24 years of age moving to a city is 70,000 times higher than someone whos 50 years old.

Declining birth rates, outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and losing anchor institutions  such as grocery stores, schools and health clinics  have also contributed to population loss, Merrett said.

The loss of local amenities probably makes some rural areas less attractive for young people to stay, he said. For many people, theyre encouraged to go away to community college or university, and then they just never come back.

Still, since 2010, only two rural counties in Illinois have not grown more diverse. This is based on the census diversity index, which shows the probability that two people chosen at random will be from different race and ethnic groups.

For some counties, this means hundreds of diverse residents, primarily people who reported being Hispanic, have moved to the area. But, in some cases, the diversity figures are fueled by small increases in the number of residents.

For instance, Hardin County, which only has a few thousand people, lost 15% of its population. But its diversity index increased 100%  nine more Hispanic residents moved there, and more people reported to be mixed race, according to the census figures.

Jennifer Lane, owner and publisher of the weekly newspaper Hardin County Independent, said she has noticed some uptick in diversity in the area.

Most of the people in Hardin County are white, Lane said. I do see a little bit more of a diversity. I wouldnt say its dramatic or anything, at least from my eyes.

Whether just a handful or hundreds of diverse residents have relocated to a rural area, USDA researchers found a persistent pattern when they studied rural counties diversity: persistently poor counties tend to be more racially and ethnically diverse than counties that arent persistently poor.

Dealing with population decline

Merrett, the Western Illinois researcher, said the solution to rural population decline depends on a constellation of ideas at the local, state and federal level.

Local governments could support entrepreneurship and start community-supported food co-ops, he said. State strategies could range from investing in higher education to broadband development. The federal government could open up immigration policies, he said.

Although Merrett expects some rural areas in Illinois will continue to lose people, he anticipates many of them will persist.

I would say that rural communities matter because we should have a choice about where we live, Merrett said. I think that small towns matter because people have made a living here attached to the rural community, their communities. There are emotional, philosophical reasons why rural communities matter.

For Lane, the publisher, shes attached to Hardin County. In Rosiclare, where she lives, theres a hospital, a medical clinic, a dentist, a grocery store, a dollar store and a few restaurants, though people may need to drive out of the area for work, she said.

Nestled in the Shawnee Hills of southeast Illinois, Hardin County, she said, is a quiet place where you can come and relax and enjoy a calmer life.

Amanda Perez Pintado is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
Thrity Umrigars Honor begins with a vacation cut short when Smita Agarwal, a foreign correspondent from Brooklyn, is forced to abandon the sunny beaches of the Maldives for an unexpected detour to bustling Mumbai. She is rushing to the bedside of her colleague Shannon Carpenter, a South Asian correspondent, who is facing surgery. Before being wheeled into the operating room, Shannon begs Smita to travel to Birwad, a Muslim village, to report on a groundbreaking legal case in her place.

The complainant, Meena, a low-caste Hindu, went against her community and religion to elope with her beloved, Abdul Mustafa, a Muslim. Meenas brothers, bent on exacting revenge on the couple for their interfaith marriage and the dishonor it has brought, set fire to the newlyweds hut while they were inside. Abdul dies; Meena, pregnant and severely injured, barely survives and eventually gives birth to their daughter.

Smitas hesitation to take on the assignment goes beyond her rusty Hindi and the uncharitable assumption of Mohan, Shannons friend, who deems Smita a spoiled Indian American thumbing her nose at her country of origin. Smitas return to Mumbai triggers memories of an unspeakable act of violence and betrayal she experienced as a teenager before she and her family fled to Ohio. Though she wears her U.S. citizenship like armor, she knows spending time in a city shed spent the last twenty years trying to forget will force her to confront her past.

Umrigar aptly tackles honor killings in rural India and paints Meena with agency and depth. Before her marriage to Abdul, Meena was a trailblazer who, along with her sister, defied her brothers wishes and got a job at a sewing factory to help support their family. She believes that speaking out will empower other women who endure such horrors and that she must do her part to challenge a corrupt legal system that readily dismisses violence against women.

Honor, the January pick for Reeses Book Club, is a stirring critique of individual agendas surrounding Meenas high-profile case. This includes Smita, who, though a seasoned reporter, remains naive to many of the forces at play, as well as Anjali, Meenas well-meaning but overeager feminist lawyer who, at times, seems to care more about sticking it to the patriarchy than about her clients well-being.

In her years of reporting on gender violence around the world, Smita takes care to avoid the kind of trauma porn typical of such articles. Curiously, in the book, Umrigar pens a gruesome scene that feels close to fetishizing female victimization. It neither fortifies the narrative nor deepens the readers understanding of the cultural context of such violence. Less would have definitely been more.

Nevertheless, Honor boldly examines a system that continues to greenlight brutality and serves as a poignant reminder that despite all odds, in every country, in every crisis, there are a handful of people who will stand against the tide.

Anjali Enjeti is the author of Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change and The Parted Earth.

Thrity Umrigar, Rebecca Makkai When  7 p.m. Jan. 18 Where  facebook.com/leftbankbooks.stl How much  Free More info  left-bank.com
ST. LOUIS  St. Louis police Chief John Haydens phone lights up  day or night  when theres a homicide in the city.

Heading into 2021, after the city had seen a history-making surge in murders in 2020, the chief was bracing for another year with his phone abuzz with bad news.

But sometime last spring, the surge began to wane.

St. Louis criminal homicides fell about 26% last year  to 195 from 263 in 2020. That returned the citys total to near its average in the five years before 2020. In each of those years, the citys homicide rate led the nations big cities.

Still, 2021 moved in the right direction. For that, Hayden is thankful, he told the Post-Dispatch this week.

That surge was definitely noticeable. I had a lot of sleepless nights.

Meanwhile, St. Louis County police  the areas next-largest law enforcement agency  investigated about 28% more murders last year within the departments jurisdiction, which covers more than a third of the county. The 55 killings marked the most in the county police jurisdiction since at least 1984, according to department and FBI crime data.

There were an average of 36 homicides in the same area in the previous five years.

St. Louis County police Sgt. John Wall, of the robbery and homicide investigations unit, said personal feuds, domestic killings and the prevalence of guns may be driving that trend.

Theres parts of North County where just about everybody over 12 has access to a gun, Wall said. So thats part of the problem.

Comprehensive law enforcement data on homicides for the entire county is not available, as many of the more than 55 police agencies in the county have not submitted final totals to the Missouri Highway Patrol, which compiles the states crime stats.

But there were at least 89 killings in the county in 2021, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatchs homicide tracker, which launched online this week and is derived from news coverage of killings in the region.

That compares with 114 murders reported countywide in 2020, and an average of 78 annually in the five years before that, according to Missouri Highway Patrol police data.

The city drop

St. Louis fared better than many other large cities in 2021.

Homicide totals returned to pre-pandemic levels here, while other big-city departments saw killings continue to rise following the 2020 spike.

The warmest months, which typically spark the most homicides, drove the citys drop. From May through August last year, the citys murder count fell by more than half to 63, compared with 136 in 2020.

Hayden said his departments work targeting the most violent areas and people, as well as an easing of some desperation and anxiety caused by the pandemic, may be factors behind the reduction in murders.

I think theyll be studying that for a long time, but thats at least one explanation, he said.

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones told the Post-Dispatch in an interview that changes her administration made in policing have moved the citys homicide totals in the right direction.

Her public safety director, former St. Louis police chief Dan Isom, introduced new policing strategies over the summer, adding more officers on duty during high crime times and in areas where crime was spiking.

The department continued to support the Cops and Clinicians program launched by previous Mayor Lyda Krewsons administration in January 2021. The program puts mental health professionals in police cars with St. Louis officers to provide resources to people in crisis at crime scenes. The program has logged more than 3,700 interactions since it was launched, according to city data.

The mayor has said the goal of the program is to improve community relationships with police and help defuse crises before they escalate to violence.

Ive said over and over and over again that this is an all-hands-on-deck effort that is going to take everybody doing their part, not only in law enforcement, but also in the community, Jones said. She added: But again, one homicide is one too many. We know that we have a long way to go.

This year, Jones said, her administration plans to dedicate $5 million to expand Cure Violence, a violence-reduction program that hires people from high-crime areas to works as interrupters. They help people to find jobs and get other support while also de-escalating conflicts before guns are drawn.

Neighborhoods for the expansion have not yet been selected, Jones said. The program launched in 2020 and is operating in parts of five neighborhoods: Walnut Park East, Walnut Park West, Hamilton Heights, Wells-Goodfellow and Dutchtown.

Overall, homicides have dropped in the Cure Violence neighborhoods. Totals from all areas went from 54 in 2019, to 55 in 2020 and 30 in 2021.

Cases cleared

The homicide rate wasnt the only improvement in the city in 2021.

Reports of violent crimes  homicides, manslaughter, rape and aggravated assaults  were down about 11% overall in the city through October compared with 2020, according to the most recent available data published by St. Louis police. City police changed systems for tracking crime statistics in 2021, but the Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics found the change should typically account for about a 1% increase in violent crime totals.

St. Louis police also registered the departments highest murder clearance rate since 2012.

City police had a clearance rate of 55% last year. That puts St. Louis on par with the national average of about 54% of homicide cases cleared, according to FBI statistics. In 2020, the citys rate was just 36%.

Clearance rates divide the homicide cleared that year, regardless of what year the solved cases occurred in, by the number of homicides in the current year. That means the high number of unsolved homicides in 2020 could contribute to the higher clearance rate in 2021.

Fifteen cases in which police made an arrest but St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardners office declined to file charges in 2021 are included in the 108 homicides considered cleared by police.

Hayden said he thinks improved cooperation from witnesses helped the department close more homicide cases.

Were getting seemingly more cooperation with folks that are telling us more information, he said. And so again, I think that all goes toward showing that the relationship between the community and the police is improving, when people are willing to share more.

Average caseloads for homicide detectives also fell in the city from 10 each in 2020, to eight in 2021. Hayden redirected the departments six gang unit detectives to help homicide investigators this year to ease the workload, he said.

Since 2016, St. Louis homicide detectives had handled an average of nine to 13 cases a year, far higher than the three to six recommended by policing experts, the Post-Dispatch reported in 2021.

Homicides in the city continue to be concentrated in north St. Louis, which encompasses eight of the nine neighborhoods with the most killings last year. About 91% of homicide victims in the city last year were Black. A gun was the sole weapon used in 95% of the killings.

Fifteen of the citys homicide victims were younger than 17, a drop from 17 the year before.

While St. Louis trends improved, homicides were up about 6.5% through 2021 in the nations 99 largest cities, according to the most recent data collected by crime analyst Jeff Asher, a co-founder of AH Datalytics.

As St. Louis killings mount, city detectives face 'overwhelming' caseloads Experts recommend homicide detectives be assigned three to six cases a year. In St. Louis last year they averaged 10 cases.

Murder was up last year in 65 of those 99 big cities.

Self-defense claims

Within the last four years, St. Louis police have seen a jump in a category of killings not counted in the citys criminal homicide total: self-defense.

There were 26 killings classified as justifiable by police last year. The large majority of those did not involve a law enforcement officer but rather a claim of self-defense made by a civilian, according to department data.

Before 2018, the city had averaged about seven justified homicides a year. The number increased to 10 in 2019 and 16 in 2020.

Hayden said Missouris self-defense and gun laws are driving the upward trend.

Over the past 15 years, the state Legislature has repealed requirements for gun permits and safety training to carry a concealed weapon. At the same time, legislators expanded legal safeguards for use of a gun in self-defense, including in 2016 removing the requirement that people attempt to back away from trouble in public before using deadly force if there is fear of bodily harm.

People are more comfortable with making a challenge, Hayden said. A lot of our homicides are personal disputes and the challenge (of) self-defense is something that I think has been offered quite a bit more often.

Adding self-defense killings into the citys homicide count, total homicides would still have dropped 22% in 2021 from 2020.

County police increase

As in the city, homicides in St. Louis County are intensely concentrated to the north.

The Post-Dispatch homicide tracker found 85 of the 89 killings recorded in 2021 occurred north of Interstate 64 (Highway 40) and more than 70% of them happened north of Interstate 70.

Wall, the county homicide sergeant, said that beyond the prevalence of guns, he thinks the rise of social media may play a role in disputes growing so heated that they end in violence.

People are angrier. Its getting to the point of pulling out a gun faster, he said.

Despite the rise in killings in 2021, the county police jurisdictions homicide rate  about 14 murders for every 100,000 residents  remained far lower than in St. Louis. The city saw about 65 murders for every 100,000 residents last year.

The Post-Dispatch homicide tracker shows county homicides in 2021 clustered in communities near the city.

Police leaders acknowledged an increasing number of crimes spanning the city-county border when they launched a pilot program in 2020 to combine efforts in Jennings in the county and the citys Walnut Park West neighborhood.

Crime doesnt know geographical boundaries, which is why its in the regions best interest to address public safety together, then-Mayor Krewson said at the time.

About 80% of 2021 homicides investigated by St. Louis County police by early December were committed with a firearm.

In recent years, Wall said a new category of cases has emerged with parents charged after their young children were killed or seriously injured through contact with the drug fentanyl.

Parents were charged with exposing their young children to fentanyl in at least four cases in St. Louis County last year, including at least one homicide. One-year-old Emya Woods died in August from fentanyl exposure.

County homicide detectives handled an average caseload of 10 to 12 cases each, and their clearance rate was high  96%, according to department statistics.

We put in an extreme amount of hours. Thats what people dont understand the most, Wall said. These guys are canceling vacations, missing off days, missing birthdays. You work until the work is done.

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ST. LOUIS  St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones told the Post-Dispatch this week the citys search for a new police chief needs to be rebooted.

Were going to start over, Jones said, citing the need for a more open process. I think the public deserves that.

Police Chief John Hayden announced in early September he would retire Feb. 23 after four years leading the regions largest police department. But Jones said shes been dissatisfied with the process of finding finalists to replace him, led by the citys personnel department, a uniquely independent bureau not directly answerable to the mayors office.

Restarting the search wont leave the city without a full-time chief, though.

Hayden told the Post-Dispatch this week that he would work with the mayors office to stay on longer than planned, if needed, to make for a smooth transition.

Im not going to leave the city hanging, Hayden said. I dont have any immediate plans after retirement. I was hoping just to put the phone down for a while after having been on 24-hour-a-day call for probably better than 20 years or so.

The personnel department was tasked with narrowing the pool of candidates to six finalists. The citys public safety director, a member of Jones cabinet, is then supposed to pick from those six. Former St. Louis police Chief Daniel Isom holds that role today.

In late November, the personnel department, led by former personnel director Richard Frank, sent rejection letters to most of about 30 applicants for the job and gave a written test to two internal candidates: Assistant Chief Lt. Col. Lawrence OToole and Commander of Community policing Lt. Col. Michael Sack, according to police and city sources.

The personnel department has kept at least four out-of-state candidates in the pool but by late December had not tested any external candidates, citing concerns over virtual tests.

The two internal candidates who have been tested are both white men with long careers in leadership with the department. Jones in September emphasized the need for diversity in the candidate pool.

Jones said this week that qualified applicants have been rejected and neither she nor the public understand how finalists were chosen.

Ill be totally honest with you: We have to start over because the process as started by the outgoing personnel director was not very transparent, and there were several candidates who didnt make it to the next level who had the experience ... to be tested or interviewed, Jones said.

The power to compel the personnel department to restart or change the police chief search lies with the Civil Service Commission, a three-member civilian panel that oversees the department and the citys civil service system.

Members of the commission said in a December meeting that they would like to consider requesting changes in the search for the citys next chief.

One of Jones appointees to the commission, Dean Kpere-Daibo, said then that he also would like to see the process start over.

To be honest with you, from my perspective, it hasnt been the most transparent process, and that concerns me because it is an important position for the city of St. Louis, he said.

The Ethical Society of Police, an organization advocating for many minority officers in the police department, has criticized the qualifications the personnel department published for the chief job, saying that they exclude several experienced Black commanders in the department.

The job description requires candidates to have at least 10 years of experience at the rank of captain or higher, as well as a bachelors degree or equivalent experience.

The same qualifications were used in the last search for the citys chief, but when the citys police department was under state control, before 2013, anyone with the rank of captain and above could apply.

The departments police union, the St. Louis Police Officers Association, has opposed any attempt by the Jones administration to interfere with the chief search or to exert more control over the personnel department.

The Civil Service Commission is set to meet Monday afternoon, but the only item on the agenda is a discussion closed to the public.

Originally posted at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, 2022

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More schools moved online or reinstated mask mandates Friday as a massive wave of COVID-19 continued to disrupt school operations in the St. Louis area.

Masks will be required in the Francis Howell School District at least through Jan. 21, the school board decided Friday in an emergency meeting. There were 696 active cases among students and staff in the St. Charles County district, nearly half of the total reported since August. The board had adopted a mask-optional policy last month.

Mask mandates have also been reinstated in the Kirkwood, Lindbergh and Mehlville school districts.

District leaders have made closure decisions on a building level, including two elementary schools in St. Louis Public Schools, in part because of a state rule limiting virtual learning to 36 hours this year.

Five campuses in the Normandy Schools Collaborative, including Normandy High, moved online Friday because of staffing shortages.

The current spike in cases has caused a monumental strain on school districts, Riverview Gardens Superintendent Joylynn Pruitt-Adams wrote Thursday in a letter to the community.

We have witnessed a tremendous rise in health-related absences by teachers, administrators, support staff, scholars, bus drivers and others, she wrote. Some of you may be directly affected by COVID-19. All of us have been impacted by its chaos.

Some parents in the Fort Zumwalt School District said they were frustrated by the districts COVID-19 dashboard, which reverted to zero cases on Friday to remove positive cases that were diagnosed over winter break and are not associated with our schools, according to the website. On Thursday, students first day back after the break, the number of active cases reported by students and staff reached 209.

Local private schools that have moved online after winter break include Lutheran North High, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School and at least 10 Catholic schools  Sister Thea Bowman in East St. Louis; Assumption in OFallon, Missouri; Christ Prince of Peace in Manchester; Marian Middle School, St. Louis University High School and St. Roch in St. Louis; St. Alban Roe in Wildwood; St. Joseph in Cottleville; St. Patrick in Wentzville and Vianney High School in Kirkwood.

On Monday, MICDS will return to in-person classes after two days of online learning for grades nine through 12 because of a high rate of student absences. Of the 78 total cases of COVID-19 among MICDS high school students this year, 67 have been reported since Monday, according to the schools dashboard.

Across the country, 5,225 schools have been shut down this week because of pandemic-related causes, according to the data tracking site Burbio.

At least six school districts in the Metro East switched to virtual learning this week, including Belleville Township, Brooklyn, Cahokia, Edwardsville, East St. Louis and Granite City. Mascoutah schools closed Thursday and Friday and will make up the two days at the end of the year.

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ST. LOUIS  Construction of a single consolidated passenger terminal is the preliminary preferred alternative of planners studying St. Louis Lambert International Airports future for the next 20 years.

The proposal, outlined in a briefing Wednesday to city airport commissioners by the WSP USA consulting firm, calls for a new linear concourse with 62 gates that would replace the 54 scattered across the two current terminals.

The new concourse would connect to the ticketing-area portion of the current Terminal 1 topped by its four iconic domes. That area, which has been a Lambert hallmark since 1956, would remain and expand to the west with new construction.

Terminal 2, which opened in 1998, would either be demolished or perhaps used for some other purpose such as a hotel, said Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge.

The plan also calls for a new larger garage to be built in place of the existing garage and a nearby lot outside Terminal 1. However, the plan so far doesnt address whether rental car companies should be housed together in a new facility at Lambert.

Hamm-Niebruegge said while the airport has done a great job in keeping its facilities competitive with those in other cities, changes need to be considered for the future.

The challenge is just the aging infrastructure and the cost of meeting that, she said. We think its time to start talking about this.

Hamm-Niebruegge emphasized, however, that no decision has been made to go forward with the idea. She said many detailed discussions are still needed with Lamberts airlines, city government leaders and others. Additional public input also will be sought.

Our hope would be is we can talk about this in the next 24 months and come to a decision, she said. It just depends how agreeable everybody is.

A cost estimate has yet to be devised for the preliminary plan, but Hamm-Niebruegge said you cant touch a new terminal at less than a billion dollars.

She said the selling of bonds repaid by airline fees, existing passenger facility charges tacked on to airline tickets and federal funds are among the ways such a project could be funded.

Asked whether any local tax increase would be needed, she said, I dont see us doing that.

She said the preparation of a 20-year guide for Lamberts future is required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, she said if all the stars align and if everybody agrees, its possible that such a project could be carried out sooner, in 10 to 12 years.

Work on the current study began in 2020 under then-Mayor Lyda Krewson and has continued under her successor, Tishaura O. Jones. Hamm-Niebruegge has been director since 2010; she was first appointed by then-Mayor Francis Slay and retained by Krewson and Jones.

Switching to a single terminal also was recommended in a 2012 Lambert master plan and in 2019 by a group of consultants hired by a city panel that explored leasing Lambert to private companies and using some of the revenue to upgrade the airport.

Krewson in late 2019 abruptly stopped that two-year process, citing a lack of broad support, including from the business community. Jones is a longtime opponent of privatizing Lambert.

Jones spokesman, Nick Dunne, declined to comment on the WSP idea because its in the proposal stages.

Well be watching the process as it plays out, he said.

The current WSP proposal calls for a single terminal with 1.57 million square feet. The airports two current terminals total 1.3 million square feet.

WSPs recently released study says Lamberts current Terminal 1 has surplus space but is functionally obsolete.

John van Woensel, a WSP vice president, noted that the terminals A and C concourses are 75 feet wide, below the 110-foot standard in more modern domestic terminals.

He also noted that the use of two security checkpoints in Terminal 1 limits the ability of passengers in one concourse to go to restaurants and stores in another. He also said concessions in Terminal 1 are inadequate but theres just not enough room to put more in.

All the space needs to be updated to todays standards, he said of Terminal 1. The gates were designed for smaller aircraft and lower load factors.

He said lack of space is the issue in Terminal 2, where Southwest Airlines, Lamberts dominant carrier, operates.

Its just that Southwest has grown so much at Lambert, he said. Its a very tight site.

WSP also says there are long walking distances in Terminal 2 for Southwests connecting passengers.

The switch to a single linear concourse, the firm said, would allow Lambert to improve conditions for motorists using airport drives.

Among current issues, the firm said, are signage overload near Terminal 1 and too short a distance to make decisions on turns near both terminals.

Originally posted at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, 2022

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Owners of a southern Illinois coal mine violated multiple state laws by dumping toxic foam deep underground in an unsuccessful attempt to extinguish a fire, according to a new lawsuit that documents high levels of pollution in nearby creeks and ditches.

The complaint from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul seeks to force Foresight Energy to eliminate threats to public health and the environment at its Sugar Camp mine in Franklin County, about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis.

Raoul also is asking a judge to prohibit St. Louis-based Foresight from using firefighting foam made with chemicals known as PFAS. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a growing concern worldwide because they remain in the environment forever, linger in the blood of exposed people for years and trigger several health problems, including cancer, liver damage and decreased fertility.

Foam made with the chemicals is being phased out in Illinois and 11 other states. But stocks of it are still on hand at airports and industrial operations such as Sugar Camp.

Sugar Camp jeopardized public safety and irresponsibly violated both state environmental statutes and the constraints of its permit by misusing dangerous forever chemicals, Raoul said Friday in a statement. Exposure to such chemicals can cause long-lasting damage to the environment and poses a serious risk to public health.

Raouls lawsuit, filed in Franklin County Circuit Court, comes after environmental activists announced plans to file their own complaint under provisions of the federal Clean Water Act.

The use of firefighting foam containing toxic PFAS chemicals at Sugar Camp mine is the latest reminder that Illinois must move beyond coal and transition to a safer, renewable energy future, said Jack Darin, director of the Illinois Sierra Club. That future starts by holding coal companies like (Foresight) ... accountable for their actions and protecting communities from further harm.

The Chicago Tribune first reported in October that one of Foresights lawyers told state officials the foam used at Sugar Camp was biodegradable and would not harm fish or wildlife.

Inspectors later determined the company had pumped more than 46,000 gallons of PFAS-laden foam into the mine, raising the possibility that nearby private wells and other sources of drinking water could be contaminated.

Company officials hired contractors to drill boreholes into the mine without a permit, records show. One of the boreholes is close to a creek where testing by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency detected high levels of PFAS.

Both the fire and Foresights responses to it remained secret until a local environmental activist took pictures of foam that had drifted to aboveground ditches and farm fields near the mine entrance. The activist forwarded the photos to state officials and to the Tribune, which sought more details under the Freedom of Information Act.

Portions of the mine are still smoldering. Federal mining regulators have blocked Foresight from resuming production.

Foresight executives did not return requests for comment.

Because PFAS remain largely unregulated, federal and state officials have struggled to protect Americans from the chemicals, even though it became clear more than two decades ago that they pose widespread hazards to public health.

Nearly all Americans have PFAS in their blood, studies have found. The compounds are known largely for their use in products featuring the Teflon and Scotchgard brands, manufactured by DuPont and 3M, respectively. Dozens of related compounds are widely used in food packaging, stain- and water-resistant clothing, carpets and household products, among other things.

Foresight, one of the last coal companies operating in Illinois, declared bankruptcy in 2020. Yet the company produced more than half the 32 million tons of coal mined in the state during the same year.

Nearly all of Foresights coal is shipped to other states and countries. The company cuts costs by relying on longwall mining, a process that uses robotic equipment rather than people to do most of the work.

Since opening in 2008, Sugar Camp has repeatedly shown up on the U.S. EPAs list of chronic violators of the federal Clean Water Act. Five of the 16 Illinois miners killed on the job since 2008 worked at the mine, where the injury rate exceeded the national average at times during the past decade.

The mine also is a major source of heat-trapping pollution scrambling the planets climate. During 2020, companies that burned Foresight coal released more carbon dioxide than emissions from all 4.6 million automobiles registered in Illinois, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis.

2022 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com.
Screenwriters often employ what is known in the movie business as a MacGuffin  a static object that has no intrinsic relevance to the story but is just there to drive characters actions. Think of the namesake statuette in The Maltese Falcon, or the glowing but unseen contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

The Republican bogeyman known as critical race theory is the MacGuffin of 2022 politics. As the midterms approach, GOP candidates will put on quite a show to convince voters that this menacing topic is something more than a cheap plot device. It isnt.

If youre under the impression that critical race theory is classroom code for pick on the white kids, and that its routinely taught in public schools, youre mistaken on both counts. Those misconceptions are understandable, because Republican politicians have been hawking that script for about a year now. As with microchips in vaccines and Donald Trumps stolen reelection, its scary fiction designed to drive voters screaming into the arms of the GOP.

There have been other MacGuffins over the years. Remember flag burning? Other than a few fringe lefties looking for attention, no one was burning flags in the 1990s. Yet Republicans managed to make this a heated national debate for about a decade. A few years later, Shariah law didnt sweep through communities across America. But that didnt stop Republican lawmakers from frantically passing bans against it. Like Seinfeld, these were shows about nothing  and like Seinfeld, they were hits, driving conservative voters to the polls to put a stop to these things that werent happening.

Critical race theory is a decades-old academic framework in law schools. It holds that racism in America isnt just a matter of individual prejudice but is embedded in our institutions and in society itself, manifested in ways that are more subtle and insidious than blunt expressions of racism  red-lining in real estate, for example, or white flight from urban schools.

Like most Americans, Id never heard of critical race theory until last year, but its logic strikes me as obvious. By just about any metric you can name  employment, household income, school test scores, incarceration rates  Black Americans on average do worse than their white counterparts. Unless you believe, like some 19th-century pseudoscience quack, that theres something about darker skin pigmentation that makes people less intelligent, industrious and law-abiding (which is, of course, the dictionary definition of racism), then the conclusion is inescapable: The cultural poison from centuries of slavery and then Jim Crow didnt just magically disappear from Americas bloodstream with the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It still lingers, creating systemic, lifelong disadvantages for Black Americans that make societal success more difficult.

Once were done listening to all the racists heads exploding, lets move on to the main point here, which isnt really about critical race theory at all. Its about the MacGuffin.

Republican Glenn Youngkins surprise victory in Virginias gubernatorial race in November has been largely attributed to his vow to ban critical race theory from public schools on day one. It was an easy campaign promise to keep, because the theory isnt taught in secondary schools in Virginia, or pretty much anywhere else.

If Youngkins win wont change anything in Virginias classrooms, it did demonstrate the potential power of the critical race theory MacGuffin. The lesson hasnt been lost. As Politico reported last week, at least a dozen red-state legislatures, including Missouris, are now pursuing laws to ban critical race theory from the classroom, even though it is vanishingly rare there.

Missouri state Rep. Brian Seitz, R-Branson, who is among lawmakers sponsoring such legislation, told Politico that his priority in 2022 is to shut down critical race theory here. Hes going to have a leisurely time of it. According to a survey last summer by Missouris Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of the more than 500 school districts in the state, just one, Kansas City, said it addresses critical race theory, and thats in a college preparatory academy.

Nonetheless, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt  never one to be out-demagogued in his quest for a U.S. Senate seat  is suing the Springfield school district, alleging theyre withholding information about whether theyre teaching critical race theory. This despite the fact that the district has publicly and repeatedly said it doesnt teach the theory.

Educators have expressed concern that the GOPs crusade against critical race theory could have a chilling effect on the teaching of any topics that touch on race at all. For many of the crusaders, thats no doubt the whole point.

For others, its a means to an electoral end. As Seitz, the Missouri lawmaker, bragged to Politico: There is a huge red wave coming. And the show must go on.

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All around America, debates over race-related classroom curriculum and pandemic health measures in schools have turned school board meetings into culture-war battle zones. The last thing these already-heated forums need is a splash of gasoline in the form of partisan politics. And yet lawmakers in Missouri and elsewhere are suggesting exactly that, with legislation that would politicize what are usually nonpartisan school board elections.

Whether these proposals (mostly from the political right) are intended to torque up the conflict, or are something less sinister, they certainly arent in keeping with traditional conservative respect for local control of education.

Politico reports that Tennessee has already moved to make its school board elections partisan, with other red states like Arizona and Florida poised to follow suit this year. Proponents are often blunt about their motives: to make it easier to stack school boards with members who will toe the GOP line on hot-button issues like teaching race-related curriculum and resisting pandemic restrictions.

One Florida Republican legislator told Politico: Were out there trying to elect good conservatives that will follow essentially the governors mission as it relates to education. In Gov. Ron DeSantis case, that mission has included trying to prevent schools from setting their own mask policies and making their own decisions on how to address racial issues in their curriculums. Its all part of a new Republican orthodoxy that casts aside the partys once-fervent opposition to centralized government bigfooting into local decision-making. These days, pandering to the base comes first.

In Missouri, some state Republican lawmakers are trying to get in on the act with legislation to require that all municipal and school district candidates declare what party (if any) they are with. I just think that voters have a right to know if theyre going to elect school board members or city council members who are maybe particularly conservative, or may be more liberal or progressive, the sponsor, Rep. Bruce Sassmann, R-Bland, told the Post-Dispatch.

That rationale might work for some political races, but school boards are (or at least should be) different because board members jobs are different. The goal should be to raise public education above partisan politics.

The Missouri School Boards Association opposes making school board elections partisan. The groups executive director, Melissa Randol, told the Post-Dispatchs Jack Suntrup that Missourians have historically gone to great lengths to protect the governance of our children from partisan politics. Missourians have wanted our focus to be on children, not a partisan platform.

Schools arent there to promote ideological agendas but to educate children. The informal politicization of school board meetings lately by those intent on dragging them into the culture wars has already made that job difficult. Formalizing that politicization with partisan labels would make it more so.
In Catherine Rampells Money for me but not for thee (Dec. 26), she accurately portrays Republicans egregious dishonesty in their actions regarding President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

Feigning principled concerns about fiscal responsibility, not one Republican voted for the legislation. But since it has passed, many Republicans, including some of the most vociferous opponents, have fallen all over themselves requesting the plans funds for projects in their own states and districts  all the while failing to tell constituents their own legislative resistance.

We have seen this dishonest behavior before from Republicans, notably with President Barack Obamas 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, designed by Democrats to alleviate the pain of the Great Recession. Republicans excoriated Obama for the economic stimulus spending that was designed in part for states to identify long-needed, shovel-ready projects and put people to work on them. Republicans belittled the concept of shovel-ready projects, but when that legislation passed, even the harshest critics again quickly fell in line with their hands out.

If the Republicans truly believed in their oft-spouted fiscal principles, they would have taken strong, principled stands and refused to take any of the approved funding for their constituents, while explaining to them why not.

Tom OConnor  St. Louis County
Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - January 7, 2022) - Grizzly Discoveries Inc. (TSXV: GZD) (OTCQB: GZDIF) (FSE: G6H) ("Grizzly" or the "Company") announces that the Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Mr. Ray Wytinck from the Board, effective December 31, 2021. Mr. Wytinck joined the Board in 2014 and served as a member of the Audit Committee. Brian Testo, President & CEO, stated that, "We would like to thank Ray for his contribution over the years and wish him all the best in his current and future endeavours."

Mr. Wytinck's position on the Board of Directors will remain vacant, and Jim Greig has replaced Mr. Wytinck on the Audit Committee effective January 1, 2022.

ABOUT GRIZZLY DISCOVERIES INC.

Grizzly is a diversified Canadian mineral exploration company with its primary listing on the TSX Venture Exchange, focused on developing its over 160,000 acres of precious and base metals properties in southeastern British Columbia. Grizzly is run by a highly experienced junior resource sector management team, who have a track record of advancing exploration projects from early exploration stage through to feasibility stage.

On behalf of the Board,

GRIZZLY DISCOVERIES INC.

Brian Testo, CEO, President

For further information, please visit our website at www.grizzlydiscoveries.com or contact:

Chris Beltgens

Corporate Development

Tel: 604 347 9535

Email: [email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109450
Bengaluru, Karnataka--(Newsfile Corp. - January 8, 2022) - MetaLaunch is thrilled to announce a $3M fund for the emerging metaverse and gaming industries.

The world's first multi-chain metaverse launchpad and accelerator, Metalaunch fuels metaverse and gaming start-ups with advanced strategic and fundraising frameworks. The latest fund further enables the innovation and development plan by making research-backed early investments.





MetaLaunch

Investing in the internet economy of tomorrow

Since the beginning of 2021, there's been an increasing growth in the metaverse and gaming industry that offers players real rewards. These games allow players to own assets they purchase and unlock a whole new level of immersive gaming experiences.

The recent developments in the metaverse give a glimpse of the industry's future, dominated by blockchain games. The investment decision solidifies our desire to push metaverse-focused and NFT-based gaming projects to new levels.

MetaLaunch will offer financial strength to ambitious projects so that they can innovate without barriers and make their ideas a reality. MetaLaunch's support won't be limited to just funding incentives. Incubated projects will also receive advisory assistance from our partnership with top VC firms and industry leaders.

Apart from our accelerator and incubator programs, MetaLaunch also supports projects Public sale token offering. Moreover, metaverse projects can launch initial NFT sales and auctions of virtual lands and gaming assets through MetaLaunch's metaverse marketplace. MetaLaunch also promises more incentives for projects and communities through a MetaFi ecosystem.

MetaLaunch's native venture firm Asva Ventures and additional partnerships with other VC firms like Dutch Crypto Investors, BlackDragon, Excalibur Capital, R8 Capital, and other top VC firms will be instrumental in providing the needed network and exposure for incubated projects.

Apply for Funding

Please fill out the application form and the Asva team will contact you with further details.

For inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

About MetaLaunch ($ASVA)

MetaLaunch, powered by Asva Labs, is the first-ever multi-chain metaverse launchpad and accelerator. It delivers strategic fundraising and growth frameworks to fuel virtual world and gaming economies. The Asvaverse ecosystem also features MetaFi Defi use cases, metaverse marketplace, and play-to-earn guild integrations. The suite of MetaFi applications maximizes the productivity of virtual ownership assets.

Contact MetaLaunch

Website:http://metalaunch.io

Twitter:https://twitter.com/Metalaunch_io

Website: https://asvalabs.com/

Telegram: https://t.me/AsvaLabsOfficial

Medium: https://asvalabs.medium.com/

Media Contact: [email protected]

-------------------------------------------------------

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/109244
CHICAGO and SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GSV Ventures, a female-led, multi-stage venture capital firm, announced today the 2022 edition of the GSV EdTech 150  a list of the world's leading, most transformational growth companies in digital learning.

Over 3,000 venture capital and private equity-backed private companies were evaluated to create the acclaimed list of companies revolutionizing the world of education technology. GSV estimates that together these 150 companies reach roughly 3 billion people -- almost half of the global population -- and generate approximately $20 billion in revenue.

"Today, we announce the annual GSV EdTech 150," said Luben Pampoulov, Partner at GSV Ventures. "As the global pandemic continues to drive learners online, more and more companies are innovating in the digital learning space  making it increasingly competitive for companies to make the top 150. We evaluated over 3,000 companies globally this year. The way GSV sees it, Ed is on The Edge, and increasingly more companies have the ideas, know-how, and talent to transform the world and provide all people equal access to the future. We know these companies are well-equipped to help us achieve that goal, and we look forward to watching them do so."

GSV launched the list of education technology leaders in 2020 with the EdTech 50. Due to rapid growth in the sector, necessitated by a global pandemic and continued remarkable technological evolutions, the list increased to 150 in 2021. In 2022, the sector shows no signs of slowing down with the 150 companies selected for this year's list collectively experiencing revenue growth in the high double digits.

Learn more about the GSV EdTech 150 and the selection process here.

To arrive at the listing, GSV evaluated more than 3,000 venture capital and private equity-backed private for-profit companies that met the following criteria:

VC or PE-backed companies in Digital Learning, excluding public and nonprofit companies

Companies that have achieved meaningful scale, and primarily, but not exclusively, those that are post-Series A in their development

Companies experiencing strong, organic top-line growth

The final selection is determined by GSV's proprietary scoring system, which applies scores across several KPIs such as revenue scale, revenue growth, active learner reach, international reach, and margin profile.

The GSV EdTech 150 is distributed across three major sectors: Life-Long Learning, Higher Ed, and K-12. Life-Long Learning (inclusive of Workforce Learning and Adult Consumer Learning) is the leading sector with 42% of the GSV EdTech 150 falling within the category, with an additional 5% of companies serving the Life-Long Learning and Higher Ed blend and another 3% serving both K-12 and Life-Long Learning. Together K-12 and Early Childhood account for 27% of the list, while companies in the Higher Ed sector account for just 5% and 9% of the GSV EdTech 150 serve a blend of the two. Excitingly, more companies are serving all sectors than ever before, with 9% of the GSV EdTech 150 serving all three major sectors.

North America  specifically the United States  is the most represented region accounting for 56% of the GSV EdTech 150. 11% of the GSV EdTech 150 hail from India, whose market is experiencing explosive growth with five EdTech unicorns that include BYJU's, Eruditus, Unacademy, Upgrad, and Vedantu. Europe, Africa, and the Middle East represent 17% of the listing, with several high-quality, fast-growing companies such as OpenClassrooms, Multiverse, and Photomath. Asia, Australia, and New Zealand account for 11% of the list, while China experienced a significant decline in representation due to increased government regulation. Latin America represents 5% of the list and shows strong growth trends, with companies like Hotmart, Descomplica, and UOL EdTech leading the way.

The GSV EdTech 150 will be celebrated at the ASU+GSV Summit, the world's premier EdTech event connecting leading minds with the belief that all people have equal access to the future, happening live and in-person in San Diego, California, April 4-6, 2022. The 150 companies will be given the opportunity to take the stage to join panel discussions or give 15-minute presentations on their company initiatives.

See the full GSV EdTech 150 at www.asugsvsummit.com/edtech-150

GSV VenturesGSV Ventures is a female-led, multi-stage venture capital firm focused on the $7+ trillion education sector. The fund is currently investing out of GSV Ventures Fund III and backs innovative entrepreneurs around the world in the "Pre-K to Gray" Arc of Learning. GSV manages over $675 million in global EdTech investments. Portfolio holdings include Andela, Class Technologies, ClassDojo, Coursera, Course Hero, Degreed, Guild, MasterClass, Outlier, Photomath, Quizizz, Lead School, Brightchamps, and ClassPlus, among others.

ASU+GSV SummitThe ASU+GSV Summit is the premier global event in education and technology. Started in 2010 with a collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU) and Global Silicon Valley (GSV), the annual Summit connects leading minds focused on transforming society and business around learning and work. Educators, investors, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs from around the world come together to take part in innovating the future of education for all. 2021 speakers included Mindy Kaling, Jeremy Lin, Sal Khan, Arne Duncan and Luis Von Ahn. Additional speakers from previous years include President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, John Legend, Common, Marian Wright Edelman, Bill Gates, Sandra Day O'Connor, Reed Hastings, President Vicente Fox, Malcolm Gladwell, Gloria Steinem, Tony Blair, and Howard Schultz.

For Media Relations contact:Tessa Coan, [email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gsv-announces-gsv-edtech-150-top-companies-in-digital-learning-301456445.html

SOURCE GSV Ventures
An Army master sergeant was found dead last week in his off-post home near Fairbanks, Alaska, the fifth soldier to die in the state in less than two months, the Army said Friday.

Master Sgt. Wesley Woods, 40, assigned to 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, at Fort Wainwright, was declared dead at his home in North Pole on Dec. 30 after emergency responders worked 35 minutes at resuscitating him, the Army said in a news release.

The cause of death is under investigation by the Alaska State Troopers and the Army Criminal Investigation Division. No further details were provided by the Army.

The death follows a spate of others, most recently that of Spc. Hunter Trey Stafford, 21, who died Dec. 8 in his off-post home in Fairbanks.

On Nov. 28, Sgt. Miles Jordan Tarron, 30, was discovered dead in his vehicle in Anchorage. Spc. Isaiah Nicholas Oneal, 22, was found dead in his vehicle in Fairbanks on Nov. 26. Sgt. Christian Joseph DAndrea, 22, was found dead in his off-post home in Fairbanks on Nov. 12.

Woods, a native of Horn Lake, Miss., joined the Army in July 2001, the Army said.

His previous assignments were at Fort Irwin, Calif.; Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; Fort Benning, Ga.; and Fort Riley, Kan. He was assigned to Wainwright for the first time in 2003 and began his current assignment there in June 2018.

He served combat tours in Djibouti from March 2006 to April 2007 and Iraq from August 2009 to August 2010, the Army said.

We are deeply saddened by the loss of Master Sgt. Woods, Lt. Col. Matthew Chase, commander of the 70th Brigade Engineer Battalion, said in the release. He was a dedicated, servant leader who made a tremendous impact during his time in the Arctic Wolf Brigade and through his career in the Army. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his family and all those that cared for him at this time.

Among his awards and decorations were two awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, four awards of the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, seven awards of the Army Achievement Medal, six awards of the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terror Service Medal, the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Drill Sergeant Identification Badge, the Expert Infantry Badge and the Parachutist Badge.

A funeral service with full military honors is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday at Fairbanks Funeral Home.
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LOS ANGELES (Tribune News Service)  As coronavirus cases soared across Los Angeles last week, Jennifer Chan entered Olvera Streets Casa California in search of the colorful and decorative papel picado for her baby shower.

I wanted something that said California for the party, said Chan, 28, a La Mirada resident who is six months pregnant and whose East Coast family was flying in for the event. Plus, I really wanted to get out of the house for a change.

Chan, who works as a computer programmer, has generally been extremely cautious throughout the pandemic  getting vaccinated and boosted as soon as she was eligible and leaving her home as little as possible.

But recently shes longed for the normalcy of her prepandemic life.

A few months ago she agreed to allow a close friend to throw her an in-person baby shower, and over the last two weeks shes ventured into a grocery store and even dined at two restaurants.

Im about to go through my own lockdown once this baby comes, said Chan, pointing to her stomach. So, Im going to be safe absolutely, but Im also going to enjoy this time and being on my feet while I can.

Shes not alone.

As the omicron variant infects record numbers of people across the nation, many in Southern California say they are no longer willing to hide from a virus that has already killed 800,000 Americans.

Instead, theyre ready to live with it.

I am quite hopeful that with all these factors together, by the fall we may see the pandemic ending and turning into a flu-like endemic, at least in North America.

This may not be a catastrophe.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that while the omicron variant is much more contagious than previous versions of SARS-CoV-2, it is also significantly less lethal.

In a fairy-tale scenario, omicron would burn through the U.S. population, perhaps requiring a few days of sick leave from those it infects, but also imparting immunity to tens of millions and ending the pandemic here for good.

It almost seems reasonable, but experts say the end of the pandemic is unlikely to be that simple, or come that fast.

I think of this time as a transition, said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. The virus is transitioning, and as a society we are transitioning and learning to live with it.

The end of the pandemic is likely to be a gradual process, said Chunhuei Chi, director of the Center for Global Health at Oregon State University. Ultimately, it will require us to establish a relationship with SARS-CoV-2 that mirrors our relationship with the virus that causes seasonal flu.

That means getting a shot once a year to prevent the most severe symptoms of COVID-19, and understanding that if you get infected anyway you might feel miserable for a few days, but you are unlikely to end up in the hospital or worse.

We want to get to a place where we are no longer concerned about preventing infections, but instead, worried about preventing severe symptoms and death, Chi said.

It might almost feel like were there now, but scientists say were not.

Tun-Hou Lee, professor emeritus of virology at Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health, notes that the mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 (254 deaths per 100,000 people) is still far higher than that of influenza (1.8 deaths per 100,000 people).

Even if one believes that the mortality rate of 254 per 100,000 will be lower once most of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, my bias is that SARS-CoV-2 infection will have a higher mortality rate than flu, he said.

To further reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus, Chi said hed like to see new vaccines become available that are better at preventing infections and provide longer-lasting immunity, as well as more effective drug treatments for those who are infected. Both are already in the works, he said. The widespread immunity that will likely be imparted by Omicron will also help  even if its fleeting.

I am quite hopeful that with all these factors together, by the fall we may see the pandemic ending and turning into a flu-like endemic, at least in North America, Chi said.

In the meantime, life in Southern California goes on.

In-person classes were back in session Thursday at Leimert Parks Nicholas Dance Studio after a two-week break, but with a whole lot of safeguards firmly in place.

Studio owner Cathie Nicholas had enclosed the viewing area for parents in plexiglass and limited capacity to three people. The studios floor is disinfected twice a week, hand-sanitizing stations abound, and a negative coronavirus test, a temperature check and a mask are all required for entry.

My belief is weve made all the adjustments here and were just kind of rolling with the punches, said Nicholas. It hasnt been easy, but we have to get out and live.

On Thursday evening, 200 spectators participated in the annual Olvera Street Three Kings procession. The three wise men, a pair of angels, the holy family and a slew of shepherds along with visitors completed a lap and a half around Olvera Street.

The annual event, which started in the 1970s, ended with the distribution of rosca de reyes Mexican sweet bread and champurrado.

The procession was canceled in 2021 because of COVID-19.

We had a lot of interest from the community to have this back, said Valerie Hanley, 53, Casa California owner and treasurer of the Olvera Street Merchants Assn. Foundation. And I think we were able to do it because weve done everything we could to make it as safe as possible.

Marchers were masked and most spread out while eating and drinking that night.

There comes a point where you have to get back to being with families and visitors and customers, Hanley said. Its important.

El Sereno Wilson High School senior Donna Arce, who played the Virgin Mary, said she was encouraged by the crowds willingness to mask up and march.

People have been scared for a while, so its nice to see a good crowd, she said. A lot of people have followed the steps, like getting vaccinated and being masked, so we should continue this tradition.

___

2022 Los Angeles Times.

Visit at latimes.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
MOSCOW  Kazakhstan has detained a former top security official on suspicion of treason, authorities said Saturday, as the Central Asian country settled into an uneasy calm after days of violent clashes between protesters and security forces.

Signs also emerged of a divide between Kazakhstan's two most powerful men, with experts suggesting the rift was partly behind the chaos that led to dozens of deaths since demonstrations broke out last weekend, initially against a drastic fuel-price hike.

Rage on the streets was directed in part at the country's political system and at former president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has continued to exert significant influence under the official title of "father of the nation." At rallies across the country, people chanted "Old man, out" in an apparent reference to the 81-year-old Nazarbayev.

Bloody clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces appeared to have largely subsided overnight Friday, although the streets of Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, remain littered with debris and burned cars that serve as a reminder of the deadly unrest that has embroiled Central Asia's largest economy for the past week.

On Saturday, Kazakh authorities said they had detained Karim Massimov, a recently removed member of the National Security Committee, on suspicion of high treason. Massimov, who headed the presidential administration under Nazarbayev, was arrested along with several other officials, according to a government statement.

State television aired accusations that the NSC's former leaders conspired to train "bandits" who were behind the recent chaos. The protests prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to invite a Russian-led military alliance to intervene in Kazakhstan, while also ordering his troops to "shoot to kill without warning" in an effort to crush the demonstrations.

After days of speculation about his whereabouts, Nazarbayev's spokesman said Saturday that the autocrat was still in Kazakhstan and wanted citizens to unite around his handpicked successor. But Tokayev's recent bold moves - he also fired Nazarbayev from a powerful security post - were seen by analysts as an attempt to break out of his predecessor's influence.

"Tokayev had to end this schizophrenic dual power in the country," said Arkady Dubnov, a Central Asia expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "He never became a fully empowered president . . . because his hands were tied . . . [and] it was clear that two centers of power are in place."

The president has solidified his hold on power at significant cost. Almaty Airport, Kazakhstan's busiest and now under the control of Russian and Kazakh forces, was still closed to civilian aircraft Saturday, while checkpoints set up during the nationwide state of emergency hindered domestic travel via rail and road. There were long lines at gas stations and worries of food shortages in Kazakhstan's economic hub, with many markets closed or only taking cash, according to the BBC.

There were reports of bodies - only slowly being removed - on the streets of Almaty on Friday. About 4,000 people had been detained.

Tokayev on Wednesday called on the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to intervene in Kazakhstan, marking the first time that the group of six former Soviet states has dispatched military forces in response to domestic unrest. Tokayev and CSTO allies, such as Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, have sought to portray protesters as foreign-funded "terrorists," though there is no substantive evidence to back the claim.

The beleaguered Kazakh leader wrote on Twitter on Friday - in posts that were apparently later deleted - that about 20,000 people were involved in the upheaval and that they were responsible for "at least six waves of attacks of terrorists" in Almaty.

His claims bemused many Central Asian experts. "There are a lot of things that don't add up right now," said Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, a specialist on the politics of the former Soviet Union at the University of Pittsburgh. "No one has ever heard of these terrorists in Kazakhstan before, and now there are 20,000 of them in a well-coordinated attack? It just sounds implausible."

The future of resource-rich Kazakhstan was also being discussed in Washington, Moscow and Beijing. China has invested billions in its neighbor's energy sector over the past decade, and Chinese President Xi Jinping called his Kazakh counterpart to say that Beijing firmly supports the country's stability and rejects any attempts by "external forces" to provoke unrest or "color revolutions" in the country.

The turmoil within Kazakhstan could present an opportunity for China and Russia, Murtazashvili said. "We do see this sort of division of labor emerging in the region where Russia . . . handles the security and China handles infrastructure."

With its abundant and inexpensive energy resources, Kazakhstan has emerged as a hub for cryptocurrency mining, particularly after Beijing cracked down on the sector last year. The upheaval has affected the price of bitcoin, which traded at about $41,866 early Saturday, down about 9 percent from Jan. 1.

The United States and Kazakhstan also have a long history of cooperation in fields such as energy and security. Washington was the first to recognize Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union, and Muslim-majority Kazakhstan supported the U.S.-helmed interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another unknown is the fate of Kazakh sovereignty now that Russian troops are in the country, which President Vladimir Putin sees as part of Moscow's traditional sphere of influence. Over the past year, Putin has tightened ties with Belarus, which he hopes to see in federation with Russia, while militarily threatening Ukraine, which the Kremlin does not treat as a truly sovereign state.

Kazakh opposition figure Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former energy minister now in exile in France, said in an interview with Reuters that his country was now occupied by Russia. (A top CSTO official has played down talk of an occupation and suggested that the alliance's troops would be there only temporarily.)

"The West should tear Kazakhstan away from Russia," Ablyazov said, adding that the country faced being subsumed into a structure like the Russia-dominated Soviet Union.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Friday that the Kazakh government appeared to be able to "deal appropriately" with the protests, which raised questions as to why assistance from Moscow was needed.

"I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," he said.

___

Cheng reported from Seoul, South Korea.
HIROSHIMA, Japan  An exhibition featuring artwork inspired by the experiences of hibakusha atomic bomb survivors by Hiroshima City high school students is being held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The exhibition was to coincide with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference scheduled to start Tuesday. However, the conference was postponed because of the pandemic. Still, those involved hope the exhibition will allow people to "know how atomic bomb survivors feel, and encourage the world to steadily pursue a path toward nuclear disarmament."

The exhibition showcases works created by students of Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi High School, which lost 369 students and teachers when the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. The high school began an annual project about 15 years ago in which art students spend almost an entire year creating pieces that depict the devastation described by hibakusha.

So far, 148 students have created 171 pieces of art, using oil paints, pastels and other mediums, based on the experiences of 46 survivors.

Many students have a difficult time on the project as they can't visualize "severely burned skin" or "wounds infested with maggots." Some students end up speaking to a survivor more than 20 times to get a better understanding.

Many pieces created for the project depict gruesome scenes, resulting in some backlash over making high school students draw such images.

But Kazunuki Hashimoto, 62, an art teacher at the school, said, "It is meaningful for the students to have to earnestly face hibakusha and think about peace and war."

This is the first time the works are being displayed at the United Nations. Nine pieces are on display, along with an explanation in English on a monitor set up in the lobby.

Among them, "Senko" (Flash) was painted by Hiroshima City high school alumna Minami Ogawa, 23, who currently works as a curator at Himeji City Museum of Art in Hyogo Prefecture. Ogawa participated in the project while in high school and depicted a scene of the moment the atomic bomb exploded, based on the experiences of Sadae Kasaoka, 89. Kasaoka was 12 years old when she witnessed the explosion from her home, which was 3.5 kilometers away from the epicenter.

Ogawa used bright orange to express the heat. She also drew the glass that shattered in the explosion. She asked her teacher to smash a sheet of glass and took note of how the pieces scattered. With Kasaoka beside her, Ogawa painted over her work many times to re-create the scene.

"Even using words to describe the scene is so difficult," Kasaoka said to Ogawa. "Despite that, you managed to re-create it, and I'm so grateful."

Ogawa said: "As I listened to hibakusha talk about their life and experiences, I felt the deep psychological scars left behind by the ravages of war. That was when I realized that I knew nothing."

Although the NPT review conference was postponed, she hopes many visitors to the United Nations will see the exhibition.
As protests spread in Kazakhstan, the focus shifted as well: beginning with outrage over price hikes for fuel and later taking aim at the country's autocratic political system directed by Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled the nation for three decades and now holds the official title of "leader of the nation."

The government narrative changed, too. Nazarbayev's handpicked president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, began pointing the finger at domestic and foreign "bandits and terrorists" and an internal plot to foment chaos.

Here's what to know about Kazakhstan's claims:

Q: What has Kazakhstan claimed about foreign involvement in the protests?

A: Tokayev initially took steps to try to placate protesters. The government rescinded fuel price hikes, and Tokayev dismissed his cabinet and removed Nazarbayev from a powerful security post.

After protesters in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, stormed government buildings on Wednesday and briefly took control of the Almaty airport, Tokayev took a more uncompromising tone. He claimed "international terrorist groups" had seized parts of the city and requested help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led security alliance of former Soviet countries.

Russian troops began arriving in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

Tokayev has reiterated assertions that local and foreign "bandits and terrorists" who received "extensive training abroad" were behind the violence and vowed to "eliminate" them. On Friday, Tokayev said he had ordered troops to shoot to kill protesters.

Also on Friday, Tokayev alleged that 20,000 "bandits" were involved in the events in Almaty and said he had created a special group to track down violent protesters.

Police officials said that dozens of people were killed as a result of "security operations" aimed at regaining control. Russia and China have also blamed unnamed foreign groups for fanning the turmoil.

Q: Is there any evidence of foreign links to unrest?

A: No. Direct and verifiable information about demonstrations and participants is scant. The Internet in Kazakhstan remains largely blocked and foreign journalists have been stopped from entering. Kazakhstan authorities, despite their claims, have not furnished any concrete evidence of foreign involvement.

"These claims are beyond thin. These claims are ludicrous," said Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.

Pointing to a "foreign boogeyman" is a "textbook" move in former Soviet states to deflect domestic discontent, Haring said.

Many experts in Kazakhstan affairs dismissed Tokayev's claim that 20,000 "terrorists" or criminals could have been involved in the Almaty protests as implausible.

Q: Why might Kazakhstan and regional allies be advancing that narrative?

A: Tokayev, Russia and other members of the Russian-led CSTO military alliance have pointed to alleged external instigation of the demonstrations to justify the bloc's first-ever deployment of "peacekeeping" troops.

Formed in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the security alliance also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The group is only supposed to deploy forces to assist a member state faced with an external threat.

For Tokayev, the regional reinforcements may serve a domestic political purpose. The president appears to be using the unrest to sideline Nazarbayev and do away with the country's dual-power system, Arkady Dubnov, a Central Asia expert, said. The CSTO's intervention demonstrated that regional allies have Tokayev's back, Haring said.

Kazakhstan has traditionally balanced ties between Russia, China and the West. For Russia, the operation provided an opportunity to expand its influence in Kazakhstan and the region, Haring added. The operation has also strengthened Russia's hand going into talks with the United States on Ukraine, she said.

Q: Who else has been blamed for the unrest?

A: Much about the circumstances surrounding the start of the violence remains opaque. But "looters" appear to have taken advantage of initially peaceful protests, Haring said.

Some analysts have suggested the driving force behind violent attacks and looting were out-of-town young people, known as "mambets," who may have been brought in from poor rural areas of Kazakhstan into cities and incentivized to hijack the demonstrations.

"This could very well be the case, it's as if they have jumped out of an incubator where they were well fed . . . and then they just went [for it]," Dubnov said in an interview with a YouTube channel Redaktsiya.

The government's narrative took on a new dimension Saturday when authorities announced the arrest of Karim Massimov, a recently removed member of the country's National Security Committee, on suspicion of treason. Several other officials were also detained.

Massimov's detention came a day after a former adviser to Nazarbayev gave a television interview accusing security leaders of concealing information about "militant training camps" allegedly preparing fighters to unseat Tokayev.

Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said Massimov provided a convenient scapegoat for the government. Massimov is seen as a staunch Nazarbayev ally, and his arrest could help Tokayev consolidate control of the country's security apparatus.

But for Tokayev, the apparent power play may come at a cost to Kazakh sovereignty as Russia gains influence in the country.
It was the first day of his fourth month without work, and Hisham Bin Ali Bin Amor Sliti was feeling increasingly agitated - like a caged animal. That's how they treat him, he thought: like an animal.

He was 5,500 miles and seven years away from Guantanamo Bay, where he was locked up for more than a decade, but Sliti still felt like a prisoner.

He had encountered roadblock after roadblock as he tried to rebuild his life in this Central European country that had agreed to resettle him. Now, he was composing yet another angry missive to the Slovak government, the only recourse for his grievances since the Americans left him here.

"I don't have money to pay for energy for my apartment, and for food, I don't know what to do about it," he texted in English to the director of migration for the country's interior ministry, Jan Orlovsky. "You brought me to your country With agreement, it is unbelievable that you are letting us walk on such a dark path."

"If you don't want us, take us back to Guantanamo," Sliti tapped into his phone. "Contact the US government To find a solution to this issue."

The response he got made him even angrier.

"Dear Hisham, as you wish," read the message from Orlovsky. "I will let the US government know about your preference to live in a solitary confinement in Cuba."

Sliti arrived at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002, as the facility was rapidly filling with people the U.S. government had apprehended abroad in its new war on terror. Like the vast majority of the 780 men eventually detained there, he was never charged with a crime.

When Sliti was released after 12 years, the U.S. sent him to Slovakia, instead of home to Tunisia.

By that point, the U.S. government was increasingly sending its former detainees to third countries for resettlement. Though a majority of former Guantanamo detainees were returned to their home countries, about 20% have ended up elsewhere.

In many cases, third countries were the safest options: far from war zones and in the hands of American allies.

But forging a life in Slovakia has been hard, Sliti said. Stigma, poverty and continuing persecution on top of the years of abuse endured at Guantanamo present formidable obstacles to resettlement, said former detainees and their attorneys.

The Americans falsely imprisoned and tortured them, deprived them of any public exoneration, and then abandoned them after their release, the men said. "They destroyed my life," Sliti, 55, said of the U.S. government. "I am sick now, I am mentally sick. Every day, I get angry with my wife. It's not good. I am stressed. But America doesn't care what happens to people after they leave Guantanamo."

The experiences of Sliti and more than a dozen other former detainees and family members interviewed by The Washington Post underscore the enduring challenge of bringing an end to one of America's most fraught national security decisions: its establishment of a military prison outside the American legal system.

Since its opening in 2002, Guantanamo has become a global symbol of American abuse and a recruitment tool for terrorists. The prison will turn 20 on Jan. 11, with 39 detainees remaining. Only two of them have been convicted. It remains unclear when the other 10 men who face terrorism charges, including the five implicated in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, will stand trial.

If President Joe Biden follows through on his goal to close Guantanamo, he will first need to find places to send the 27 remaining men whom the U.S. has never charged.

They are a collection of Yemenis, Pakistanis, Algerians and others, the majority of whom by the end of 2022 will have spent 20 years in U.S. custody. Many now struggle with chronic health and psychological problems, their attorneys say.

If transferred, they will join Sliti and hundreds of others spread across the globe, endeavoring to forge lives after Guantanamo, the discarded men of one of America's darkest chapters.

Though many live far from public view and each other, there is an informal network. They trade advice, news and jokes in text-message chains. And when things get bad, they call each other.

___

When Sliti is having a hard time, he talks to Mansoor Adayfi.

Adayfi, 39, now lives in Serbia, far from the western mountains of Yemen, where he grew up. Seventeen years younger than Sliti and nearly a foot shorter, he is the charismatic intellectual to Sliti's hulking gruffness. The two might never have been friends had they met in the outside world.

But Guantanamo proved to be a strong unifier. "[T]he interrogators didn't understand that each move, each interrogation, each beating brought all of us closer together despite our differences instead of pushing us further apart," Adayfi wrote in "Don't Forget Us Here," his memoir of 14 years at the prison, published in August. "This place called Guantanamo had created a brotherhood among us and now we looked out for each other wherever we were, no matter who we were."

Adayfi lives a lonely life in Belgrade, with no family or close friends nearby. What keeps him company most days is a steady ping of phone messages from other former detainees or their relatives, many of them hundreds of miles away and grappling with the legacy of their own imprisonment.

"I think one of the reasons my brothers call me is because I listen to them and try to help in any way I can, sincerely try to help," Adayfi said. "They want to talk because they live under pressure, frustration."

"We had PTSD. We couldn't focus. We got terrible headaches. Our bodies were breaking down," Adayfi wrote in "Don't Forget Us Here." "I worried our scars wouldn't heal and go away, even when we were released."

Adayfi's sister and brother died while he was in Guantanamo. He also lost friends in the prison, who died under murky circumstances. The military called them suicides. He doesn't believe it. "I think I'm going to be killed, too," said Adayfi. "You'll see."

Like many of those who wound up at Guantanamo, Adayfi was captured in Afghanistan by U.S.-allied Afghan militants, and then, he said, "sold" to the Americans in the chaotic months following 9/11, as the Bush administration launched a desperate, often ad hoc search for members of al-Qaida.

Adayfi was 19 when he arrived at the prison. He told interrogators that he had gone to Afghanistan for scholarly research. But he also, at various turns in his imprisonment, told them different stories - including that he was a jihadist, and that he was glad for 9/11. It was a reaction, he says now, to the rage he felt at the mistreatment and humiliation by American captors.

"I was angry. I was hurt. I said things that I didn't mean, but I was in a deep, dark hole," he recalled in his memoir. "I wanted to teach them that they couldn't kill and torture us and expect us to love them for it."

After 13 years of labeling Adayfi a dangerous al-Qaida commander, the U.S. government downgraded its assessment, saying that it was "unclear whether he actually joined" al-Qaida and was "probably . . . a low-level fighter," according to government documents. The Americans released him to Serbia the following year.

By that point, Adayfi had spent his entire adult life in U.S. custody. By his estimate, he had weathered hundreds of interrogations and beatings. He had kidney problems, persistent headaches and anxiety. He had never gone to college, never had a career, never experienced love.

He knew little about Serbia, other than its "history killing many Muslims" in the 1990s during the Balkan wars. But in Belgrade, he sought to rebuild. He enrolled in a Serbian university, and finished the book he had started writing at Guantanamo. He published articles, spoke out on behalf of current and former detainees and won a nonfiction literary award. Last fall, he submitted his honors thesis: a research paper and business proposal for a program to integrate former detainees into society that he wrote in English, a language he taught himself at Guantanamo.

But it has also been a peculiar sort of success, juxtaposed against his intense unhappiness.

One evening, as he fought back a cold, he stared at his pallid face in a small mirror and then washed it in the kitchen sink in an effort to make himself presentable for a TV interview about his book.

"How is the lighting?" Adayfi asked with a grin. As his laptop screen lit up, he switched on the ring light that he found online for $15 - after watching some YouTube tutorials on TV appearances - and was clicking between settings: yellow, white, off-white.

Adayfi is insistent that the world should think about what happened at Guantanamo the way he does, about what is still happening there.

As he sat at his small desk, next to the couch he uses as a bed, he spoke over Zoom to an English-language, state-run Chinese news channel about his book. "Imagine American kids being kidnapped and imprisoned for five, 10, 15 years, without any kind of charge or trial, without any rights," he began. "This is still Guantanamo. . . . It's outside the law," he said. "It's baseless."

As he spoke, viewers could see an animated man in a bright orange scarf - a nod to the Guantanamo jumpsuits - sitting before a white wall. They couldn't see the wall full of post-it notes with which he has chronicled in Arabic and color-coded by year all of the challenges and indignities he has encountered since he got to Serbia.

There were post-its for each interrogation by Serbian police, and for each time they scared off new friends he had made. There were post-its for each step in his still-fruitless search for a wife, including the $15,000 cost of a dowry, were he to pursue an arranged marriage to a Yemeni.

"I cannot live here," he said. He has decided he needs to get out of Serbia. But where? Or how?

___

Like with Adafyi, the U.S. government's position on Sliti shifted as his captivity went on. They linked him to a Tunisian terrorist organization and said he had been plotting with terrorists in Europe, where he had lived for a few years before moving to Afghanistan. Then in early 2010, following a review of all detainees ordered by the Obama administration, the government determined he was not a significant threat to the United States and recommended he be transferred out of Guantanamo "as appropriate arrangements can be made."

Sliti has always maintained that he went to Afghanistan because he had become addicted to drugs in Europe, and a cousin thought that living in a strict Islamic society might straighten him out. But he has never had the opportunity to prove his case.

In November 2014, the U.S. military delivered Sliti, blindfolded and shackled - along with a Yemeni detainee, Hussein Salim Al-Marfadi - to Slovak custody at the military airport a few miles from Zvolen, where the two now live. They were the last of eight transferred to Slovakia during the Obama administration.

Zvolen is nestled in the misty foothills of the Slovak Central Mountains, 120 miles from the capital, Bratislava. It's not big. There's a town square lined with cafes and an old stone fortress, along with cornfields spread amid the rows of large, Soviet-style apartment blocks. Sliti, who is 6 feet tall, barrel-chested and darker-skinned than many of his neighbors, has felt like an outsider since the day he arrived.

Sometimes his anxiety becomes so overwhelming that Sliti needs to retreat inside for days and shut himself off from friends and family. The first time he did that, six months after his arrival in Slovakia, he said that police burst into his apartment, guns drawn, to see what he was doing. "After they put handcuffs on me, they punched me twice in my face. I told them, 'If you are men, uncuff my hands and we'll go outside.'" Slovak officials declined to answer questions about the incident.

"What does this mean - life after Guantanamo?" Sliti said one afternoon, after another hour spent clicking through low-paid job listings on LinkedIn. "Life is s--- after Guantanamo."

At first, the Slovak government housed the men in an apartment building maintained and monitored by the government. Later, it moved some of them further east, to a town 60 miles from the Ukrainian border. Sliti and Al-Marfadi stayed in Zvolen, while the others eventually moved to Bratislava.

For years, the men received modest government housing stipends. But in a text message last fall, Orlovsky told The Post that the Slovak government ended its assistance program at the end of 2021. He declined to respond to other questions about his interactions with Sliti and other detainees. After The Post sent questions to Orlovsky and other government officials, Sliti said Orlovsky told him that former detainees would also receive lump-sum payouts from what was left of the assistance budget.

Vincent M. Picard, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism, said the United States has "occasionally assisted receiving countries with the cost of resettling former detainees" but that the security aspect of the agreements are "time-limited." Once they have expired, "the U.S. government does not exercise any sort of custody over the treatment of resettled individuals," he said.

In Slovakia, Sliti wanted to be a mechanic, just as he had trained to be in his younger years, before he migrated to Europe and everything went wrong. He completed a course to update his skills, took a brief introduction to the Slovak language and found short-term jobs working on cars and then on train engines.

He found a wife, too: a Slovak convert to Islam named Jana, who has shown patience and understanding with his mood swings and his "chronic mistrust," as a Slovak psychologist, who evaluated Sliti over 13 sessions, described it.

But he and Jana say he has been repeatedly harassed by the police. Local media outlets have splashed his face across their pages. "Former Guantanamo prisoner walks free in Slovakia," read one magazine report, alongside blurry, zoomed-in photos of Sliti running errands. He feels stares every time he leaves the house, which can sometimes lead to what his psychologist characterized as "frequent, sudden outbursts of anger."

And now he has been unemployed for more than half a year; fired from a job fixing train engines after an angry outburst at his boss, in which Sliti says he made a gesture that meant "cut it out," and which he says his boss thought was pantomiming a beheading.

Last year, Sliti found a new job, as a van driver, and was briefly buoyed by the thought of himself at the wheel of a van, hauling long distances on his own.

But the position would have required travel through Italy and Austria. And when Jana reached out to Orlovsky to see if the government would allow it, she was rebuffed.

"Congratulations to Hisham," Orlovsky responded in a text message. "I am currently at the airport with the director of police and Hisham will not be able to travel to neighboring countries so soon."

___

The realization that life after Guantanamo was not quite freedom from Guantanamo crept up on Adayfi during his first year in Serbia. Officials seemed to warn off every Serb he had a conversation with at the library or the mosque. And after "PBS Frontline" came to interview him, the police showed up, beating and detaining him, he said.

Adayfi "ended up getting roughed up and eventually detained for a time by secret police for talking with us," the reporter Arun Rath later wrote in an essay. "After we got back to the states, [Adayfi] called me when he found cameras and listening devices hidden throughout his government apartment, and began ripping them out of the walls. I was still on a video call with him when secret police armed with machine guns showed up and took him away," Rath wrote.

The Serbian government did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Adayfi and his attorney said the Serbian government provides him a small stipend and covers the cost of his apartment and some of his university studies.

But a government minder calls to ask him about innocuous acquaintances. He suspects secret police operatives enter his apartment when he's not there, and he said he has found listening software on his government-provided phone. Neither the Serbian nor the Yemeni government has provided him a passport.

"We are still being treated like terrorists," Adayfi said. "For the last five years, I'm trying to build my life. I'm trying to study, I published a book. But that doesn't prove it to them. It's still just: 'He's bad.' No matter what, as long as you were in Guantanamo."

Last year, the government moved Adayfi from the downtown apartment it initially gave him to a neighborhood on Belgrade's outskirts. He feels even more isolated, and more conspicuous, with his brown skin and thick dark beard, and his poor grasp of Serbian.

There is no halal meat around here, so he mostly eats lentils, yogurt, vegetables, and bread with American peanut butter - a favorite that he discovered at Guantanamo. In the building where he has lived for the past year and a half, he has only ever spoken with one neighbor.

The neighbor told Adayfi he was surprised to see anyone living in that apartment. "We thought it was haunted," he said, remarking that it had long been unoccupied. "What brought you here?"

"Trust me," Adayfi replied. "You don't want to hear it."

___

The terms of detainee transfer deals are kept secret, and there has been no consistent strategy of support to former detainees following their release, current and former officials said. Daniel Fried, who served as President Barack Obama's first special envoy for Guantanamo's closure, said the U.S. government wanted the men "to have decent lives" after they left the prison. "We helped some of them find jobs. We helped one find a wife," he said. "That's not charity," he added. "It's a lot easier to treat them decently than end up as a new target."

Picard, the State Department spokesman, said that transfer arrangements are "based on mutually reached security and humane treatment assurances" between the United States and host governments.

But these assurances don't answer the larger question of what, if anything, the United States owes the hundreds of men it held for years or decades without charges.

In 2010, the British government settled a lawsuit with several former Guantanamo detainees, agreeing to pay out millions of dollars in damages. The European Court of Human Rights in 2014 ordered the government of Poland to pay damages to two other detainees whom the CIA tortured at a secret "black site" there. The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard the case of one of those men, who is suing to compel the government to release evidence to Polish authorities, who are now investigating the country's involvement in the black site.

But the vast majority of detainees have received no damages or direct assistance, from the U.S. government.

"The larger-scale solution [involves] the utter lack of accountability," said Katie Taylor, the deputy director of Reprieve, an organization that has provided legal representation to current and former Guantanamo detainees. "It shouldn't be that men like Hisham [Sliti] are put in countries to build their lives, but without any sort of pension or recompense," she said. "He shouldn't be having financial struggles. It should be the case where the U.S. should be paying for what it did."

As the United States withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan in August, and the Taliban consolidated its control, Adayfi's group text chain with other former detainees lit up.

"The American forces took their dogs, but they left the people behind," read a tweet that one former detainee shared to the group chat. Another shared a tweet from a Taliban account that said, "The goal we fought for is to apply Islamic law in the country."

Adayfi added a photo of Mohammed Nabi Omari, who was also detained in Guantanamo.

"And now look where he is!" Adayfi said, shaking his head. Omari had recently been named governor of the Afghan province of Khost.

He wondered if other disenfranchised Muslims would begin flocking to Afghanistan again, just as hard-liners and extremists had found safe haven there under the Taliban before 9/11. It would be an ill-fated idea, he was certain. But he worried about others - not just former detainees, but fellow Muslims in Europe, perhaps, who feel alienated by racism or a lack of opportunity.

A few weeks after the fall of Kabul, Sliti and Al-Marfadi decided to travel from Zvolen to the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava. They took Sliti's car, a dark Opel with a loop of prayer beads hanging from the rearview mirror.

It was the day before the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which they hadn't realized until they approached the U.S. Embassy and noticed the 9/11 photo exhibit out front. They paused and stared in silence.

Sliti was already on edge. The police had come to his apartment again the week before to question his stepdaughter about whether Sliti beat his wife or forced her to convert to Islam.

At the embassy guard post, they announced themselves: two former Guantanamo detainees who wanted to speak to someone from the embassy about their problems.

Twenty minutes later, an American came out of the embassy and met Sliti and Al-Marfadi outside the fence. Sliti's anger melted into a nervous optimism. Maybe this man would hear him, and help.

Sliti told the American about his job and his mental health challenges. Al-Marfadi told him about the stigma and their isolation.

"Fix our problem," Sliti said. "The Americans brought us here."

The American listened patiently, then took down their contact information and promised to check with Washington. The men retreated back to Zvolen, briefly confident that they may have accomplished something.

They never heard from the embassy.

___

Hauslohner reported from Serbia and Slovakia.
MOSCOW  To Russian President Vladimir Putin, the collapse of the Soviet Union "was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."

He made that statement in 2005, just months after Ukrainians launched their "Orange Revolution" and began to shake off Russia's influence in the country, spurring Kyiv's pro-democracy leanings. Two years earlier, an uprising in the Caucasus country of Georgia had ousted its Soviet-holdover president.

Although Putin clings to Soviet nostalgia - and to a self-drawn map of Moscow's "sphere of influence" that covers much of the former empire - the countries surrounding Russia have other ideas. The latest example is sweeping anti-government protests in Kazakhstan that have rattled a political system entrenched for three decades and brought in Russian-led forces to try to keep a lid on the unrest.

Putin has long accused the West of trying to curtail Moscow's reach. Now, he is portraying Russia as more threatened than ever and is demanding guarantees from the United States and NATO that the military alliance will stay out of what he considers the Kremlin's turf, and he has called for the removal of NATO infrastructure installed in Eastern Europe after 1997.

NATO has said Moscow can never dictate the alliance's future. But negotiations between Russian and U.S. envoys begin Monday in Geneva in efforts to close the divide and cool tensions over Ukraine, near whose eastern border Russia has massed military forces.

For Putin, the wider goals are to rework the consequences of the Soviet Union's demise in 1991 - what Putin last month called "a disintegration of historical Russia." But 30 years on, the generation rising into power in those countries do not share Putin's romanticism of the Soviet Union, in part because they never lived it.

In western Kazakhstan - where protests started over steep fuel price increases - some demonstrators chanted "Old man, go!" in reference to 81-year-old Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was the country's president from the collapse of the Soviet Union until 2019 but remains de facto ruler. In 2020 in Belarus, crowds rising up against President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, chanted: "Leave! Leave!"

"Moscow's talks about spheres of influence rarely correspond to reality," said Gleb Pavlovsky, a former top adviser to Putin.

"But these are dreams that of course affect the behavior of the Kremlin," he added.

From Ukraine to Georgia to Armenia to Belarus to Kazakhstan, a popular revolt has at some point demanded the end of each country's Soviet-era legacy and leadership. And the challenge to authoritarian regimes in Putin's backyard is seen by the Kremlin as a challenge to him and the system he has installed in Moscow.

The protests in Kazakhstan have proved to be a pivotal moment. Putin could not risk having the unrest bring in a new government unfavorable to Moscow, analysts say. So he opted to intervene, deploying troops as part of a Russian-led regional military alliance to help quell the protests. Propping up Kazakhstan's regime also appears to be a longer-term play for Putin: to build even deeper loyalty to Moscow and to curb the influence of China's growing investments and the West's overtures for closer ties.

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In April 2009, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had a first face-to-face meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in London. Medvedev had ascended to the presidency because Putin had just served out the maximum two consecutive terms in that office. Yet Putin, then Russia's prime minister, was still largely running things.

It was during that meeting that Medvedev cited Moscow's "privileged sphere of influence" amid Russia's push for Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, to close a U.S. military air base at Manas, said Michael McFaul, who became the Obama administration's ambassador to Russia two years later.

"Obama told him, 'I don't get this privileged spheres of influence stuff,'" McFaul said. (The Manas base was closed in 2014.)

Washington has continued to push back on the concept of a sphere of influence - which is at the center of the upcoming talks between the United States and Russia. Moscow has posted more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine in an obvious threat to re-invade the country nearly eight years after its illegal annexation of Crimea and the beginning of Kyiv's war with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Putin's end-of-year news conference on Dec. 23 was a lesson in how he views Russia's geostrategic family. He said that in 1991, "we divided ourselves into 12." The Soviet Union was made up of 15 states. But Putin, probably on purpose, excluded the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - all European Union members that turned away from Russia years ago.

The other 11 countries of the former Soviet Union - Eastern Europe's Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, the Caucasus's Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and Central Asia's Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - all get different treatment from Russia.

The ones seen as loyal are rewarded with economic support such as loans, investment contracts and discounts on energy imports, or even the promise of military assistance. But Moscow also wants some things in return - limiting cooperation with the West and keeping alive the Russian language in those countries, for example.

The Kremlin playbook for how to handle the countries that push back against Moscow - such as Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia - has included backing pro-Russian separatists that have carved out breakaway territories. Moscow has denied instigating those conflicts.

"Putin thinks as a kind of 18th-century or 19th-century leader about spheres of influence - most certainly that was the case when I was in the room with him, and that's been there for a while," McFaul said.

"His ambitions are bigger than just his own neighborhood," he added. "Putin thinks of himself as a leader of a kind of nationalist Orthodox conservative movement fighting the decadent, liberal and multilateral West. That has grown over time without question."

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Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev was considered the lone leader in the region who could say no to Putin.

Twelve years Putin's senior and a Soviet legacy, Nazarbayev had Putin's admiration. Many even speculated that Putin might try to follow Nazarbayev's example of how to continue ruling even after officially relinquishing the presidency. Nazarbayev handpicked his successor and took on a "leader of the nation" title that has allowed him largely still to call the shots.

Then, on Jan. 5, Kazakh protesters pulled down a statue of Nazarbayev - an act analysts say was a chilling development for Putin.

"I think any time where autocrats are at risk of being overthrown by their own citizens and through the streets, I think Putin views that as a direct threat to his own survival and the survival of his regime," said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a Russia expert at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank.

Putin has a history of supporting authoritarian leaders, even outside of the former Soviet Union. He provided critical aid to Syria's Bashar Assad during Arab Spring protests and backed Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. In 2020, when Belarus's Lukashenko was facing mass protests calling for his resignation, Putin offered a public show of unity and said Russia would send in military reinforcements "if necessary."

Lukashenko claimed, without evidence, that the opposition movement was a Western plot to oust him. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has similarly likened his country's protesters to "terrorists," some of which he alleged without offering proof are from abroad.

These are favorite scapegoats of Putin's, too.

During his news conference last month, Putin said that "opponents have been saying throughout the centuries that Russia cannot be defeated, but can only be destroyed from within," which they accomplished "in the 1990s, when the Soviet Union was being dismantled from within."

"Who was doing it?" Putin asked. "Someone serving the interests of others that run counter to the interests of the Russian and other peoples of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation today."

Arkady Dubnov, a Central Asia expert, says the former Soviet Union is undergoing "a midlife crisis." With the passage of time, those former member countries have fostered stronger national identities with wide-ranging aims, some of which clash with Russia's identity and aims.

"That signals an end of a certain stage in the development of the post-Soviet space," Dubnov said.

"The people in power are people of the last century, both physically - I mean, they have been in power since the last century - and mentally," he added. "Young people poorly understand them, and they generally do not perceive them as their presidents, as someone they elected or someone that share their values, concerns and problems."

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The Washington Post's Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.
MOSCOW  Talks between U.S. and Russian officials Monday in Geneva open a round of diplomatic meetings seeking to defuse tensions over Moscow's military buildup on the border with Ukraine. The challenges to finding common ground are clear.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that he will find his own "military technical" solution if NATO does not stop its "aggression." The Biden administration and its allies have stood by Ukraine and its aspirations of deepening its bonds with the West - although making clear that Ukraine will not be admitted to NATO membership any time soon.

Putin has shown an ability to rattle NATO leaders and keep Europe off balance, demanding sweeping security guarantees that include NATO's ruling out any future expansion in Ukraine or other countries along Russia's borders. NATO leaders say Moscow cannot dictate the alliance's moves or undercut its open-door policy on membership.

Russia's massing of troops and equipment near Ukraine twice over the past year has raised U.S. intelligence fears of an invasion, confronting President Biden with his most pressing security crisis.

How did we get here? As U.S.-Russian relations plummeted this past year, Moscow kept tightening its pressure and ramping up its warnings.

Here is a chronology:

1. March 17: 'Killer' comment. In a TV interview, Biden agreed that Putin was "a killer," comments that outraged Russia and prompted it to temporarily recall its ambassador, Anatoly Antonov. In the months that followed, Putin, facing opposition protests and criticism at home, steadily jacked up anti-American and anti-Ukrainian sentiment with warnings that Russia was threatened by outside enemies.

2. March 30: Military moves. In March, Russia launched a massive military buildup near its border with Ukraine, prompting Ukraine's then-military chief, Ruslan Khomchak, to warn that the Russian action threatened Ukraine. In April, Russia withdrew some forces but left much of its equipment in place. By October, Russia had resumed its military buildup near Ukraine.

3. April 6: Missile tests. Russia sent a message of military strength, launching a Kalibr cruise missile in the Sea of Japan on April 6. Russia also conducted tests of its hypersonic Tsirkon missile throughout the year. Putin has said Russia's hypersonic missiles are world-leading and impossible to deter.

4. April 15: Sanctions and expulsions. Biden announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and put sanctions on 32 individuals and companies accused of interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and other actions including spreading disinformation - adding to earlier sanctions over the near-fatal poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in August 2020. (Navalny is imprisoned in Russia, having returned home after treatment in Germany.) Russia responded with its own expulsion of American diplomatic personnel. U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan left Russia temporarily.

5. June 16: Summit. Biden and Putin held a summit in Geneva, agreeing on little except to pursue talks on arms control and cybersecurity. The Kremlin called the meeting "rather positive." But on June 23, the British warship HMS Defender sailed close to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, a signal to Moscow that NATO does not recognize the waters as Russian. Russia said it fired warning shots, and Putin said later that he could have sunk the ship if he wanted.

6. June 30: NATO exercises. On the eve of NATO's Sea Breeze naval exercise with Ukraine in the Black Sea, Putin said Western military support for Ukraine creates "significant security problems" for Russia.

7. July 12: Putin's manifesto. Putin prepared the ground for possible renewed aggression against Ukraine in a long essay, "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians," claiming that Russia and Ukraine were "one people - a single whole." He argued that Ukrainian sovereignty was "possible only in partnership with Russia." And he accused the West of using Ukraine as an aggressive "anti-Russia project," akin to "the use of weapons of mass destruction against us."

8. Aug. 31: Afghanistan chaos. The fumbled U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was taken by the Kremlin as a telling sign of American decline, signaling that Washington was unlikely soon to commit forces in distant places.

9. Sept. 10: Zapad drills. Russia's held its massive Zapad 2021 military exercises, demonstrating a formidable fighting force after years of modernization. The exercises came as Russia was increasingly irritated by NATO flights and naval patrols on its western border.

10. Oct. 6: Espionage allegations. NATO announced the expulsion of eight diplomats in Russia's NATO mission for alleged spying, and Russia swiftly suspended its NATO mission and closed NATO's Moscow office. In late October, Ukraine for the first time used a Turkish Bayraktar drone in its war against Russian-backed separatists in the country's east. By the end of the month, Russia had resumed its military buildup near Ukraine, sparking new fears of a massive invasion.

11. Nov. 18: Russia's 'red lines'. Putin accused the West of ignoring "our warnings about red lines," referring to Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO. He said Russia's hard-line policies were working. "Our recent warnings have been heard and the effect is noticeable. Tensions have risen," he said. He added that Russia should maintain the tensions "as long as possible."

12. Nov. 30: NATO defenses. Putin complained about NATO's missile-defense system in Romania and the alliance's plans for a similar network in Poland. Putin warned that Moscow would never accept the deployment of missile systems in Ukraine.

13. Dec. 7: Biden's warnings. In a video meeting, Biden warned Putin of tough economic sanctions if Putin invaded Ukraine. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin called for binding security guarantees from Biden, including a demand that NATO would not expand to the east. Russia released its list of demands Dec. 17.

14. Dec. 23: Putin's demands. Putin intensified his combative rhetoric. He said that the West had brought missiles "to our doorstep" and must offer security guarantees to Moscow "right now."

15. Dec. 30: Second call. Biden and Putin held their second call in a month, at Putin's request. Biden repeated his warning of unprecedented Western sanctions if Russia attacked Ukraine. Putin warned that such action by the West would cause a complete rupture in relations. Ushakov, the Russian presidential aide, said Russia was not interested in compromise or drawn-out talks and would insist on its security demands.
Ukraines military is much stronger and better prepared than 2014, when it couldnt resist Russias annexation of Crimea. But a lack of weapons from the West and underspending at home has left its troops without even the deep stocks of basic supplies they would need in a high intensity conflict.

Instead, as fears rise in the U.S. and Europe of a potential invasion by President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine finds its army dwarfed by Russias forces and its spending power. The Russian president has sustained his latest troop buildup on the border, saying the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must reduce its presence in the region.

In the event of a war, only a massive influx of sophisticated weaponry from Kyivs Western backers could ensure its defense. So far its requests for big ticket items like air and missile defense systems have gone unanswered despite assurances that NATO stands with Ukraine.

The U.S. has put together a fresh package including Javelin anti-tank missiles, small arms, medical kits and body armor, sticking to defensive weapons and support for Ukraines cyber capabilities in a bid to help Kyiv without giving Putin an excuse for action, people familiar with the discussions said, adding that President Joe Biden has signed off on the plan. National Security Council spokespeople didnt immediately comment.

At home, meantime, money is short. Some funds collected from taxpayers for defense are spent elsewhere, while waste and corruption still take a toll after years of attempted reform.

Kyivs budget for defense procurement was 23 billion hryvnia ($838 million) for 2021, rising to 28 billion hryvnia for 2022. Thats a big increase from 2014 but still a rounding error in terms of what the Kremlin has outlaid. Russia spends about 40% of its $60 billion-plus defense budget on procurement, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, twice as much in absolute terms as France, Germany or the U.K., let alone Ukraine.

All wage earners in Ukraine have to pay a special levy, sold as a way to boost defense spending. In 2021 that raised 28.6 billion hryvnia, enough in theory to double arms procurement. Yet the money goes into the general tax fund. A Finance Ministry spokesperson said it was impossible to know whether it was spent on defense, health or other priorities.

When the Defense Ministry came to parliament in December with its shopping list for 2022, news of the Russian troop build-up had long since broken. But the number of bulletproof vests it wanted to buy was just half the amount needed for current troop numbers, let alone the reserves that would be called up should a Russian invasion materialize, according to Serhiy Rakhmanin, an opposition lawmaker and member of the parliamentary committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.

Due to a lack of funds, there werent enough rifles or helmets on the list either, said Rakhmanin, a former journalist who has been critical as a lawmaker of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government. There was however a request for remarkably pricey waffle towels and Soviet-era radiation detection equipment thats no longer of obvious utility.

I had a question: OK, lets say war starts tomorrow, do you really need this stuff? Rakhmanin said. The towels and detectors were removed from the list.

The Defense Ministry has pledged to upgrade its procedures, blaming delays in procurement on bureaucracy and promising to reduce classified contracts in order to reduce corruption. Multiple requests for a response to Rakhmanins claims did not elicit a comment.

The National Security and Defense Council also said in late December the government will set up an interagency working group to verify the supply of weapons and food to the military over the 2017-2021 period.

The military has nonetheless made strides over the last seven or so years. In 2014 it could put just a fraction of a nominal force of 120,000 troops into combat, with battle tanks mothballed, major air defenses inoperable and just four MiG-29 jets out of a fleet of 46 fit to fly, according to Mykola Bielieskov, a defense analyst at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank attached to the Ukrainian presidency.

Today, Ukraine is capable of deploying the majority of its 205,000 active troops, together with working, if often vintage, equipment, says Bielieskov. Its Soviet-legacy arms industry has developed new missiles, surveillance drones and radar-guided anti-artillery capabilities.

The problem is the government hasnt bought enough of even its own new weapons to take on Russia.

Is Ukraine ready to fight? Yes and no, because Ukraine didnt start this war, Hanna Shelest, the Odessa-based editor of Ukraine Analytica, said last month during a U.S. Council on Foreign Relations webcast. She was referring to the conflict with Russian-armed separatists that Ukraines military has been fighting in the eastern Donbas region since the annexation of Crimea.

At the same time, Shelest said, the nations institutions, military and people are now much better prepared in case Putin decides to escalate.

It remains unclear what Putins intentions are, as he simultaneously pursues diplomatic negotiations with Biden and a military buildup. He has repeatedly denied he currently plans to invade.

Russias large deployment is expensive and difficult to maintain for long. At the same time Putins list of diplomatic demands is so expansive they could take months if not years to negotiate, according to Michael Kofman, research program director at CNA, a Virginia-based think tank.

It is clear by now that the Russians dont think they will suffer devastating casualties, he said.

In any operation, Russia could first use its technological advantages to disable the Ukrainian military from afar, obliterating its air force, runways, air defenses, munitions dumps and command and control systems in a barrage for which Ukraine would have little or no response, according to Kofman and others.

Ukrainian troops might have little chance to make use of their vaunted U.S. Javelin anti-tank weapons and armed drones recently acquired from NATO member Turkey, before a punitive settlement was imposed.

Ukrainians know how to fight, but they do not have the equipment, especially for deep operations, said Bielieskov. The Russians have Iskander (ballistic) missiles, electronic warfare, latest generation aircraft and all these things.

Visiting Washington in November, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said hed asked for the high-end equipment Ukraine would need to start redressing the imbalance. Yet U.S. missile and air-defense systems would be difficult to quickly transport and integrate for use in Ukraine, even if a political decision was taken for America to become so deeply involved in a potential conflict with Russia.

The U.S. says it has delivered $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine since 2014, but that was designed to contain militants in eastern Ukraine, rather than a full Russian invasion.

Other NATO countries have also provided aid and training, but Zelenskyy has accused Germany of blocking the alliance as a whole from providing more arms. Germany and the Netherlands say so long as there is a threat of conflict with Russia, NATO should not give Ukraine lethal weapons, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna told Interfax-Ukraine Tuesday.

Estonia plans to provide howitzers and Javelin missiles, primarily for anti-tank defense, the ERR news service reported last week. To do so it would need permission from the U.S., Germany and Finland, where the equipment originated. The Biden administration is in favor of the idea in principle, according to one person familiar with the administrations thinking.

Additional shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons would be a more pragmatic ask than Patriot batteries, according to Bielieskov. These require little training and would allow troops to counter Russian helicopter gunships and force its attack jets to fly at higher altitudes, reducing their effectiveness and helping Ukrainian forces survive bombardments.

But for Glen Grant, a retired British artillery officer and ex-adviser to Ukraines parliament on military reform, officials need to focus on basic supplies - building the missing reserves of food, ammunition and light transport.

Numbers dont count for much, it is the ability to put the troops in the right place with the right equipment and the right moment thats vital, said Grant, now senior expert at Latvias Baltic Security Foundation. The burn rate in a major war is huge, it will dwarf anything that happened in 2014.

Bloombergs Alberto Nardelli and Jennifer Jacobs contributed to this report.
KABUL, Afghanistan  The snow started falling early, prettily dusting trees and fences in the Afghan capital this week but turning unpaved neighborhood alleys into treacherous sludge. In many poor homes, the heat provided by used coal chips and wood scraps in old metal stoves had died long before daybreak.

Mahmad Ewaz, 28, a former tenant farmer and father of four who fled fighting in Helmand province two years ago, listened to his 1-year-old daughter coughing and contemplated a single log resting in the corner. The pantry in the family's mud-walled home in west Kabul held only a few onions and potatoes, and the stove was dark. It was too cold for his boys to go out and scavenge, so he reached for the log and started shaving off pieces.

"The authorities tell us it is safe to return home now, but we have nothing left there," Ewaz said with a sigh on Tuesday. Life in the city, though, has become much harder since the Taliban took power again in August. He earns less than a dollar a day, sewing soles onto shoes, and the cost of heating fuel has risen far beyond the family's means. "At least this log will give us a few more hours tonight," he said.

The country's new rulers, cut off from most international aid as well as Afghan government assets held in U.S. accounts, have scant resources to protect millions of vulnerable people against another harsh winter. Aid groups estimate that nearly 23 million Afghans, out of a total population of 39 million, already do not have enough to eat. Many also lack solid shelter and money to heat their homes at night, forcing them to choose between food and fuel, and creating additional potential for a full-fledged humanitarian disaster, aid officials said.

Many Afghans were living a meager existence before the Taliban's takeover. But others are part of a large, newly impoverished urban working class that mushroomed after the sudden collapse of the vast, foreign-funded war and aid economy.

"Everywhere we go, we find thousands more people who need help," said Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. "They haven't been driven from their homes, but they have lost their jobs, they have no savings, and their life systems are in collapse. They are not on our lists, but they come and wait outside the distribution sites, saying, 'What about us?'"

UNHCR is among several international humanitarian agencies that have recently launched emergency winter assistance projects, using indirect funding and limited foreign licensing arrangements to avoid running afoul of international sanctions.

The agency is providing food, blankets, and cash for heating fuel to 70,000 people a week in Kabul. Its major focus is on families displaced from rural areas by conflict, a group that swelled from 3.5 million to more than 4 million last year as Taliban fighters swept across the country. With the war at an end, UNHCR officials said, it is safer to deliver aid, but many of the neediest do not meet their strict criteria.

This winter, the World Food Program has also expanded its operations to provide basic food commodities or cash to the neediest families, such as those headed by widows or jobless breadwinners. Program officials say they assisted 8 million people in December and expect to reach 12 million this month.

In addition to providing food aid directly, the program uses cash and "value vouchers" through local banks, mobile networks and money transfer agencies. The vouchers, worth between $59 and $79 depending on the level of need in each area, allow people to purchase their own food or other necessities.

"Nothing goes to the government," said Shelley Thakral, a spokeswoman for the program in Kabul.

On Tuesday, as snow fell steadily from a slate-gray sky, more than 2,000 men and several hundred women lined up outside a warehouse in the impoverished Karte Naw district, waiting for handouts of flour, beans, salt and cooking oil provided by the World Food Program. Shouts of protest erupted periodically when people without the required paperwork were turned away.

As the lines inched forward, approved applicants - war widows, idled construction workers, people caring for ill relatives at home - emerged from the warehouse with signed white tickets in their hands. Then they followed porters with wheelbarrows who trundled heavy flour sacks and other supplies to waiting taxis.

Along a nearby boulevard, women covered by burqas crouched in snowbanks and held out their hands to cars crawling past. An elderly man clutching an empty sugar sack said his family had applied for food assistance but had not heard back. His plan for the day was to knock on doors, ask people if they needed their walks shoveled, and hope they would put a few potatoes or carrots in his sack as payment.

"My life is hard, but it gets much harder in winter," said Abdul Hadi, 75, who works as a wheelbarrow porter in warmer weather. A few yards down a slushy alley, his daughter and several grandchildren were huddled around a woodstove in one of two rented rooms. Hadi's battered metal barrow was in the other, piled with flattened cardboard to feed the fire. "We don't even have enough money for bread," he said, his face crumpling in defeat. "It's the same story in every family. Please tell the world to help us."

Coal and wood sellers, waiting inside fenced yards piled high with stacks of firewood from the eastern Afghan forests and sacks of coal from the northern mountains, drew only a trickle of customers this week despite the widespread, desperate need for heat. One boy of 12 trudged through the snow to buy 20 sticks of firewood, watching closely as his order was weighed and handing over 50 cents. He said it would last the family one night.

"People can't afford to buy now, and we can't afford to sell," said Shahwali Khan, 50, warming his hands over a small fire at his fuel-supply yard in a poor Kabul district. "Everything is connected. The government has collapsed, people have no salaries, and the economy has gone to zero." In past winters, he said, "even ordinary people would take home 100 kilos [of wood] at a time. Today I will be happy if I sell 20 kilos by dark."

Although the cash-strapped Taliban government has almost no means to help the poor, it has been coordinating closely with foreign aid programs, largely by providing armed escorts for supply trucks and security for crowded distribution sites. All supervisors and workers at the sites are Afghans. Officials who interact with the poor, such as needy people who come to the gates of the Refugees Ministry, also pass on their requests for help.

Mufti Abdal Motalib, the Refugees Ministry spokesman, said his office has been working with several foreign agencies, including the U.N. refugee agency, without touching any of the funds they receive. In rural areas where aid distribution was once curtailed by fighting, he said, the new authorities now help deliver it from provincial centers. "The [charities] have relations with the international banks, and we try our best to facilitate their work," he said. "We want as many Afghans to be helped as possible."

By early Thursday, the sun had reappeared but the weather was bitterly cold, and more snow was expected. Outside a long-abandoned grain elevator, Taliban police stood guard while cargo trucks arrived from warehouses, carrying wheat from Kazakhstan, rice from Tajikistan and cooking oil from Russia. Afghan officials from the German charity World Without Hunger supervised, while rows of wheelbarrows were loaded with food sacks and plastic bags of personal supplies, including toothbrushes, disinfectant, towels and shampoo. In two weeks, they said, they will start distributing blankets and overcoats.

At 9 a.m., the first of 221 families on the day's list began to arrive. One woman named Parasto, speaking from beneath a burqa, said her husband had once worked repairing car batteries but was disabled. She said her two sons, 12 and 9, go to school in the mornings, then earn a little money by selling plastic bags for people to burn in their stoves.

Mustafa, the older boy, was blowing on his chapped hands. "It's cold work," he said, "and I get cold fast."

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MIAMI (Tribune News Service)  Floridas rocketing number of COVID-19 cases likely will peak by mid-January as the highly contagious omicron variant potentially infects most of the states population during this wave alone, according to disease modelers with the University of Floridas Emerging Pathogens Institute.

UF biostatisticians and scientists said they revised their forecast for the states omicron wave to account for the astonishing speed and breadth with which the virus was spreading through Florida in December, leading to record numbers of COVID-19 cases during the states fourth wave of the pandemic.

The universitys model still calls for omicron to cause fewer deaths than prior surges of the pandemic, and like past waves this one is expected to diminish with the same speed that it spiked  making for possibly one of the shortest though still devastating waves of the pandemic.

Everything points to much faster dynamics than we saw at first, said Ira Longini, a UF professor of biostatistics and co-creator of the universitys omicron model.

Omicrons shorter incubation period

To account for what they were seeing in Florida and the United States in December, UF scientists shortened the models projection for omicrons incubation period to about three days instead of five days, which means that an infected person can begin spreading the virus about two days after contracting the virus, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms.

If theyre going to get symptoms, on average its on the third day of their infection, Longini said. So by then theyve already been transmitting it for a whole day while they were still asymptomatic.

By comparison, the delta variant has an incubation period of about four days, which is faster than the median of five or more days seen in the original version of the virus, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Florida reported the states first known case of the omicron variant on Dec. 6, and as the virus spread rapidly UF scientists quickly began to understand why the strain was causing an exponential growth in infections and reported cases, said Thomas Hladish, a research scientist in UFs department of biology and a co-author of the model.

The increase was so pronounced that as soon as we had like two days of data about that increase, we could have at that point said quite a bit, Hladish said. Most of what we would have needed to know we would have known.

Hladish said the most significant change in the model was shortening the time from when someone contracts the virus to when they become contagious.

Omicrons shorter incubation period explains why graphs of Floridas most recent COVID-19 wave show a steep, almost vertical line of ascending cases in December  information the UF modelers did not have when they created their initial forecast using data from South Africa for November.

And though omicron appears to cause a shorter infectious period than other variants, Longini said, people with omicron are more contagious during that time than those who contracted earlier strains of the virus. He said a typical omicron infection will cause a person to be infectious for about a week.

Some people will test positive for many days after that, he said, but it looks like the infectious period is about five days.

There is also evidence that omicron causes more mild disease than prior strains, though Longini said its not clear how much of the diseases severity may be reduced by existing immunity in the population from vaccination and prior infection.

90,000 COVID cases a day

As Florida nears the projected peak of the omicron wave in mid-January, UF modelers predict the state will top out at about 90,000 reported cases a day.

On Friday, Florida reported to the CDC 76,887 cases  the states largest single-day increase on record for the pandemic.

However, variations in daily cases are highly affected by the reporting process, including the amount of time that passes from the day an infected individual is tested to the time a case is reported by the state.

Hladish said disease modelers are less certain about the exact number of daily cases that Florida will report at the peak than they are about the timing of that peak being in mid-January.

In fact, the model suggests that Florida may have already passed the peak of total infections  the sum of reported cases plus people who were infected but did not get tested due to mild or no symptoms or other reasons. But cases have not peaked yet because of the time it takes for tests to be processed and reported.

We looked at many different assumptions in order to see what it takes to get the kind of extremely rapid growth in cases that weve observed, and we consistently saw that the peak was going to happen basically between like Jan. 5 and Jan. 12, Hladish said.

The peak may well have happened in infections, he added, but its a funny thing with how testing and reporting works that the data that come out for today are not about today. Its really important to remember that.

Fewer deaths with omicron

UFs model for the omicron wave predicts that the total number of deaths caused by Floridas omicron wave will likely be about one-third less than the state saw during the delta-fueled summer surge.

Though omicron is milder than prior strains, the model predicts that deaths from the omicron deaths will peak at about 300 a day because of the sheer numbers of infected people, Longini said.

At the peak of the delta wave, Florida experienced about 400 deaths a day, he said.

UF scientists said death predictions could be affected by the arrival of new COVID-19 therapeutics, such as antiviral pills designed to reduced disease severity. But they also had difficulty predicting mortality for the omicron wave and analyzing death patterns from prior waves due in part to repeated changes in Floridas official reporting.

During the first 18 months of the pandemic that began in March 2020, data collected by the Florida Department of Health and reported on the CDC website counted deaths by the date they were recorded  a common method for producing daily stats used by most states.

But as the delta wave surged in August, the health department changed the way it reported death data to the CDC, giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline by counting deaths by the date they occurred.

In November, the CDC said it began to transition states to once again report deaths by the date they were reported.

Prior to the change in reporting deaths, Floridas health department removed its online dashboard and stopped daily reporting of COVID-19 cases, switching to weekly updates that no longer included county-level information on hospitalizations and deaths.

For scientists trying to develop a tool to assess the COVID-19 epidemic in Florida, the constant changes are a challenge.

It really interferes with our ability to make sense of patterns, make sense of what happened when youre changing data collection midstream, Hladish said. This has happened several times at this point, how deaths are certified. Then changing from daily to weekly reports. Some things that previously were released by the state now are released by federal authorities, and there are these persistent arguments between state and federal authorities about what the numbers should be and how to interpret them.

It makes the scientists job very difficult, he said, when the criteria for collecting data keeps changing, and how the data is made available.

Longini echoed Hladishs criticism of the states data reporting.

The reporting is tricky, both deaths and cases, he said. Things arent getting reported that well, and theres delays. They do it in patches. They ignore it. Its really bad in Florida.

Future variants

One prediction that does not rely on data is what future variants of the coronavirus may mean for the pandemic, and on this question scientists do not always agree about the right answer.

Both Hladish and Longini said that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is here to stay. And they both believe that coronaviruses will tend to mutate toward becoming more contagious and able to evade immunity, whether from vaccination or prior infection.

Those are clear directions that give a virus an advantage, Longini said.

But they disagree about whether future variants will cause more or less severe illness in infected people.

Longini said theres no way that the virus will become as deadly as Ebola, which has a case fatality rate of greater than 50%. Floridas health department reports a COVID-19 case fatality rate of 1.5%.

But I dont see a strong argument why the evolution of the virus itself would be toward less virulent strains, he said, mostly because most of the transmission occurs before the person becomes sick enough, especially this virus, and I dont think it cares if somebody dies two weeks later.

Hladish said he believes future variants will favor less virulence or severe disease, though not for biological reasons.

Human behavior matters, Hladish said. Maybe with the first couple of people its not going to matter if the virus kills the host because it already did its transmitting. But if you have a pathogen thats killing people left and right, then people are going to modify behavior and thats going to reduce transmission.

You dont have to invoke a biological reason for why being virulent would reduce transmission, he said, because there is a behavioral reason.

Yet Longini also sees a future where the virus that causes COVID-19 will become mild over time, not because of mutations in the virus but because of a rise in population immunity from vaccination and prior infection, similar to coronaviruses that cause the common cold.

The long-term evolution in the population will be toward less and less severe disease, he said, because more and more people will be either vaccinated or immune, and it could become a disease of very young children. Not because the virus is less virulent but because the population level immunity keeps rising, especially as people get older theyre more likely to have immunity.

Longini noted that its still not possible to measure long-term immune response to a virus that is barely two years old and for which vaccines became available in December 2020.

But once youve been infected and/or vaccinated enough times, he said, maybe you develop immunity to severe disease, which we clearly have against seasonal coronaviruses. They dont cause severe disease in humans anymore, but we get infected with them over and over.

-------

2022 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
TOPEKA, Kansas (Tribune News Service)  A Kansas contractor was sentenced Thursday to two years, four months in prison for a federal crime linked to a scheme that defrauded the federal government.

Matthew C. McPherson, 45, has also forfeited to the government $5,516,786, which represented his share of the fraud proceeds, said Teresa Moore, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

McPherson was owner of Topeka-based McPherson Contractors when he cheated to obtain contracts between 2009 and 2018 that should have gone to firms led by disabled veterans and racial minorities, of which he is neither, prosecutors said.

His greed and deception allowed him to enrich himself at the expense of disabled veterans and minority owners, Moore said. After forfeiting more than $5.5 million to the government and being sent to prison, he has learned the hard way that crime doesnt pay.

Todays sentencing sends a clear message that contractors unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of our nations veterans will not be tolerated, said Gavin McClaren, acting special agent in charge with the central field office of the VAs Office of Inspector General.

McPherson pleaded guilty in June 2019 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and major program fraud.

The crime was linked to a scheme in which prosecutors said construction firms defrauded the government by receiving $346 million.

McPherson admitted in his plea that he took part between September 2009 and March 2018 in a conspiracy to obtain contracts set aside by the federal government to be awarded specifically to small businesses owned and controlled by military veterans, service-disabled veterans and certified minorities.

McPherson owned a construction company that was not entitled to compete for those contracts, prosecutors said. The type of scheme involved is often called Rent-A-Vet or Rent-A-Minority fraud.

Prosecutors said McPherson and his co-conspirators  Matthew Torgeson, former president of Topekas Torgeson Electric Co., and Kansas City-area businessman Patrick Michael Dingle  controlled and operated Zieson Construction Co.

That firm was formed in 2009 with Stephon Ziegler, 61, of Weatherby Lake, Mo., a Black disabled veteran, as the nominal owner.

Ziesons primary business was obtaining federal construction contracts set aside for award to small businesses owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans or certified minorities, prosecutors said.

However, they said, Ziegler did not control the day-to-day operations or the long-term decision making of Zieson.

McPherson and his co-conspirators actually controlled and operated Zieson, and received most of the profits from Zieson, prosecutors said.

They alleged Zieson between 2009 and 2018 was paid about $335 million through about 199 federal contracts set aside to be awarded to small businesses owned by veterans and minorities.

McPherson and his co-conspirators also set up another company owned by Zieson employee and Native American Rustin Simon, 45, of Smithville, Mo., which fraudulently brought in more than $11 million through two federal contracts, prosecutors said.

Torgeson died in November 2019.

Dingle, 50, of Parkville, Mo., awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in September 2020 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and major program fraud. He also pleaded guilty, in a separate case, to one count of filing a false tax return.

Ziegler awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in May 2019 to making a false statement to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Simon awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to June 2019 to two counts of making material false statements to the Small Business Administration.

___

(c)2022 The Topeka Capital-Journal, Kan.

Visit The Topeka Capital-Journal, Kan. at www.cjonline.com
WASHINGTON  The week before Christmas, Sen. Joe Manchin sent the White House a $1.8 trillion counteroffer to President Biden's Build Back Better agenda that included substantial funds for climate, health-care and education initiatives.

About four weeks later, the West Virginia Democrat has made clear that he does not currently support advancing even that offer following a breakdown in negotiations between Manchin and the White House right before Christmas, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Manchin said publicly this week that he was no longer involved in talks with the White House over the economic package. Privately, he has also made clear that he is not interested in approving legislation resembling Biden's Build Back Better package and that Democrats should fundamentally rethink their approach. Senior Democrats say they do not believe Manchin would support his offer even if the White House tried adopting it in full - at least not at the moment - following the fallout in mid-December. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Negotiations deteriorated quickly in December after a White House news release named Manchin as the obstacle to passing the legislation. Manchin then surprised the administration by criticizing the bill on Fox News, after which the White House released a blistering statement calling his credibility into question. Manchin, who has drawn protesters' ire because of his opposition to the legislation, later said the decision to name him in the news release imperiled the safety of his family.

The White House has continued to project optimism that it will eventually secure Manchin's vote and approval of a major economic plan by Congress. And Manchin's $1.8 trillion counteroffer suggested that much common ground between the two sides remained on the policy substance. He said in recent days that he supports much of the administration's climate agenda, for example.

But Democratic leaders in Congress have abruptly pivoted from trying to complete the economic package to addressing voting rights legislation, leaving unclear the fate of the White House's chance to remake big parts of the U.S. economy and provide the biggest-ever investment in fighting climate change.

Manchin has talked with a range of public officials trying to sway him on Build Back Better, such as senior White House aide Steve Ricchetti; Larry Kudlow, who was an adviser to President Donald Trump; and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, among others.

White House allies, including several officials in the White House itself, have in recent days expressed confusion as to how the administration could pass up on the potential for $1.8 trillion deal that would amount to one of the most significant pieces of domestic policy in decades.

Manchin's offer included permanent funding for universal prekindergarten, an expansion of the Affordable Care Act and hundreds of billions of dollars in climate-related spending - measures staunchly opposed by congressional Republicans. His plan also included support for a tax on billionaires, which would amount to the most aggressive plans to reduce wealth inequality in modern American history. And Democrats may not see another majority in Congress for many years.

"A $1.8 trillion package along the lines of what Manchin offered last month would be one of the most transformative, progressive pieces of legislation in modern history," said Ben Ritz, a budget expert at the Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank. "The White House should absolutely take it if they can."

But for several reasons, it is unclear whether the White House could accept Manchin's plan, even if it wanted to - not the least of which is the confusion now over whether Manchin would vote to approve it.

In addition to excluding the expanded child tax credit, a centerpiece of Biden's anti-poverty agenda, Manchin's offer included no funding for housing and no funding for racial equity initiatives, two people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to reveal details of the private negotiations. Numerous congressional Democrats have had other demands for the package, such as an expansion of Medicare benefits for seniors and a repeal of the deduction of a cap on state and local taxes.

These and other provisions might have to be incorporated into the final plan to secure approval. To pass the bill, Democrats cannot afford to lose any senators or more than three House members.

Additionally, Manchin's offer included proposed tax hikes that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., had already ruled out, people familiar with the matter said. And while Manchin did support substantial new climate funds, the underlying policy details of his proposed climate provisions remain unclear and could have proved difficult for the White House to ultimately accept.

Manchin's positions have been hard to pin down over the course of negotiations, leading to a fierce lobbying effort to swing his vote. In recent weeks, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has tried seeing whether he could broker a bipartisan agreement over the child tax credit with Manchin, two people familiar with the matter said. Romney has offered a GOP alternative to Biden's expanded child tax credit, but the measure is opposed by the vast majority of Republicans.

It is unclear how far the discussions between Romney and Manchin have progressed. Manchin has been adamant that the child benefit include a work requirement for parents, whereas Romney's plan does not.

Kudlow, who was a top Trump economic aide, has also spoken with Manchin about Build Back Better, two other people familiar with the matter said. A spokeswoman for Manchin declined to comment on the state of negotiations. Kudlow declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Romney.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, "We are not going to comment on the details of private conversations with lawmakers."

With the president's economic agenda in limbo, some liberal groups say they plan to continue to pressure Manchin into approving the legislation.

"The policies we're fighting for - like letting Medicare negotiate prices - are incredibly popular in West Virginia, and Manchin is clearly not listening to people in his state," said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, a left-leaning group. "Biden has to bring the full weight of the presidency to bear on Joe Manchin to get his vote to get Build Back Better across the finish line."

"I know the grass roots are not in any way giving up on Joe Manchin," Lawson said, "and we'll make it harder and harder for him to not listen to what the people in West Virginia are demanding he do."

Other liberals say it is important to engage with Manchin now and ensure Democrats do not blow an opportunity to enact sweeping legislation.

"Many progressives stand ready to compromise to get something done," said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "We understand that we have to earn Senator Manchin's vote, and I look forward to working with him and the White House to see where we can find common ground and what we can deliver."

___
Graveside service will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 30, 2022 at Lawson Cemetery, Yale, OK. Visitation will be on Friday, April 29 from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Palmer Marler Funeral Home in Cushing.
Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view.
More than 1000 young athletes are preparing to run, jump and throw their way to success at the North Island Colgate Games at Newtown Park, Wellington, this weekend.

Families will converge on the capital to take part in the largest athletics event for children aged 7 to 14 years.

This year, 75 clubs will participate in the event  with the largest team of 54 participants from Wellingtons Olympic Harrier Club.

Colgate general manager John Garside says the Colgate Games have encouraged generations of young New Zealanders to give athletics a go.

Weve been going for more than 40 years and each year we create new friendships and memories for the athletes and their families.

The experience gained at the Colgate Games will help set these young athletes up for success, no matter where they finish in their chosen event.

Athletics New Zealand CE Pete Pfitzinger says he is delighted both the North and South Island Colgate Games Island can go ahead under the Covid-19 Protection Framework.

The Colgate Games are a highlight of the summer calendar, and we are committed to holding a fun and safe event.

Established in 1978, the Colgate Games is one of the longest continuous sports sponsorships in New Zealand.

The Colgate Games is a vaccination pass event with all attendees aged 12 years and three months and older needing to hold a vaccination pass to attend the event.

Both the Wellington and Southland regions are currently at orange in the new traffic light system which forms the new Covid-19 Protection Framework, meaning the events can go ahead.

Each year, Colgate and Athletics New Zealand provide eight scholarships worth $500 each for athletes who display outstanding performances.

The eight scholarships  four awarded each in the North and South Islands  are named after Colgate Games alumnus, Nick Willis and the funds will go towards helping the winning athletes achieve their athletics goals.

2022 North Island Colgate Games

Dates: 7  9 January 2022

Location: Newton Park, Wellington

2022 South Island Colgate Games

Dates: 14  16 January 2022

Location: Surrey Park, Invercargill
New Zealands native bats, also known by their Maori name pekapeka, are thriving at sites in Fiordland and the central North Island due to Department of Conservation - DOC - predator control.

Long and short-tailed bats were once common in New Zealand but have disappeared from many areas due to habitat loss and being eaten by rats, possums, stoats, and feral cats.

These tiny mammals roost together and rear their young in hollow trees, where they are especially vulnerable to attack.

Close monitoring of bats over many years in the Eglinton valley near Te Anau and Pureora Forest Park west of Lake Taupo has shown a significant upswing in populations of short-tailed bats due to predator control, says DOC Principal Science Advisor Colin ODonnell.

Short-tailed bats in the Eglinton valley have done really well since predator control began in the late1990s with the population increasing on average by 8 per cent per year, says Colin.

At Pureora, where weve tracked short-tailed bats for the past eight years, predator control has allowed the population to grow by 10 per cent annually.

Short-tailed bat. Photo: H Edmonds/DOC.

However, Colin says long-tailed bats appear particularly sensitive to rat predation, requiring very low rat numbers over large areas for them to thrive.

Ten years ago, long-tailed bat survival in the Eglinton valley was dropping after each beech mast when predator numbers soared. But since 2010, predator control over larger areas, timed to suppress rat plagues, has allowed many more bats to survive.

In 25 years of monitoring weve seen the long-tailed bat population turn aroundfrom declining at 5 per cent to increasing by 4 per cent per year.

Unfortunately, the long-tailed bats at Pureora appear to still be in decline. Long-tailed bats can fly up to 20 km a night and at Pureora range widely across farm and forestry land where they are at greater threat from predators.

Research shows that large-scale predator control over at least 3500 ha, keeping rats to very low levels, is needed to protect long-tailed bats. Linking up forest areas and other habitats with predator control may be key to the survival of long-tailed bats at Pureora, says Colin.

Rat and stoat numbers in the beech forest-clad Eglinton valley spike after each beech mast (seeding) but remain low between masts, while in the warmer mixed podocarp and hardwood forest at Pureora predators tend to be consistently high.

Short-tailed bat. Photo: Rod Morris.

DOC controls predators in the Eglinton valley using combinations of sustained trapping, ground-based toxins, and periodic aerial 1080 over large areas to prevent predator plagues following beech masts.

In Pureora, toxins in bait stations are used to protect bats over 900 ha, timed for when they are raising their young in maternity roosts. Predator control at nearby Waipapa will also be helping to protect their wider habitat.

Monitoring bats is intensive work and involves catching a sample of bats from a colony and either attaching identifying bands or PIT tags (passive integrated transponders). In following years, the bats are either recaptured or logged as they enter or leave maternity roosts. Annual survival is estimated from the number of marked individuals detected year by year. DOC staff that monitor bats are specially trained and take hygiene precautions when handling bats, including hand washing and using gloves.

The Eglinton valley and Pureora are two of the few places where both species of bats remain. The Eglinton has one of only two populations of short-tailed bats on mainland South Island, with the other in the Murchison Mountains. Pureora is a stronghold for the central sub-species of short-tailed bat, which is in decline.

Bat populations continue to decline at unmanaged sites.

DOC also monitors bats at other sites around the country including Puketi Forest, Rangataua and Whirinaki in the North Island, and Oparara, Te Maruia, south Canterbury and the Murchison Mountains in the South Island.
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A new high pressure zone is smack bang over the top of New Zealand this weekend bringing lighter winds and a lift in temperatures, says a WeatherWatch spokesperson.

Many places that had temperatures cut right back in recent days will have that reversed. Southland and inland Otago today will be in the mid to late 20s with some places over 30 degrees.

Northern New Zealand is the same although Saturday may still be a little cooler for some.

More often than not there is about a 12 to 24 hour lag with temperatures in the North Island compared to the South Island, so Sunday and Monday may be hotter in the north, says a WeatherWatch spokesperson.

The high means mostly dry weather but a few afternoon downpours are possible, even an isolated thunderstorm in Northland today.

There is also a high risk of a tropical cyclone near Fiji by Monday.

As WeatherWatch.co.nz has been mentioning since the end of 2021, there is a strong chance of a tropical storm forming directly north of New Zealand in the start of January, says a WeatherWatch spokesperson.

Powerful high pressure in the NZ and Tasman Sea areas have been limiting the growth and movement of tropical lows, but that shifts a bit early next week.

The team at Fiji Met Service say there is a "moderate to high" chance of a tropical cyclone forming on Monday between Vanuatu and Fiji and lingering a few days there.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says that NZers should be monitoring this as it may impact us.

Our long range January ClimateWatch update said northern NZ could get a heavy rain event - but that there was a very fine line between very dry weather and very wet weather in this set up. This still remains the case, says a WeatherWatch spokesperson.

If this tropical low does hit the North Island it will bring much welcome rain to very dry areas - and sorry campers, maybe one day of rain too.

If it misses the North Island it may mean dry weather carries on - breaking the long rang forecasts and encouraging the chance of water restrictions.

WeatherWatch say that this is a classic example of the tough nature of weather forecasting in NZ when we need a single rain event to "fix" how dry it's becoming.

The narrow north-to-south nature of NZ means tropical rain events like this can make a direct hit - and just as easily miss us as they get pushed a little further east, says a WeatherWatch spokesperson.

We'll have more details on this on Sunday and the coming days. This is one to keep up to date with as even if it misses NZ weather-wise it may bring deadly rips, currents and waves to some beaches.

WeatherWatch also say that a cooler change may be coming.

Not everyone has hot summer weather for the next week ahead. A new high pressure zone moves back into the NZ area from the Southern Ocean/Tasmania area next week - and much like the past few days it brings a light southerly change that sees temperatures drop, even though no other major weather changes, says a WeatherWatch spokesperson.

Next week Dunedin has a number of days with highs between 14 and 17 degrees Celsius forecast. So too does Invercargill and other coastal areas of Southland and Otago.

It's not just the South Island either, says a WeatherWatch spokesperson.

By late next week it's expected that Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa may see ten degrees shaven off their daytime highs, going from the mid to late 20s for the start of the week, down to highs in the late teens by Thursday.

The weather forecast from WeatherWatch six days from now on Friday January 14. Image: WeatherWatch.
Two new cases of Covid-19 in Wellington have been linked to the Drum & Bass Festival held in Tauranga, says the Ministry of Health in a statement released on Saturday evening.

Two new cases of Covid-19 in Wellington have been confirmed today. The two cases are linked to recent travel to the Bay of Plenty.

A number of locations of interest in Wellington related to the two cases will be published today and tomorrow, including a possible link by one case to the Drum & Bass Festival held on January 3 at Wharepai Domain in Tauranga.

Anyone who was in Tauranga for the festival is advised to get tested as soon as possible and isolate at home until they receive a negative result, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

The case is judged not likely to be in their infectious period while at the festival, but we are asking attendees to be tested out of an abundance of caution.

The Ministry states that this precautionary approach is being taken due to the large number of people in attendance at the festival.

We note that the festival was held in accordance with the rules for outdoor events under the Covid Protection Framework including the use of vaccine passes for entry, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

One of todays Wellington cases was staying in a large household in the Bay of Plenty while there, and testing of their close contacts is being coordinated today.

A full update on other cases around the country will be provided at the Ministrys next update at 1pm on Sunday.
Following the announcement that two positive cases in Wellington are linked to the Drum & Bass Festival held in Tauranga in January, new close contact locations and locations of interest have been published to the Ministry of Health website.

In an unprecedented multiple listing, a Close Contact or high risk contact has been announced in one entry as Netsky, Chase & Status, Hybrid Minds, Friction and more Mount Maunganui, for Wharepai Domain. All the acts listed are currently playing at a large event at Victoria Park in Auckland.

The Wharepai Domain, which is not itself located at Mount Maunganui, is on the corner of Cameron and Hamilton St, Tauranga and is listed as a close contact place for the period from 2pm on Monday January 3 to 12am on Tuesday January 4.

Anyone who was at Wharepai Domain or in contact with any of the groups listed in the Ministry of Health notice is requested to self-isolate, test immediately and on day 5 after being exposed at this location of interest. Further isolation and testing requirements will be provided by Public Health.

Record your visit online or call Healthline so our contact tracers can get in touch.

The Wharepai Domain close contact update was published to the Ministry of Health website at 6pm on Saturday January 8.

Trademark Group ran the R18 drum and bass event in Tauranga on January 3 and then in Nelson on January 5 with the same groups booked to play in both cities.

"Trademark is absolutely thrilled to announce the biggest DNB party of the summer, with all of our artists confirmed with MIQ rooms, meaning you can buy with confidence" was the message posted to the event booking site.

Netsky, Chase & Status, Hybrid Minds and MC Tempza, Friction, Koven and Holy Goof were all listed on the billing for Tauranga and Nelson.

On Saturday January 8, Shapeshifter, Hybrid Minds + Tempza, Friction, Holy Goof and Koven along with a huge local lineup are playing at an event titled 'Plane Sailing' at Victoria Park in Auckland from 2.30pm - 10.30pm.

"Set amongst the London Plane trees is the cities most well-known park, which forms one of the most idealistic scenes we have ever seen for a Kiwi summer celebration; no wonder it's Plane Sailing," is the message on the event booking site for Auckland.

Other locations of interest for Wellington have also been published to the Ministry of Health website on Saturday. Click here to view updated locations of interest.

Rotorua

A Close Contact listing has also been added for Rotorua.

Mo's Bar Rotorua Gaming Lounge, at 1142 Tutanekai Street, Rotorua is a close contact listing for the period from 10.15pm on Monday January 3 to 12.45am on Tuesday January 4.

You are a close contact if you were in the Gaming Lounge of Mo's Bar during this time, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

Self-isolate, test immediately and on day 5 after you were exposed at this location of interest. Further isolation and testing requirements will be provided by Public Health. Record your visit online or call Healthline so our contact tracers can get in touch.

Mo's Bar Rotorua has also been added as a location of interest.

Anyone at the bar from 10.15pm Monday January 3 to 12.45am Tuesday January 4 who was not in the Gaming Lounge is considered to be a casual contact.

Casual contacts are required to self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms for 10 days after they were exposed.

If symptoms develop, get a test and stay at home until you get a negative test result, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson.

BurgerFuel Fairy Springs Rotorua on the corner of Old Quarry Road & Fairy Springs Road, Rotorua has been added as a location of interest for the period from 7.15pm  7.45pm on Thursday January 6.

Anyone at BurgerFuel Fairy Springs Rotorua is required to self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms for 10 days after being exposed.

If symptoms develop, get a test and stay at home until you get a negative test result.
Update, 10.50pm Police have now identified the man who was transported to hospital in a critical condition after being found unresponsive at Omanu Beach, Mount Maunganui today.

Police would like to thank the public for their assistance.

The man was transported to Tauranga Hospital following being found unresponsive in the water at Omanu at around 3.10pm.

The man was in a critical condition, and treated at the scene by ambulance workers before being taken to hospital.

A towel which was believed to belong to the man was found along the beach, but Police didn't know his identity.

A towel found at the beach was believed to belong to the man, and was used by Police to ask the public to help identify him. Photo: NZ Police.

Earlier 7.40pm: Police are seeking information from the public to identify a man involved in a water incident at Omanu Beach today, Saturday January 8.

About 3.10pm a man, believed to be in his 20s, was found unresponsive in the water and was transferred to Tauranga Hospital by Ambulance in a critical condition.

The towel pictured was located nearby and is believed to have belonged to the male.

As there were no other possessions with it Police believe it is likely the man lived or was staying nearby and has walked to the beach.

Police conducted enquiries with those at the beach following the incident but were unable to establish the man's identity.

Anyone who recognises the towel pictured, or who knows of a person fitting the description who has gone to Omanu Beach at Mount Maunganui and not returned, is asked to contact Police on 111 and quote event number P049239934.
Powerball and Strike have both rolled over on Saturday, meaning there is a combined prize pool of $9.3 million up for grabs on Wednesday night.

Powerball was not struck on Saturday night and has rolled over to Wednesday night, where the jackpot will be $8 million. Lotto First Division will be $1 million on Wednesday.

Strike Four has also rolled over on Saturday night and will be $300,000 on Wednesday night.

Eleven lucky Lotto players will be celebrating after each winning $23,178 with Lotto Second Division in Saturday nights Lotto draw.

The winning Second Division tickets were sold at the following stores:

Store Location MyLotto (x2) Auckland Countdown Papakura Papakura MyLotto Waikato Bayfair Lotto Mount Maunganui Take Note Ohakune Ohakune New World Hastings Hastings Aramoho Mags & Lotto Whanganui The Paper Trail Foxton MyLotto Wellington Monte Carlo Milkbar Mosgiel

All of New Zealand is now in the COVID-19 Protection Framework - otherwise known as the traffic light settings. Lotto NZ counters can open at all traffic light settings providing retailers comply with health and safety guidelines set out by the Ministry of Health.

Auckland is now in the Orange traffic light setting. As a result, Lotto were delighted that the live Lotto draw was able to recommence on Saturday at 8pm on TVNZ 1. The live Lotto draw will continue to take place while Auckland is in the Orange traffic light setting.

To find out about the draws, claiming prizes and Lotto NZs response to COVID-19, visit http://www.MyLotto.co.nz/covid-19

Anyone who bought their ticket from any of the above stores should write their name on the back of their ticket and check it as soon as possible in-store at any Lotto store, online at mylotto.co.nz or through the Lotto NZ App.
Atlantic, IA (50022)

Today

Periods of rain. Low around 40F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low around 40F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
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Tahlequah, OK (74464)

Today

Thunderstorms, some strong during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 49F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some strong during the evening will give way to cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 49F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
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Seminole, FL (33772)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 72F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 72F. Winds light and variable.
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In this June 30, 2021, file photo the Supreme Court is seen in Washington.
SpaceX Falcon 9's first 2022 kicks off by sending numerous Starlink internet satellites to orbit on Jan.6 from its launch site in Florida.

SpaceX Falcon 9 First 2022 Launch

The SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:49 pm as part of its mission to lift off the Starlink 4-5 satellites of the space exploration firm of billionaire Elon Musk, as per the report by SpaceNews.

In total, the payload of the first-ever flight of SpaceX for 2022 carried up to 49 internet satellites of Starlink.

Meanwhile, according to the news story by Space.com, after its launch, the first stage of the SpaceX rocket went back to Earth, wherein it touched down the newest drone ship of the space firm that goes by the name "Shortfall of Gravitas."

As such, the Falcon 9 Starlink satellite mission is the first successful launch of SpaceX for the year 2022.

A SpaceX engineer, Jessie Anderson, said in a statement that the "Falcon 9 has successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center."

On top of that, the official Twitter account of SpaceX also confirmed that the deployment of the 49 Starlink satellites has been successful after more than an hour since the launch.

SpaceX 2022 Launch

SpaceNews noted that the first-ever 2022 launch of SpaceX comes shortly after the Musk-led firm broke a monumental record of finishing 31 orbital launches in 2021. It is to add that all of these space flights are from the Falcon 9 rocket.

Meanwhile, SpaceX has yet to release 2022 flight missions. However, the vice president of commercial sales of the space firm, Tom Ochinero, revealed some of its upcoming flights last Dec. 13.

The SpaceX exec disclosed that there will be three crewed missions for this year, along with another five Falcon Heavy launches.

On top of that, Ochinero claimed that 2022 is a more exciting year for SpaceX.

Read Also: SpaceX: Raptor 2 Engine Operates at 300 Bar Main Pressure Chamber, Beating 2019 Record; Ready for Mars?

SpaceX Starlink Internet

The additional 49 Starlink internet satellites from the SpaceX liftoff are slated to further expand the constellation of the internet firm.

To be more precise, the latest SpaceX Starlink mission is bringing the total number of internet satellites in orbit to nearly 2,000.

Related Article: SpaceX Contributes to World Record of Most Rocket Launches in 2021, Elon Musk Wants THIS to be the Metric

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Blake Wisz via Unsplash)

Fintech trends that may further disrupt the way traditional banking services are delivered, or be used by regulated financial institutions to compete with unregulated providers of decentralised financial services

Technology has supported operations for financial service companies for a long time. Specifically, banks have been at the forefront of implementing many new technologies for the past 40 years, if not longer.

When Paul Mifsud became CEO of Sparkasse Bank Malta in 2007, one of his main objectives was "to transform the Bank into a semi-investment services bank where we would have the banking arm, but also have a very strong investment services arm." Fourteen years later, Fintech has made such transitions easier.

Fintech is a relatively old concept. The term was first used in 1993 as a shortened way to indicate financial technology. Fintech is now widely used to indicate a state-of-the-art financial application of technology. The internet, improved connectivity between applications through application program interfaces (APIs), Blockchain, and artificial intelligence have considerably increased the pace of change in financial technology.

In recent years, fintech has driven the pace of growth in the financial services sector. Significant technological advancements and the widespread use of smartphones have introduced several new themes in the banking ecosystem. Those themes will play an essential role in the evolution of conventional financial services and in developing new ones.

Open Banking

Open banking may be described as a collaborative approach in which different applications exchange financial data via an API. APIs become intermediaries that enable various apps to interact with each other. For instance, every time you transfer money from a PayPal account to your bank account, the transfer is facilitated by APIs.

APIs are also used to link different systems within the same organisation and this has helped and contributed to the successful integration between banking and investment services. Paul Mifsud, Sparkasse Bank Malta plc CEO, commented, "Customers can access banking and investment services from one account with the Bank. This can be achieved via the online banking solution of the Bank which allows a customer to transact and this is seamlessly connected to the Bank's core banking software via APIs,''. IT development and the evolution of APIs will make transition and communication between systems all the more accessible and integrated

Blockchain

Blockchain is perhaps the most disruptive technology available to fintech innovators. It is changing everything from financial transactions to regulatory reporting. It challenges legacy systems by making them redundant. A Blockchain network is built on trust and transparency via Digital Ledger Technologies (DLT). Trust has the potential to eliminate intermediaries and disrupt existing operating models.

Blockchain technology might have become popular in the cryptocurrency world, but the majority of new implementations are not from that world. The intermediaries that are being eliminated are often applications rather than roles. The level of transparency and trust associated with the technology allows the elimination of specific "distribution hubs."

The security and transparency features of Blockchain technology make it particularly suitable for implementation where those elements are essential requirements. ''These technologies are of interest to us especially for settlement and custody'' says Mifsud - the Bank is committed in making the necessary investment in gaining more knowledge and expertise to allow it if support such processes in a safe and sustainable manner in an effort to be a front runner locally.

Decentralised Finance (DeFi)

Blockchain technology has enabled applications that do not rely on central financial intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks to offer financial products, instead utilising smart contracts on blockchains. So far, DeFi ecosystems have created a high-risk parallel system that is often not regulated. The technology, however, is ripe for disrupting processes in the regulated worlds of banking and financial services. DeFi logic might enable authorised institutions to streamline business processes, offering clients the protection of a regulated environment and simplified procedures.

Banking as a Service (BaaS)

There is much discussion on Bank's becoming large money utilities in the future with business models geared towards a wholesale approach or to the B2B model rather than the traditional B2C model that prevails in branch networks etc -- There are entities out there that can be better suited in promoting a services or product says Mifsud - while Banks in general have shifted their focus more toward compliance, prudential measures, risk and AML issues rather than the procurement of new business, we have begun to see modern technology begin to support this idea by the recent integration of different systems into non-banking businesses. With the correct regulatory authorisation, non-banking websites could possibly seek to offer a banking product or service to its customer base, services that needless to say would be provided by the regulated entity that offers them to the public through the third party. Those services may be specifically tailored to meet the needs of the customer base of that third party. For instance, a builder can "provide" mortgages on its website. The mortgage company might have created specific products for the type of buyer the builder wants to attract. These products may not be available to other customers approaching the mortgage company directly.

As the example shows, BaaS can link online platforms and financial services, reshaping the financial value chain. Digital banking services will become more widely available. Customers accessing a nonfinancial platform can benefit from additional services like digital loans or embedded payment systems (see also embedded banking, above). Equally, banks may also provide other services to their clients, transforming themselves into "assemblers of services," expanding their offerings beyond their primary banking activities.

BaaS can be very useful for traditional banks as it can help provide more services to clients in a very cost-effective way. If customers request a service from a bank that it may not currently offer, it can choose to partner with one that can in a seamless manner and offering the necessary disclosures while retaining a high degree of positive customer experience.. The "bank as assembler" logic means there is no need to invest money in developing or buying the technology needed if the bank did it itself. A made-to-measure service suite becomes feasible.

Sparkasse Bank Malta plc was established in Malta in 2000. Sparkasse Bank Malta plc provides banking, investment, depositary, and fund custody services. The bank is authorised by the Maltese Financial Services Authority as a credit institution and investment services provider. The Dublin Branch, established in 2018, has been authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland to act as a depositary to Irish-authorised investment funds since 2018.

The Bank provides investment services, including advisory and non-advised services, including execution, settlement services, and custody. Sparkasse's Custody Department offers high-quality custodian and securities services to foreign institutional investors, professional investor funds, fund of funds (FoF) managers, financial institutions, domestic and overseas collective investment schemes, corporate investors, high net worth investors, and brokers. Sparkasse Bank Malta's vision is to grow its enterprise into a recognised European financial institution providing banking, investment, depositary, and fund custody services, excelling in service and expertise.

Sparkasse Bank Malta's banking and investment services are geared toward corporate entities, private customers, funds, asset managers, and other regulated investment entities.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With USDT, USDC, TUSD, and other stablecoins providing a way for traders to exchange around a fiat value, stablecoins have become more and more in demand. With that, it seems like PayPal is looking to jump into that market by launching its very own stablecoin.

PayPal Founding CEO Bill Harris Called Bitcoin a Scam

Before anything else, it is important to note that PayPal was not always onboard when it came to crypto as the platform's founding CEO Bill Harris actually called Bitcoin a scam as per an article by Investopedia. The company, however, has come quite a long way since then.

PayPal noted that it would be working with regulators ahead of its stablecoin launch. With that, evidence of the upcoming PayPal coin work was found on the company's iPhone app.

PayPal ios Exploring the Launch of Its Very Own Stablecoin

According to the story by Bloomberg, PayPal is exploring the launch of its very own stablecoins. The company confirmed the development after certain evidence regarding the move was discovered inside PayPal's iPhone app.

The senior vice president of crypto and digital currencies at PayPal, Jose Fernandez, noted in a statement to Bloomberg that the company is exploring stablecoins stating that "if" and "when" the company seeks to move forward, they will be working along with the relevant regulators.

Evidence on PayPal's Stablecoin and Company's Rebuttal to the Findings

Evidence of PayPal's exploration into building their own stablecoin was found by developer Steve Moser in PayPal's app. The information was shared with Bloomberg hidden code and images that show what could be dubbed the PayPal coin.

As per the code, the indication is that the coin would be backed by the US dollar, which is the same as all stablecoins are initially intended to do. With that, a PayPal spokeswoman noted that the images and code were actually from a recent internal hackathon within the company's blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies division.

This means that the logo, name, and features could still change in its public product form. To add, PayPal has actually been engaged in a few major cryptocurrency efforts in the course of the past few months by launching new features to buy and hold digital currencies and through purchasing with monies.

Read Also: Polygon Provides Update and Recommendations Regarding PoS | MATIC Gas Fees Remain Low at $0.1-0.5

Other Companies and Their Involvement with Stablecoins

Fernandez de Ponte noted on the Unchained podcast that the company has not yet seen a stablecoin that is purpose-built for payments. With that, for PayPal's use, the stablecoin should support payments at scale and also have security as well.

PayPal, however, isn't the first tech giant that is looking to launch its very own coin. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has actually been helping develop a stablecoin called Diem, and Visa has also allowed a stablecoin that is backed by the US dollar to settle a transaction along with the network.

Related Article: Top Crypto Drops Dangerously Low to 15 on Fear and Greed Index | Market in a State of Extreme Fear at $42,868

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The FBI or the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation warned that hackers are sending malicious USB flash drive devices through mail to various US firms to spread ransomware and carry out cyberattacks.

FBI Warns That Hackers Sends Malicious USB Drives

Per the report by BleepingComputer, the FBI issued a warning that the cybercriminal group that goes by the name FIN7 has been sending malicious packages to various companies, which contain malware-spreading USB flash drives.

On top of that, the FBI also revealed that the cybercriminal group pretends to be the US Department of Health & Human Services or the HHS and even the e-commerce tech giant Amazon to trick their ransomware targets into receiving the suspicious packages.

The US agency also found out that packages that the ransomware gang has been sending out to its targets even include a fake letter regarding the guidelines for COVID-19 from the HHS or online gift cards from Amazon.

According to the news story by The Record, the FBI said in a statement that these incidents have been occurring since Aug. 2021.

The Bureau further said in the same statement that "the FBI has received reports of several packages containing these USB devices, sent to US businesses in the transportation, insurance, and defense industries."

FBI added that the suspicious packages are being sent either via the United States Postal Service or the United Parcel Service.

Related Article: Finalsite Ransomware Breach Leads to Massive School Website Outage! Essential No-Classes Notifs Affected

USB Drives with Ransomware

Aside from the impersonation letters, the package also contains a Lily Go USB flash drive, which the FBI warned could install ransomware to the computers of its targets.

The Bureau further disclosed that the USB flash drives from the package would execute a BadUSB attack once it is plugged into the computer of the target.

The Record said in the same report that the BadUSB attack uses a thumb drive to install itself into a machine and pretend to be a keyboard device instead of a USB flash drive.

From there, it could now carry out the cyberattack on a computer it is plugged into as it performs automated keystrokes.

It would then go on to download and install malware virus to the PC of the target, which could then attack the whole network of the victim, making it another successful ransomware attack.

The US agency went on to reveal that the BadUSB attack have been spreading two of the biggest ransomware out there, namely BlackMatter and REvil to the network of its victim enterprises.

Read Also: Most Influential Ransomware Attacks so Far (2021) | Here's How to Mitigate Their Impact

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Teejay Boris

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Unsplash/ Paul Hanaoka) Hotel key card

Nordic Choice Hotels is a massive hotel chain in Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Finland with more than 200 properties.

Unfortunately, it suffered a ransomware attack last year, forcing the hotel chain to change its digital security.

Nordic Choice Hotels Switches to Chrome OS

According to 9to5Google, the ransomware attack had led to the hotel chain to require its IT staff to take down their internet and network after their encrypted device files were hacked.

The hack demanded the hotel chain to pay a ransom to get their files back, or the files will be leaked online. The files consisted of employee records and not guest information.

In 2020, Google bought a company that offers software to switch old computers into Chrome OS-like devices.

The said company, CloudReady, is what the hotel chain used to convert thousands of ransomware-locked Windows computers and laptops into Chromebooks.

Also Read: Ransomware Attack on US Farming Provider, NEW Cooperative, Likely to Trigger Food Shortage

As for the impact, the staff had to resort to market and whiteboard while the hacked key card systems required employees to lock in all of their guests via a master key card.

Instead of spending hours removing the virus from each of the computers, the hotel chain had decided to switch to Chrome as that project was already underway even before the attack happened.

All in all, 2,000 laptops were converted to Chrome via CloudReady in just 48 hours. Google had aided the transition by letting the hotel chain jump in the queue to get the project finished faster.

The hotel chain could get everything up and running again by changing the operating system. The adjustments can be made from the company's head office, and no one needs to travel to each hotel to clean each computer.

Currently, CloudReady provides an experience similar to Chromebook, and it is built on top of the Chromium OS. Google plans to make it an official Chrome OS option, and consumers can upgrade it anytime.

The Ransomware Attack

The attack had left Nordic Choice Hotel staff without any access to the hotel's reservation system, which is used to book rooms, receive payments, and check the guests in and out of the rooms.

Even though the staff changed to manual procedures to continue the business operations, the hotel informed the guests of the delays that the attack caused.

According to Bleeping Computer, the members were not able to log in to their accounts to book rooms and manage their reservations. It also prevented them from applying reward points for discounts.

Nordic Choice Hotel confirmed the attack on a blog post on their website and informed their club members of what happened.

The Norwegian Data Protection Authority and the Norwegian National Security Authority took action after they were notified of the ransomware attack.

The hotel chain stated that their investigations did not indicate that the data had been leaked online, but they can't guarantee that it won't happen in the future as the perpetrators have the files. The company added that the incident entails a risk that the file about the bookings may be irretrievable.

Ransomware attacks have been prevalent these past two years. In October 2021, candy maker Ferrera suffered from a ransomware attack that affected the production of their products.

In December 2021, Kronos's HR suffered from a ransomware attack that affected its payroll.

Related Article: Kaseya Obtains Universal Decryptor After REvil's Ransomware Attack

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Telluride Ski Resort has received 125 inches of snow this season. On Friday, the resort opened Black Iron Bowl (pictured above), hike-to terrain accessible via the Prospect Lift. (Photo courtesy of @slay_the_gnar at Telluride Ski Resort)
Changes to The Messenger's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition by default is now presented in Text view.
Ada, OK (74820)

Today

Thunderstorms, some strong early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 48F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some strong early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. Low 48F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch.
Despite welcome news that the omicron variant of the coronavirus is sending fewer infected people to the hospital during Louisianas fifth surge, the states healthcare system is facing familiar frustrations: drug shortages, overwhelmed emergency departments and record rates of illness among employees.

At the same time, the highly infectious yet less virulent variant is changing how hospitals cohort patients and is increasing the number of so-called incidental COVID cases  the number of people hospitalized for something else who also test positive for COVID.

In Baton Rouge, hospitals are taking different approaches to where COVID patients should be treated.

Louisiana COVID numbers: Data on cases, deaths, hospitalizations, vaccines All data released by the state on the coronavirus pandemic can be found at the Louisiana Department of Health's data page at https://ldh.la.go

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, which operates Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge, no longer uses COVID wards, instead placing coronavirus patients in single-person rooms in the wing of the hospital most suited to their medical condition.

If the most appropriate care team for a COVID patient is on a neuro unit because the patient also has a neurologic disease, then we want the patient to get the care from the team that has the expertise for them, said Dr. Catherine ONeal, The Lake's chief medical officer and an infectious disease expert.

The Lake moved away from COVID wards during the summer prior to the delta surge. The wards returned as hospitals became inundated with sick patients, but the wards are not being used again for the current wave, ONeal said.

The practice of isolating COVID patients from the rest of the hospital population began with the start of the pandemic when there was little understanding around how the virus spread and elective procedures were halted to keep hospitals empty.

+2 Louisiana hospitals can mandate COVID vaccine for employees, state Supreme Court rules The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled Friday that hospitals can mandate coronavirus vaccines for employees, dealing a blow to hospital staffers wh

As doctors began to better understand the virus's transmission and realized it could cause a host of medical issues beyond just respiratory problems, the decision was made to move away from COVID wards in the name of better patient care, ONeal said.

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We dont see a whole lot of in-hospital spread, ONeal said. If you wear your PPE (personal protective equipment) and you keep that patient in a single-patient room and you have a high rate of vaccination amongst the people who are taking care of them, we just dont see the harm that we feared at the beginning.

On the other hand, Baton Rouge General still keeps COVID-positive patients on a floor separate from the rest of the hospital's population, spokeswoman Katie Johnston said.

Dr. Joe Kanter, the state's chief health officer, classifies most COVID patients into three categories: Those who clearly are there because of a COVID infection; those who are incidental, who come in for another reason, such as a car accident, and just happen to test positive; and those who are more difficult to put into one bucket or the other.

This Baton Rouge school had no COVID cases through Thanksgiving. Now it's going remote. After a COVID-free fall semester, Cristo Rey Franciscan High School joined a list of Baton Rouge-area schools switching to remote learning aft

Most hospitals will tell you somewhere in the neighborhood of 30%, maybe 35% of patients that are truly incidental, Kanter said. Theres also this middle ground of patients that are harder to categorize.

The middle ground includes, for example, patients with severe lung issues, for whom a COVID diagnosis is likely to worsen their condition.

Dr. Robert Hart, chief medical officer at Ochsner Health, said that at some hospitals, that has meant asymptomatic or mild cases might be grouped with non-COVID patients  a change from the previous practice of placing COVID patients in their own units.

That is partly due to a shortage in staff  Ochsner currently has 1,400 workers out due to COVID  and partly due to a change in how hospitals are learning to live with the virus, especially because the more transmissible omicron variant does not cause as much severe illness or death, Hart said.

If you go back and follow the history of viruses, that is a progression that many of them take  they become more transmissible, less deadly, Hart said. This is just another step in that progression.
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Weeks after Hurricane Ida tore through her Terrytown condo, Linda Davis insurance company, USAA, sent an adjuster to inspect the damage.

Wind-driven rain had penetrated the roof of her two-story unit, water-logging insulation in the walls and attic, causing the ceiling to collapse onto her bed upstairs. Much of the condo needed to be stripped to its studs.

When the 72-year-old received her settlement from USAA weeks later, the payout was so small, she barely registered what it was for: just $1,300 to pay for new drywall, insulation and carpeting, among other needs in the condos interior.

When she tried to get USAA to reconsider, she was passed among a string of adjusters who rarely returned her calls.

Stuck in holding pattern and unable to get answers from USAA, Linda and her 76-year-old husband, Jon Jeffry Davis, felt stranded, living in a home without insulation to protect them from south Louisianas punishing climate.

However, their fortunes changed after connecting with a public adjuster, Ted Patestos, co-owner of Texas-based Smart Claims Public Adjusting. He conducted his own assessment of the property and determined the condo sustained more than $100,000 in damage.

After a round of haggling, USAA agreed to pay the elderly couple their maximum policy limit of around $43,000  a 3200% increase from their initial offer  and cover another $8,700 in additional living expenses.

From Lake Charles to New Orleans, countless families across a storm-ravaged south Louisiana are facing similar struggles with rebuilding after getting low-balled by their insurers. The issue is expected to animate a slew of consumer protection proposals in the legislative session beginning in March.

+4 They got their insurance money after Hurricane Ida. Now they're wrestling their mortgage company. When Steve Kenny first received a check from his insurer for Hurricane Ida damages, he thought finally hed have the money to repair his St. C

Oftentimes, policyholders frustrated with their insurers will turn to an attorney to fight their case. Lesser known are public adjusters, who conduct their own damage assessment on behalf of policyholders to determine whether the insurance companys estimates are accurate.

Were an advocate, a mouthpiece, for the insured, to make sure that the process is handled in a fair and compliant way, and that the insured is having their loss fairly and accurately looked at, Patestos said.

A spokesperson for USAA declined to comment on the specifics of the Davises claim but said that USAA is well known for our outstanding claims service.

Linda Davis thought that USAA  which boasts of proudly serving millions of military members and families  would take care of her and her husband, an Air Force veteran who spent 35 years on Gretnas police force, in their time of need.

But after Ida, she no longer thinks that USAA has veterans backs.

I dont feel like theyre there for their members as they advertise on TV, Linda Davis said. Its been horrible, and I dont like to complain  I wouldnt recommend USAA to anybody.

Four months out from Hurricane Ida, the Davises are expecting a check from USAA any day now, but life since the storm has been trying for the elderly couple. Without insulation, the temperature in their condo fluctuates with the weather. A brush with near-freezing temperatures earlier this month had Linda worried for Jons health. In November, he spent several weeks in the ICU and has had to recover in their unfinished home.

Before connecting with a public adjuster, Linda said she called USAA at least three times a week looking for answers on what to expect next, only to be told to wait for her adjuster to make contact. Of the three adjusters she was assigned, two never bothered to reach out.

After she posted a derogatory statement about USAA on Facebook  I said something like they sucked, Linda Davis said  the insurer reached out, but that too was a dead end.

She said at one point, a supervisor on the phone asked, Well, exactly what do you want us to do for you?

The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Your job. How about you do your job? Linda responded.

+6 Louisianans face endless insurance adjusters in Ida's aftermath: 'I feel like I have PTSD' Peggy Honore paid her insurance premiums on-time, every month for more than a decade, but in the months after Hurricane Ida tore the roof off 

Shortly thereafter, the Davises son-in-law referred them to Smart Claims Public Adjusting, and after meeting with the couple in their storm-wrecked home, Patestos agreed to take on their case at virtually no cost. Using sophisticated equipment like moisture meters, drones and three-dimensional scanners, they wrote up what they believed was a more accurate estimate of the Davises damage.

Initially, USAA resisted scheduling a reinspection, Patestos said, but after a bit of strong-arming, the insurer sent out a new, independent adjuster. The revised estimate came in far above the Davises policy limit.

Theyre miracle workers, Linda Davis said of the public adjusters. Without them, Id still be calling and trying to beg to speak to somebody to get some kind of information.

In some states, including Texas and Florida, public adjusters work on contingency, collecting a portion of whatever settlement is reached. In Louisiana, thats not allowed. Instead, public adjusters can charge only an hourly rate. Those differing compliance schemes can make it difficult for public adjusters in larger markets to do business in Louisiana, Patestos said.

USAA would not offer an explanation for the the discrepancy between the initial settlement of $1,300 and the final payout of $43,000.

Following Hurricane Ida, insurers in Louisiana had 60 days to make contact with policyholders, or they risked facing penalties. To meet the demand after a disaster, insurers usually dispatch an army of inexperienced adjusters who lack the expertise and authority to write large estimates. Insurers will sometimes follow up with more experienced adjusters after making first contact, but as Linda Davis learned, getting that extra attention can feel impossible to attain.

Boil 'em alive? Insurers face angry Louisiana politicians as policyholder frustrations mount The anger against insurers across storm-ravaged south Louisiana is so intense, one political hopeful suggested a biblical punishment for compa

Insurers sometimes low-ball policyholders hoping theyll get worn out by the bureaucratic hurdles and simply settle for less, Patestos said. Hes noticed wealthier clients, who have access to the resources needed to fight, often receive settlements without having to go through as much rigmarole as poorer clients.

Its amazing how fast insurers will start to move when a public adjuster gets on the claim, added Stewart Severino, co-founder of Smart Claims Public Adjusting.

After months of waiting, the Davises are finally on a path to recovery, thanks to their public adjusters. But theyre nowhere near close to putting Hurricane Ida behind them. Earlier this week, the contractor hired to mitigate the damage to the Davises condo after the storm submitted a $20,000 invoice to USAA. The couple is on the hook for the cost.

Having maxed out their insurance coverage and living on a fixed income from Social Security, the couple will have to be frugal to get their home back in working order, Linda Davis said.

Ill just have to be tight with the money to get it done, she said.

Are you facing issues with your insurer or lender in the aftermath of hurricanes Ida or Laura? Send your story to bpaterson@theadvocate.com and a reporter may reach out.

What makes a home 'uninhabitable' after Hurricane Ida? Louisiana's insurance companies won't say After Hurricane Laura tore through Lake Charles, John Ieyoub knew his home wasnt livable. Rain had poured in through holes in the roof, satur

Frustrated with insurers, Louisiana lawmakers consider new regulations following Hurricane Ida Usually, when state lawmakers gather in Baton Rouge to consider new regulations on insurers, they shy away from additional restrictions out of
Nearly 500 aged care facilities in Australia are currently affected by COVID-19 exposures, placing tens of thousands of elderly residents in lockdown.

According to data released by the federal government, which had not been reported for the past fortnight, there were 495 active outbreaks in residential aged care facilities on Friday, up from 105 on December 23.

Nearly 500 aged care facilities are currently affected by COVID-19 outbreaks. Credit:Alamy

There were 1370 active cases in aged care residents across the country and 1835 in staff.

The industry has warned critical staff shortages are placing the wellbeing of residents at risk, with high rates of COVID-19 in the community hitting both centre employees and the agency workforce.
Washington: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of gaslighting and pushing a false narrative that it was under threat from Ukraine and NATO to justify a troop build-up near its border with the former Soviet republic.

Blinken addressed reporters at the State Department on Saturday AEDT ahead of meetings of US and Russian diplomats in Europe next week aimed at bringing down the temperature between Russia and the West, and after a virtual meeting with NATO foreign ministers earlier in the day.

Tough words: Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Credit:AP

Blinken said Russia has worked for years to undermine Ukraines democratic institutions, interfere in its politics, block energy and commerce and sow mistrust with propaganda and disinformation.

Russia had positioned nearly 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine with plans to mobilise twice that number on very short order and justified doing so with misinformation that Ukraine was seeking to provoke a conflict, Blinken said.
Conway, AR (72032)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Thunderstorms likely late. A few storms may be severe. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Thunderstorms likely late. A few storms may be severe. Low 63F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Associate Editor

Brent Addleman is an Associate Editor and a veteran journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He has served as editor of newspapers in Pennsylvania and Texas, and has also worked at newspapers in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Kentucky.
The U.S. and Wyoming flags flutter in the wind next to a rural road south of Gillette, Wyo., on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021.
Every so often, I tell Rick, I have an idea. According to my husband, these simple words give him cold chills. You see, Rick is a man who loves his daily routine. He enjoys knowing what to expect and changes are not, shall we say, welcomed with open arms. Am I about to tell him that I want to host an event in our home, go visit my mother, or move the furniture around? He doesnt know whats coming, but he is always confident that his routine is about to be rocked in one way or another. Read more
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BAINBRIDGE - Zilphia "Zippy" Tobey Furman, 86, passed into heaven following a brief illness with her family by her side. She was born on Jan. 4, 1936. Zippy graduated from Bainbridge High School and lived in Bainbridge for most of her life. She retired from Amphenol Corporation. Zippy enjoye
Vehicles stuck under fallen trees are seen on a snowy road, in Murree, northeast of Islamabad in this still image taken from a video on Jan. 8, 2022. (PTV/Reuters TV via Reuters)

22 Tourists Freeze to Death in Vehicles Amid Heavy Snowstorm in Pakistan

At least 22 people died while stuck in their vehicles as a heavy snowstorm thronged the mountain resort town of Murree, Pakistan, officials confirmed on Jan. 8.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistans interior minister, said that more than 1,000 cars were stranded in a blizzard that went through the scenic town, which is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Islamabad.

The minister said the government has launched a rescue operation for the people who remain trapped and that it has also mobilized the military to clear roads and assist with the mission.

According to a police spokesperson and local media reports, more than 100,000 vehicles entered the mountain resort area over the past few days to see the enormous snowfalls, causing a huge traffic jam on roads leading into and out of the town.

For the first time in 15 to 20 years, such a large number of tourists flocked to Murree, creating a huge crisis, Ahmed said in a video message.

In this photo provided by the Inter-Services Public Relations, army troops take part in a rescue operation in a heavy snowfall-hit area in Murree, Pakistan, roughly 28 miles north of Islamabad on Jan. 8, 2022. (Inter-Services Public Relations via AP)

In this photo provided by the Inter-Services Public Relations, people walk past vehicles trapped in a heavy snowfall-hit area in Murree, Pakistan, on Jan. 8, 2022. (Inter-Services Public Relations via AP)

In this photo provided by the Inter-Services Public Relations, army members take part in a rescue operation in a heavy snowfall-hit area in Murree, Pakistan on Jan. 8, 2022. (Inter-Services Public Relations via AP)

Late on Jan. 7, the government announced the closure of all roads leading to the hill station in an effort to stop any further influx of tourists.

Abdul Rehman, a district emergency officer, confirmed that the death toll had soared to 22 tourists while a rescue operation in the hilly area was still underway. Among the victims thus far are 10 children and two women, The Associated Press reported.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a statement on Twitter that hes shocked & upset over the tragic deaths of nearly a dozen tourists traveling to Murree.

Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during a joint press conference with Afghan president at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 19, 2020. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images)

Unprecedented snowfall & rush of [people] proceeding without checking weather conditions caught district admin unprepared, Khan said, noting that he has ordered [an] inquiry and [is] putting in place strong regulations to ensure [the] prevention of such tragedies.

Ahmed told the video conference that more than four feet of snow fell in the area late on Jan. 7. Officials said on Jan. 8 that much of the road leading to the areas resorts was largely cleared of snow, but some work was still being done.

Authorities appealed to people not to visit the hill station.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
A woman in the UK had her faith in humanity restored by local good Samaritans after she had her purse swiped in a shop on Witton Street in Northwich.

The 73-year-old grandmother, Thelma, told Cheshire Police how, while in a retail store on Oct. 27, two females created a distraction before stealing her purse.

Her confidence was shaken by the traumatic incident, wrote her granddaughter Vicki Bebbington, 35, on Nov. 2 in a community Facebook post.

Thankfully, this story has a happy ending; local construction company TG Builders decided to team up with a few other builders in the area to restore the nans confidence in humanity, letting her know there are still good people out there.

(Courtesy of Vicki Bebbington)

The good Samaritans on Nov. 2 visited her house and presented her with a letter offering their sympathies and goodwillas well as a bit of cash that they had pooled to make up for the unfortunate transgression.

Bebbington posted this letter in its entirety, along with photos of her grandma with TG Builder Phil together in solidarity.

The letter wrote: We were extremely saddened and disappointed to hear of what happened to you in Northwich Town Centre.

Staff from the store and builders from all over Northwich have banded together to raise some funds for you to do with what you wish. It has been a pleasure to see the best of our industry come together to retrieve what you have lost. We also hope this restores your faith back in people and brings some happiness and positivity back to you.

Thelmas response was as they had hoped. Bebbington captioned in her Facebook post: Wow!! TG Builders in Northwich! After my nan had her purse stolen, your letter is beautiful, bringing my nan to tears.

The money you raisedthank you. However, the kindness and effort is unbelievable. Decent people are still all around us.. my nan is overwhelmed.

(Courtesy of Vicki Bebbington)

Thank you Phil and thank you TG builders and all youre staff. I hope the thieves see this and realise that, yes you targeted my nan, but you have not knocked her spirits.

Thank you for all youre messages and sharing the post to make others aware. Thank you TG builders! My nan is still in shock. 

Police, according to Cheshire Live, stated: At 11:12 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27, police were called to reports of a theft at a retail store on Witton Street, Northwich.

The caller reported that they were followed by two unknown females and believes that they stole her purse after distracting her while she was shopping.

The incident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26.

Authorities are encouraging anyone with knowledge about the incident to call Cheshire Police.

Although Thelma may never see her lost belongings again, how this community came together to raise one shaken nans spirits is, nevertheless, the storys silver lining.

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
A nurse fills a syringe with Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in Pasadena, Calif., in a file photograph. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Air Force Rejects Medical Exemption Request to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Despite Documented Allergy

The Air Force has rejected a medical exemption application to the militarys COVID-19 vaccine mandate from a reservist who presented proof that she has an allergy to one of the vaccines components.

The reservist, who went to a clinic in Texas, underwent allergy testing to components of the vaccine, according to a letter from a doctor that was submitted to the Air Force this week.

She developed a positive reaction to intradermal testing to Polysorbate, indicating the potential for a significant allergic reaction to future COVID-19 vaccination, the doctor wrote in the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by The Epoch Times.

I respectfully recommend that the patient be granted a medical waiver for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Just days later, though, the military said the request wouldnt be granted.

In a letter to the lawyer representing the reservist, military officials said medical exemptions are not given to people who are claiming an allergy to a preservative in the vaccine without having had the vaccine.

What it comes down to is you must take at least one COVID vaccine and have had an adverse reaction before you can claim an allergy to it, officials said.

That stance clashes with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, which states that contraindications to a COVID-19 vaccine include a known diagnosed allergy to a component of the vaccines.

The agency does state that a polysorbate allergy is only a contraindication to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, designating it as a precaution for the other two vaccines authorized in the United States. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines dont contain polysorbate but do contain polyethylene glycol; the compounds are related and cross-reactive hypersensitivity may occur between them.

The agency advises people with such an allergy to consult with an allergist or immunologist.

The Air Force didnt respond to requests for comment.

This is just crazy, R. Davis Younts, who is representing the reservist, told The Epoch Times.

Theyre granting exemptions for people to retire if theyre close to retirement, theres all these moving deadlines, theres tons of reservists and other people that are still pending action but they cant give her 30 days when the doctor is saying she may have a severe reaction? Its crazy. I dont understand what possible military purpose or otherwise that there could be from this. It feels very political.

Because of the Feres doctrine, which prevents members of the armed forces from medical malpractice claims against the government, if the reservist went ahead and got a vaccine and suffered an adverse reaction, she couldnt file a negligence claim.

The reservist is still fighting against the mandate and is poised to join one of the lawsuits that have been launched against the Pentagon over the mandates, primarily over the widespread rejection of religious exemption requests.
An Airbus A380 takes off after Airbus makes its last ever delivery of an A380 to Emirates in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, Germany, on Dec.16, 2021. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

Airbus Faces $339 Million Class Action Suit in the Netherlands, Lawyers Say

AMSTERDAMLawyers who say they are representing a hundred institutional investors have filed a class action lawsuit against Airbus in a Dutch court, saying they suffered at least 300 million euros ($339 million) in damages as a result of company misconduct.

The suit, filed by the Foundation for Investor Loss Compensation on Jan. 3 at The Hague District Court, says investors suffered losses after buying shares in Airbus SE that were overpriced because the company withheld information about corruption at the company. The suit also names accountants KMPG and Ernst & Young as defendants.

A spokesperson for Airbus, which disclosed it was facing civil claims in the Netherlands in its third quarter 2021 earnings report, said the company would not comment on ongoing litigation. In its earnings report, Airbus said it believed it had solid grounds to defend itself against the allegations.

KMPG and Ernst & Young did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad first reported the filing against Airbus, which has its head office in Toulouse, France and registered headquarters in the Dutch city of Leiden.

The planemaker agreed in 2020 to a $4 billion fine in a deal with French, British, and U.S. authorities to settle a three-year investigation into bribery and corruption over sales practices.

More than 100 institutional investors have now joined the Foundation, and the expectation is that that number will rise, the filing said.

The damage suffered by current participants is around 300 million euros. As more participants join, this number will rise, it said.

The Dutch filing calls on the defendants representatives to appear at a court sitting on April 6.

By Toby Sterling and Tim Hepher
A sign outside of a hospital advertises the COVID-19 vaccine in New York City on Nov. 19, 2021. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Almost Half of New York COVID-19 Hospitalizations Not Due to COVID-19

Nearly half of the patients currently in New York hospitals with COVID-19 were admitted for reasons other than the disease, the state said on Jan. 7.

Forty-three percent of the 11,548 hospitalized patients didnt have COVID-19 listed as one of the reasons for admission, Gov. Kathy Hochuls office said.

Hochul, a Democrat, told a press conference that she wanted to drill down on the hospitalization numbers to see how many patients are actually being treated for COVID-19 versus merely having the disease, which often causes no or mild symptoms.

Some of the patients test positive for COVID-19 but theyre in there for other reasons, Hochul said. Think of all the other reasons people end up at a hospital; its an overdose, its a car accident, a heart attack.

Hochul had announced on Jan. 3 that the state would be separating out hospitalizations for COVID-19 versus those with the disease, which is caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

She said that its important to know the percentage of patients in each category as the number of hospitalizations rise.

I just want to always be honest with New Yorkers about how bad this is, she said. Yes, the sheer numbers of people infected are high, but I want to see whether or not the hospitalizations correlate with that. And Im anticipating to see that at least a certain percentage overall are not related to being treated for COVID. But were still going to watch hospital capacity.

Most people admitted for non-COVID reasons who have COVID-19 are in New York City, with approximately half the hospitalizations there meeting that criteria, the data show. In some other areas, the percentage is much lower.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a news conference in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Dec. 14, 2021. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

About 50 percent are admitted with COVID and 50 percent admitted for COVID, Dr. Steve Corwin, CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, which is in the city, told reporters. Of the patients in the hospital, 50 percent are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and 50 percent have two doses of the vaccine.

Partially vaccinated means a person has received one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines or has received two doses but two weeks havent elapsed since their second dose.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner who sits on Pfizers board, said the percentage was higher than he would have expected.

Unclear why wed see so much incidental infection. Im hearing similar stats in [New Jersey] and [Connecticut] hospitals. Creates some concern [that COVID-19] could be spreading by contact with healthcare system itself, he wrote on social media.

While many jurisdictions and hospitals dont make clear how many COVID-19 patients are being treated for other reasons, researchers found last year that approximately half of the hospitalizations showed just mild or no COVID-19 symptoms. Another study found 4 in 10 children hospitalized with COVID-19 were asymptomatic, and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, told reporters on Jan. 7 that the recent increase in pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations was due in part to non-COVID reasons.

This is really a consistent problem we keep ignoring it as if its not an issue. It is an issue, Dr. Scott Atlas, part of the White House COVID-19 response team during the Trump administration, told The Epoch Times previously.

Hochul told people who are only experiencing mild symptoms to stay home amid concerns of overburdening New Yorks health care systems. She said that nearly 5,000 New Yorkers in the past 24 hours alone went to emergency rooms for COVID-19 testing.

We have capacity. We have 2,000 locations where people can get tested. So, please do not go to an emergency room and tie up the resources, those individuals, so you can get a test. And dont come in if you have very mild symptoms, either, she said.

I know youre anxious, I really understand this, but if youre an adult that has very minor symptoms, you can handle a runny nose. You can handle your throat being a little bit sore, a little bit of cough. Just treat it as if you would have the flu. Follow the protocols, but please dont overburden our emergency rooms.
There are arguments in the United States of whether parents should be able to choose which schools their children go to, with the main focus on school choice and school vouchers. Policies allowing for this are being challenged locally in Ohio, where 100 different school districts are threatening to sue, claiming that policies that allow school vouchers are a violation of the state constitution. The local discussion, however, could have broader impacts on similar policies across the United States. Here talk to us about this more is Neal McCluskey, director of the Cato Institutes Center for Educational Freedom.

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A general view of the Bed Bath & Beyond sign as photographed in Westbury, N.Y., on March 20, 2020. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Bed Bath and Beyond to Close 37 US Store Locations in 2022

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), the home goods retailer, announced on Jan. 7 that it is kicking off 2022 by permanently closing 37 stores in 19 states across the United States by the end of February. The store closings are part of a plan that it announced back in 2020 to shut 200 redundant locations over the next two years as part of a broader turnaround effort after several years of declining sales. The retailer previously closed a round of stores in February 2021 and February 2020. The home goods retailer said it has closed roughly 170 locations thus far and is still on track to hit its 200-store goal by years end. Liquidation sales have already begun at the 37 locations, which account for 21 percent of the remaining Bed Bath & Beyond stores. In this latest round of store closures, New York will lose seven stores, California will close five, and Washington, four. Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Texas will lose two stores apiece. Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, and West Virginia are losing one store each.

The retailer will remodel its remaining locations to reduce clutter with brighter signage and new brands.

BBBY reported its fiscal third-quarter results on Jan. 6, which closed the day up nearly 8 percent after diving 9 percent in premarket trading.

The companys shares have been down about 31 percent over the past 12 months.

Mark Tritton, CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond, spoke with CNBCs Jim Cramer on Jan. 6 about his companys disappointing quarterly results.

Tritton admitted that BBBY lost about $100 million in sales during the third quarter due to COVID-related inventory and supply-chain issues.

He said that he was upbeat on the companys remodeling efforts, explaining that the plan to refresh 400 stores over the next three years remains on track with 80 locations refurbished thus far.

BBBYs flagship Buy Buy Baby chain remained a bright spot for the retailer in the last quarter, as sales in home and bath goods have slowed.

Tritton told Cramer that the Buy Buy Baby chain is one of the true assets of his company and is on track to deliver $1.3 billion in sales.

Birth rates have risen as millennials start raising families, which is amplifying the momentum at Buy Buy Baby, according to Tritton, as sales of baby food, car seats, and other accessories have increased.

The BBBY CEO told analysts that the company will explore additional closures in the future.

We are executing a full-scale transformation and simultaneously running a business in a highly unpredictable environment, said Tritton at an earnings conference call.

Bed Bath & Beyond stock fell Friday at the end of trading to 13.80, down 0.63 points at 4.37 percent.
Biden Administration Cuts Floridas Weekly Monoclonal Shipment in Half

The federal government slashed in half the number of doses of the monoclonal antibodies therapy shipped to Florida from 30,000 to 15,000 this week, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

DeSantis said the 15,000 dozen received would be immediately utilized to support new monoclonal antibody sites.

But for the federal governments decision to restrict supply of monoclonal antibody treatment to Florida, my administration would have already opened additional monoclonal antibody treatment sites throughout the state, DeSantis said in a press release.

The governor said that before the Biden administration seized control of the monoclonal supply Florida was administering 30,000 doses per week to infected patients. The treatment saved countless lives, he said.

The Biden Administration is still obstructing the state of Floridas ability to manage our own supply of monoclonal antibodies and I will continue to seek additional doses for Floridians, he said.

The Epoch Times reported Jan. 3 that the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration had relaxed its policies on limiting the monoclonal antibody drugs paving the way for Florida to receive 30,000 treatments. The plan for those doses was to set up new treatment centers in high-need areas throughout south and central Florida.

DeSantis alleged the limits the HHS had set for Florida were political.

The federal government has cornered the entire market of monoclonal, he said in a press conference on Jan. 3. Weve got the infrastructure in place. Its just a matter of the federal government giving us more doses  for the Floridians who need it.

The governor asked the state legislature to set aside almost $1 billion to aid in fighting COVID-19 and making monoclonal antibodies available to every Floridian who needed it.

But because the federal government has a contractual agreement with the makers of the monoclonal antibody treatments, it has locked out anyone else from buying the product, the governor said.

We will rapidly deploy the 15,000 doses that we now have secured, he said. The Biden Administration commandeered the supply and distribution of monoclonal antibodies following Floridas successful deployment of the treatment last summer and drastically cut shipments of the treatments to the state.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the opening of a monoclonal antibody site in Pembroke Pines, Fla., on Aug. 18, 2021. (Marta Lavandier/AP Photo)

The announcement of the shortfall in monoclonal antibody treatments comes one day after the governor made remarks about the Jan. 6 anniversary and how corporate media and Washington would celebrate the day as their Christmas.

They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to try to be able to smear Donald Trump, he told reporters on Jan. 6.

Requests from the governors office on why they think Florida was shortchanged on the treatment drug were not answered by press time.
California, New Jersey Activate National Guard to Help With COVID-19 Response

The governors of California and New Jersey have activated National Guard troops to assist with their COVID-19 responses.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said Guard members would be deployed to long-term care facilities such as nursing homes throughout the state because some of them are struggling to maintain adequate staffing.

This deployment will send members of our National Guard to long-term care facilities with staffing needs and will act to protect the health and safety of long-term-care residents while the Omicron variant surges throughout the nation, Murphy said in a statement.

In addition to helping test and screen staff, residents, and visitors, the roughly 150 Guard members will help residents with daily activities and setting up meals.

New Jersey has 513 long-term care facilities with active COVID-19 outbreaks, according to state health officials. More than 5,600 residents have COVID-19 and more than 8,600 staff members have the disease, which is caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, activated more than 200 Guard members on Jan. 7 to help respond to the surge in COVID-19 cases seen nationwide.

Guard personnel will help set up more testing facilities and man existing sites, Newsoms office stated. The move is meant to bridge the gap until permanent staff at the sites can be hired.

Driven by the dominance of the Omicron variant of the CCP virus, the number of COVID-19 cases has skyrocketed in the United States in recent weeks.

However, studies and real-world data on the variant show that while its more transmissible than the Delta coronavirus variant, it causes fewer cases of severe disease, and most hospitals are not full at the moment.

Members of the Ohio National Guard help with a COVID-19 testing site in Akron, Ohio, on Jan. 5, 2022. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)

Some hospitals, however, are nearing capacity, and many are trying to fill staff vacancies caused in part by COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, recently said hes prepared to activate the Washington National Guard to help hospitals that need assistance.

Governors in other states have deployed National Guard members recently amid the wave.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, recently activated 1,000 members of the states National Guard to help state and local officials in responding to the pandemic, as did Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, all Democrats except for Sununu, activated National Guard troops in December 2021.

In consultation with our health care systems, I am deploying members of the Maine National Guard across Maine to expand our ability to treat people with COVID-19 and to provide care for Maine people grappling with other serious medical conditions, Mills said in a statement.

Federal officials said on Jan. 7 that they dont think the Omicron-fueled COVID-19 wave has peaked, but that when it does, cases could drop precipitously, as they did in South Africa, where scientists first discovered the strain.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Jan. 22, 2019. (Ng Han Guan/Pool via Reuters)

Cambodias Hun Sen Proceeds Bilateral Meeting With Burmese Military Despite Protests From Human Rights Groups

Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen has arrived in Burma on Friday ahead of a bilateral meeting with the military junta that ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup last year, despite protests from human rights groups calling for his visit to be canceled.

Hun Sen came to Burma at the invitation of military leader General Min Aung Hlaing for talks on bilateral and multilateral cooperation and recent developments in ASEAN, Cambodias Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Jan. 5.

The two-day visit, which begins on Jan. 7, makes Hun Sen the first foreign leader to visit Burmaalso known as Myanmarsince the military regime seized power last year.

The military regime, however, wouldnt allow Hun Sen to meet with detained Aung San Suu Kyi or other democratically elected leaders due to their legal charges, Radio Free Asia reported, citing a military junta spokesman.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported that nearly 1,500 people have been killed in Burma and 11,369 people were detained as of Jan. 6, adding that the actual number of fatalities could be much higher than this.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also stated last month that it had received multiple reports of villages being torched and unarmed protestors being rammed by military vehicles in Burma.

Some human rights groups have urged Hun Sen to cancel his trip to Burma, citing Cambodias role as the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has been leading diplomatic efforts on Burma.

ASEAN has also adopted a five-point consensus (pdf) on Burma, including ending violence in Burma, facilitating constructive dialogue with all parties concerned, sending humanitarian aid to Burma, and a visit by the ASEAN delegation to Burma to assess the situation.

Citing the five-point consensus on Burma, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said on Twitter that Hun Sens move to meet with the military regime undermines ASEAN credibility and threatens efforts to restore the countrys democracy.

Amnesty Internationals regional director for research Emerlynne Gil has also called on Hun Sen to cancel the visit and to prioritize human rights action over empty gestures.

Gil noted that Hun Sens rogue diplomacy might send mixed messages to military leader Min Aung Hlaing, who has been blocked from attending ASEAN meetings.

If Hun Sen truly wants to help, he should cancel this trip and lead ASEAN to strong action to address the countrys dire human rights situation rather than indulge in empty gestures that will likely result in little more than a self-congratulatory photo op, Gil said in a statement.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Jan. 5 that he had told Hun Sen in a phone conversation that Burma should only be represented by a non-political level at ASEAN meetings if the military regime made no progress on the ASEANs five-point consensus.

We discussed development in Myanmar. I reiterated clearly Indonesias position on the importance of implementation of the five-point consensus to bring democracy back in Myanmar through inclusive dialogue, Joko said on Twitter.
Canadians Worked Hard to Build Home Equity and the Feds Should Keep Their Hands Off It

Commentary

When I was settling into the workforce in the early 1990s, the unfunded liabilities within pension plans including the CPP were the topic of the day. We were told that we would not necessarily be able to rely on pension plans to fund our retirement and the best things we could do was to take out personal RRSPs along with purchasing and paying off a house as soon as possible. Thats exactly what many of us did and now the federal government is considering taking a bite out of the home equity we worked so hard to build.

The Liberal government strenuously denies that they are considering an equity tax on the primary residences of Canadians every time the issue surfaces. We have to ask ourselves though, why does this issue keep surfacing?

The first time this issue came to a head was in July of 2020. Blacklocks Reporter broke a story on a study commissioned by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to examine ways of implementing an equity tax on the primary residences of citizens. The Liberal government vehemently denied any plans to tax home equity and Blacklocks Reporter was accused by CMHC officials of horrible, untrue reporting.

During the 2021 federal election, Liberal candidate Jason Hickey called for a home equity tax. The Liberals heatedly denied any plans to tax home equity and distanced themselves from their own candidate.

In December 2021, the issue resurfaced as Carleton University Professor Steve Pomeroy released an essay calling for a home equity tax. Pomeroy is part of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative which gets its funding indirectly through the CMHC. Yet again, the Liberals angrily denied they are considering an equity tax.

Now we have discovered that the CMHC funded a report from a group of University of British Columbia researchers who are calling for you guessed it! A home equity tax!

How much smoke do we have to see before we admit there is a fire?

While the CMHC may sound like some sort of independent enterprise, it is a government organization. It is funded by the government, it answers to the government, and is directed by the government. When the CMHC is constantly commissioning studies into home equity taxes, it has to be considered to be doing so on behalf of the government. This must be taken seriously, and even if the government isnt immediately planning on bringing in such a tax, it is clear that they would like to. They just arent sure how to get away with it yet.

Home equity represents a capital pool worth trillions of dollars in Canada and it presents a plum that our cash-strapped federal government is having an increasingly hard time leaving alone. They want to take a bite out of home equity but understand Canadians would be infuriated if they did so. That could explain why the CMHC is constantly floating the idea balloon out there. They are working to desensitize us to the concept and build support for home equity taxes while shielding the government from the concept.

The language in all these reports is similar and telling. They all refer to home equity as a windfall and make it out as if people fell into the money. The 2020 researchers referred to it as a lottery win, and this latest UBC report referred to housing wealth windfalls gained by many homeowners while they sleep and watch TV.

What an insulting insinuation about homeowners!

Its not easy to build equity in a home. It takes years of work for most in order to build the income, credit rating, and down payment required in order to purchase a home. It then takes more years and effort to maintain the home and pay down the mortgage in order to garner equity in that home. It doesnt simply happen while sleeping and watching TV.

These studies are not only trying to make the case for a home equity tax, but they are trying to characterize homeowners as greedy layabouts who havent earned the equity gained in their homes. This isnt researchits political activism using the politics of envy and division in an effort to shape public opinion.

For most Canadians, home equity is their most precious material resource. We worked hard for it and rely on it for our retirement and perhaps to hand it down to our kids. It is distressing and outrageous to think that the government feels entitled to take a part of that equity from us, yet it is clear this is where they would like to go.

Our nest eggs are at risk and we need to make it clear to the government that we wont put up with their theft of it. They are testing the waters right now. Make sure they burn their fingers every time they try. If they can take our home equity from us, there is nothing they cant or wont take.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Capitol Report (Jan. 7): Judge Rules in Favor of Navy SEALs on Mandate

On Friday, the nations highest court took up challenges to President Joe Bidens vaccine and testing mandates. The stakes are high, and if they decide to allow Bidens mandate to stay in place, companies will face consequences in the next month. We bring you an analysis of whats at stake and how the court is expected to rule.

A judge has ruled in favor of 35 Navy SEALs. The SEALs were facing termination from the Pentagon for taking a pass on the vaccine due to their sincerely held religious beliefs. Well chat with one of the attorneys representing the SEALs in their case.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in December. Biden touted what he called the nations historic unemployment numbers despite a mixed report on the U.S. jobs market.

Congressman Ken Buck joins us to discuss the challenges Big Tech poses to our society, and also weighs in on China and the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Top officials from the United States and Japan are boosting cooperation on defense and research, in light of Chinas growing aggressiveness in disputed waters.

One year after the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, the FBI is still searching for the person who left two pipe bombs outside the Republican and Democratic national committee buildings.

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The Jahn School of Fine Arts lies empty after Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school district, canceled classes over the Chicago Teachers Union's refusal to teach in-person, in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 5, 2022. (Eric Cox/Reuters)

Chicago Parents Sue Teachers Union Over Refusal to Teach In-person

A group of Chicago parents this week sued the citys teachers union over its refusal to teach classes in person.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted on Tuesday night to only teach classes remotely, arguing the rise in COVID-19 cases and an alleged lack of protective measures made it too dangerous to instruct students inside classrooms.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) deemed the action an illegal work stoppage and canceled classes for three consecutive days as officials negotiated with union leaders. CTU and city officials also filed competing labor complaints.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County circuit court, offers a similar view of the unions refusal.

The union never sent a notice of intent to strike to CPS, the regional superintendent, or the Educational Labor Relations Board, the suit states. And less than 24 hours elapsed from the time CTU members voted on its measure to authorize a strike on January 4, 2022, and when they did not show up for work in-person the next day, in contrast to the requirement under Illinois law that 10 days elapse from the vote to authorize a strike to the time a strike begins.

The law in question, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, outlines requirements for when teachers go on strike.

The union, which did not immediately return an inquiry, has said the attempt to shift to remote learning is not a strike. Tennille Evans, a teacher and union organizer, told reporters in a briefing that its a work action, not a strike, but the parents say that no part of state law, no contract, and no local ordinance authorizes the union to decide to teach virtually without approval from the Chicago Board of Education.

The parents say theyve been harmed by the situation because their children are being denied schooling and they have had to secure child care for their children.

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union and supporters stage a car caravan protest outside City Hall in the Loop in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 5, 2022. (Ashlee Rezin /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Theyre asking the court to make clear that CTUs actions amount to a strike and that the vote violated the collective bargaining agreement between the union and the city. The court should prevent CTU from continuing to authorize its members to not teach in person unless all conditions set forth in state law are met, and the agreement isnt violated.

The parents also want the court to award them damages in the form of lost income and cost of securing child care while classes were canceled.

Throughout this entire pandemic, our kids have paid a tremendous price for adults mistakes and miscalculations, and now the teachers union has hastily and recklessly put them on their political roller coaster again, Laurel Golden, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit and a Chicago parent, said in a statement. The science is clear, and so is the desire of parents: Our kids need and deserve to be in school. This illegal strike must be ended immediately, and we must get kids back into the classroom.

The union, meanwhile, in press releases and the briefing on Friday indicated theres no plans at this time to end the refusal to teach in person.

The COVID cases are spiraling out of control in every neighborhood, and that is why we ask for [remote classes], Evans said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said in a joint statement around the same time that negotiations continued today and went into the evening, adding, The sessions remain productive but must be concluded this weekend.
Lamas are watching the Cham dance during the Gedong festival at the Ganden Sumtsenling Monastery in Shangri-La, southwestern China's Yunnan Province, on Jan. 5, 2016. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Regime Forces Monks and Tibetans to Witness the Demolition of Buddha Statue

The Chinese regime forced Tibetan monks and Tibetan people to watch the demolition process of a 99-foot tall Buddha statue at Thoesam Gatsel temple in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in December.

The Buddha statue was built after the regime approved the project in 2015, and has special meaning for local Tibetan monks and people.

For Tibetans, the Buddha statue is more valuable than our own lives, Kelsang Gyaltsen, representative of the Central Tibetan Administration in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on Jan. 7. The Thoesam Gatsel temple is in Luhuo county, which is in a seismic zone together with the neighboring Dawu county. Tibetan people believe that the Buddha statue can protect people from being hurt by earthquakes.

Gyaltsen criticized the demolition and the regimes forcing Tibetan monks and residents to watch the process.

It destroys your [temples] properties, blasphemes your gods, and forces you to give up your spiritual beliefs. Ordering people to watch [the demolition]! You can imagine how much mental pressure [the monks and Tibetan residents] suffered during the process, Gyaltsen said.

Gyaltsen said this is the latest action that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led regime has taken to try to eradicate the Tibetan religion and Tibetan culture from China.

Kelsang Gyaltsen stands in front of the Dalai Lamas photo. (Courtesy of Kelsang Gyaltsen)

Demolition

The demolition started on Dec. 12, 2021, and lasted nine days, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Jan. 5. Besides the statue, the regime also destroyed 45 prayer wheels, which are cylindrical wheels on a spindle that Tibetan prayers use every day to express their sincere devotion to buddhas.

Tibetan residents from other villages were also forced to go there to watch the process, an India-based Tibetan told RFA. [The regime] deployed many policemen to the site, to prevent the people from taking photos, video, or creating disturbances.

Another Tibetan who lives in India told RFA that the demolition was performed in a very disrespectful way  The statue has been almost totally destroyed. The regime said watching the process could give the Tibetan people a lesson.

A Tibetan from Luhuo county said that some local Tibetans spent about 40 million yuan ($6.27 million) to build the statue. The regime approved the project but revoked the approval by claiming that the statue is too tall.

A Tibetan Buddhist monk steps out of a prayer hall where prayer wheels are hung at the Kumbum Monastery outside of Xining, in northwestern Chinas Qinghai Province, on March 8, 2009. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Eradicating Identity

Gyaltsen said the CCP is destroying the Tibetan peoples identity of being Tibetan. He urged the international community to give the Tibetan people a hand.

Since several years ago, [the regime] has forced the Tibetan children to go to school. These schools are like concentration camps, which dont allow the children to go home frequently, only teach Mandarin Chinese, and dont allow anybody to speak Tibetan, Gyaltsen said.

In Tibet, temples are schools that teach Tibetan morals, etiquette, culture, and knowledge. Monks in one temple communicate and learn from monks from other temples. The schools that the regime built in Tibetan regions are teaching brainwashing materials that were written and approved by the CCP.

The regime launched a system named localized Buddhism management, in which it doesnt allow monks to contact monks from other temples, and young Tibetans arent allowed to go to temples  The regime has set up so-called Buddhist Academies, which are like CCP schools and teach students the CCP theories, Gyaltsen said.

The CCP forces Tibetan people to worship CCP leaders when they worship Buddhas.

Starting from around 2011 or 2012, the regime ordered all temples to hang up portraits of CCP leaders. If you want to worship a Buddha, you have to worship the CCP leaders, Gyaltsen added.

The Chinese regime doesnt allow Tibetan worship of the Dalai Lama, Tibets highest spiritual leader and retired Tibetan political leader in exile, by banning people from having any of the Dalai Lamas portraits or photos.

In addition to removing the Dalai Lamas photos, the Chinese regime ordered Tibetan temples and homes to hang its leaders portraits. Now, Tibetan people have to hang the portraits of the regimes founder Mao Zedong and the current leader Xi Jinping.

Luo Ya contributed to this report.
This combination of file pictures created on August 22, 2018 shows a photo illustration taken on March 23, 2018 of Twitter logos on a computer screen in Beijing and a file illustration picture taken on April 28, 2018 of the logo of social network Facebook displayed on a screen and reflected on a tablet in Paris. (Nicolas Asfouri, Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images)

China Perfecting Its Social Media Disinformation Operations to Influence Americans: Analyst

The Chinese regime is perfecting its ability to influence social media users through the spread of propaganda and disinformation, an analyst says, despite encountering few setbacks.

Twitter in December removed 2,160 accounts linked to Chinese information campaigns. Most of the accounts were removed because they amplified the Chinese Communist Partys narrative to stymie allegations of human rights abuses by Beijing against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, Twitter said.

Last year, Facebook also took note of various China-based operations when it was alerted to an account purporting to be a Swiss biologist named Wilson Edwards. According to the fake biologists Twitter and Facebook postings, the United States was putting pressure on World Health Organization scientists studying the origins of COVID-19 in an attempt to blame the virus on China.

Chinese state media outlets, including the Global Times and Peoples Daily, then began running pieces quoting the fake scientist with headlines about alleged intimidation efforts of the United States. When the Swiss embassy in Beijing announced that there was no Swiss citizen by that name, Facebook found that the account was fake, having been created less than 12 hours before it started posting about the pandemic. Facebook responded by deleting more than 600 accounts in November linked to the Chinese disinformation campaign.

The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in a broad, diverse campaign to influence U.S. policymakers, companies, academics, media, and public opinion to align U.S. policy with Chinas interests, an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

Strategies Sowing Distrust

Evan Anderson, CEO of INVNT/IP, an organization that fights state-sponsored intellectual property theft, told The Epoch Times that, historically, its not unusual for countries to attempt to use propaganda and misinformation to shape public opinion in order to achieve their own strategic goals. Russia and the CCP, in particular, have used a variety of foreign malign influence operations to shape a narrative that suits them best.

The Gerasimov doctrine, for example, is attributed to Valery Gerasimov, the current Chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. According to the doctrine, military, diplomatic, economic, technological, information, cultural tactics are combined to achieve Russias strategic goals. Similarly, the Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) concept of unrestricted warfare uses the same tactics and techniques to weaken adversaries of the Communist regime.

Anderson said the digital era has changed absolutely everything, as Russia and China continue to attempt to undermine the United States by influencing policymakers, companies, academics, and media. Both countries have learned that the spread of disinformation contributes to winning over foreign audiences and sowing distrust toward the United States, he said.

The near-identical strategies have become increasingly effective in the digital era, according to Anderson.

Propaganda can be within the pocket of every American citizen [with a cell phone] within seconds, he said, adding that modern digital infrastructure and its connection to millions of citizens around the world provides a near-boundless ability to spread misinformation.

Learn and Improve

Using a very formulaic approach, the Russians may have perfected the use of propaganda as a tactic, according to Anderson.

They mixed a percentage of truth with a slightly higher percentage of misinformation or propaganda and delivered it to an audience that was already inclined to hear it, he said. The method, Anderson said, proved to be effective in affecting the way those people thought about certain topics.

The Chinese regime has learned a lot from Russia in the past five years and Beijing is doing its best to implement the same tactics with limited success, Anderson said. What were seeing is [the Chinese regime] stumbling through the testing thats required to perfect the methods theyve seen work for Russia.

Anderson referred to the example of the Swiss biologist persona created by China to shape the narrative surrounding the origins of the pandemic. This was a clumsy effort that could be easily improved upon, Anderson said, adding that one of the biggest dangers the United States or an ally can do is dismiss Beijings attempt.

The overarching point, he said, is that the Chinese regime is going to learn from mistakes like this to become more effective at shaping a narrative that suits their agenda. Their clumsy efforts are a warning sign, according to Anderson. Its a red flagfar from a reason to relax and take a light-hearted tonebecause these efforts can be made less clumsy in a very short time window.

Like any public relations firm, he said, one of the things Beijing is doing is figuring out what incites the most emotional response within their target audience. The Chinese regime is testing multiple methods for affecting the thinking of the American populace and theyll improve upon their ability very quickly, Anderson warned.

Anderson suspects the Chinese regime is working tirelessly to perfect these methods of spreading propaganda and misinformation. The biggest thing to sound the alarm on would be the fact theyve learned that disinformation campaigns are worth doing.

You Are What You Eat

Anderson said the Chinese regime exploits social media platforms to say what it wants to as many people as possible. Over the past 10 years, it has been increasingly clear that our mass connection to social networks and the internet have made us all able to see materialfactual or otherwisefrom all sorts of people that we never would have been in contact with before.

According to Anderson, you are what you eat when it comes to the choice of online information consumed by the reader. Imagine that anyone in the world can potentially get into your social media bubble and fill it with whatever they would like you to believe.

Social media consumption is on the rise. In 2012 and 2016, respectively, adults spent 90 minutes and 126 minutes per day on social media, according to Statista. And in 2020, the average amount of time invested on social media reached almost two and a half hours a day.

The implications of that, particularly in a free and open democratic society, are extremely dangerous, Anderson said.

Were seeing a very big clash between someones ability to be able to say anything he or she wants to, and the ability of a nefarious foreign political actor with malign interests who can do the same, he said.

The Chinese regime, in this case, will continue to pump all sorts of half-truths, propaganda, and confusing messaging onto the people of America, he added.
Zhou Yongkang, formerly the Chinese Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of security, sits in a courtroom at the First Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin in Tianjin, China, on June 11, 2015. Zhou was sentenced to life in prison. (CCTV via AP)

Chinas New Law Hints Its Political-Legal Apparatus Could Face a Storm

Commentary

Beijing recently adopted the anti-organized crime law that will take effect on May 1. This is a further step in fighting crime after a previous 3-year campaign, according to state mouthpiece Xinhua.

Chinese leader Xi Jinpings anti-corruption movement was dubbed with the slogan, Sweeping the dark, Eliminating the bad, to go with its 3-year campaign. Chen Yixin was the director of this new task.

Xis anti-corruption campaign is typical of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders efforts to eliminate political opponents and their subordinates in the administration, military, and cultural domains.

I believe the new law signals Xis decision to initiate another round of purging those in the central, powerful, political, and legal system.

The system (pdf) includes police, procuracy, courts, lawyers, correctional institutions, and Peoples Armed Police (PAP); protects the Party from its enemies; and serves as a major organ to maintain stabilitythe totalitarian rule of the Party. Its a unique system known as the hilt for the Party leader to grasp political power.

The 3-year Campaign

After the powerful leader of the system, Zhou Yongkang was expelled from the Party and arrested in 2014, and until Xis former subordinate Wang Xiaohong was appointed to head the Ministry of Public Security in late 2021, Xi seemed to further secure his grasp of the hilt.

Looking back at the 3-year campaign that started in 2018, we see that Xi was paving his way by cleansing his opponents that were hidden in society.

Among the 12 types of dark and bad forces targeted in 2018 were members of the so-called protecting umbrella who were affiliated with the local authorities and industries.

By the end of 2019, the entire nation engaged in a comprehensive purging of the public security and the political-legal system. According to the official report, the investigation of cases involving umbrellas had increased 231 percent over 2018.

In April 2021, the task director Chen Yixin concluded the successful 3-year campaign, and announced that the task had officially transitioned into routine practice. As of July 31, 2021, more than 170,000 police officers have been purged for violation of the law.

Among them are the notorious figures of the 610 Officea Gestapo-like extralegal agency whose sole purpose is to persecute Falun Gong.

The Draconian Law

The anti-organized crime law emphasizes that ruling stability was its number one mission. The state media touted the law as a campaign against soft violence.

The law identified soft violence as organized disturbing, pestering and assembling a crowd to cause an uproar for illegal profit or illegal impact.

Chinese rights lawyer Chang Weipings parents protest the torture of their son in front of the Gaoxin branch of the Baoji City Public Security Bureau, China, on Dec. 14, 2020. (The Epoch Times)

Soft violence is tantamount to what is called a pocket crimea catch-all offense for any activities that may not meet the standard of criminality but are simply unacceptable to the Party.

Therefore, behavior involved in civil rights protection, such as putting up posters, spraying slogans, hanging banners, splashing paint, gathering for discussion, and so forth, may be regarded as soft violence.

Additionally, soft violence also includes cyber violence such as cyber manhunt, personal information disclosure, bashing people in live streams, etc.

The draft legislation stipulates that people involved in organized cyber crimes who are not acquainted with or have never met each other are considered to be members of criminal organizations.

In other words, the all too familiar charges like picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and administrative penalties will no longer be applicable to those who give a thumbs up to an internet post. Rather, they will be considered a member of organized crime.

Head of the Organized Gang

On March 29, 2021, the regime celebrated the success of the 3-year campaign stating it had eradicated 3,644 gang-related organizations and 11,675 criminal gangs, and arrested 237,000 criminal suspects. The number of gang-related organizations wiped out was 1.3 times the sum of the previous 10 years.

As of the end of December 2020, over 115,900 party cadres and officials and 42,700 village cadres had been investigated and punished.

Those staggering figures show the fact that the scale of criminal involvement and corruption within the Party is extensive and deep.

Considering the CCPs full control of state resources, and its powerful political-legal system, these criminal cases can only be attributed to the Partys endorsement.

A Shanghai sex bribery scandal that made headlines in China in 2020 is a good example. At least 13 top ranking officials and state-owned company executives sheltered the criminal kingpin, Zhao Fuqiang, who offered prostitution services in exchange for business advantages, as revealed by the insiders.

After the exposure of the Party officials involved in the scandal, the regime simply severed its ties with those who were involved.

Prior to the national meeting of its rubber-stamp legislature in 2022, Xi continued his bloody internal power struggle through one campaign after another. The routine purging and implementation of the new law suggest that the CCPs political-legal system is facing another storm.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A new electronic billboard leased by Xinhua (2nd from top), the news agency operated by the Chinese government, makes its debut in New York's Times Square, on Aug. 1, 2011. The LED sign is 60 feet (18.3 meters) by 40 feet (12.2 meters) and is located on the building at 2 Times Square. (Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese State Media Uses Times Square Screen to Play Xinjiang Propaganda

NEW YORKChinese state media Xinhua is running digital billboards in one of the worlds most coveted ad spaces to promote goods from Xinjiang amid rising global outcry over the regimes campaign of repression in the region.

In New York Citys Times Square just before Christmas, a giant screen measuring about 64 feet high and 40 feet wide repeatedly played a video by Xinhua, depicting Shihezi, one of the largest cities in Xinjiang, as a thriving green city.

The 30-second video touted Shihezi as an epitome of Chinas green development efforts, with sweet fruits, intoxicating wines, a green city image, and a happy life of people, according to a description from a Jan. 4 press release from Xinhua Screen Media Co.

Chinas Shihezi city delights Times Square with fruits of green development, Xinhua stated in the press release.

Such portrayal stands in stark contrast with the regimes human rights abuses in the region, which includes the detainment of an estimated 1 million Uyghurs in camps, where they are subjected to torture, forced labor, and political indoctrination.

A screen advertising Xinhua News Agency is seen in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, N.Y., on March 2, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Those concerns have led the United States and allies to stage a diplomatic boycott against Beijings 2022 Winter Olympics. The U.S. government, several Western parliaments, and an independent peoples tribunal have classified Beijings campaign as a genocide.

Presenting Shihezi as a green city against this backdrop feels ironic, according to Ilshat H. Kokbore, vice chair of the executive committee of advocacy group World Uyghur Congress. Kokbore worked as a college teacher in Shihezi for 15 years from 1988 to 2003.

The regime is trying to whitewash the genocide accusation, he told The Epoch Times. With the Olympics coming in just four weeks, any diplomatic recognition or praise from the West would equate to a success that Beijing could use to boost its legitimacy, he said.

A farmer and his son pick cotton in a cotton field in Shihezi of Xinjiang, China, on Sep. 22, 2007. (China Photos/Getty Images)

Behind the green facade, Shihezi is a military-style city run by Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), according to Chinese state media. XPCC is a regional paramilitary group the United States has sanctioned over serious human rights violations.

The city is not friendly to anyone, not even friendly to the Han Chinese who live there, Kokboore said, referring to the majority ethnic group in China.

Shihezi is a major city for exporting cotton and tomato products, according to Chinese media reports.

When Kokbore was a teacher there, every year during the cotton harvest season, which typically started around mid-September, he would lead around 50 to 70 Uyghur students to pick cotton. The labor was unpaid. To accomplish the quota, they sometimes had to stay in the cotton fields from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

It was called labor education for the students, he said.

Washington banned all imports of cotton and tomatoes from the region last January over forced labor concerns. In December, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that banned all imports from Xinjiang.

A farmer transports cotton sacks at a cotton factory in Shihezi of Xinjiang, China, on Sept. 23, 2007. (China Photos/Getty Images)

These sanctions have hit Xinjiang hard, Kokbore said, which he believes is a principal reason behind Beijings ad campaign. With exports to the United States curbed, his connections from Shihezi told him, the citys government is in a tight spot financially and even has some trouble fully paying civil servants salaries.

This propaganda campaign is unlikely to bear fruit, given what the world knows about the Chinese regimes abuses against its citizens in Xinjiang and elsewhere, he said. Kokbore pointed to the recent example of Xian citys harsh lockdown in a bid to keep down COVID-19 numbers, which has left locals struggling to obtain food and basic medical care.

How can anyone trust this government? he said. Their own citizens cannot enjoy any freedom [and] cannot, when they need, even visit the doctor.

Xinhua made its debut at Times Square in 2011 in an effort to expand its global outreach, using the screen to play videos that portray the regime in a favorable light.

Students for a Free Tibet protest below a new electronic billboard leased by Xinhua (2nd from top), the news agency operated by the Chinese regime, as it makes its debut in New Yorks Times Square, on Aug. 1, 2011. (Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images)

Early last year, amid rising scrutiny over Chinas alleged coverup of the pandemic origin, an ad from Xinhua claimed that China was leading the world in fighting the pandemic and called for unity. Around the time, Beijing had refused to hand over raw patient data for the World Health Organizations virus origin probe.

But the news agency and other Chinese state outlets are facing growing skepticism in the West. The agency registered as a foreign agent last year under order from the Justice Department. It is also one of 15 Chinese state news outlets the United States has designated as foreign mission, alongside China Daily and English-language broadcaster CGTN.

Americans need to say no to the Chinese regime, said Kokbore.

Given that Beijing heavily restricts the activities of American and other foriegn media outlets in China, Kokbore questioned why Washington should grant so much freedom to the regimes outlets in the United States.

Why should we let the Chinese media freely propagate communist ideology? It shouldnt happen.

Danella Perez Schmieloz contributed to this article.
After several months of legal back-and-forth in the courtroom, with the FDA requesting up to 75 years to release all of their vaccine safety-related documents, a federal court has just ruled against them. Instead, that judge said the FDA has only eight months to release all of their Pfizer vaccine safety datameaning that we might actually see it by August of this year.

Meanwhile, Indias state medicine agency has announced that theyve discovered major safety concerns surrounding the COVID pill produced by Merckand they have now pulled it from their national protocols.

And those safety concerns are not minor. The agency said they include: defects in developing fetuses, permanent damage to cellular DNA, as well as damage to a persons bones and muscles. And this is all despite the fact that the Merck pills are not only approved for use in America but also, the Biden administration has just signed a $2.2 billion deal to get them into more hands.

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A health worker checks a box of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States, during a booster vaccination drive at the Zainoel Abidin hospital in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on Aug. 9, 2021. (Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP via Getty Images)

FDA Shortens Interval for Moderna COVID-19 Booster Based on Safety Data From Pfizers Booster Doses

The Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) decision to shorten the interval time for Modernas COVID-19 vaccine to five months was based on scientific evidence that included the safety data from Pfizers booster shots given in Israel, the health regulator wrote in its authorization letter to Moderna.

The health regulator announced Friday that it had amended its emergency use authorization for Modernas COVID-19 vaccine, shortening the six-month interval time between completing the two-dose series and the booster to five months. This change aligns with the FDAs earlier revision for Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine.

The FDA argues that the change is necessary because of the highly contagious Omicron variant, which spreads more rapidly than the original virus and other variants so far.

The FDA claims to have reviewed various publications that werent cited in the letter along with data of Israels 4.1 million citizens who have received the Pfizer vaccine booster.

For the Jan. 7, 2022, authorization revising the authorized dosing interval of the homologous booster dose to at least 5 months after completion of the primary series, the FDA reviewed: prepublications; accepted publications; published publications; and real world evidence on the safety of booster doses provided by the Israeli Ministry of Health, which includes data from approximately 4.1 million third (booster) doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine given to individuals 16 years of age and older at least 5 months after the primary series, and which did not raise new safety concerns associated with the booster dose, the FDA wrote (pdf).

The federal health regulator acknowledged that the overall composition of the two messenger RNA vaccines differed, but because both are mRNA vaccines, they are relatively similar.

Acknowledging the differences, it is reasonable to make the inference that the safety data on the [five] month interval for booster doses obtained in the population in Israel can apply to the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, the FDA said.

Revision to Modernas booster dose drew criticism from Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of CaliforniaSan Francisco, who argued that the FDAs decision was not based on scientific evidence and that it is NOT REASONABLE to make a Moderna determination from Pfizer data.

FDA is not even trying anymore; The decision is based on PFIZER data not MODERNA data, which they acknowledge in todays letter, Prasad said in a tweet. There is literally have [sic] NO EVIDENCE for boosting MODERNA at month 5.

FDA is not even trying anymore;

The decision is based on PFIZER data not MODERNA data, which they acknowledge in todays letter There is literally have NO EVIDENCE for boosting MODERNA at month 5  Gruber & Krause resign & FDA is unhinged https://t.co/TDOIzQHsWr pic.twitter.com/W6HxUb2Pum  Vinay Prasad, MD MPH  (@VPrasadMDMPH) January 7, 2022

He also compared the doses of the two mRNA vaccines, saying Modernas dose is 100, 100, and 50 for booster; Pfizer is 30, 30, 30, adding that Moderna has Way more myocarditis.

According to the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC), since April 2021, increased cases of myocarditis [heart inflammation] and pericarditis [inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart] have been reported in the United States after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), particularly in adolescents and young adults.

The increase in myocarditis and pericarditis after receiving an mRNA vaccine prompted the FDA to update its patient and provider fact sheets in June 2021, warning of the increased risk of the severe side effects following vaccination.

When asked about why the FDA based their decision on Pfizers safety data instead of Modernas vaccine booster data, a spokesperson from the FDA, in an email to The Epoch Times, provided a link to the authorization letter and said that a memo outlining our decision should be posted in the very near future.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Moderna for comment.
Firefighters with the Los Angeles Fire Department extinguish the flames of a car fire started in a homeless encampment in Los Angeles, Calif., on Nov. 6, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Firefighter Dies Battling Structure Fire in Ranch Palos Verdes

A Los Angeles firefighter died Jan. 6 after fighting a blaze on the same day in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Jonathan Flagler, 47, had been a firefighter for 21 years.

Flagler leaves behind his wife, Jenny, and two teenage sons, according to authorities.

Our County of Los Angeles Fire Department family is grieving the loss of one of our members, a LA County Fire Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Jonathan Flagler. (Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Fire Department)

Flagler and his crew responded to a fire on Tarapaca Road in Rancho Palos Verdes at 2:00 a.m. on Thursday.

When smoke overcame Flagler, he requested assistance and was quickly rescued by his crew members, according to LA County Interim Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

In remembrance of Flagler, LA County firefighters formed a procession of firetrucks to follow Flaglers body being transported from the hospital to the coroners office.

On behalf of the City Council and the entire Palos Verdes Peninsula community, we send our heartfelt condolences and prayers to the family of this fallen hero, as well as his courageous fellow firefighters at Station No. 83 in Rancho Palos Verdes, Dave Bradley, mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes, said in a statement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife also sent condolences to Flaglers family and his colleagues.

This devastating loss is a reminder of the dangers our heroic firefighters face every day to protect Californians. Firefighter Flaglers sacrifice and over two decades of selfless service will not be forgotten, Newsom said in a statement.

According to Newsom, flags at the state capitol in Sacramento will be flown at half-staff in honor of Flagler.

Firefighters Local 1014, a labor union representing LA firefighters, also offered condolences.

This incident is a sobering reminder of the real dangers our members face each and every day as we fight to keep our communities safe, the unions statement read.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

At this point, we dont think its criminal in nature. We think the fire was caused by some source within the structure, but thats still to be determined, said Lieutenant Charles Calderaro with the LA County Sheriffs Department.
A Fighter for Rule of Law and American Freedom: Friends Mourn Kelly Ernby

Correction: A previous version of this article did not state Kelly Ernbys cause of death, which has been widely reported as COVID-19 complications. The Epoch Times regrets the error.

Kelly Ernby was known to the public as an OC Deputy District Attorney, but her loved ones remember her as being a strong force that was full of life with a warm embrace.

Ernby was 46 years old when she died from possible complications of COVID-19 on Jan. 3. According to media reports, she had contracted the virus shortly before she died.

Lisa Foster said she met Ernby when she moved into the same apartment complex about six years ago. During an interview with The Epoch Times, Foster let out a laugh recalling the day Ernby moved in.

Before setting eyes on Ernby, Foster said she saw Ernbys father moving a wine refrigerator into her apartment. She said she stopped him to joke that she and his daughter were going to be best friends.

Not long after that, Foster invited Ernby to dinner via a note on Ernbys front doora note that Ernby would cherish in the years to come.

Years later, Ernby told Foster that she held onto the dinner invitation in awe of the gesture.

At the time, Ernby was in a lonely place and clinched onto the joy that somebody wanted to be her friend, Foster recalled while holding back tears.

She said for somebody to want to be her friend, shed never forget it, Foster told The Epoch Times.

(Courtesy of Mary ODonnell)

Every Sunday, Foster, Ernby, and other friends would attend Mariners Church and grab lunch together to catch up on their week.

On the days they would go out walking to grab cocktails, Ernby would insist her friends all hold hands until they reached their destination.

She wanted her friends to feel loved, cherished, and known, Foster said.

Thats the kind of person that she was, just lovely, passionate, and loving, Foster said. She had [a] very high Christian faith and we do not doubt that she is in heaven waiting on us.

Mary ODonnell met Ernby through Foster and bonded immediately over their similar past of growing up in military families while living in San Diego.

We had a connection very early on, ODonnell told The Epoch Times.

ODonnell and her husband traveled with Ernby and her husband on trips together when they first met. ODonnell recalled their first trip to ski in Mammoth in 2016.

(Courtesy of Mary ODonnell)

Their adventures continued a year later when the couples found themselves in New York on Saint Patricks Day watching the celebrations and parade on Fifth Avenue from the top of the Peninsula Hotel.

A lot of adventures, ODonnell said. She was a loving and fun person.

Aside from their spontaneous trips, ODonnell said she admired Ernbys ability to give her undivided attention to those she spoke with, making it easy to connect with those she encountered.

Ernbys core values and priorities were rooted in her faith and loved ones with work following shortly behind, friends said.

ODonnell recalled Ernby always putting God first and being passionate for life.

The last time ODonnell saw her was when Ernby attended her November birthday celebration. The pair were supposed to meet up a few weeks after but delayed the occasion due to the series of storms that passed through the state in December.

I feel like she still had a ton of life left in her, ODonnell said.

(Courtesy of Mary ODonnell)

While her friends received 100 percent of her attention while in her presence, so did Ernbys work.

Mike Netter met Ernby about a year ago when he started to become engaged with state politics. Netter recalled Ernbys enthusiasm for the causes she supported and her genuine interest in each event she attended.

She was genuinely humble, passionate, and engaged, Netter told The Epoch Times.

Sky Jones met Ernby about a year ago volunteering with the Republican Party of Orange County. Ernby served on the OC GOP Center Precinct Committee since 2020.

Upon her first interaction with Ernby, it didnt take long for Jones to know that she was special and down to earth.

Jones spoke about Ernby as if she were still alive, recalling her warmth and embrace.

She is a supportive and loyal friend, who is full of life and full of energy all the time, Jones told The Epoch Times.

Ernby was often surrounded by many, but she was personable with those she interacted with, Jones said.

While serving on the OC GOP, Ernby worked with a multitude of volunteers whom she cared deeply about.

Fred Whitaker, Chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County recalled Ernbys ability to help volunteers find positions to serve in the areas where they were most passionate.

She didnt force people to have a passion for something they didnt have a passion for, Whitaker told The Epoch Times. She found where their passion was and knew where they could help.

(Courtesy of Peter Kuo)

Before her death, Ernby had hoped to put together a team appreciation event for OC Republican Party volunteers.

She cared about everyone that was volunteering and she wanted them to feel loved, Jones said.

The event was to occur in February.

Jones further highlighted Ernbys enthusiasm for her work, especially her achievement in heightening Latino engagement with political affairs.

She received an award in October 2021 on behalf of the Hispanic community and her work to reach Hispanic conservatives.

Shes all about wanting to reach people to vote for their values and stand for their freedoms, Jones said. Shes supportive of religious freedom. Shes supportive and loves our country and stands for what is right.

A high school volunteer with the Republican Party of Orange County remembers Ernby as being a fighter for freedom.

She always carried a flame of joy wherever she went, a perfect exemplar of a fighter for the rule of law and American freedom, she said.

Ernby joined the district attorneys office in 2011, specializing in environmental and consumer law. She received a bachelors degree in biological science from the University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara in 1997. She then pursued her Law degree from the University of San Diego in 2002.

She is survived by her husband, Axel, and dog, Nixon.
Hong Kong: No virus found in restricted areas

The Government announced that the compulsory testing exercises and enforcement operations for the four restricted areas in Happy Valley, Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Ho Man Tin finished today with no positive COVID-19 cases found.

It made restriction-testing declarations yesterday evening, requiring people within the four specified areas to stay in their premises and undergo compulsory testing.

The areas covered Yuk Sing Building in Happy Valley, Mayland Court in Causeway Bay, Lee Shun Building in Wan Chai and Block B, The Crescent in Ho Man Tin where 190, 110, 80 and 135 citizens were tested.

In the subsequent enforcement operations, about 85 peoples test records were checked. Three people were found to have not undergone mandatory testing.

Government staff also visited around 220 households in the four restricted areas, of which some 43 did not answer the door. Such households are urged to contact the Government promptly to arrange testing.

According to the compulsory testing notices issued yesterday, those who have stayed in these four buildings within a specified period for more than two hours must undergo testing by tomorrow even if they were not in the restricted areas when the declarations took effect.

Meanwhile, the Government conducted an enforcement operation today at Yen Kung Mansion, Taikoo Shing in Quarry Bay, which was included in a compulsory testing notice earlier.

It arranged for staff to verify the testing certifications of the people subject to compulsory testing at the building from 7am to around 10.30am.

During the operation, test records of around 320 people were checked and 47 of them were found to have violated the compulsory testing notice.

The Government required them to undergo testing within a specified period.

This story has been published on: 2022-01-08. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2022. (Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Harriss New Communications Director Apologizes for Urging Deportation of Illegal Immigrants

The man tapped as Vice President Kamala Harriss new communications director apologized on Jan. 7 for urging immigration officers in 2010 to deport illegal immigrants.

Jamal Simmons wrote on Twitter at the time that he saw two undocumented folks talking on MSNBC. One Law student the other a protester.

Can someone explain why ICE is not picking them up? Simmons wrote, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In another post, he said, Just seems odd u can go on TV & admit breaking law & not be arrested.

A third missive said: Ill try this again: Just saw 2 undocumented folks talking on MSNBC and have serious legal question. Why wouldnt ICE pick them up.

The posts were widely circulated after Simmons was named to join Harriss staff, replacing the recently departed Symone Sanders. They were promoted by some conservatives, including Stephen Miller, who was a senior adviser to President Donald Trump.

I agree with @JamalSimmons. If you break into our nation there must be deportation, Miller wrote on Twitter.

Simmons told news outlets in a statement that as a pundit, he spoke out on public issues.

Sometimes I have been sarcastic, unclear, or just plainly missed the mark. I sincerely apologize for offending those who care as much as I do about making America the best, multi-ethnic, diverse democracy it can be. I know the role I am taking on is to represent the Biden-Harris administration, and I will do so with humility, sincerity, and respect, he said.

Simmons also took to Twitter to write that he has never advocated for illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children to be targeted by ICE agents.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent stands in Hawthorne, Calif., on March 1, 2020. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

He said he supported Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an executive order by former President Barack Obama that shielded such immigrants from deportation, and comprehensive immigration reform.

Frankly, its depressing [that people] can forget about every other thing Ive said in public on this [because] of bad tweets, he said, also sharing a tweet from an activist who told people that Simmons never called ICE and is a solid ally.

Austin Kocher, an assistant professor at Syracuse University who studies the U.S. immigration enforcement system, said the backtracking by Simmons from his stance in 2010 displayed Democrats shift since then.

Mr. Simmonss comments in 2010 would have been viewed as essentially the norm among Democrats, he said.

Simmons is going to work for Harris, who President Joe Biden asked last year to tackle the unprecedented immigration crisis.

Under Biden, the federal government recorded a record-high 1.7 million illegal immigrant apprehensions at the U.S.Mexico border in fiscal year 2021, which ended Sept. 30. Though many illegal immigrants were deported or otherwise removed, hundreds of thousands were released into the interior of the United States, some without court dates.

Customs and Border Protection, which is in charge of immigration enforcement, has said that the record-high encounters were driven by multiple factors: a continued long-term shift from almost all encounters being single adults from Mexico to large numbers of individuals in family units; a continued rise in encounters of unaccompanied children; and increasing migration flows from countries other than Mexico or the Northern Triangle.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid (R) talks to consultant Steve James during a visit to Kings College Hospital in London on Jan. 7, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

I Do Not Want to Have a Vaccination: NHS Doctor Tells UK Health Secretary

An NHS doctor told Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Friday that hes not happy with the governments CCP virus vaccination mandate for health workers that is due to take effect in April.

The vaccination mandate has already come into effect for care home staff, volunteers, and visitors from Nov. 11. Parliament approved the mandate for frontline NHS workers on Dec. 14.

Steve James, a consultant anesthetist at the Kings College Hospital, told Javid that he doesnt believe the science for mandating the vaccines is strong enough and the government should at least consider the nuance that some doctors have had antibodies through previous exposure to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virusthe virus that causes COVID-19.

Im not happy about that, James told the health secretary after he asked an intensive care unit (ICU) their thoughts about the new rule to require CCP virus vaccination for NHS staff.

The unvaccinated doctor said he had had COVID-19 and had been working in COVID-19 ICU since the beginning of the pandemic.

Ive not had a vaccination. I do not want to have a vaccination, James said, adding that one of his colleagues was in the same situation.

The vaccines are reducing transmission only for eight weeks for [the] Delta [variant of the CCP virus]. With Omicron, its probably less. For that, I will be dismissed if I dont have a vaccine? The science isnt strong enough, he told Javid.

The health secretary said he respects Jamess view, adding, but therere also many different views.

Obviously, we have to weigh all that upfor both health and social careand there will always be a debate about it, Javid said.

James suggested Javid should reconsider the mandate, considering Omicron and the changing picture, or at least the nuance that doctors who had previous infections can be exempt because the protection Ive got from transmission is probably equivalent to someone whos vaccinated.

When Javid said his immunity at some point  will wane as well, James suggested that to maintain a high level of protection against transmission, every staff member would have to get a booster dose every single month.

Javid said the ministers take the very best advice that we can from people that are vaccine experts.

In a statement to Sky News, Kings College Hospital said, While currently it is not a mandatory requirement for staff to get their COVID-19 vaccination or disclose vaccination status to patients, we strongly support and encourage all our staff to get their jab, in line with national guidanceand nearly 90% of our staff have already done so.

James later told PA news agency that he did not believe COVID-19 was causing very significant problems for young people, adding that his patients in the ICU had been extremely overweight with multiple other co-morbidities.

He also said the health secretary did not seem to agree with him but had listened to his opinion.

I wouldnt say he agreed with me, he said. I had the feeling he was listening.

A new study published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that CCP virus vaccination was associated with a smaller reduction in transmission of the Delta variant than of the Alpha variant, and the effects of vaccination decreased over time.

Analysing real-world data from England between Jan. 2 and Aug. 2, 2021, the government-funded study suggested that Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine reduced the transmission of Delta by 50 percent two weeks after the second dose, but the reduction shrunk to 24 percent 10 weeks later. The Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine only offered a 24 percent reduction in transmission after two weeks and 2 percent after 12 weeks.

The government previously stated that the reasons for making CCP virus vaccination a condition of deployment in the health and wider social care sector are to protect them and to reduce transmission within health and social care premises, contribute to the protection of individuals who may have a suboptimal response to their own immunisations, [and to] avoid disruption to services that provide their care.

However, with Omicrons increased ability to evade immunity, the UK is experiencing a record-high number of cases despite the countrys high vaccination rate, with troops deployed to assist hospitals amid staff shortages.

On Friday, Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said the main aim of the UKs vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe disease and that protection against mild or asymptomatic infection with existing vaccine products would require regular (perhaps as frequent as 3 monthly) booster vaccinations which is not considered a sustainable long-term strategy.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.

PA contributed to this report.
Fumio Kishida, Japan's new prime minister, speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on Oct. 4, 2021. (Toru Hanai/Pool/Getty Images)

Japan Declares Quasi-State of Emergency in 3 Prefectures Amid Surge in COVID-19 Cases

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has decided to place Okinawa, Yamaguchi, and Hiroshima under a quasi-state of emergency from Sunday until Jan. 31, amid a surge in the countrys coronavirus cases spurred by the Omicron infections in U.S. military bases.

Under the quasi-state of emergency, governors are allowed to impose stringent measures in the specified prefectures, such as shortening business hours and restricting the serving of alcohol in the prefectures.

Certified dining establishments are not subject to such restrictions during the quasi-emergency, but they will be asked to halt dine-in alcohol service amid the governments effort to curb the spread of the virus.

Infection numbers have been rising nationwide through the year-end, New Year period and community transmissions of Omicron have been reported in parts of the nation, Kishida said at the task force meeting, Kyodo News reported.

Japan reported a total of 6,214 new cases on Friday, with Okinawa reporting 1,414 cases, Yamaguchi reporting 180 cases, and Hiroshima reporting 429 cases. The Japanese capital of Tokyo reported 922 new cases of coronavirus, though it has yet to be placed under quasi-emergency.

Governor Denny Tamaki said on Tuesday that Okinawa prefecture, host to the vast majority of U.S. military bases in Japan, has entered the sixth wave of coronavirus. Tamaki attributed the increase in coronavirus cases to the Omicron variant detected in multiple U.S. military bases in Japan.

Japan has detected a total of 1,191 Omicron cases as of Tuesday, including 479 cases considered community transmissions.

Omicron began to spread in Japan after a cluster of infections was discovered at the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Hansen in Okinawa last month, where one Japanese worker tested positive for the Omicron variant. Japan then urged the U.S. forces to conduct genome analysis of the Omicron variant.

Tamaki told reporters on Jan. 2 he was outraged over the increase of infections, accusing the U.S. forces of insufficient management, reported the Asahi Shimbun. He called for stricter measures in the military bases.

The U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) subsequently announced new measures on Jan. 5, which require all personnel to wear masks off base and undergo a coronavirus test upon arrival to Japan.

USFJ now requires no less than three negative COVID-19 tests upon traveling to Japan, including testing prior to departure for Japan, immediately upon arrival, and again while in [restriction of movement] status on installation, it said in a statement.

The latest quasi-state of emergency declarations in three prefectures mark the first such declaration under the ruling of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October last year.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (C) with a delegation from the Baltic States, including Matas Maldeikis (5th L), head of the Lithuanian delegation, at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan on Nov. 29, 2021. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)

Lithuania Draws Closer to Taiwan, Seeking A New Light: Congressman

Lithuanias stand over Taiwan puts everything in a new light, said its Parliamentarian Matas Maldeikis, as the European country faces retaliation from Beijing for drawing closer to the democratic island.

We want to create economical bonds with liberal democracy as much as possible, because its a question of time  authoritarian regimes fall, Maldeikis said in a Jan. 6 interview with NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.

In helping [Taiwan], it is helping us also, he pointed.

The congressman, also the chair of the Lithuanian Parliaments Taiwan Friendship Group, started by thanking Taiwan and its people for backing the Baltic state in withstanding major economic pressure from China.

Taipei has announced a $200 million investment fund in Lithuanian industries including semiconductors, laser technology, and biotech, to boost bilateral trade, Eric Huang, head of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, said on Jan. 5.

We are very thankful for the possibility of the support that Taiwan expressed yesterday. It is a very big deal for usfor the government and for society, Maldeikis said. This kind of perspective puts everything in a new light. Its two democracies working together and not being dependent, in any sense, on some foreign power.

The country of 2.8 million people is now bearing a trade spat with China as it seeks to stand off the very not stable Chinese authoritarian regime, Maldeikis described.

In a few days, everything could be ruined if you have a relationship with very not stable authoritarian regimes, he said.

The Chinese Communist Party is threatening to sweep Lithuania into the trashcan of history, which is ironic, because thats where communism already is.#StandWithTaiwan   Matas Maldeikis MP  (@MatasMaldeikis) December 22, 2021

The Baltic state, unlike most of its Western allies, has decided to stand fast to a direct relationship with Taiwan, by allowing the self-ruled island to open a de facto embassy in its capital, Vilnius late last year.

Such a move infuriated Beijing, which claims the island as its runaway province with no right to diplomatic recognition. China downgraded its diplomatic ties and suspended consular services after the Taiwanese Representative Office opened on Nov. 18.

Lithuanias president recently said the decision to allow Taiwan to open a representative office using the islands name was a mistake and flared controversy. But Maldeikis confirmed via a Jan. 7 Twitter post that the government will not change the name.

Changing the name of Taiwans trade office in Lithuania wouldnt stop China being a corrupt, unreliable, oppressive, antidemocratic bully, he wrote.

Coercion

In addition to downgraded diplomatic ties, the gesture over the Taiwan row brought about an escalated financial dispute. Public reports show Beijing has pressured countries to halt the sourcing of materials from Lithuania and imposed a trade embargo over its exports and imports.

The Lithuanian Embassy in Beijing on Aug. 10, 2021. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

Maldeikis said the attack has rippled across the European Union (EU).

European Unions trade commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, told a German newspaper last month that Chinas customs were increasingly blocking exports from EU member states, prior to the holiday seasons, if they contain parts made in Lithuania.

Beijing has also told Continental AG, the German car parts giant, to stop using Lithuanian-made components, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

Its a question of that [the goods are] made in European Union by the law and China is breaking all its commitments to the European Union, said Maldeikis. This is why we have to understand and China knows that. This is why it is lying. It is lying that nothing is happening.

Chinese foreign ministry denied the accusation of economic coercion, calling it false news.

In the sense, they are cowards, he added. It was not a coincidence, for China started the economical war with us exactly before Christmas  hoping to make a big fuss in our newspapers.

During the Thursday talk, the Lithuanian parliamentarian urged democracies to back up each other as much as possible, because an authoritarian regimebecause he loves somebody or he doesnt love somebodyjust decides to cut the businesses to manipulate the businesses for his purposes.

It is not the way to go, he said.

Showing Sucess

As a member of the European Union and NATO, the best Lithuania can do is to show success with Taiwan amid the tension with Beijing, Maldeikis said on Jan. 6.

If it is a success story, it also sends a signal to other countries, a very strong signal, being not dependent on China, he added.

The remarks came after the trade representative of America promised a day earlier continuing strong support to Lithuania, while top U.S. and German diplomats expressed concerns, agreeing that Chinese pressure against Lithuania was unwarranted.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the State Department in Washington on Jan. 5, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)

The EU would take up the issue at the World Trade Organization if necessary, Dombrovskis from Latvia said previously.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called during a daily briefing on Jan. 6 the U.S. promise to Lithuania is to use Taiwan to contain China.

It hurts China very much because it sees Lithuania and Taiwan can find partners somewhere else, Maldeikis said.

The rule that they have in China is day by day become authoritarian, much more, much more, much more, and its much of a threat to the rest of the world, he said. European Union countries will see that and see in our example of good cooperation.

Taipei said it was ready to help Vilnius out in resupplying trade that was halted by Beijing.

On Jan. 5, a Taiwanese state company promised to buy all the 120 shipping containers from Lithuanian that China rejected, and will take as much as possible more, said Taiwanese authorities.

Rita Li Follow Rita Li is a reporter with The Epoch Times, focusing on China-related topics. She began writing for the Chinese-language edition in 2018.
New Mayor in Columbia, South Carolina, Takes Office After Defeating an Obama-Backed Candidate

Former Columbia, South Carolina, City Councilman Daniel Rickenmann was sworn in as the citys new Republican-backed mayor on Jan. 4 after defeating Tameika Isaac Devine, a candidate endorsed by former President Barack Obama.

Though mayoral elections in the capital city are nonpartisan, Rickenmann is affiliated with the Republican Party.

In addition to receiving backing from Obama, Devine, a Democrat, was endorsed by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.).

Rickenmann succeeds former Mayor Stephen Benjamin, a Democrat, who did not seek a fourth term after serving 11 years.

In the final but unofficial results, Rickenmann received 52 percent of the vote to Devines 48 percent, which is in total votes 10,554 to 9,762, a difference of 792 votes.

Following Rickenmanns win over Devine in November, Republicans said its evidence of a growing red wave that will see Republicans recapture the House during the 2022 midterms.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the head of the Senate GOPs reelection arm, said that Columbia has been led by Dem mayors for 30 years, while Biden won by 30 points last year.

Earlier that month, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia, in what some analysts said was a major victory for Republicans in a reliably blue state that hasnt had a Republican governor for more than a decade. Biden won by 10 percentage points in the state last year.

At his swearing-in ceremony, Rickenmann said he promised clean sidewalks, streets, and schools, as well as public safety.

He alluded to the national talk of shutdowns by stating that Columbia would stay open for business and that he would work to reduce taxes and fees that close the gap between surviving and thriving.

It shouldnt take millions of dollars to take advantage of an opportunity in this city, it should only take determination and effort, Rickenmann said.

No to Mask Mandates in Schools

When a councilman in August, Rickenmann voted against mandating masks in schools.

Benjamin had declared a state of emergency for the state capital that he said was triggered by Prisma Health Childrens Hospital in Columbia reporting that it had reached strained capacity with children being hospitalized with COVID-19.

Columbia City Council subsequently ratified the state of emergency during an emergency meeting mandating masks for all faculty, staff, visitors, and children in public and private schools, and daycares that instruct children from ages 2 to 14.

In the ordinance, supported by Devine, the surge of the Delta variant being a threat to unvaccinated children was cited as the impetus for the emergency declaration.

The relaxing of social distancing, mask-wearing, and low vaccination rates, are being blamed for creating a perfect storm that has strained capacity at Prisma Health Childrens Hospital in Columbia as more children are diagnosed with COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, causing crowded offices, emergency rooms, floors, and intensive care units, according to the language of the emergency ordinance.

Months later in December, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said hospitals could be overcounting childrens COVID-19 hospitalization cases.

If a child goes in the hospital, they automatically get tested for COVID. And they get counted as a COVID-hospitalized individual, Fauci said. When in fact, they may go in for a broken leg or appendicitis or something like that. So its overcounting the number of children who are, quote, hospitalized with COVID, as opposed to because of COVID.

It was a change in narrative on hospitalization rates reflecting that of a shifting stance on masks.

In March 2020, Fauci told 60 Minutes: Theres no reason to be walking around with a mask. When youre in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but its not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is.

In February 2021, the CDC issued recommendations to wear two masks.

By the fall school year, mask mandates were common in most school systems.

In January 2022, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said on Face the Nation that cloth masks arent going to provide a lot of protection, thats the bottom line.

During the council meeting, Rickenmann said, though the council needs to do everything we can to motivate and encourage people to wear masks and get vaccinated, there is state legislation that prevents the council from mandating masks in schools.

Benjamin then told Rickenmann that the ordinance does not violate state law, and to not use that argument as a decision to vote against this ordinance, which Rickenmann later did.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio, has received more than 10,000 vaccine exemption requests from military members and civilian workers, but as of Jan. 7 has denied thousands, according to information from the base. (Courtesy of militarybases.com)

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Continues to Deny COVID-19 Vaccine Exemptions

Meanwhile, Wright State University says it will provide counseling and education for employees who refuse vaccination

The reins of authority over COVID-19 vaccination mandates seem as if theyre continuing to tighten from at least two major institutions in Dayton, Ohio.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which is a key player in national security and employs about 32,000 people, is continuing to deny vaccine exemptions for many military members and defense contractors.

While about 30 percent, or slightly more than 10,000 workers at the base, have requested exemptions, thousands have been denied, according to information released by the facilitys Community Affairs Office.

The base has cited military readiness as the reason to deny vaccine exemption requests based on religion, freedom of choice, or otherwise.

Meanwhile, Wright State University has gone as far as to say it will provide counseling and education for employees who dont get fully vaccinated or cant provide proof they were by Jan. 4, or if theyre not showing a goodwill effort to do so if theyve missed the deadline.

Whether the entities will be able to enforce the mandate is coming down to the wire as the U.S. Supreme Court last week heard President Joe Bidens argument to move forward, through executive order, with vaccines for companies that employ 100 or more people as well as for federal workers. The mandate includes members of the military and federal contractors.

In November, the university announced that it was requiring anyone who receives a paycheck from the university to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4. Wright State is among many universities throughout the United States requiring its workers to become fully vaccinated, although not with a booster shot.

Wright State University is requiring its workforce to be fully vaccinated. The deadline to do so was Jan. 4, but on Jan. 7, an official in its Human Resources Department couldnt say what percent of its workers had met the deadline. (Courtesy Wright State University)

WSU has said it will address refusal to confirm vaccination status through existing, progressive disciplinary processes outlined in university policy and collective bargaining agreements, a university-issued statement said.

Now that the deadline has passed, university officials couldnt be reached for comment, including its three-member communications division that provides media relations.

An official in Wright States human resources department had told The Epoch Times on Jan. 7 that they couldnt speak on behalf of the university and didnt immediately know the number of university employees. Nor did they know what percentage of employees were vaccinated or may have to leave their jobs.

Meanwhile, Bidens mandates are continuing to be challenged on many fronts.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit in November to block a vaccine mandate for employees of federal contractors, which could result in the release of dangerous detainees being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in county jails across the state.

We have sheriffs that are going to lose a lot of talented deputies to this mandate, and theyll ultimately give up their contracts to house ICE detainees rather than see that happen, Yost said in a statement.

Forcing that kind of choice on people who dedicate their lives to keeping our communities safe creates a needless situation in which everyone loses.

The coalition of attorneys general filing the lawsuit says the potential workforce loss poses a significant threat to state economies, as it could exacerbate ongoing gaps in the supply chain.

The lawsuit filed by Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand, Seneca County Sheriff Fredrick Stevens, and the attorneys general of Kentucky and Tennessee, challenges the administrations authority to mandate COVID-19 vaccines.

Sheriffs offices are not the only entities in Ohio with federal contracts, Yost pointed out, noting that the defense, higher education, medical, and shipping industries also have them, as well as the state government.

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the eastern district, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee maintain that the vaccine mandate is unconstitutional, in part because police power to enforce mandates falls within a states authority, and Congress didnt give the president authority to issue such a broad mandate.

Federal contractors account for about a fifth of the labor force, Yost said, citing statistics from the Department of Labor.

Ive said it many times: the Biden administration may not do whatever it wants however it wants, Yost said.

The Constitution lays out critical rules by which the executive branch must operate. Congress and the states have their own powers, which the administration cant just take over because it wants to.

University employees at Wright State were informed they could confirm they are fully vaccinated by uploading an image of their federal vaccination card on Med+Proctor, a secure medical third-party website.

The federal contractor executive order currently remains in force, and the university must prepare to comply. Though the legal landscape may change in the future, we are announcing this policy shift to give employees time to plan and schedule their vaccinations.

We will continue to monitor the lawsuits and we will notify the community promptly of any developments, the statement added. Absent further developments or communications, however, this policy change is firm.
Part of the Bruce Highway washed away by floodwaters caused by ex-Cyclone Seth, north of Gympie, Australia, obtained on Jan. 8, 2022. (AAP Image/Supplied, Maleny State Emergency Service)

One Dead, Others Missing in Wake of Ex-Cyclone Seth

Former tropical cyclone Seth has claimed the life of an Australian man trapped in a submerged vehicle north of Brisbane in the state of Queensland, while the whereabouts of up to 15 others are uncertain.

Police and emergency rescue teams were called after reports of a utility being swept into floodwaters on Cherry Tree Road near the Bruce Highway, at Kanigan, about 7.30 p.m. on Friday.

An extensive response involving swift water crews ended when the body of the driver, a 22-year-old Sunshine Coast resident, was found inside the ute on Saturday morning.

We are tragically reporting that there has been one person that is now deceased, was trapped in floodwaters, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters at Kedron in Brisbanes north.

We are praying that others are safe but we will be finding out further updates during the day.

Palaszczuk said residents in the Wide Bay region had gone to extraordinary efforts to help one another after intense localised rain left some trapped in rising floodwaters.

I can say that we do have a severe weather event at the moment, she said.

I think everyone would know that we had ex-tropical cyclone Seth off our coast. It crossed over and has been sitting around this Wide Bay region and has not moved, is producing storms, and excessive rainfall.

More than 650mm of rain fell across the area overnight. State Emergency Service officials received more than 700 calls for help, while 31 swift water rescues were launched.

Assistant Emergency Services Commissioner Stephen Smith said his crews remain in high demand.

Incidents are still being responded to, he said. Out of those 31 Swift water incidents, 18 remain open. We are having difficulty with access both on land and in air so we do urge community support in minimising to essential travel only.

Asked whether up to 15 people were unaccounted for, Smith said efforts to access those whose whereabouts were uncertain were ongoing, with further updates expected during Saturday.

Meanwhile, a tropical cyclone may be brewing further north in the wake of Seth.

The Bureau of Meteorology is keeping an eye on a monsoon trough in the Coral Sea that is threatening to develop into a tropical cyclone by Monday.

There is a moderate chance of a tropical cyclone forming in the northwest of the Coral Sea, BOM hazard response co-ordinator Brooke Pagel told AAP.

The trough was set to develop into a tropical low and drift over the Cape York peninsula, intensifying when it enters the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Thats where we are expecting it to really ramp up and maybe form into a cyclone, Pagel said.

It was thought Seth was petering out as it finally reached land after causing massive swells along the Queensland coast during the week.
More Than 584,000 Foreigners Overstayed Their Visas: DHS

A total of 584,885 foreigners overstayed their U.S. visas in fiscal year 2020, according to a newly released report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DHS recently released the report, but made it appear as if it had been released in September 2021 after being pressured by Republican senators for defying the law and not releasing it.

The Entry-Exit Overstay Report (pdf) found 584,885 foreign nationals who were legally allowed to enter the United States for a period of time, but failed to abide by their visas and stayed longer than permitted.

That was higher than the 497,272 foreigners who overstayed visas in fiscal year 2019.

Fiscal year 2020 ran from Oct. 1, 2019, to Sept. 30, 2020.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the increase an anomaly when compared with the prevailing trend and attributed it to the COVID-19 pandemic.

About 1.2 percent of foreigners who entered the United States legally via air or sea are believed to have overstayed their visas in 2020, according to the report.

The most overstays among nonimmigrant visitors were among Brazilians, Venezuelans, Colombians, Chinese, and the British. Nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors staying too long were most likely to be from China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.

The high number of overstays is an indication that the State Department is not doing a good enough job to screen travelers for eligibility and that theyre simply issuing too many visas inappropriately to unqualified applicants, Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Epoch Times.

And Im concerned that this is going to get even worse when travel picks up again and people around the world have heard the message from the Biden administration that there is essentially no interior enforcement and no enforcement of the rules against overstaying, that theyre going to see this as an opportunity to come and settle here illegally, without fear of any penalties, Vaughan said.

The Biden administration has relaxed enforcement rules that helped the Trump administration clamp down on illegal immigration, such as by restricting which illegal aliens that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers can pick up.

Biden administration officials have described the immigration system as broken and have said it will take time to fix it. Critics say it was working fine when former President Donald Trump was in office.

Some attempts at change have been reversed, including a bid to end the Remain in Mexico program, which forces some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their applications are being processed. A federal judge forced the administration to relaunch it after he found that Mayorkas ignored how DHS determined that it helped curb illegal immigration.

In 1998, Congress ordered the government to produce an annual report on visa overstays. Lawmakers said in 2021 that they were concerned that the large number of annual in-country alien overstays threatens national security and the integrity of legal immigration.

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) pushed for the release of the report in December 2021, noting that DHS had failed to meet its legal deadlines in producing it and a separate report over how it vetted evacuees from Afghanistan.

These reports hold vital information for our oversight work of your department and for the public as the American people seek to assess the impact of the Biden administrations immigration enforcement efforts. Your continued delay in providing these reports violates the law and raises significant questions about your commitment to uphold the laws Congress enacts, the senators told Mayorkas.

The administration is still withholding the Afghan evacuee report, as well as an annual report detailing the deportations that ICE carried out in 2021.

The number of illegal immigrants that ICE was holding in detention has dropped since May, hitting 20,623 on Dec. 19, 2021, according to Syracuse Universitys Transactional Research Access Clearinghouse.

The Biden administration has been releasing tens of thousands of immigrants without court datesan unusual arrangementand has let thousands of immigrants go without receiving COVID-19 testing.

For the first time, the number of immigrants being monitored through ICEs new alternatives to detention programs exceeded 150,000 in December 2021, Syracuse University stated. The programs feature immigrants being allowed to go free while being monitored through various technologies, such as ankle bracelets.
Cody Flint in an interview with NTD's "The Nation Speaks" program broadcast on Jan. 1, 2022. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

People Injured by COVID-19 Vaccine Are Left in the Dark: Agricultural Pilot

People injured by the COVID-19 vaccine have no meaningful way to get compensated and have been ignored by the federal government, according to an agricultural pilot who has been seriously injured by taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

At this point, the government has totally abandoned us, Cody Flint, a vaccine-injured pilot, told NTDs The Nation Speaks program in an interview broadcast on Jan. 1.

The PREP Act stated that vaccine injuries were given an outlet to go seek compensation and financial help in the name of the Countermeasure Injury Compensation Programthe CICPits an absolute joke, Flint said. We are totally left in the dark.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act authorizes the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue a declaration to provide liability immunity against any claim of loss resulting from the manufacture or use of medical countermeasures, which include medicines, vaccines, and medical supplies, to treat diseases.

On March 10, 2020, former HHS Secretary Alex Azar issued a PREP Act declaration for medical countermeasures against COVID-19. The declaration has been extended or amended multiple times. The liability protection is extended through Oct. 1, 2024.

Under this declaration, a vaccine-injured person cant sue COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, or federal health agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that approved or authorized these vaccines.

Flint pointed out the extremely low acceptance rate of the CICP. Of the 499 claims filed before the pandemic since the program was introduced in 2010, the CICP has compensated only 29 claims.

According to CICPs data, as of Nov. 1, 2021, the CICP has received in total 5,242 claims, among which 4,751 are COVID-19 related. Only one COVID-19 related claim has been determined eligible for compensation and is pending a review of eligible expenses, three COVID-19 related claims have been denied compensation because the standard of proof for causation was not met and/or a covered injury was not sustained.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an HHS agency that runs CICP, responded to The Epoch Times via email that The CICP is working to process claims as expeditiously as possible.

On Feb. 1, 2021, Flint volunteered to get the vaccine.

Just an exciting daythought we were gonna put this behind us, Flint recalled.

But within 30 minutes, he developed an odd headache after receiving the vaccine. Two days later, he took his first flight that year. Immediately after takeoff, he had tunnel vision. Flint tried to push forward to keep his commitment to his client. But he felt like a bomb went off inside his head in the end. He couldnt remember how he landed the plane back on the runway.

Really by the grace of God that there was not an accident. I went to my family doctor immediately, Flint said.

Later, he was told that his inner ears were ruptured, and fluid inside was leaking inward toward the inside of his skull. Doctors explained that only highly elevated intracranial pressure from things like a car wreck, major head trauma, or things of that nature could make that happen to both of his ears at the same time on the same day.

Obviously, I had none of those. The only thing that changed in my life was I got the vaccine and developed a severe headache immediately that got worse leading up to that point, Flint said.

Flint went through two surgeries and dozens of doctor visits afterward. His condition improved, but he still has trouble driving.

I dont know what my next stepping stone in life is going to be. I dont know, Flint said, noting that his pilot license was taken away. I dont know what to do at this point. I spent every dime Ive saved my entire life on the surgeries and just trying to survive and feed my family since the incident happened.

Having been an agricultural pilot for 15 years, Flint said hes not an anti-vaxxer. I signed up and got it the first day I could possibly get it. I believed in vaccines, Flint told The Epoch Times last month.

Now Flint is critical of the vaccine mandate.

Protesters rally against vaccine mandates in New York City on Nov. 20, 2021. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Thats the Achilles heel of the mandate. This does not fit everyone. Its not a one-size-fits-all solution, Flint told NTD. There are thousands and thousands of people around the country. Ive been in touch with a lot of them that have had absolutely life-altering, career-ending injuries from these vaccines. A lot of them are pilots. It is scary that how many pilots are being injured by this.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has repeatedly said the serious adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination may occur but are rare.

Flint also criticized the federal health agencies for not being transparent with the safety data of the vaccine.

Early last month, the FDA asked a judge to give it 75 years to produce data concerning the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the agency to provide such data in about eight months.

FDA released their very first 91-page batch of safety data. Those 91 pages covered December 2020 through Feb. 28, 2021, Flint said, referring to the first report (pdf) released. In those two and a half months, Pfizer was able to confirm 1,223 deaths as a direct result of the Pfizer vaccine.

For comparison, Flint said the swine flu vaccine in 2009 was pulled from the market after 47 deaths because it was too dangerous. You have to ask yourself, what is going on here?

Pfizer responded saying thats an inaccurate interpretation of the data.

The figure of 1,223 fatalities among 158,893 adverse effects reflects spontaneous reports from sources that include health officials in several countries, without any verification of the cause, among the millions of vaccinated people worldwide during that period, Pfizer spokeswoman Dervila Keane told AFP last month.

It does not indicate specific causes of death, and the fatalities may include people with various illnesses such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, Keane added.

Flint told NTD that he will fight, hoping that people dont have to go through what his family is going through.

We have support groups on social mediatens of thousands of vaccine-injured in these support groups. The support groups are pulled down by Facebook daily. Even my story is pulled down by Facebook daily, Flint continued. So this is a battle. This is a tough fight that were in, and people are waking up daily to this. I hope it continues.

Current Vaccine Compensation Programs

Federal law has two distinct compensation programs to compensate individuals harmed by adverse reactions to vaccines.

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) may provide compensation for injuries or deaths associated with most vaccines routinely administered in the nation, such as flu vaccines and vaccines administered to children. Another is the CICP, which may provide compensation for injuries and deaths resulting from covered countermeasures under the PREP Act during certain public health emergencies.

The CICPs compensation is very limitedcapped $50,000 a year for lost employment income (lifetime cap is generally $379,000). A standard death benefit is $370,376 as of 2021. It doesnt cover attorneys fees, pain-and-suffering damages, or punitive damages.

The VICPs compensation is much broader than that of CICP. Besides the loss of earnings, it covers reasonable attorney fees and cost from medical care, rehabilitation, and vocational training. It also covers pain and suffering and emotional distress, capped at $250,000. For a vaccine-related death, the compensation amount is $250,000.

Vaccine-injured victims under VICP also have three years from the date of the first symptom to file the claim. CICP only allows people to file the claim within one year from receiving the vaccine.

Experts specializing in vaccine law said it is very difficult to get CICP compensation.

This government compensation program is very hard to use, Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law, told CNBC last month. The bar for compensation is very high.

The CICP requires the injury to either meet the requirements on a Countermeasure Injury Table or be a direct result of the use of a covered countermeasure.

But maybe the most crucial thing is people have no legal protection under CICP.

The CICP lacks the protections of the U.S. legal system. There is no transparency, no court, no judge, and no right to appeal. Decisions about compensation are made in a black hole by a nameless administrator, stated the Maglio Christopher & Toale Law Firm, a law firm specialized in vaccine injury cases.

Nick Vandennieuwenhof contributed to this report.

Harry Lee Follow Harry Lee is a New York-based reporter for The Epoch Times. Contact Harry at harry.lee@epochtimes.com
Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos participates in a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Omicron variant, in Ottawa on Jan. 7, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Provinces Should Consider Making COVID-19 Vaccines Mandatory for All: Federal Health Minister

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says he believes provinces and territories should consider making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for all Canadians at some point.

What we see now is that our health-care system in Canada is fragile. Our people are tired, and the only way that we know to get through COVID-19, this variant, and any future variant, is through vaccination, Duclos said at a press conference on Jan. 7.

PPE, physical distancing, tests, rapid tests, PCR tests, these are all very important tools, but what will make us move through this crisis and end it is vaccination.

Duclos noted that half of the hospitalizations in Quebec are due to those who are unvaccinated, which creates a burden on health-care workers, a burden on societywhich is very difficult to bear and, for many people, difficult to understand.

He said he is signalling [mandatory vaccination for all Canadians] as a conversation, adding that its something he believes the provinces and territories will support, along with the federal government, over the next weeks and months, while stressing that it would be their decision to make.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney rejected the idea of mandatory vaccinations in a social media post shortly after Ducloss press conference.

Albertas legislature removed the power of mandatory vaccination from the Public Health Act last year and will not revisit that decision, period, he wrote on Twitter Friday.

While we strongly encourage those who are eligible to get vaccinated, it is ultimately a personal choice that individuals must make.

On Thursday, Conservative Leader Erin OToole said he refuses to criticize people who arent vaccinated and believes reasonable accommodations should be provided to people like truck drivers to avoid service disruptions and exacerbating supply chain challenges.

There is going to be as much as 15 percent of the population that is not vaccinated, he said at a news conference.

In some cases, you will have to try and find reasonable accommodations between keeping people safe and people not losing their job, losing their home, not being able to provide for their kids. I dont think that position is irrational when peoples lives are on the line.

Meanwhile, Canadas chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam noted that although the Omicron variant is driving a rise in hospital admissions, evidence from ongoing surveillance and international studies has suggested that the risk of hospitalization from the new variant is lower compared to Delta.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
An ambulance of Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service in a file photo. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

Road Crash in West Bank Kills 8 Palestinians, Injures 2

JERUSALEMA truck and a van collided on a narrow two-lane highway in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, killing eight Palestinians and injuring another two, according to Israeli medics.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Friday a day of mourning for the victims. Thousands of Palestinian laborers work in Jewish settlements along Highway 90, which runs through the Jordan Valley.

Videos circulating online appeared to show the truck slamming into the van head-on as the van sought to make a left turn off the highway.

Israels Magen David Adom rescue service confirmed the seven deaths and said three people were evacuated by military helicopter for medical treatment. Israeli and Palestinian media later reported that one of the injured had died.
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) (C) stands with San Clemente Mayor Pro Tem Chris Duncan (L), and Councilwoman Kathy Ward (2nd R), as well as San Clemente Downtown Business Association Chair Chris Aitken (R) as he speaks in San Clemente, Calif., on Jan. 7, 2022. (Brandon Drey/The Epoch Times)

San Clemente Officials: What to Expect From Bidens Infrastructure Bill in 2022

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.South Orange County residents and Californians in general could see long overdue improvements to critical infrastructure in the coming months thanks to new federal funding, officials announced during a Dec. 7 press conference.

San Clemente city officials and Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), who represents ten cities across North County San Diego and South Orange County, said the quality of life for millions of California residents would be improved by creating jobs and growing the economy through President Bidens Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which was passed by Congress last year.

My great hope and expectation are that well see shovels in the ground in the coming months, Levin said at the historic San Clemente Pier on Jan. 7.

Levin said the bill could potentially fund local projects including making the citys iconic T Street overpass more accessible for people with disabilities, widening the Ortega Highway, and improving the San Juan Creek bridge.

More notably, city officials aim to secure funds for a sand replenishment project to combat coastal erosion.

Our beach is the most important asset, Councilwoman Kathleen Ward said. But it is eroding.  There has been infrastructure built up the coast that is blocking the migration of sand to our beaches and is causing our coastline to erode.

Mayor Pro Tem Chris Duncan said, San Clemente beaches are the lifeblood of our citythat is who we are.

Of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure funding, California will receive approximately $45.5 billion.

The state plans to advance a list of projects through funding distribution among state agencies and local governments, according to Levin.

Im already fighting to get as much of that fundingand all of the funding from the bipartisan infrastructure lawback to our community as soon as possible, Levin said. I am as eager, probably more eager than anyone to see these funds lead to construction.

The bill allocates $29.5 billionalmost two-thirds of Californias shareto road and bridge maintenance. The first round of highway funds, nearly $5 billion, will arrive in 2022, and the remaining $25 billion is expected to hit the roads over the next five years, the Department of Transportation announced last month.

Nearly $9.5 billion is earmarked for public transportation, $3.5 billion for improvement of water infrastructurewhich Levin specifically labeled as out-of-dateand $1.5 billion for airport infrastructure development.

He said an overwhelming majority of the funds will be subjected to the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, a 1931 law requiring federally funded contractors and subcontractors to pay their laborers no less than the prevailing wage.

To make recharging easier for electric cars owners, $384 million goes toward expanding electric vehicle charging networks for electric cars in the state.

For more accessible internet statewide, the bill provides $100 million to expand broadband coverage while $40 million goes to protection against cyber-attacks.

Californias relentless wildfires warrant another $84 million.

Levin added that the infrastructure bill can perhaps, most importantly, position the United States to win the 21st century.

A Buy American provision was a part of the legislation to ensure American iron, steel, and other construction materials manufactured in the country are used for all taxpayer infrastructure and public works projects, according to Levin.
School Choice Provides Real Accountability: Neal McCluskey

Empowering parents with school choice will bring real accountability to the school system, Neal McCluskey, director of the Cato Institutes Center for Educational Freedom, said.

When a parent can take their child and the money [from] a school thats not working for them, and take them to another school, thats instant accountability, he said. The school thats losing that child and is presumably then losing other children, theyll say: Look, were doing something wrong. If we dont fix what were doing, were gonna go out of business.

That doesnt exist in public schools, he added.

McCluskey made the remarks when he appeared on EpochTVs Crossroads program discussing a lawsuit against the state of Ohio about one school choice program.

About 100 school districts led by Columbus City Schools (CCS) allege that the EdChoice voucher programalso known as EdChoice Scholarship Programviolates the Ohio Constitution.

The EdChoice program is an income-based program. It offers taxpayer-funded vouchers to students who choose private schools instead of their communitys public schools. The scholarship amount is $5,500 for grades K8 and $7,500 for grades 912.

The program provides students in grades K12 the opportunity to attend a private school for little or no cost whose families meet the Federal Poverty Guidelines, the Ohio Department of Education says on its website.

The plaintiffs claim the program violates the Ohio Constitution, which requires the state to fund a thorough and efficient system of common public schools.

The rapid expansion of the EdChoice Program has created multiple state-wide systems of publicly-funded, uncommon, private schools, reads the complaint (pdf).

The CCS states in the lawsuit that theyre going to lose 6,800 students and over $40 million of funding because of the EdChoice Program Vouchers.

McCluskey disagreed with the plaintiffs, the Vouchers Hurt Ohio coalition, and told Crossroads Joshua Philipp that the Ohio Constitution requires the state to fund a common school system, i.e., the public schools, but it doesnt block the state from funding other schools including religious schools and other private schools.

The Epoch Times reached out to the attorneys whore representing the Vouchers Hurt Ohio coalition in this lawsuit.

McCluskey said that parents in other states should also pay attention to the lawsuit.

Its important for people to see how this case turns out and see what the arguments are that are made. Because lots of state constitutions are similar to Ohio, a lot of state constitutions have a lot of the same provisions as Ohios have, provisions about supplying a public school system. Some talk about a uniform system of public schools, he said. There are lots of nuances and intricacies in state constitutions, but there are also a lot of similarities.

Homogenization vs. Pluralism

McCluskey also shared his thoughts on homogenization and pluralism in education, saying homogenizing people in education is a very dangerous thing.

The problem is that we are crushing freedom, were crushing pluralism while at the same time supporting a monopoly system, he said.

In his viewpoint, assigning people to schools based on their home address is a terrible way to provide education because all children are different and communities are different.

More and more conflicts have happened between parents and school districts nationwide because parents dont feel like theyre being listened to, McCluskey said.

It should be the parents role to decide which schools their children should attend and what they should be taught, he argues.

The family that wants critical race theory [CRT] can seek out a school that teaches it  the family that doesnt want CRT seeks out schools that dont teach CRT or use it to inform their policies. Then we have peace, and then we have true pluralism, he concluded.

Allen Zhong senior writer Follow Allen Zhong is a long-time writer and reporter for The Epoch Times. He joined the Epoch Media Group in 2012. His main focus is on U.S. politics.
This photo provided by the Hidalgo County (Texas) Sheriff's Office, showing the booking photo of Pascale Ferrier. (Via AP/Hidalgo County (Texas) Sheriff's Office)

Seized Cash Wont Be Returned to Montreal Woman Accused of Threatening Donald Trump

WASHINGTONA Quebec woman awaiting trial for allegedly mailing poison to then-president Donald Trump in 2020 is not entitled to recover more than US$2,000 seized by authorities, a United States federal judge ruled Friday.

Judge Dabney L. Friedrich sided with prosecutors who argued the money, which was seized from Pascale Ferrier when she was arrested at the U.S. border in September 2020, should not be returned.

Lawyers representing Ferrier, who is detained in a Washington, D.C., prison, argued during a virtual court appearance that she needs the money to buy basic items, including food, and to call her family in Canada while she awaits trial.

Were really just here about getting Ms. Ferrier the ability to get all the shampoo that she wants, get all the toiletries that she wants, get all the underthings that she wants, be able to communicate with her family, which is more expensive, obviously, because theyre in Canada, said Eugene Ohm, a federal public defender. He noted that most prisoners have access to money from their own bank accounts or nearby family.

But the prosecution argued the cash is evidence that could be presented in court. Its powerful evidence to be able to show the jury at the trial what the defendant had in her possession when she came, including the full amount of the currency, prosecutor Michael Friedman told the court.

He also said a sealed filing relating to actions Ferrier is alleged to have taken after her arrest, which are still being investigated, suggests returning the money could pose a grave danger to the community.

The alleged actions referenced in the sealed filing, as well as disciplinary reports from two detention facilities where Ferrier has been held, suggest Ferrier should undergo a competency hearing to see if she is fit to stand trial, Friedman said.

If we end up having a trial in this case here in D.C., theres going to come a time where were going to have to address whether this case can proceed to trial or not, he told the court.

Friedman has asked the court to order Ferrier to undergo a 30-day mental health evaluation, a motion that has been opposed by the defence. That evaluation would require Ferrier to be transferred to another facility.

Friedrich did not rule on that request Friday, instead asking the prosecution to provide more information about how long the evaluation would take. She said one defendant in a case before her has been waiting since September for similar evaluation.

The defence argued that Ferrier is fit to stand trial because she understands the nature and possible consequences of the proceedings.

The government hasnt put forth any evidence that she doesnt understand the nature of these proceedings, said David Bos, one of Ferriers lawyers.

Ferrier is accused of mailing a letter containing the poison ricin to Trump at the White House. She also faces several federal charges in Texas, where she is alleged to have sent threatening letters containing the poison to law enforcement officials.

By Jacob Serebrin
Started in Slavery, Founded in Freedom: 1619 Versus 1776

Commentary

Now that everyone with a computer and an opinion has had his or her say on the merits and shortcomings of the 1619 Project, we are now in a position to step back and ask ourselves: What is really at stake here?

The most controversial aspect of the project has not been its contentapart from one important, mistaken historical claim in Nikole Hannah-Joness introductory essay, which has since been correctedbut its framing. No one is talking about the excellent and inspiring articles on Howard Law School graduates, black music, or the pecan pioneer (yes, its in there!). Even Hannah-Joness essay hasnt been subjected to comprehensive commentary and analysis in the manner that it deserves. Instead, the focus of critics has been concentrated on the title page of Hannah-Joness essayOur founding ideals of liberty and equality were false when they were writtenand Jake Silversteins editors note introducing the project. And then, of course, there is the title: 1619.

What do these parts of the project jointly convey? That American identitystated in terms of true birth date or originis an either/or and that 1776 must be rejected as a legitimate competitor to 1619 in this determination. The year 1619, in other words, preempts and nullifies 1776. Critics have, after all, complained not so much about the addition of 1619 as the explicit subtraction of 1776 in Silversteins (and, to a lesser extent, Hannah-Joness) framing. And as anyone with a calculator can work out, 1619 minus 1776 is a negative number; as Bob Woodson and others have pointed out, subtracting 1776 from 1619 renders the American story depressing and perhaps irredeemable. According to John McWhorter, this operation makes American civic education into an education in studied despair over events far in the past, and a sense that it is more enlightened to think of yourself as a victim than as an actor.

If we have to jettison 1776 to take 1619 on board, the question famously raised by Martin Luther King, Jr., and quoted by Clarence Page in a recent article for the 1776 Project, Where do we go from here? seems difficult to answer. It is certainly important to know where weve been in order to understand where we are now, and it is certainly important to understand where we are now in order to determine where we should go from here, but we cant chart a course for the future based only on where weve been in the past. We have to have a goal in mind, something to shoot for, a target at which to aim. We have to have somewhere we are going to, not just somewhere we are coming from.

So whats really at stake in the 1619 versus 1776 debate is whether the revolutionary principles of 1776 are capable of providing such a goal or target. The question is whether the undeniable historical fact of the preexistence of American slavery tainted or invalidated entirely the ideas and arguments about natural human rights that motivated and justified the American Revolutionand that, presumably, have continued to motivate and justify the American experiment in self-government from that time to ours. The question is not about what happened in 1619 but about what happened in 1776.

So what happened in 1776? In the main quad at the University of Missouri, just outside the building where Jeffersons tombstone is currently housed, there is a statue of Jefferson sitting at a writing desk, pen in hand, and the Declaration of Independence on the paper in front of him. This expresses much of the significance of 1776 in the popular imagination: Not unlike Moses going up Mount Sinai and coming back with the Ten Commandments, Thomas Jefferson went into his study and emerged with the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson himself helps solidify this view by literally etching his authorship of the Declaration of Independence in a stone tablet (his tombstone). The man, the moment, and the document are forever conjoined.

If this is what really happened in 1776, Silversteins either/or sounds plausible. We know that Jefferson lived far downstream of 1619. His livelihood and self-image depended squarely on his status as a slaveholder. In his well-known 1820 letter to John Holmes, Jefferson almost makes Silversteins either/or argument for him, saying about the predicament of Southern slaveholders such as himself: Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other. Though many of us would like to think that 1776 weighs on the justice side of this scale, it is not clear whether Jefferson would agree. According to the author of the Declaration, 1776s promise of self-government and happiness for himself and those like him was under threat during the Missouri crisis by devotees of the abstract principle dictating the geographic restriction of slavery.

If 1776 is inextricably bound up with the historical Thomas Jefferson, and the historical Thomas Jefferson is hopelessly bound up with the consequences of 1619, Silversteins argument seems right. The year 1776 is not a true alternative to 1619 but a mere diversion from an acknowledgment of the latters unjust and harmful effects. The either/or falls away as the antislavery Jefferson of the Declaration collapses into the apparently pro-slavery Jefferson of the Missouri Compromise and 1776 collapses into 1619. American history, as Wilfred McClay put it in a recent article, becomes little more than the lengthened shadow of slavery.

This is not, however, what happened in 1776. Contrary to Jeffersons proud claim on his tombstone, there were many joint authors of the Declaration of Independence. It was adopted (after alteration) by the entire Continental Congress and largely expressed what Thomas Paine had called the American common sense and what Jefferson would later call the American mind. The more one reads of the public documents, pamphlets, sermons, and letters of the decades preceding and the years immediately following the Declaration of Independence, the more one realizes that Jefferson was really more stenographer than author. Jefferson was an original thinker, but the later accusation that he had plagiarized the Declaration contained more than a grain of truth.

The candidacy of 1776 as a meaningful and valuable constituent of American identity cannot, then, be buried along with Jefferson himself. The ideas of 1776 that were expressed in the Declarationnatural human rights, limited government by consent, the right of revolutionwere shared equally by Jefferson and countless other individuals at his time, many of whom were not as clearly implicated by association with the evils really and symbolically unleashed in 1619. These ideas are something apart from any of the individuals at the time who espoused them.

But are the ideas of 1776 themselves vitiated by their embeddedness in a time and place affected so deeply by 1619? Can these ideas provide enlightenment despite being spoken under the shadow of the terrible injustice of slavery and by some of its most famous beneficiaries? And are the ideas of 1776 merely one of the multiple traditions out of which the tapestry of American identity has been woven since?

These are not easy questions to answer, but they are answerable. There is, first, the historical fact that ideas of natural human rights, limited government, and the right of revolution were not invented by American colonists. The scholarly consensus of at least the last 30 years has been that early American political ideas were outgrowths of much earlier political and religious ideas, forming a distinctive amalgam of these preexisting materials. The political thought of John Locke, Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, and others was combined with Protestant theology in Europe, as well as in the New England colonies, in order to form the basis of what would become the revolutionary ideas of 1776. According to eminent intellectual historians like Brian Tierney and Richard Tuck, the roots of these ideas extend all the way back to medieval times, some 500 years before 1619. These ideas may be mistaken or undesirable for other reasons, but it is safe to say that their origins are innocent of entanglement with the practice of enslavement.

There is also the fact that the core revolutionary idea that all men are created equal does not in any conceivable way support the interests of slaveholders, or even the interests of the non-slaveholding American revolutionaries at the time. While it is true that the progress of equality among whites has long been supported by a parallel dynamic of inequality between whites and nonwhites, a clear declaration of human (or even of male) equality could only run counter to this dynamic of reinforcement. A declaration that all white men are created equal or, better yet, that white men are created superior to nonwhite men, would have fit the bill much better.

Then there is Lincolns point in his speech on the Dred Scott decision in 1857: The assertion that all men are created equal was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain. This idea of equality in natural human rights did not, in other words, even support the general interests of the American colonists in their argument for independence at the time. While the related ideas of government by consent and the right of revolution did clearly support the cause of American political independence, these could have been derived from narrower, more conservative, starting points than human equality. There was, for example, the long-standing rights of Englishmen argument that had been widely used by the American colonists throughout the 1760s and early 1770s. But this was not the argument that the colonists used in 1776. Just as the argument of 1776 could not conceivably support the interests of slaveholders, so it was not well tailored to the material interests of the American colonists in their conflict with Great Britain.

If the ideas of 1776 were neither a mere feature of the historical moment, nor supportive of the concrete, material interests of those who held them, why were they held to be self-evident at all? The shocking answer is that they were held simply because they were believed to be truths. And this distinguishes them in a crucial way from most of the other traditions that were held at the time, such as white supremacy, patriarchy, xenophobia, or class distinctions. Most, if not all, of these other traditions supported the status quo and those in positions of power in society. Though they were often buttressed by rational and religious arguments as well, these arguments were, in most cases, recognizable as weak rationalizations of material interestlike the positive good argument that would later be given in support of race-based enslavement. The ideas of 1776, by contrast, were justified by the force of a logic that defied the needs of the immediate moment and the concrete interests of those who enunciated them. As much as any human ideas could, they leaped off their page in history.

The men of 1776 should be considered founders not because of any personal greatness that they may have exhibited but because they embraced ideas worthy of serving as a foundation for political society. The personal reputations of the American founders are not whats at stake in the 1619 versus 1776 debate; the reputations of these ideas are. American identity is not an either/or, as Silverstein would have us believe. It is a both/and, deeply troubling in its contradictions but equally illuminating in its promise to overcome them. The United States of America was indeed started in slavery, but it was founded in freedom.

From RealClearWire

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A damaged roof (L) and wall is seen after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Menyuan county, in China's northwestern Qinghai Province, on Jan. 8, 2022. (Provided to The Epoch Times)

Strong Overnight Earthquake Shakes Western China

A strong overnight earthquake hit two provinces in Western China, causing tunnel damage that forced the high-speed rail service to suspend operations.

Four people incurred minor injuries in the Menyuan county of Qinghai Province, officials told a press conference. The four have been treated and released.

The magnitude 6.9 quake struck at 1:45 a.m. in a mountainous part of northwestern Qinghai Province, 12,000 feet (3659 meters) above sea level. It was felt 85 miles (140 kilometers) southeast in Xining, the provincial capital.

Videos shared to Chinese social media showed rows of people coming out of their buildings covered under a blanket. Startled cattle jumped and ran in their pens; furniture and ceiling lamps swayed violently, and homes sustained damage including broken windows and fallen ceiling sections.

A damaged roof is seen after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in Menyuan county, in Chinas northwestern Qinghai Province, on Jan. 8, 2022. (STR/CNS/AFP via Getty Images)

A local residents surveillance video showed dazzling light illuminating the horizon just before the earthquake.

We had no time to put on clothes and just ran for our lives, Ma Wenxiong (alias), a resident from the town of Qingshizui in Qinghai, told The Epoch Times. They didnt return indoors for hours despite a subfreezing temperature of below 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

He remembered hearing loud rumbling sounds from the shaking wood-frame house. Luckily for him, though, the newly built house held up during the quake. His neighbors home all had cracks on the walls and windows. The walls of one of his neighbors homes had tumbled.

If it went on for 10 more seconds, all the houses would have collapsed, he said.

People stand on the street after an earthquake in Xining in northwestern Chinas Qinghai Province, on Jan. 8, 2022. (Wang Bo/Xinhua via AP)

As of 2 p.m. on Jan. 8, Ma counted a total of eight tremors following the earthquake.

We keep our doors open so that we can run out at anytime, he said.

The same earthquake also shook the nearby Gansu Province, leading to the temporary closure of 16 coal mines.

In Zhangye city, where the earthquake hit, at least 4830 houses saw cracks or crumbled walls, according to local officials, who put the estimated total economic losses at around 81.7 million yuan ($12.8 million).

The province reported deaths of 35 livestock, but said there were no injuries or deaths.

Hong Ning and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Top GOP Sen. John Thune Announces Reelection Bid

One of the top Republican senators, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), announced Saturday hes running for reelection after saying he wasnt sure if he would.

Ive always promised that I would do the work, even when it was hard, uncomfortable or unpopular, Thune said in a statement. That work continues, which is why after careful consideration and prayer, and with the support of my family, Im asking South Dakotans for the opportunity to continue serving them in the U.S. Senate.

Thune, 61, is the Senate minority whip, making him the second-in-command of the Republican conference in the upper chamber and positioned to take the top post if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), 79, steps aside at some point.

Thune had been weighing retirement, but received public encouragement from McConnell to run for a fourth term.

It would be a real setback for the country and for our party if he retires, and I certainly hope he wont, McConnell said on Hugh Hewitts radio show last month.

Thune said he feels hes been a strong and effective senator and believes he is uniquely positioned to deliver results for South Dakotans.

South Dakota is the best state in the nation in which to live, work, and raise a family, and Ive been continually humbled by the support and trust its people have afforded me over the years, he said.

Thune lost his first try for the Senate, losing by about 500 votes to Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.). He prevailed two years later, in 2004, in a challenge against Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Thune ran unopposed in 2010 and won a third term in 2016 with nearly 72 percent of the vote.

South Dakota has shifted to a strong Republican state in recent years. The GOP controls both U.S. Senate seats as well as the governors mansion and both chambers of the state legislature.

The 2022 race has four formal contestants so far: Republicans Mark Mowry, Patrick Schubert Sr., and Bruce Whalen, and Democrat Brian Bengs.

The Senate is currently split 5050, with Democrats controlling the chamber through the tiebreaking vote Vice President Kamala Harris can cast as president of the body.

Republicans are defending 20 Senate seats in the 2022 midterms; Democrats are defending 14. Republicans lost several seats, and the Senate majority, in 2020, but hope to flip both the House of Representatives and the Senate as President Joe Bidens approval rating has dropped over time since he entered office in January.

I think were going to have a great cycle, McConnell told Hewitt. I think were going to have the wind at our backs, and a good chance of getting the majority back.
UK Defence Chief: Russia Cutting Underwater Cables Could Be an Act of War

The head of the UKs armed forces has warned that Russian submarine activity is threatening underwater cables that are crucial to communication systems around the world.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said undersea cables that transmit internet data are the worlds real information system, and added that any attempt to damage them could be considered an act of war.

Speaking to The Times in his first interview since assuming the role, Radakina former head of the Royal Navysaid there had been a phenomenal increase in Russian submarine and underwater activity over the past 20 years.

He said that meant Moscow could put at risk and potentially exploit the worlds real information system, which is undersea cables that go all around the world.

That is where predominantly all the worlds information and traffic travels. Russia has grown the capability to put at threat those undersea cables and potentially exploit those undersea cables, Radakin said.

The Navy has been tracking Russian submarine activity, with a collision between the HMS Northumberland and a Russian submarine sparking speculation about cable-mapping activity.

The collision in December 2020 was filmed by a documentary crew from Channel 5 who were working on a television series called Warship: Life At Sea.

In his interview, Radakin also said the UK needed to develop hypersonic missiles to keep up with the military competition.

He highlighted Russias hypersonic and long-range missile capability as a threat and Britains comparative capabilities as a weakness. We havent [got them] and we must have, he said.

Radakin also said he had briefed ministers on Britains military choices if Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, but did not reveal any further information.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has previously said it would be highly unlikely the UK would send troops if an invasion occurred, while The Times reports cyber attacks could be an option.

Talks between Moscow, the United States, and Nato are scheduled for next week amid tensions sparked by a Russian military build-up on the Ukraine border, but Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg has said the alliance needs to prepare for the possibility that diplomacy will fail.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Friday called for Russia to end its malign activity towards Ukraine.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, COVID-19 immunisation chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on Nov. 29, 2021. (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

UK Government Advised Against 4th CCP Virus Vaccine Dose

The UK governments vaccination advisory committee on Friday recommended against giving a fourth dose of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus vaccine to nursing home residents and people over 80.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) said the three doses of the vaccines are still providing very good protection against severe disease, and an immediate second booster dose to the most vulnerable would provide only limited additional benefit against severe disease at this time.

According to data compiled by the UK Health Security Agency, for people over 65, protection against hospitalization remains at about 90 percent three months after the third dose.

The JCVI also said that theres limited time for another booster to have a substantial impact within the current wave of infections thanks to the fast spreading of the Omicron variant, and that a fourth dose would add pressure to the NHS, which is currently under significant pressure partly due to staff shortages and the booster vaccine programme.

As a result, the JCVI advised the government that there was no need to offer a fourth dose, or second booster, to vulnerable people at this time. Instead, the government should focus on giving a third dose to as many people as possible to boost protection against the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

The current data show the booster dose is continuing to provide high levels of protection against severe disease, even for the most vulnerable older age groups, said Prof. Wei Shen Lim, the JCVIs COVID-19 subcommittee chair. For this reason, the committee has concluded there is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, though this will continue to be reviewed.

The JCVIs statement also suggested that alternative vaccines, including variant-specific vaccines, may become available during 2022, and may work better against the Omicron variant or other novel variants.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
People take part in a protest against LPG cost rise following the Kazakh authorities' decision to lift price caps on liquefied petroleum gas in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Jan. 4, 2022. (Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters)

US Allows Voluntary Departure of Some Consulate Staff, Family Amid Unrest in Kazakhstan

The United States has allowed the voluntary departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and family members from the consulate general in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the State Department said on Friday, amid the nationwide unrest that has killed dozens of protesters.

U.S. citizens in Kazakhstan should be aware that violent protests may severely impact the U.S. Embassys ability to provide consular services, including assistance to U.S. citizens departing Kazakhstan, the State Department said in a statement.

Kazakhstan has been embroiled in unrest since Jan. 2 this year, which was triggered by the sudden sharp increase in gas prices in the Mangistau region. The price cap for propane gas increased to 120 tenge (27 cents), from last years 60 tenge (14 cents).

Dozens of protesters were killed in Kazakhstan as they clashed with security forces in the Central Asian country as a Russia-backed security bloc agreed to send in military forces in a bid to quell the unrest, authorities said on Jan. 6.

There was no immediate confirmation on the number of fatalities among protesters, though state-run news channel Khabar-24 TV reported that at least 13 security officers died, according to city officials cited by the network.

The countrys ministry of health said more than 1,000 people across the nation were injured as a result of the unrest, Khabar 24 TV reported, adding that so far, 2,000 people have been arrested.

As tensions escalated, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on the Russian-aligned bloc of former soviet countries for support after demonstrators continued to protest the continuing dominance of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev over the country.

Tokayev said in a televised address on Jan. 7 that he has given the order to law enforcement agencies and the army to shoot to kill without warning protesters who refused to surrender.

The militants have not laid down their arms, they continue to commit crimes or are preparing for them, he remarked.

Lorenz Duchamps contributed to this article.
The COVID Chronicles movie gives a concise look at the pandemic, answering some of the questions that have left many people scratching their heads, because the reality and science dont seem to match up with what the media is reporting.

Ivor Cummins is a biochemical engineer with a background in medical device engineering and leading teams in complex problem-solving. On his website, TheFatEmperor.com, he offers guidance on how to decode science to transform your health. He produced COVID Chronicles along with Donal ONeill, a documentary filmmaker in the field of health and human performance.

There were red flags in the pandemic from the start. Because the symptoms of COVID-19 overlap with so many other diseases, the only way to know you have it is to test for it.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests used for COVID-19 use a powerful amplification process that makes them so sensitive they can even detect the remains of a dead virus long after infection, Cummins explains. But even beyond that, every positive COVID-19 test is considered a case  and therein lies a major problem.

A Positive Test Isnt the Same as a Case

Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, an internal medicine doctor and former head of health at the Council of Europe, is among those who referred to the COVID-19 pandemic as a test pandemic due to the PCR test.

It was accepted by WHO, and they said when the test is positive, we have a case of COVID-19. And this is how they started counting the cases, Wodarg says. What they counted was the activity of testing. And the more they tested, the more cases they found.4 When labs use excessive cycle thresholds, you end up with a grossly overestimated number of positive tests, leading to a casedemic  an epidemic of false positives.

Wodarg says COVID-19 was a test pandemic. It was not a virus pandemic, because PCR tests may give a positive result when it detects coronaviruses that have been around for 20 years. In COVID Chronicles, Cummins speaks with John Lee, a former clinical professor of pathology at Hull York Medical School and consultant histopathologist at Rotherham General Hospital, who later became the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trusts director of cancer services.

He echoes Wodarg, stating that during the pandemic, every positive test is considered a case, but these are two completely different things. Normally, if you have a typical cold, for instance, you only become a case if youre hospitalized, but this all changed with the pandemic. Lee says:

In coronavirus, weve been counting every single positive test as a positive case. Now this is scientifically and medically wrong. You can have a positive coronavirus test and be completely well. You can have a positive coronavirus test and be excreting minimal amounts of the virus.

To conflate positive tests with cases is simply wrong, and yet the positive cases have been driving government policy and the entire panoply of restrictive actions that have been taken.

January 13, 2021, WHO finally questioned the accuracy of PCR testing, the film notes, and released an information notice that clarified instructions for interpreting results of PCR tests, including the fact that careful interpretation of weak positive results is needed. Reported case rates collapsed in the U.S. the following day, COVID Chronicles points out.

Lockdowns Didnt Work

Lockdowns can be effective if theyre implemented when no one has the disease, but once its already spreading in your population, they dont work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown was implemented far too late and caused much more harm than benefit.

The film highlights COVID-19 outcomes around the globe, including in vastly different regions, like densely-populated Khayelitsha in South Africa. It was originally assumed that COVID-19 would devastate the area. They were strictly locked down along with the rest of South Africa, but due to the dense population, the lockdown in Khayelitsha only served to force people further right on top of one another.

Because the area has a long history of battling diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, it was easy for officials to use data from the area, which quickly showed that those most at risk from COVID-19 were elderly, frail or suffering from other conditions like Type 2 diabetes. What surprised many, however, is that Khayelitsha fared much the same during the pandemic as everywhere else in South Africa.

Further, as the second and third waves struck, those in Khayelitsha were much better protected, even as new variants emerged. It was later found that as many as 68% of local residents had COVID-19 antibodies.13 As noted in COVID Chronicles:

[A]s Delta cut a swathe across the world and indeed South Africa, it was bigger here than any of the prior waves or the variants that we had seen. But in Khayelitsha, that 68% level of antibodies across the community proved to be extremely powerful and very, very protective, even against the new Delta variant.

So while the U.K. was in complete disarray, here we had an informal settlement in an economically deprived region with a population of half a million outperforming the U.K. and many First World nations  they had not intended  for COVID to spread throughout the community. But in doing so, they arrived at a point where herd immunity, if you like, had been reached.

Other communities also enjoyed high levels of COVID-19 antibodies in the community, including in India, the Orthodox Jewish community in London and Amish communities in the U.S. So, when this virus was left to behave in a manner that would allow it to spread amongst the healthy, they were typically getting to about two-thirds of the population displaying antibody levels.

Mask Mandates Didnt Work

Like lockdowns, mask mandates are another pandemic control measure thats been pushed as gospel despite lack of effectiveness and evidence of harm. The Danmask-19 Trial, published November 18, 2020, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that among mask wearers 1.8% (42 participants) ended up testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, compared to 2.1% (53) among controls.

When they removed the people who reported not adhering to the recommendations for use, the results remained the same  1.8% (40 people), which suggests adherence makes no significant difference. Initially, numerous research journals refused to publish the results, which called widespread mask mandates into question.

If masks work, the film points out, you should immediately see a dramatic change in the curve, within 14 days. If you look at around 10 or 12 countries where they brought in mask mandates, there was no impact on the curve  whatsoever so the empirical science of our own eyes is screaming at us: masks and lockdowns dont really move the needle much, maybe a little, but no one wants to know. Its an ideology now. Its a religion, Cummins says.

Dr. Reid Sheftall also studied mask usage extensively and found mask mandates did not noticeably change the number of cases or deaths the way they should if they actually reduce transmissibility. Countries that used minimal masks were not worse off than neighboring countries with mask mandates.

That makes sense, Cummins says, because 40 years of science have been unanimous, pretty much, that for influenza viruses, surgical masks and coverings are highly ineffective. So it agrees with the science. Yet, the media claim masks are effective, based on a flurry of papers that came in around June 2020 saying masks could be good. So a few weeks of papers have overturned a few decades of scientific sense, he adds.

If Not for Media, Would You Know Theres a Pandemic?

The film implies that COVID-19 presented an opportunity that multiple entities have used to further their own agendas, while media have served as a tool for overriding science and common sense. Its important to stay grounded and think critically to avoid falling victim to unnecessary panic and stress. Cummins notes:

A key thing to remember, I think, is if you turned off the media, no one would know theres an epidemic. Even during the surges in Ireland, in both seasons, if you did not have access to the media, you would never know.

No one really knew anyone who died  outside of someone in a nursing home, someone of elevated age or with stage 4 cancer  most people did not know anyone who died. Right? Isnt that incredible, in a massive pandemic, as weve been told?

References
Woman Loses Fight for Frozen Embryos in Child Custody Lawsuit

A Family Court judge in Michigan late last month refused a mothers request for custody of five to ten frozen embryos on ice at an in-vitro fertilization facility.

The embryos were produced through in vitro, or outside the body, fertilization in 2015 and then frozen.

The mother, Gloria Karungi, and her former boyfriend, Ronald Ejalu, agreed to produce the embryos two years after they broke up. The decision was the first step of a plan to eventually implant the embryos in Glorias womb in order for her to bear a child.

During their short relationship, Karungi and Ejalu brought forth, by natural means, a now eleven-year-old daughter, who has been diagnosed with sickle cell disease, a serious blood disorder.

The parents, though separated, wanted to possibly use stem cells from the newborns umbilical cord as a potential cure for their sick child.

Ejalu has since married and has two children with his legal wife, and he has primary custody of the ailing girl.

When he changed his mind about the plan because of its high risk, and the advent of new, lower risk therapies and procedures, he allegedly wanted the embryos destroyed. Karungi filed suit to block him.

Karungis attorney, David Kallman of the Great Lakes Justice Center, said that his client has the constitutional right to make decisions affecting her body and her pre-born children after fertilization. She simply wants to have custody and prevent the destruction of the embryos, he said.

The issue in this case revolved around whether the embryos are mere property or are life that is deserving of the courts protection(as well as) who has the authority to decide their fate, Kallman said.

Ejalus attorney, Daniel Weberman, told The Epoch Times that his client may have initially considered destroying the embryos, but has since changed his thinking.

Weberman characterized the judges decision as a stark rebuke to stealth anti-choice advocates.

The (opposing counsels) law firms legal positions involving frozen embryos are largely considered fringe legal arguments, and have been rejected by all state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court, Weberman said.

The case was decided on the fact that Karungi and Ejalu had entered into a contract with an in vitro company and with one another.

The contract reads in part, Each embryo cryopreserved as a result of in vitro fertilization shall be considered the joint property of both recipient and partner who are deemed to be the legal owners.

Though Weberman argued his clients case in the narrow terms of adhering to a contract, the broader national implications entered into his brief.

Weberman wrote, The entire litigation has been fundamentally unfair as Plaintiff and her counsel muddied the waters seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade, and have this court declare frozen in vitro embryos subject to child custody laws and deemed persons.

In a December 23 ruling, Oakland County Circuit Judge Lisa Langton ordered that the parties remain joint owners until they reach an agreement, amongst themselves, through alternative dispute resolution.

Kallman told The Epoch Times that the decision dodged the real issue. He said the courts are as reluctant to decide cases like this as they are to deal with cases involving election fraud. I am disappointed that the court declined to rule on the life status of the embryos, even though the Appeals Court said the judge had the authority to do so. We intend to appeal.

After nearly seven years of litigation and thousands of dollars of legal fees, the embryos remain in the freezer at a cost of $50 per month.

Whats the long-term future of the embryos?

Weberman said Ejalu is willing to keep them frozen in perpetuity.

Nobody likes calling embryos property, said Weberman. But, because they are not born, they cannot fall under the child custody act.

Weberman said the law has not kept pace with artificial reproductive technology.

This is resulting in a lot of permutations. Its a mess. People need to ask their legislators for solutions. In the meantime, each party desiring to employ these new reproductive technologies should consult with his own separate attorney, he said.
Children were be thrilled by Magic with Will DeBernardis via Zoom on Friday, Jan. 7, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Children in grades kindergarten, and up, were invited to a Magic Show featuring Wilton's own Will DeBernardis. He has been practicing magic since he was in first grade. He put on an interactive show that delighted the audience. Registration was required. People, who were interested in attending the event could email Wilton Library staff member Lesley Keough lkeogh@wiltonlibrary.org with questions. The people could also visit www.wiltonlibrary.org to register.

Teen Library Council meets

Teens, who are in the sixth grade through the twelfth grade, who are interested in becoming more involved with the library are invited to the years first Teen Library Council, TLC, Meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 11, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. All Wilton teens are welcome. Benefits include: helping librarians choose teen materials, brainstorming ideas for teen programs, gaining experience working in a leadership role, and helping the community through service projects. Each meeting will consist of a small group activity and discussion of upcoming events. The group will meet the second Tuesday of each month from 4 to 5:15 p.m. in the Brubeck Room and members are asked to attend all meetings. Registration is required and submitting a TLC application before the first meeting is recommended. Contact Teen Services at 203 762-6342 with any questions. To register, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org.

Online book group

The Wilton Library Readers lunchtime book discussion series meets on Wednesday, Jan. 12, from noon until 1:30 p.m. on Zoom. This month, Susan Boyar, the groups professional book discussion leader, discusses The Love Songs of sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. Registration is required in advance in order to receive the Zoom invitation link. The link will be sent out before the meeting by the librarys Head of Circulation Karen Zeibak. Wilton Library Readers meets the second Wednesday of each month through June. Visit www.wiltonlibrary.org to register and for more information.

College timeline help

High school students have a lot of questions as they start to think about college. When should they begin touring colleges? How many AP exams should they take? How do they start researching schools? What about SATs, and ACTs? The librarys program The College Timeline: What To Do When with Priyanka Shingala is designed to help. On Wednesday, Jan. 12, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., college counselor Priyanka Shingala of Lets Talk College will host a discussion via Zoom, and not in the librarys Brubeck Room, to share her advice and provide a timeline for the ninth through-twelfth grade years. The program is designed for eighth grade through high school students, and their parents. Space is limited. Visit www.wiltonlibrary.org to register.

Story times for children

During the month of January, the Childrens Library continues to offer different story times for children ages six months to five years, either in person, or on Zoom. The in-person programs are Big Kids Story Time for four- and five-year olds, on Tuesdays, Jan. 18, and Jan. 25, from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. and Family Story Time, for two- to four-year olds, and their caregivers on Wednesdays, Jan. 19, and Jan. 26, from 10:30 to 11 a.m. Attendees should bring blankets to reserve spaces for the in-person story times. Masks must be worn at all times by adults and children. Space is limited in order to maintain social distancing. Registration is required for each session. Masked walk-ins will be welcomed if space allows. On Zoom, Mother Goose on the Loose for ages six months to two years will take place on Thursdays, Jan. 20, and Jan. 27, from 10:30 to 11 a.m. Zoom invitation links will be sent to registrants before the programs begin. Visit www.wiltonlibrary.org to see more details and to register for all story times.

College test planning

The program Is the ACT or SAT Best for Me? with Priyanka Shingala is designed to help teens starting to think about college entrance exams. The program takes place on Tuesday, Jan. 18, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. via Zoom, and not in the librarys Brubeck Room. Test prep advisor, and college counselor Priyanka Shingala, of the college preparation company, Lets Talk College, will discuss the following topics: Breakdown of each exam by topic and time; What are good scores to aim for?; Determining which exam to take; The optional essays; Sending scores: score history vs. score choice; Test-optional, test blind, and test flexible universities; When should testing start?. The program is especially relevant to current sophomores, juniors and their parents; however, anyone interested is welcome to join. Registration required. Visit www.wiltonlibrary.org to register.

The library will be closed on Monday, Jan. 17, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Visit www.wiltonlibrary.org for information, and to register for any of the librarys virtual programming, for information about the librarys Digital Library, or any of the librarys databases. For those Wilton residents needing a library card to access the Digital Library, call 203-762-6334. If anyone has questions about accessing or using the Digital Library, email reference@wiltonlibrary.org.
NORWALK  Ron Dickens missed out on using the citys library services when his fines were high.

Ive owed the Norwalk library over $500 for years, he recalled, adding some of the cost came from a box of books and DVDs that were lost during a move.

Unable to pay the bill, Dickens was working community service hours at the library as compensation until the COVID-19 pandemic hit and halted in-person visits.

I did five hours, and then COVID hit, so I havent been back, Dickens said. But I miss the library.

But people like Dickens now have a fresh start after Norwalk libraries recently decided to eliminate all fines and wipe clean the accounts of patrons with balances, becoming the second big city in Connecticut to do so.

The public library adopted a fine-free policy, beginning Jan. 3, eliminating monetary fees for late loan returns. Stamford, the only other large city in the state to do away with fines, adopted a similar policy in June 2021.

The first iteration of the policy was approved in June, lifting the late fees on any outstanding loans held by library card holders age 17 and under. The expansion of the policy to include all patrons was approved on Nov. 17.

Library Director Sherelle Harris proposed lifting the fee for minors around June after learning how the COVID-19 pandemic revealed inequalities in the nations library systems.

The COVID pandemic underscored inequities within communities across the country, and I am very pleased to work with a city and a board that make library access to all a priority by removing barriers that prevent people from using the library, Harris said.

In removing fines, the library canceled overdue fines and fees accrued by 15,678 Norwalkers, amounting to $281,722, Harris said.

The fines we cleared were from the past 23 years. This is pretty exciting, she said.

The removal of fines is a permanent change in the librarys policy, not only for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a library statement.

While late returns will not accrue fines, if loans are not returned after an extended period, the resident will be charged a replacement fee for the missing book and a hold will be placed on the patrons account until the balance is paid, Harris said at the library boards November meeting.

Fines would not accrue but if someone loses a book, they would have to pay for it, Harris said. The replacement fee is usually $25. At $20.01, they cannot use the library. They can still use the internet or computers, but they wont be able to check out books.

Norwalk joins eight other Connecticut libraries in going fine free: Blackstone Memorial in Branford, Ferguson in Stamford, Mystic Noank, Plumb Memorial in Shelton, Wallingford, Westbrook and West Haven libraries. Farmington and the Mark Twain library in Redding also plan to adopt similar policies, according to the statement.

Other large cities across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco public libraries, have adopted fine free policies.

When San Francisco eliminated fines in 2019, around 17,500 residents had their accounts unblocked, according to a study on fines the library conducted.

At more than 15,000 residents, Norwalk, which is considered by the nationwide Social Vulnerability Index as an impoverished community, had nearly as many patrons with library account balances as San Francisco, a city almost nine times the size.

The idea of shifting to a fine-free format was around for decades before taking hold following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco first lifted fines for patrons 17 years old and under in 1974, according to the study.

In 2019, the American Library Association added language to its policy manual condemning the use of late fees.

Monetary fines present an economic barrier to access of library materials and services, the resolution read. There is mounting evidence that indicates eliminating fines increases library card adoption and library usage. ... (M)onetary fines create a barrier in public relations, and absorb valuable staff time applying, collecting, and managing dues.

Ultimately, monetary fines do not serve the core mission of the modern library, the policy read.

Previously, the Norwalk Public Library brought in about $62,000 annually in library fees, Harris said.

Norwalk Library Board President Alex Knopp said, however, most of the fines were uncollectable.

A lot of them were very small amounts. People had moved out of town and it wasnt like there was back funds that couldve been easily collected, Knopp said. The point is, in making this decision, the library is not creating a financial hardship for city because these funds were never going to be collected, most of them.

Instead, the library is bringing in additional regular income through the passport program, a partnership with the United States Passport Agency that allows residents to apply for passports at the library rather than finding another passport office, Knopp said. Prior to the start of the passport program in 2017, the closest passport office was in Stamford, he said.

In its first year, from 2017 to 2018, the program brought in more than $31,000, Knopp said. While revenue dipped slightly during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel was heavily restricted, it still earned nearly $22,000 from 2019 to 2020.

We adopted the new fine-free policy to remove a financial obstacle to the widest possible use of the librarys excellent resources by Norwalk residents, while making sure that our policy of requiring the replacement of lost books, computers and other materials remains in place, Knopp said in a statement.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
EDITORS NOTE: The Intelligencer requests briefs be submitted at least 10 days prior to the desired publication date. Due to the volume of community-submitted briefs, the content may be published within 10 days of submission. Holidays and weather forecasts may impact some events. The Intelligencer cannot guarantee that submission will be published.

Eagle Meet and Greet

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the Alton Visitor Center, 200 Piasa St., Alton. Free admission. Celebrate all things eagle related and see an American Bald Eagle up close and personal. These interactive experiences include photo opportunities with the eagle and its handler and question and answer sessions.

Virtual Saturday Morning Yoga

9:30 - 11 a.m. through Glen Carbon Centennial Library. Get fit and healthy when you join them for a energizing session of yoga. Register online.

Sunday, Jan. 9

Mass Vaccination Event

9 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the SIUE Vadalabene Center, 35 Circle Drive, Edwardsville. The event will include adult doses of the Moderna vaccine, as well as doses of Pfizer for ages 5 and up.

Tuesday, Jan. 11

River Kayaker Adventures with Perry Whitaker

6 - 7:30 p.m. online. Sierra Club Piasa Palisades Group Speakers Series. Perry Whitaker is the Missouri state director for the American Canoe Association, a Missouri Master Naturalist and expert on the confluence of the Missouri River near St. Louis to the confluence of the Ohio River at Cairo, IL, referred to as the Middle Mississippi. There will be no live event at the Old Bakery Beer Co. due to risk with the surge of virus. The ZOOM registration option is available via the events tab at https://www.sierraclub.org/illinois/piasa-palisades. Contact: Chris Krusa on 410-490-5024 cell/text for questions

Cribbage Club

6 p.m. at Camelot Bowling Alley, 801 Beltline Road, Collinsville. Beginners welcome, free to attend. Contact Phil (618) 288-7910 or Susan at (618)978-1664 for more information.

American Legion Post 199 meeting

6:30 p.m. at the American Legion Post 199 at 58 South State Rt. 157. All legion members are encouraged to attend the meetings. Non-member visitors are welcome.

Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774

Thursday, Jan. 13

NAMI Meeting

7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net.

Chicken Dinner Every Thursday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774

Friday, Jan. 14

Fish Fry Every Friday

11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774

Fish Fry

4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051

Saturday, Jan. 15

Goshen Winter Market

10-noon in the expansion parking lot on St. Louis St. Outdoors.

Monday, Jan. 17

Woodlawn Cemetery Board

7 p.m. in the Woodlawn Chapel. All are invited to attend, whether you are a lot owner or have considered purchasing a lot.

36th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration

10 a.m. at Mt. Joy Church, 327 Olive St., Edwardsville. The event will also be streamed live on the Mt. Joy Facebook page. The program is free and open to the public. Hosted by Granite City High School Senior Martaja Hill. Main speaker Dustin Jumper will speak on The Dilemma and the Challenge of Growth.

Tuesday, Jan. 18

Cribbage Club

6 p.m. at Camelot Bowling Alley, 801 Beltline Road, Collinsville. Beginners welcome, free to attend. Contact Phil (618) 288-7910 or Susan at (618)978-1664 for more information.

Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774

Watershed Cairns: Water Marked with Art

6:30 p.m. virtual event. The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center will kick off 2022 with a virtual Neighbor Nights event, featuring the work of artists Libby Reuter and Joshua Rowan and their "Watershed Cairns: Water Marked with Art" project. Reuter and Rowan, with a van full of glass, travel backroads in river watershed areas, where they create and photograph cairns made from thrift-store glassware. Registration is required. Sign up at https://conta.cc/3mQQTmu. The link will be emailed prior to the event. For more information contact Jen Young at 618-468-2785 or jenryoung@lc.edu.

Thursday, Jan. 20

NAMI Meeting

7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net.

Chicken Dinner Every Thursday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774

Gateway Wedding Show

5-9 p.m. at the Gateway Convention Center, 1 Gateway Drive, Collinsville. Free admission. The Gateway Wedding Show features different vendors that can help couples and event planners personalize their upcoming special event. The show will feature area wedding and event vendors, food and beverage sampling, a wedding decoration showroom, live fashion show, prize giveaways and more. For information regarding show details and free ticket registration visit www.gatewayweddingshow.com.

Friday, Jan. 21

Fish Fry Every Friday

11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 S. State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774

Fish Fry

4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051

Saturday, Jan. 22

Watershed Discovery Day

10 a.m. - noon at the Watershed Nature Center, 1591 Tower Ave. Edwardsville. Join the Watershed for a celebration of winter birds in the region. This free community event for families will feature hands-on activities, story time by local author Jennifer Ward, a bird feeder craft, eagle cam observation station, birding information from Wild Birds Unlimited, hot cocoa & cookies and a scavenger hunt around the Watershed's trails. The first 100 children will receive a stuffed Eagle through Phillips 66 Wood River Refinery.

Ongoing Events

Al-Anon

For information call 618-463-2429. For more information, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.

Winter Reading Challenge Begins

Dec. 1 - Jan. 31 at the Edwardsville Public Library. Read books, earn badges and be entered into prize drawings on Beanstack. This challenge is for all ages, 0-109. To register visit www.edwardsvillelibrary.org.
Sevierville, TN (37876)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds light and variable.
Botswanas Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Collen Vixen Kelapile, is the current President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that is tasked with coordinating UN efforts on sustainable development and advancing internationally agreed goals. He took office amid a global pandemic, climate crisis, rising poverty, and growing inequalities, among other challenges. In Part 2 of this interview with Africa Renewals Kingsley Ighobor, Ambassador Kelapile discusses Africa and climate change, tackling gender inequality and peace and development on the continent. These are excerpts:

Lets talk about climate change. Africa contributes the least to greenhouse gas emissions but suffers the brunt of the climate crisis. What advice would you give African representatives at the Conference of Parties (COP 26) in Glasgow this November?

Thats a very pertinent question. Precisely, Africa contributes around 2 to 3 per cent of the total global emissions yet it is disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. It is the most vulnerable continent.

Regarding COP26, the continent already has good experience in how to succeed in negotiations. Remember that Africa played a significant role in the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The process started with Africa adopting a common position. So, I would advise for a similar approach to COP26. Africa needs a common position. In doing so, they must also reflect on several advantages that climate action presents, including being an investment opportunity and a source of socioeconomic development.

It shouldn't just be to complain about climate change being a problem. Yes, it is a problem, but they must work to at least tap the potential that can be derived from the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs.

If you were to ask how this can be done, I would say, first, that investing in clean energy based on renewable energy solutions is one example. Some 570 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not currently have access to electricity. Renewable energy is becoming a cheaper energy solution, and so anybody in business would say these investments make perfect sense. This is the case in many parts of the world, and I think it's the same in African countries that are moving into renewables.

Second, Africa should go to COP26 with a view to seeking to make a breakthrough on adaptation.

The Global Commission on Adaptation has found that every $1 invested in adaptation could yield about $4 in benefits. This makes sense considering that Africa is on the frontlines of many drastic climate impacts, including traumatic events from floods and droughts. And I understand that one in three Africans are not adequately covered by early warning systems.

There continue to be deep-rooted practices that impede women's empowerment, particularly in Africa. What message would you send to African leaders regarding gender inequality on the continent?

There are many forms of inequalities, and gender inequality is a particular challenge. I must acknowledge there has been progress. At the same time, some of the practices have been part of cultures and addressing them seems to be taking longer than necessary. A lot can be done to improve the situation.

Gender inequality is not just the empowerment of women, it is also an essential tool to transform economies and to build a more just, equal and inclusive society.

So, my message is very simple: let us not just narrow the existing gaps; we should take deliberate actions to permanently solve this issue. Women make significant contributions to our economies but are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are amongst the most vulnerable because of the situation they often find themselves in - they are unpaid care workers and continue to be victims of domestic violence, which surged during the pandemic.

I would encourage African leaders to place particular emphasis on making progress towards gender parity in decision-making and to address gender-based violence.

One other thing that can be done is disaggregation of data because without that, you cannot even measure the problem itself, nor can you measure the progress you are making. The problem becomes undeniable when data is clearly disaggregated.

There is often talk about the nexus between peace and socioeconomic development. Can you share your reflections on this, given your role as the ECOSOC President?

Certainly. This nexus has been part of the agenda of ECOSOC for many years, and it continues to be the case today.

In the early 1990s, I shared a recommendation with ECOSOC, the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council regarding the need for a comprehensive approach to development, conflict and humanitarian challenges. It included a need to coordinate support to countries that are in conflict. ECOSOC created a mechanism in 2002, which was an ad-hoc advisory group on African countries emerging from conflict. At that time there was no Peacebuilding Commission.

This advisory group transferred its responsibility to the Peacebuilding Commission in 2007-2008. This mechanism helps us look more closely at how social and economic dynamics intersect with political insecurity, and from that process we are able to make recommendations for consideration by the Security Council, which is another principal UN organ we work with closely.

The UN General Assembly has now mandated a meeting on transition from relief to development. So, there is now a new platform, just approved by the General Assembly, that will provide the opportunity to promote the synergies of development, the humanitarian aspect, and also support for peace in societies.

Can we realise the dream of an Africa without war?

Yes. Africa, through the African Union (AU), in 2013 adopted the theme Silencing the Guns by 2020 (now extended to 2030). The key to having an Africa that is not in conflict or at war is when guns are silent.

Let us do whatever it takes to silence those guns. I believe the AU has agreed on the mechanisms for realizing this. We must implement what has been agreed, the decisions by African leaders themselves to silence the guns. I don't think we should give up on it. I believe that it can be achieved.

Given the civil conflicts currently in different parts of Africa, in addition to the climate crisis and the COVID-19 situation, do you think countries can still meet the SDG targets by 2030?

Yes. I'm very positive because I think there's value in being positive. We will stand a chance of achieving the SDGs if we look at the situation the same way I advise we look at the climate change discussions at COP26; that is, how we use the experience of this challenge to engage in more transformative ways of approaching the SDGs. I have hope that we can do it. I know it's overly ambitious.

I want to touch on the issue of the levels of indebtedness of our countries. I know there is a lot going on to relieve countries in Africa of debt. Yes, some African countries have received or have been offered some partial debt service relief, debt service suspension, by the G20.

And I know there is ongoing work on the cancellation of debt for vulnerable countries. This is very important because it offers liquidity support needed to at least respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the most immediate challenge. It will also allow countries to create the needed fiscal space to work towards achieving the SDGs.

The SDGs were purposely designed to be very ambitious, and I believe we can still achieve them.

I think if we take an integrated approach to make the structural changes that are needed to realize the SDGs, we can achieve something. We are talking about the right social and economic transformation, combating climate change in different ways, working to reduce inequality, expanding social protection, increasing access to health, education and more.

For more information on COVID-19, visit www.un.org/coronavirus

Africa Renewal
Former President Goodluck Jonathan is not planning to defect to All Progressives Congress (APC), his spokesperson, Ikechukwu Eze, has said.

Speculation over the former presidents moves to defect to the ruling party to contest for president in 2023 has been rife.

His frequent visit to Aso Rock Villa lately was believed to be part of the move for the former president to exit his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2023 general elections.

However, Eze said, Defection issue and presidential ambition are all rumours. It has no foundation. We do not want to be reacting to such (things) again. We have issued statements on this before.

Former President Jonathan went to the Villa to brief the President on the forthcoming ECOWAS meeting in Ghana. The meeting will discuss the political happenings in Mali. So, as a special envoy, he was at the Presidential Villa to brief President Buhari.

There are issues in Mali and at the forthcoming meeting, ECOWAS leaders are to look at the transition timetable proposed by the Malian rulers and take a position on it. It is also at this meeting that a decision would be taken on whether to sanction the Malian military ruler or not. This is the issue that took oga (Jonathan) to the villa.
Politically speaking, with 17 months to leave office, President Muhammadu Buhari, try to bring smile and less fear to Nigerians, by making the Nigerian space pregnant with healthy human rights appearances and acts. Significantly, curtail rights violations by law enforcement and security agencies, especially the Nigeria police force (NPF) and the State Security Service (SSS) also known as the Department of State Services (DSS).

Over and over, the democratic world has complained and counseled you and your administration to stop violating human rights with impunity, now, you have the coming weeks and months to normalize human rights acts in Nigeria.

President Buhari, the SSS, and the police should be vigorously protecting the right of movement of citizens and visitors within Nigeria, to avoid embarrassing words like, the United States issuing an alert to its citizens against travelling to Nigeria, warning them of threats by Nigerian kidnappers who now target citizens with dual nationalities as contained in the US State Departments Nigeria Travel Advisory dated January 4, 2022. Sir, the SSS and the Police can remain in denial, but this is no longer good for you and the nation.

In our current global surroundings, your words still ring loud when in 2015, on assuming office you said your government will not flout constitutionally guaranteed human rights of the people. Lets assume there were mistakes made especially when you cannot monitor the ill behaviors of individual police, SSS and other enforcement agents.

Now Sir, 17 months is enough to call to order the respective leadership, and men/women of law enfacement and security agencies.

Psychologically, this is the time for you to make a calculation, considering your age and health needs, you deserve less national stress which is quite possible with individual officers respecting and protecting the rights of the people.

As a well-known reader of traditional national newspapers and possibly online newspapers, you must have come across this: Dont mind the media shout; do the job I command you. If anyone accuses you of human rights violation, the report will come to my table, and you know what I will do. So, take the battle to them wherever they are and kill them all. Dont wait for an order. Guess what, these hair-raising words did not come from Idi Amin of Uganda or Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, they came from the mouth of Usman Baba your then acting Inspector General of Police now permanent.

Mr. President, even with your no-nonsense, stern military doctrinaire and strict disciplinarian backgrounds, such words have never come from you, especially when Baba openly endorsed human rights violation.

Not long ago, the world watched how some young peaceful activists who went to a church to worship were arrested and maltreated for wearing #BuhariMustGo T-shirts on a Sunday, and they accused DSS of violating their human rights by refusing to release them from detention even after a magistrate court granted them bail.

It took the threat of a sue and a warning of contempt of court from a federal high court judge to the leadership of the Department of State Services, Yusuf Bichi, which then resulted in the release of the illegally detained peaceful protesters.

This type of sad observation of SSS officers and unnecessary disobedience of court orders does weaken the rule of law, and gives you, Buhari a bad name globally.

President Buhari, 17 months is sufficient to curb these types of unwise conducts that encompasses illegal violation of individuals' constitutional rights.

Since 2015, on multiple times you are known for asking the media to be mindful of inflammatory words and actions and urging them to avoid anything that will exacerbate the situation and further inflame passions and emotions. Guess what, it is you and your law enforcement and security operations that are inflaming fear and wahala (disturbances) in terms of documented human rights violations.

On a prescriptive note, in the next 17 months, you can start showing diversity of human rights by speaking and acting against nepotism which I must say you are not the first to practice, but you made it more noticeable even to the American congressional Human rights commission.

You can change things now, and new actions on your part will reduce acts of inflaming human rights abuses around various ethnic nationalities and affect our diverse workplace positively.

In the next 17 months, you can along with the legislature help preserve individual freedom, and equality of the people irrespective of religion and ethnicity, by causing some healthy institutional changes.

Start by repositioning the DSS which currently exists within the presidency, which makes it more of an autocratic threat to the satisfaction of ordinary citizens rights. The current positioning that puts the SSS under the control of the president makes it more of a political camp, that is mainly accountable to the authoritarian powers of a president. We are no longer in the military era!

On an institutional basis, you have all the time to change the name, now called ministry of interior to the ministry of Homeland Security Affairs (MHSA) and integrate the SSS, NPF, the so-called ministry of police, Aviation, and align them with security agencies like immigration, Corrections, fire service, Customs, and Civil defense. As you know the peoples civil rights and civil liberties are affected by the respective activities of these agencies, as such a place like MHS could better and fully coordinate all "homeland security" endeavors.

In 17 months, you can drive fully, the office of Attorney general at the ministry of Justice, to a body that looks beyond religion and ethnicity, an organ that will pursue human rights enforcement efforts equally, to uphold the public and constitutional rights of all who live in Nigeria.

In the next 17 months you can prepare a civil environment that will not allow a president or governor to misuse the SSS, the Police and the Military which are sometimes used to undermine the protest rights of the people.

In 17 months, you can create an atmosphere whereby the Attorney general will truly act as the chief lawyer of all Nigerians, respect and treat all court orders the same way, and not be selective regarding enforcing judgments of courts. We need a non-biased legal officer of the nation that executes court orders and pronouncements equally whether the judgement is against the federal government, state government or revolves around a citizen.

In the next 17 months, that abusive word invitation that usually comes in form of a letter to Nigerians is a foolish and tyrannical phrase often used by SSS, police and other likes, and it needs to be abolished in your time. As the proper thing to do is carry out an investigation in a non-intimidating manner without subtle or obvious threats then announce the issuing of a report for charges or no charges in a timely manner.

President Buhari as the chief executive law enforcer of the country there is one type of madness worrying the Nigeria police leadership which they all share for far too long, that is, the dispatching of a team of police officers from Abuja, Nigerias capital to go to a State or transporting a person under investigation in their respective localities to Abuja.

Why this uneconomical method when there is a police command in every state? No other democratic police system does this except an abnormal one.

In 17 months, you and the legislature have enough time to provide an environment for States to establish State/local police by helping them put the necessary checks in place to protect the citizens against their misuse by governors and powerful persons, just as it is currently be done with the Nigeria police, SSS and others.

President Buhari, yes you come across as a faith-based president, as one with dictatorial tendencies due to your military history but as the end comes, In sha'Allah, God willing, as you are getting ready to return to Daura, Katsina State, to tend your cattle, this is the time to become a champion of human rights.

By vigorously pressing on the men and women of SSS, NPF, and others that Nigeria, henceforth will legally become an environment of human rights, but they must be willing to protect and enforce those rights. I am one of those who realize you as doing your best, and in your own words, Nigerians as a people and systems are the problems, what I long called Nigeriantitis. Sir nor mind them, do not mind them. You have said that you dont really care who takes over from you, well Nigerians do as they care about human rights and strong institutions. So, prepare the grounds very well.

Remember that once you become a former president, especially on human rights issues, immunity no longer applies to you, as such you are answerable to many questions, including human rights abuses locally and globally. So, take my suggestions here.

Let the people of Nigeria and the world compose a song in these last 17 months that show Muhammadu Buhari of katsina, has significantly replaced the foundations of impunity and lawlessness with human rights and rule of law operating across Nigeria through our law enforcement and security systems.

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, Republic of Benin. 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]

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, Republic of Benin. 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]
Africa like the rest of the world sees the coexistence of science with Christian, Islamic and African religious faiths; and their implications for life and living.

In human history, religious faith and the scientific initiative have generally been at odds with each other.

On a general note, persons who are less religiously observants are most likely to perceive conflict between religion and science.

Within the Nigerian environment the conflict between science and faith is highly vivid, as a great number of people are sometimes misled as to which method, to use to fish out truths.

The African personality compared to the Euro-American character is generally drawn to religiosity and spirituality. Most humans know that science is about facts and religion is about values.

As a psychological scientist and a black African, I believe the solid spiritual mindset of blacks across all religions made us survivals and be able to continuously endure the compressing effects of racial prejudice and colonial tyranny.

Life and living as we know are about balance, and every day across the world, just like in Nigeria, people go about their socio- economic activities, in various domains like school, work, business and other day to day activities.

Amid our daily encounters and pursuits, many of us in the African settings especially, no matter what we do, tend to flavor our engagements with religious expressions and hopes.

Just like I am psychologist, or you are what you do for daily living, some have decided to go under the wing of evangelization.

To be truly chosen as a prophet by the Almighty is deemed an honor, and as it demands selflessness. Today, I am not sure if there are the likes of biblical high-profile prophets like Daniel, John the Baptist, Deborah, or Elijah.

While not all false prophets are easy to recognize they are being used by a spirit mindset to spread untruths, mixing truth with inaccuracy to seem more convincing. The Almighty does not roll or act like that.

On religious ground, God does provide us with a test to know a real prophet.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1).

We need to understand that there are some persons because of unusual psychological makeup, engage in exaggerated self-proclaimed power.

Some self-decreed 'men and women of God' in the process of reducing their hunger, search for money, and prominence, portray themselves as new prophets in todays secular world, and employ shrewd ways to draw in gatherings.

Each time I read the Webster's definition of prophecy it says, in (the) New Testament, (it is the) gift of speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit; predictions of the future under the influence of divine guidance Basically put, prophecy is God speaking to man/woman.

Genuine prophecy will always stand the test of consistency with the Scripture, and be in harmony with good book, and even science.

Some prophets act to ''win'' lost souls and in the process, many blindly believe in these prophets.

It is important to understand that many who become so-called prophets, are characterized with what is called psychopathy; which is a cluster of relatively stable personality traits associated with callousness, grandiosity, deceitfulness, excitability, unusual calmness, ruthlessness, calculated dominance, controllability, fearlessness, eccentricity, resilience, lack of shame, fake remorse, cleverness, superficial charm, sexual deviance, pathological lying, parasitic ways, manipulativeness, and failure to accept responsibility.

It not unusual for many of them to privately study organized knowledge/images or facts and come out to preach them as sermons, sometimes in a mystified or confused manner.

These secular prophets are very good at exploiting or violating the rights of others without any remorse.

The Cable, a Nigerian media, on December 28, 2021, featured an article; EXTRA: Share false prophecies  and go to prison, Ghana police warn religious leaders

It is time for all African nations to follow the lead of the Ghana government regarding the monitoring of what it called prophecies of doomsday, harm and fear that usually pour out as the people enters a new year.

The Ghanaian police warned religious heads and citizens to avoid sharing false or misleading prophecies as they are predictions of danger and death by some religious leaders which sometimes create unnecessary panic and put the lives of many in jeopardy.

The Ghana government rightly stated that it is a crime to knowingly send out so called prophetic spoken, digital, and published communications as they are nonfactual and misleading; and likely to endanger lives, adding that anyone found culpable risks up to nine years imprisonment.

It went on to say, We therefore wish to caution all Ghanaians, especially religious groups and leaders to be measured in their utterances, especially how they communicate prophecies, which may injure the right of others and the public interest.

The Ghanaian police service added that it respects the right to freedom of religion and is not against prophecies as they know Africans are a religious people who know, and believe in, the centrality of God in our lives. But we must always apply commonsense psychology.

I will say that prophetic voices are heard from descent clergy, when people respond to the call to denounce tribalism, nepotism, brutality as sins.

There are some prophets that mix religion and politics that sometimes turns to an incestuous relationship, such religions and prophecies turn leaders into abusive and fraudulent gods.

I do believe that is it possible to separate true prophets from false prophets. We know that prophets in the Scriptures did not pursue money and were not rich. A genuine prophet does not get to become affluent speaking for God. From the angle of socialization, a true prophet is a very close friend of the poor and the weak, but a false prophet keeps company with the rich and powerful.

Jesus was criticized for keeping company with tax collectors and sinners. Put no trust in princes, says the psalmist in Psalm 146. But in Africa especially our Prophets are always getting in bed with politicians.

The real job of a prophet is to soothe suffering persons, but false prophets tell their audiences what they want to hear. False prophets ignore the sins of his/her friends as they are nothing but material prophets, not prophets of God. Real prophets, speak with righteous anger but not with animosity, and fight against exploitation.

I am of the belief that religious and secular persons can work together for the public good, but it should be about enriching the humanity and society, not each other. A prophet can speak fearlessly about issues, but when he or she starts endorsing or speaking politically against any candidates, that person is no longer speaking for God.

So called prophets are not like Jesus Christ we all heard of, the central figure of Christianity, or the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. History tells us that their sacred predictions are marked with truths.

Today we have prophets, spiritualists and forecasters using direct and indirect fear to condition audiences to believe and follow them. Many of them claim they can heal every illness, help people acquire money, houses, cars, and jobs. These prophets charge a lot of cash for their divine work and lie about coming events.

Psychologically, humans love of miracles and overnight success, so they are easily drawn to listen to messages from these fortune broadcasters whose words are becoming less about foretelling but more about forthtelling.

Unlike the Islam religions and preachers, the existence of Christian prophets is more common. There are those that I call overly crafty prophets, who tell us by hearing the voice of God, they know election winners and losers. Well, why not make me a President in USA or Nigeria!

During the 2020 United States presidential election, prophets and preachers across the globe made predictions that Donald Trump, the 45th US president would defeat the Democrat nominee, Joe Biden, but their prophecies never came to pass.

David Elijah, a pastor at Glorious Mount of Possibility Church, Yaba, Lagos, falsely prophesied that Trump is the chosen one, wrong.

In Nigeria, we all recall, in January 2021, Apostle Paul Okikijesu of the Christ Apostolic Miracle Ministry asserted in a string of prophecies that a sitting male governor, will die while a female deputy will take over after much crisis. We are now in 2022, no such situation has happened. Even if that happens it is legally expected that the deputy takes over.

In May of 2021, General Overseer of the Living Faith Church International, Bishop David Oyedepo, spiritually informed Christians in Nigeria to ignore the COVID-19 vaccines because the "vaccines are deadly." And that the virus is evil and a hoax. Well, for many Nigerian Christians, the civil servants especially, his prophesies were defeated with facts as many workers and civil servants are now rushing to hospitals and designated centres to take the COVID-19 vaccines to gain access to their offices, earn a living and not possibly die.

A Ghana-based pastor, Prophet Nigel Gaisie, who is the founder of the Prophetic Hill Chapel stated that the Nigerias Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo will become president in 2021. Well, we are now in 2022.

Recently, Pastor Prize Aluko, a senior pastor with The Resurrected Assembly (GROM), Abuja, prophesied that God has revealed to him that Jonathan will return to Aso Rock as the next Nigerian president in 2023. Pastor Aluko, factually it will not happen. That is my fact-based bet with you!

Then we have the leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, prophetically warning the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, not to seek re-election for a second term in office. He needs the Ghana police treatment in Nigeria. Uzodinmas dedicated followers would be dismayed about this type of discouragement so the governor should sue Ayodele for slander and get paid compensatory damages. Nigerians, in fact Africans, should try not to be influenced by idiotic religious rhetoric.

Many so-called words prophesy which are authoritarian in content are simply to make their audiences see them as omnipotent or all-knowing deities, and through their awful false messages they take money away from the vulnerable.

Deceptively planting negative image of persons for any personal or psychic reasons is misguiding public attitude, and unjust.

Many so-called prophets who hold prayers in places of worship, teach in Sunday schools, organize prayer and deliverance ministries and are prophesying to other people  yet morally they do not understand the Lord.

Many families, families and other likes have been destroyed through their false predictions. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed (Isaiah 9:16).

Some of these prophets need to become what could be called, development and democratic prophets that can immediately prevent myriad of our challenges that are stunting Nigerias progress and threatening its existence.

Also, they can help to instantly reduce unemployment, rapidly lower prices of goods, promptly enhance quality healthcare, stabilize electricity supply, and quickly change the minds of kidnappers and make them return abducted school children and working adults without ransom, stop corruption in the judiciary and police, and only allow competence in the Nigerian leadership.

Some days ago, Prophet Jay Jay Enejeta, the General Overseer of Faith Fasting and Prayer Ministry in Abraka, Delta State, was kidnapped but has since been released after paying N10million ransom, prophetically he could have avoided any chance of been abducted, right?

I do believe that a good number of clerics try to be moral people, or at least no worse than most of the rest of us.

There was time when in Nigeria we had suitable preachers working to the order of public good as impartial clerics whose faith was not in money, pleasure, and extravagances but in God.

As a teenager, I recalled traveling to Lagos with my mother, a member of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), a church founded by Rev Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oshoffa popularly known as SBJ Oshoffa, who blessed me and thousands of others by pressing on my feet with his foot, thereafter, asked my mother to return me back to Warri where we live, and serve as prophet john. I did my best but could not continue due to being true to myself that behavioral philosophy is where I fit more.

In SBJ Oshoffas time and others in his days, Nigerians for the most part, saw a Christ-like atmosphere of upright spirituality, humility and moral judiciousness attached with values of simplicity and honesty driven by non-material pursuits.

I will end with this. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matthew 7:15).

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]
Big Cleaning Day for Phuket

PHUKET: Yesterday (Jan 7) was the Big Cleaning Day as cultural attractions across the island received a major clean in an attempt to install confidence in tourists following the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

Saturday 8 January 2022, 02:36PM

Phuket Provincial government, in collaboration with related departments and organisations, led the campaign with Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew and Saroj Angkhanapilat, Mayor of Phuket City, joining in the efforts in Phuket Town as the sidewalks and roads were sprayed with disinfectant.

The area of Thalang Nam - Thalang Road intersection at Yaowarat Road was of particular focus, an area popular with tourists who come to visit the Sino-Portuguese architecture and get a taste of the old Phuket Town life and identity.

Elsewhere, The Mayor of Chalong Sub-district, Thanaporn Ong Satiphap, led efforts in her Municipality, focusing specifically on Chalong Temple which sees frequent visits from tourists.

In Laem Phromthep Rawai Subdistrict Municipality, Mayor Arun Solos led a team of officials and administrators from the municipality who cleaned up the popular Promthep Cape area.

Tourist numbers have fallen recently as the Omicron strain of the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread at a rapid pace, with mass gatherings over the New Year period contributing to the spread.

The island-wide cleaning efforts yesterday were undertaken to install confidence and show tourists that stringent disease prevention measures are in place and that Phuket is still a safe and welcome place to visit.
Follow the rules, Governor reminds foreign envoys

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew yesterday (Jan 7) met with the Consul Generals and Honoury Consuls of eight countries to remind them that their respective citizens must adhere to the COVID-19 health and safety protocols in effect on the island.

CoronavirusCOVID-19healthVaccineSafetyRussiantourism

By The Phuket News

Saturday 8 January 2022, 01:29PM

Governor Narong met with the Consul General of Australia, Honorary Consul of Austria, Honorary Consul General of Mexico, Honorary Consul-General of Nepal, Honorary Consul of the Netherlands, Honorary Consul of Norway, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Phuket and the Honorary Consul of Switzerland.

Joining the meeting were Amnuay Pinsuwan, Deputy Governor of Phuket Executives of Phuket Province and Poomkit Raktae Ngam, President of the Phuket Provincial Tourism Business Association.

Governor Narong gave an update on the COVID-19 situation in Phuket, detailing the rise in recent cases and the latest safety measures employed to combat the spread of the virus.

Additionally, he requested all the Consul Generals and Honoury Consuls present at the meeting ensure that their respective nationals currently on the island were fully aware and updated as to the safety measures and to make sure they were abided by.



Governor Narong added that any foreign nationals who test positive for the coronavirus or who are showing symptoms that place them in a high-risk category need to demonstrate social responsibility and seek treatment at an appropriate venue as designated by the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPPHO). This is standard policy for all Thai nationals, Governor Narong added.



He also reminded the foreign delegates that the wearing of a face mask in all public areas is mandatory as per Phuket Provincial order 62/2564, which states whoever leaves their residence, buildings, or vehicles in order to enter into a public place must wear a mask or cloth mask at all times.

Failure to adhere to the above will result in legal penalties and could impact the deicison to allow the foreign national to remain in Phuket, the Governor said. Specifically anyone violating the wearing of facemasks in public spaces rule can face up to two years in jail and/or a fine of up to B40,000.

In response, the foreign envoys requested that additional vaccines be made available to their nationals to combat the spread of the virus, with a clear and accurate timeline as to when such vaccines will be accessible.

Additionally they requested that all information and updates on regulations set by Phuket authorities be sent to the consuls via a Line group to ensure the details can be disseminated to their respective nationals in a timely and effective fashion.
Hunt for shrimp vendor killer continues

PHUKET: Police have launched a manhunt for the shrimp vendor who shot two people dead and left three injured after he opened fire at a fresh market in Phuket Town yesterday (Jan 7).

crimedeathhomicidepolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Saturday 8 January 2022, 03:46PM

The wanted man, 47-year-old Maneenop Meethong, from Songkhla, had informed Phuket City Police yesterday afteroon of his intention to surrender for the shooting yet he has so far failed to do so.

Sarayuth Thinsathan and Toi Limpananurak, were fatally shot by Maneenop in an altercation at the fresh market yesterday morning. Three others who were caught up in the incident remain under hospital care.

Police confirmed today that Maneenop had fled the scene and CCTV footage showed him escaping on a longtail boat to Coconut Island, where they continue their search for him.

They added that around 4pm yesterday the former wife of Maneenop, 48-year-old Kanchana Junthong had provided further details on how yesterdays shooting came about.

According to Ms Kanchana a customer entered their shop early yesterday morning inquring about the cost per kilogram of shrimp. Maneenop responded the price B300 which the customer argued was too high. A heated argument ensued with the customer cursing Maneenop several times, which is when Maneenop realised the customer was actually a fellow vendor.

Maneenop then left the scene and headed home, returning to the market shorty afterwards. Ms Kanchana said she then heard three or four shots before he ex-husband fled in his black Toyota Fortuner, registration number Kor-1631 Phuket.

Police tracked Maneenops movements via CCTV to the Laem Hin Pier in Koh Kaew where they discovered his vehicle parked and locked but were able to utilise forensics to determine it was Maneenops by identifying his fingerprints on the car.

The investigating officer, Pol Lt. Col. Ying Nujaree, confirmed a forklift had been called to remove the vehicle and take it to Phuket Town Police Station.

Further investigation by CCTV footage at the pier revealed Maneenop had boarded a longtail boat owned by Chaturong Chaikul, 35, and made the crossing to Coconut Island.

At time of press, the pursuit of Maneenop continues, police confirmed.
Resort vows to sue guest for B3mn over bad review

BANGKOK: A resort in Khao Yai has allegedly threatened one of its customers with a B3 million defamation case for posting a bad review online.

tourism

By Bangkok Post

Saturday 8 January 2022, 12:38PM

Khao Yai. Photo: Bangkok Post file

Lawyer Sittra Biebangkerd revealed yesterday (Jan 7) that a female client was threatened for posting the bad review on travel booking platform Agoda on Dec 19, reports the Bangkok Post.

Mr Sittra posted the comment on his Facebook account on Thursday about a client he referred to as Ms Khing, claiming she is now facing a lawsuit filed by the resort.

Ms Khing stayed there from June 13-14 and subsequently complained about the quality of the facilities and service, giving it six stars out of 10 on the app, Mr Sittra said.

Afterwards, Ms Khing reportedly received a threatening call from the resort, claiming her review was defamation and had sullied the resorts reputation.

The resort demanded she immediately delete the post, pay B3mn compensation within 15 days of receiving a letter notifying her of the damages, and issue an apology via five copies of a newspaper for a week.

If she failed to comply, she would subsequently face both civil and criminal lawsuits, the resort said, according to her lawyer.

In response, Mr Sittra said he would be able to defend his client and also identify the resort.

The issue sparked a backlash on social media about a customers fundamental right to complain about substandard services, as well as the apps privacy policy.

Meanwhile, Ms Khing reportedly told one media outlet by telephone that she was shocked and felt threatened after receiving the letter from the resort, which is why she had decided to consult a lawyer.

Ms Khing insisted she was just a tourist and had no hidden agenda for criticising the resort. She even apologised to the resort, saying she posted the review in good faith hoping it would spur improvements.
DANBURY  COVID-19 cases are setting Danbury-area pandemic records as cases surge across the state and nation.

Danburys COVID-19 case rate more than doubled in this weeks state report compared to last week, increasing by more than 120 percent to 154.4 cases per 100,000 residents. Data also show the citys number of cases jumping from 559 reported in one seven-day period to 1,272 the next.

Those numbers, reported from Dec. 19 to Jan. 1, dont take into account this weeks numbers, which have also set records.

Danbury reported 527 new cases on Monday  far more than had been reported on any single day and greater than the largest weekly total of 467 during the week of Nov. 30, 2020. The city then recorded 433 more cases on Tuesday and 391 on Wednesday.

In Bethel, the story is the same: A 120 percent increase in the case rate from one week to the next.

We could pretty much see that train coming down the track at us, First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said. Right now, its like being strapped to a runaway rollercoaster and weve really got no choice but to ride it out.

Ridgefield selectmen declared a state of emergency Wednesday due to severe COVID conditions. The towns case rate was 153.4 cases per 100,000 residents according to state data released Thursday, up from 102.7 the week prior.

Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi said the towns case rate is the highest weve seen over the last three years, no question, But, he said the severity of cases was not as bad as he saw with delta variant and the initial outbreak in 2020.

In Redding, First Selectman Julia Pemberton said despite the increase in cases, the town has not recorded any more fatalities.

Brookfield has the highest case rate of any Danbury-area town, with 173.1 cases per 100,000 residents. The towns health director, Raymond Sullivan, suspects the numbers will remain high for another week or two before declining.

As Dr. Sullivan anticipated, there is no doubt spread is up because of gatherings for the holidays where there was close contact transmission, the town said in a Facebook post. Fortunately, the omicron variant is less severe and most testing positive are experiencing less severe symptoms and are recovering well.

Students and school staff have tested positive at rates similar to the towns, and the lack of available tests could contribute to the spread, according to the post. Brookfield plans to announce another distribution of a limited number of at-home test kits.

The local effect

Across Connecticut, the rapidly rising number of cases has affected schools, child care, workplaces and travel plans.

Connecticut school districts are seeing their highest case numbers to date, with 7,612 new infections among students and 2,338 among staff for the week ending Wednesday, Department of Public Health reports show.

In Danbury schools, the infections and exposures among staff have contributed to staffing shortages that led administrators to cancel classes for three days this week.

New Milford, which closed schools Friday due to inclement weather, had 140 active cases among students so far this week and 228 students in quarantine, according to the districts COVID-19 dashboard. Easton, Redding, and Region 9 schools saw 20 positive cases among staff and 84 among students.

Ridgefields Marconi said the schools have done OK.

Theres no question that theres staff shortages and students and staff that are concerned, he added.

Teachers and parents in Danbury made it clear this week they want the option to go to a remote-learning set-up, but the state has not altered its statute prohibiting districts to go remote.

Adjusting and reinforcing mitigation strategies

Leaders are bracing for a few more weeks of rising cases before things are expected to taper off.

Danburys health director, Kara Prunty, called the levels the city is seeing right now unprecedented.

I dont know when we are going to hit the peak, she said. I dont think we are there yet.

Still, several municipalities have said they will not implement mask mandates at this time.

Danbury has no new mandates, and Prunty said she and Mayor Dean Esposito talk frequently. Bethel, which saw a jump in case rate rivaling Danbury, also will not implement a mask mandate, nor will Ridgefield.

Theres very little difference, if any, between areas that have tough mask rules and those that dont, said Bethels Knickerbocker. Its kind of too late  were already past the holidays.

This sentiment was echoed by Ridgefields Marconi.

To be quite honest, we missed the opportunity, he said. If we were going to do it, we should have done it several weeks ago.

Redding will continue with its indoor mask mandate, Pemberton said Friday.

In Danbury, another major mitigation strategy  contact tracing  has been overwhelmed by the rising case numbers, Prunty said.

So instead, leaders are focusing their messaging on vaccinations and specifically booster doses, as vaccination numbers across cities and towns remain relatively stagnant. Theyre also urging people to stay home if theyre feeling sick.

People are, I think, doubting the effectiveness of the vaccine right now, but the vaccine is working in keeping the level of illness not as severe, Prunty said. The city is holding a pediatric-focused vaccine clinic this weekend.

Marconi said he could not stress enough the importance of getting booster shots.

Only one in five people between the ages of 25 and 34 have had a booster dose in Connecticut so far, and 28.3 percent of people 35 to 44. For those between 65 and 74, booster doses have hit 62 percent.

Knickerbocker said two of his friends recently contract COVID  one received the booster shot, the other had not. The friend who was boosted experienced less illness than the one who didnt, he said.

It really does make a difference in the vast majority of cases, he said.
RIDGEFIELD  As several projects come to fruition along the Ridgefield Rail Trail, a long term solution to address recurring drainage issues may be in the cards for the upcoming budget year.

The increased frequency and intensity of rainstorms in recent years has had a negative impact on the trail, said First Selectman Rudy Marconi, with runoff from nearby roads creating a couple of washout areas there.

Eversource is repairing these areas at specific sections of the trail, including along Ivy Hill Road and between Nutmeg Ridge and Florida Hill Road. These portions will be blocked off from recreational use during the work.

Eversource has raised concerns about making repetitive repairs following recurring storms, and wants to work with local officials to find a more permanent solution, Marconi said.

A potential fix could be the creation of several check dams along the trail, similar to what the town implemented along Lake Mamanasco Road. The dams help mitigate runoff and erosion by slowing the flow of water that accumulates during rainstorms.

Addressing runoff near the Rail Trail presents a bit of a challenge because of a change in elevation between the source of the drainage and the trail, Marconi explained.

The water comes off the road and goes down a channel right into the Rail Trail  were talking about an area (with) a change in elevation of approximately 75 feet, he said. We need to build some kind of detainage basin and line it with riprap stones  to hold the water and settle it out.

Such improvements wouldnt be made until after the town budget vote in May, Marconi said. If residents approve the budget, repair work could start as early as this summer.

The towns gonna have to pay some money, (but) this would be happening whether the Rail Trail was there or not, Marconi added. The  water is impacting neighbors downstream, and the washout impacts neighbors as well.

Another improvement being addressed is the replacement of wooden utility poles that support power lines in the area. At the juncture of the Rail Trail and Florida Road, going toward Branchville, the wooden poles have been replaced with substantial metal poles, Marconi said.

He explained that since the former had been negatively impacted by woodpeckers, their structural integrity was questionable.

The old poles were maybe a foot in diameter, Marconi added. The new ones have substantial footings at the base  you probably cant get your arms around them.

To maintain the areas character, Marconi has contacted Eversource to request a landscaping plan relative to the metal poles, noting the scenic nature of Florida Road and its homes.

Many residents were upset due to the lack of landscape, he said, but they absolutely have to (get a) landscape architect involved.

The Rail Trail opened in 2000 and runs for 2.3 miles from the intersection of Prospect Street and Sunset Lane to Florida Road. It follows a portion of the abandoned railway that originally ran from Branchville to the center of Ridgefield.

alyssa.seidman@hearstmediact.com
Today

Some clouds. Low around 40F. Winds SE at 15 to 25 mph.

Tonight

Some clouds. Low around 40F. Winds SE at 15 to 25 mph.

Tomorrow

Partly cloudy skies during the morning hours will give way to occasional showers in the afternoon. High 58F. S winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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In the Press Corps of the Indiana Statehouse in downtown Indianapolis, in an office lovingly called "the Shack," the journalism majors of Franklin College's Pulliam School of Journalism work alongside the best reporters in the state, digging into the behind-the-scenes stories of Indiana politics. We're a student newsroom, but our work doesn't sit on a professor's desk. We create content five days a week for this website and 35 professional media partners around the state.
EDWARDSVILLE  Madison County Board members expressed anger Friday morning at legislation approved by the Illinois General Assembly creating judicial subcircuits in Madison County, calling it a power grab by the Democratically-controlled legislature.

The legislation, which changes how judges would be elected in a few Illinois counties, was approved by state lawmakers late Wednesday evening with little notice. It was signed Friday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Its a sad day when the legislature overrides the voters will, said Mike Walters, R-Godfrey, chairman of the Madison County Boards Judiciary Committee.

As Madison County moves more red, the state legislature decides to change our judicial boundaries," he said. "What these three counties have in common is that they are all Republican counties."

House Bill 3138 creates four judicial subcircuits in the 3rd Judicial Circuit, which includes Madison and Bond counties, as well as the 7th Circuit in Sangamon and surrounding counties and DuPage County. The bill also changes subcircuits in Cook, Kane, McHenry and Will counties.

The bill originally dealt with court security and was introduced in the House in February 2021 by state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville and sponsored in the state senate by Sen. Rachelle Crowe, D-Glen Carbon.

On Jan. 5, the bill was amended by state Senate President Dan Harmon, D-Oak Park, before winning approval in both houses Wednesday on a party-line vote.

The proposal, introduced on the first day of the General Assembly's 2022 session, appeared to take Republican lawmakers by surprise. They argued there had been little focus on creating additional subcircuits outside of Cook County during public hearings of the House and Senate Redistricting Committees in recent months.

Democrats, however, said the idea had long been on the table since the General Assembly passed a law mandating the redrawing of existing subcircuits following the 2020 census.

The law did not mandate that anything be done in these other counties, but it did elicit a conversation about subcircuits across the board, Harmon said during a committee hearing.

Harmon said the proposal does not add any new judges to the states trial court system and only changes the way some judges are elected. Most of the changes would not go into effect until the 2024 elections.

However, in Madison County the bill will impact the 2022 election cycle which begins Jan. 13 with the circulation of nominating petitions.

State Rep. Amy Elik, R-Fosterburg, opposed the bill.

The legislative Democrats plan to create judicial subcircuits in Madison County is all about securing more Democrat judgeships, Elik said in a released statement. This plan adds more politics in the courtroom and seriously threatens the fairness and integrity of the judiciary.

The bill divides Madison County into three subcircuits, with Bond County being a separate subcircuit.

In other counties when subcircuits were created, judges were elected in rotating order among the circuits, according to information provided at the county committee meeting Friday morning. Under the new law the next three judges up for retention would come from the 1st Subcircuit, then three from the 2nd Subcircuit, and two from the 3rd Subcircuit.

It was noted the 1st Subcircuit is heavily Democratic, the 2nd is somewhat split and the third is rural and Republican.

In Friday's committee meeting, Chief Circuit Judge Williams Mudge noted two sitting circuit judges  Amy Sholar and Christopher Threlkeld  will now have to move to be able to run to retain their seats. It was also pointed out that they would have to move before circulating nominating petitions begin next week, on Jan. 13.

If they want to run for these vacancies, they will have to move, Mudge said.

Mudge has been trying to stay out of the political debate on the issue. On Thursday he emailed a response to questions about the bill to several media outlets.

Per the Illinois Constitution, the makeup of judicial circuits is a legislative matter, not the courts, he said. HB 3138 is a comprehensive bill addressing the creation or modification of sub-circuits in numerous circuits and counties throughout the state, including the Third Judicial Circuit.

While it does not affect the number of circuit judge positions, or sitting elected circuit judges or retention races, it does come into play in electing circuit judges for both current and future judicial vacancies.

Currently there are no circuit judges living within the new first subcircuit, Mudge stated. The next three vacancies will be elected from the second subcircuit. The following two vacancies will be filled from the third subcircuit and one judge is elected from Bond County, which is currently filled by Judge Chris Bauer.

Mudge said where the judges come from will not impact service.

Regardless of where any of the judges reside, they all will preside in our courthouses in the county seats and provide for the administration of justice just as they always have, he stated.

Other county officials waded in to the political aspects of it.

This is an insult to every judge, every citizen, Walters said. This is a power grab. This is whats wrong with politics.

Walters said this is not the first time bills introduced by local legislators have been hijacked and used to diminish political power in favor of other counties or agencies. He cited 2019 bills that took representation from Madison County and gave it to other local governments, specifically related to the Bi-State Development Agency and Metro East Sanitary District.

Madison County Board members Mike Babcock, R-Bethalto, and Jamie Goggin, R-Edwardsville, also were highly critical of the legislation. Member Eric Foster, R-Granite City, questioned whether any local officials, including Mudge, were consulted.

Both Mudge and Madison County Circuit Clerk Tom McRae said they were not.

At Friday's meeting, several board members said they wanted a special county board meeting to consider action on the issue. As of Friday afternoon Madison Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler said no meeting had been called.

Prenzler was also critical of the General Assembly, saying the General Assembly's action this week reminded him of the action they took on MESD and Bi-State.
EDWARDSVILLE  Three men were charged with felony weapons and drug charges stemming from incidents in Granite City on Jan. 5.

All three cases were presented by the Granite City Police Department.

Valention W. Miller, 22, of East St. Louis, was charged Jan. 6 with unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, a Class 2 felony, and unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, a Class 3 felony.

According to court documents, Miler allegedly was found to have a Glock 45 with a 30-round extended magazine and 30-500 grams of cannabis. He currently is on parole or mandatory supervised release pursuant to a conviction for involuntary manslaughter out of St. Clair County in 2019.

Bail was set at $50,000.

Cornellious T. LeFlore, 22, of St. Louis, was charged with unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, a Class 3 felony, and aggravated unlawful use of weapons, a Class 4 felony.

According to court documents, LeFlore was found to have be more than 30 grams of cannabis with intent to deliver and allegedly was carrying a loaded and accessible Glock 10 mm handgun in a 2019 Nissan Altima.

Bail was set at $50,000.

Reginald W. Mitchell, Jr., 32, of St. Louis, was charged with aggravated unlawful use of weapons and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both Class 4 felonies. The case was presented by the Granite City Police Department.

On Jan. 5 Mitchell allegedly was found to be carrying a 9 mm handgun without a valid concealed carry permit and less than 15 grams of fentanyl.

Bail was set at $25,000.

Other felony charges filed Jan. 6 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Robert C. Nemeth II, 36, of Granite City, was charged with aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Jan. 5 Nemeth allegedly struck a man 60 or older in the back of the head with his fist. Bail was set at $30,000.

 Melissa S. Kozonasky, 36, of Alton, was charged with aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony; and unlawful violation of an order of protection, a Class A misdemeanor. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On Jan. 2 Kozonasky allegedly struck a woman 60 or older in the face with her hand, causing a cut on the victims nose, and violated a valid order of protection by entering the residence of a protected person on Seminary Road. Bail was set at $40,000.

 James L. Stufflebean, 45, of Grove, Missouri, was charged with theft under $500 (second subsequent offense), a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Jan. 6 Stufflebean allegedly took two cartons of cigarettes valued at less than $500 from the ZX gas station in Collinsville. He has a 2013 Madison County conviction for burglary. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Chela J. Edwards, 36, of Alton, was charged with retail theft under $300 (second subsequent offense) and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both Class 4 felonies. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. On Jan. 5 Edwards allegedly took merchandise valued at less than $300 from the Family Dollar in Alton and allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of cocaine. She has a Nov. 29, 2021 Madison County conviction for theft. Bail was set at $15,000.
London, KY (40741)

Today

A few clouds with an isolated thunderstorm possible after midnight. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A few clouds with an isolated thunderstorm possible after midnight. Low 59F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
Standing charges on electricity bills will rise for everyone in April, but research has shown that customers in some regions will pay up to 60% more per day than others. The charges are expected to double in South Scotland, North Wales and the South west of England, while in London and the East of England they will increase by just under 60 per cent. The rise in standing charges from 1 April will cost an average of 71 annually per household, with some residents in Wales, Merseyside and the Midlands paying an extra 80 a year. Given the increased cost to households, campaign group Fuel Poverty Action has said that the 'injustice of the standing charge must urgently be addressed'.
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

Mrs K.A. writes: Our premium bond accounts were infiltrated by fraudsters.

My husband and I found out when our bank account received 22,000 which was a complete mystery.

The bank said the money came from premium bonds, and I then found my NS&I account was missing 22,000.

Infiltrated: The premium bond crooks got into two NS&I accounts and took 22,000

Tony Hetherington replies: Fraudsters are supposed to be clever and cunning. The fraudsters who tried to rob you were just plain incompetent.

They managed to get into your NS&I account. They instructed NS&I to encash 22,000 of your premium bonds.

And then instead of transferring the loot to their own bank account, they sent the whole 22,000 to your bank account by mistake.

By the time you checked, the crooks had realised their mistake. They had deleted your bank from premium bond records and inserted an account they controlled at the Clydesdale Bank.

You reported this to NS&I and were told that you and your husband must have gone into a fake National Savings website and given all your details  something you deny.

Your husband asked how anyone could have answered your confidential questions, used to double-check who is accessing an account. It turned out that at least one question was answered incorrectly, but NS&I allowed the fraudster to continue.

When your husband checked his own premium bond account, he found that 19,000 of his bonds had been encashed and the money was on its way to the Halifax, where he has no account.

He immediately contacted NS&I but ran into a big problem because the crooks had not only changed the linked bank account, but also the confidential test questions. Your husband could not answer them, so was shut out of his own NS&I account.

Fortunately though, staff at NS&I were uneasy enough to halt the 19,000 transfer.

I asked officials at NS&I whether there were any indications to explain how two accounts could have been accessed by someone who apparently knew how to log in while appearing to be both you and your husband.

All I can tell you is that there were no signs the details leaked from inside NS&I. However, you are right that one of the crooks did give the wrong answer to a security question.

NS&I told me: 'When answering security questions, if a customer answers a question incorrectly, they will be provided with an alternative question.'

It says this is normal industry procedure, allowing customers to make one genuine mistake before locking them out.

NS&I has offered to reset your accounts with new security credentials, but you and your husband have declined and decided to close your accounts.

In safe hands?: Under the Government-backed Deposit Protection Scheme, landlords and letting agents hand over tenants' deposits for safe keeping

My fight for ten-year-old deposits

C.J. writes: I am having problems getting the Deposit Protection Service to reimburse deposits I lodged more than ten years ago.

Trying to resolve this with the service is like walking through treacle.

I have written and spoken with staff many times but the DPS seems to follow a standard script, asking for information I have already given.

Tony Hetherington replies: Under the Government-backed Deposit Protection Scheme, landlords and letting agents hand over tenants' deposits for safe keeping until the tenancy ends satisfactorily, when the scheme returns the cash to the tenants.

And this is the point: the scheme returns the money. As you discovered after mistakenly refunding your tenants personally, you can struggle to recover the money from the DPS.

You supplied statutory declarations, explaining what had happened, but you got nowhere, and meanwhile the tenants had moved away and had no interest in sorting out what was your problem and not theirs. This did not mean the DPS should keep the money, of course. But it showed no signs of returning it either, until now.

It told me: 'The law sets out very clear parameters for dealing with deposit claims and payments as well as the validation of landlord and tenant information, including stating explicitly that landlords should never use their own money when protecting a tenant's deposit.'

However, scheme bosses should have sorted this out earlier. They have now apologised and handed over more than 2,500 to you.

Energy firm's 150 for this nightmare is not enough

Ms E.S. writes: We moved into a new-build property in 2016 and I contacted Scottish Power to set up a dual fuel direct debit.

I was told there was no need to take any action yet, and it would be in touch. After three failed attempts to set up a direct debit, I kept money aside and waited for the company to get in touch.

Its first communication was a debt collection letter, with the threat of a visit from its operatives, plus a visitation charge.

Scottish Power used a debt collector to threaten a visit from its operatives & a visitation charge

Tony Hetherington replies: Forgive me for publishing only the first few sentences of your letter, which cover just the start of a nightmarish experience.

When the debt collection letter arrived, you called Scottish Power and found there had been a mix-up between your address and your meter number. Nevertheless, you paid the full bill, and you managed to set up a direct debit.

All was well until 2020, when a letter arrived, saying: 'Welcome to your new home.' This was closely followed by a demand for 2,579, supposedly for gas used since 2016.

The demand showed a completely new account number. When you contacted Scottish Power, you were told your own gas meter number really belonged to a different property nearby.

You made a complaint, but after that the demands poured in, even though you were still making monthly payments to Scottish Power. Nobody was willing or able to sort out the wrong account numbers, meter numbers or addresses.

At one point, Scottish Power refused to speak to you, insisting you live at the 'wrong' address.

Then, last March, it closed your account, opened it again under another number, and claimed you owed 994 because the monthly payments it collected had been credited to your original account. You ended up with five different account numbers, and you complained to the Energy Ombudsman.

Scottish Power has told me there is a widespread problem on your housing estate, with meter numbers not matching addresses and a number of different suppliers trying to unravel this mess.

After I contacted officials, it froze the demands. It has since closed your gas account, scrapped the charges, and tidied up your dual fuel account.

It has reinstated your direct debit and credited you with 150 as what it describes as a goodwill gesture. Frankly, I think this is far too little but at least the nightmare is over  I hope.

If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
A week tomorrow, the board of global investment trust Bankers will confirm the final quarterly dividend that shareholders will receive for financial year 2021.

Although the payment in monetary terms will be small  probably 0.55 pence per share  it will mark another year of dividend growth (of around one per cent) for the 1.6 billion trust.

With 55 years of annual dividend increases then behind it, Bankers will be on a par with City of London as the investment trust with the longest record of dividend growth.

'It's a modest dividend increase,' says Alex Crooke who has been overseeing the trust for the past 19 years.

'But in being cautious now, it means we can be more generous with our dividends next year. We've been living through lots of uncertainty.'

Both City of London and Bankers are trusts that are run by investment managers at Janus Henderson.

What separates them, apart from having different managers at their helm (Job Curtis runs City of London), is that City of London is focused on the UK stock market while Bankers spreads its wings further afield.

Over the past decade, Bankers has been steadily reducing its holdings in the UK  from 50 per cent to below 20 per cent of the portfolio  with the biggest remaining UK stocks being RELX, Diageo, Lloyds and AstraZeneca.

The result is that its largest asset allocation is now in North America (35 per cent) while the trust's top 10 holdings are all listed in the United States.

It also has key geographic positions in Europe, Japan and the rest of the Pacific region.

Although Crooke is the trust's manager, he doesn't pick the individual stocks, of which there are 165.

His role is to determine the allocation of assets under the trust's bonnet  he then gets Janus Henderson's regional equity teams to run the money allotted to them.

He also decides how much money the trust should borrow if he wants to increase its exposure to stock markets  new borrowings were taken out last year at an attractive interest of two per cent. The overall results are satisfactory, if not spectacular.

Over the past year, total returns are around 10 per cent. 'Any year when you are generating a return of 10 per cent or more is a good one,' says Crooke.

Over the past three and five years, returns are 64 per cent and 93 per cent respectively.

Crooke is optimistic about the year ahead, although he says he would be surprised if investor returns exceed 10 per cent. 'Between five and 10 per cent is what I am expecting, better than investing in fixed interest.'

The best market value, he says, is to be found in Asia and Japan  underperforming markets in 2021.

The trust's shares, currently priced at just above 1.20, stand at a small discount to the value of the underlying assets.

Total annual charges are low at 0.5 per cent and the trust's stock market ticker and identification code are respectively BNKR and BN4NDR3.

The annual income it generates for shareholders is equivalent to around 1.7 per cent  modest, but growing.

'Bankers is diverse, has holdings across the world, and is more cautious than some of its peers,' says Crooke.

This is demonstrated by the fact that over the past five years, some rival global trusts such as Scottish Mortgage and Monks (both managed by Baillie Gifford), have delivered far superior returns.

Compared to these, Bankers is a steady Eddie. A suitable investment for first-time investors and for those happy to hold long-term and enjoy the rising stream of dividend payments.
Apple's boss scooped a payout of almost $100million last year as he celebrated his tenth anniversary in charge.

Tim Cook bagged $98.7million, or 72.9million, in 2021  six times his pay the year before.

The iPhone maker revealed the eye-watering sum in a regulatory filing just days after it became the world's first ever company to hit a stock market value of $3trillion.

Bonanza: Tim Cook bagged $98.7m, or 72.9m, in 2021  six times his pay the year before

Shares have soared over the last year as more people turned to technology during the pandemic and Apple created iPhones with the capacity to run on 5G mobile net works. Cook's base salary of 2.2million was unchanged. Most of his pay came through shares in Apple he was given as he entered into a long-term incentive plan.

He will be able to start cashing in the shares between 2023 and 2025  giving him a reason to remain at the company for at least another three years.

The 61-year-old joined Apple in 1998 and took over as chief executive from co-founder Steve Jobs shortly before his death in 2011.

During Cook's decade in charge, Apple's shares have shot up more than 1100 per cent.

But some critics have raised concerns that he lacks the creative vision of his predecessor and has yet to come up with a truly innovative new product. And the firm has also come under fire over its tax structure, as it has kept billions of dollars of profits in Irish subsidiaries to reduce its tax bill.

Cook, who became the first openly gay chief executive on the Fortune 500 list of America's largest companies, has previously said he plans to donate most of his wealth to philanthropic causes. Under his leadership, Apple has become more generous with its donations and has handed tens of millions of pounds of its shares to charities.
M&C Saatchi has rebuffed a takeover approach from deputy chairman and tech tycoon Vin Murria.

The advertising agency's independent directors  excluding 59- year-old Murria  said they could not see how the deal would benefit the company. They added that winning a series of big-name clients such as Uber, Google, TikTok and Tinder showed its existing strategy was already working.

Murria's investment vehicle Advanced Advt proposed launching an all-share reverse takeover that would see it absorb M&C Saatchi. M&C Saatchi investors would receive 1.86 shares in the combined group.

On reflection: The advertising agency's independent directors said they could not see how the deal would benefit the company

Murria's company said its management expertise and extra funding, when combined with M&C Saatchi's high-profile brand, would allow the new group to expand by buying new companies. But M&C Saatchi said the independent directors did not believe the approach articulated 'an alternative strategy' beyond changing who owned the group.

Shares fell 12.4 per cent, or 26p, at 184p, giving it a value of 225m.

Advanced Advt has not yet made a formal offer and has until early February to make one.

Murria is M&C Saatchi's biggest shareholder, with a 12.5 per cent stake, and earlier this week Advanced Advt declared a 9.8 per cent holding.

Brothers Maurice and Charles Saatchi founded M&C Saatchi in 1995 after an American activist investor ousted them from their firm, Saatchi & Saatchi, which was behind Margaret Thatcher's 'Labour Isn't Working' campaign. Clients have included Burberry, Apple and chocolatier Lindt.
Tifton, GA (31794)

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Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
Tillamook, OR (97141)

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Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 44F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

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Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 44F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
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After a difficult few years, things are beginning to look up for the hospitality industry. Travel bans are lifting. More than 30 million Covid vaccines are administered worldwide each day. Airlines are getting busier by the day.

And while there are several reasons to be optimistic, here are a few that will be defining trends for the industrys future:

Pent-up demand

After almost two years at home, many consumers are eager to get away. Because of high levels of personal savings and credit and loyalty program points, they are willing to splurge.

According to a survey from American Express, 57% of travelers are willing to spend more on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation than they were before the pandemic. In addition, nearly half are more likely now to book lodgings that offer luxury experiences and amenities.

Hotels and resorts  many of which closed in the early days of the pandemic or operated at reduced capacities  are more than happy to accommodate them. Some brands are so bullish on luxury travel that theyre investing heavily in the market. This summer Hyatt spent $2.7 billion to purchase Apple Leisure Group, doubling the companys global resorts footprint and making it the largest operator of luxury hotels in Mexico and the Caribbean. The acquisition also expanded Hyatts presence into 11 new European markets.

Theres even an ultra-high-end hotel that will be opening in space in 2027. The views, in particular, will be out of this world.

Related: Redefining Hospitality and Monetising on That

The rise of technology

While technology was becoming an increasingly important part of hospitality before Covid (ex. complimentary wifi or the ability to book easily online) the pandemic took things to the next level.

Now, a hotels digital offerings play an important role in attracting guests and enhancing their on-site experience. For example, virtual and augmented reality are increasingly being used to offer tours of properties before booking. This gives prospective guests a view of a hotels amenities beyond anything previously available.

User-friendly apps now provide a seamless experience from booking rooms, to reserving services on the property, to checking out. These services are now the industry standard.

The pandemic has also increased consumer appetite for, and familiarity with, contactless service experiences. This allows hotels to digitize some of their standard processes, like check-in or concierge services. As we continue to navigate Covid-19, this could be key to protecting guests and staff from virus exposure.

Related: Strategy Bites: Salman Gasim, CEO, Swiss Hospitality Company

An emphasis on sustainability

From groceries and building materials to travel plans, people are making buying decisions based on the impact they will have on the environment. In keeping with this trend, ecotourism is hot. As travelers look to responsibly tour new parts of the world, the hospitality industry will be able to expand to meet the demand  and provide critical dollars to local economies and conservation efforts. Take Gabon, for example, where a series of sustainable luxury lodges are about to make the nations protected forest-covered terrain more accessible than they have ever been before.

Travelers are also seeking out hotels that operate sustainably. This includes using green building materials, reducing waste and cutting carbon emissions. A new hotel in Copenhagen, for example, built its new facade using recovered materials from its interior demolition. In addition, many cities and countries have made pledges to reach carbon neutrality, which will require businesses to meet new environmentally friendly standards.

2022 will be a defining year in hospitality. These factors, as well as other trends, will drive occupancy volumes and innovations, bringing travelers to new frontiers. And, as both an investor in the space and an avid traveler, I am looking forward to doing my part to help push the industry forward.

Related: How to Best Impress a Guest In a Changing Hospitality Industry

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Kaaterskill Falls, New York States highest cascading waterfall, is a magnet for tourists, hikers and artists alike.

Located in the Catskill Mountains between the hamlets of Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County, the 260-foot, two-stage waterfall is one of the Catskills biggest natural attractions, drawing an estimated 100,000 visitors per year. It has been captured in a 19th century painting by Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, and by other notable artists.

A hotspot for years, Kaaterskill Falls became particularly popular in the pandemic as an influx of visitors to the Hudson Valley sought an outdoors escape. A mobile data service that tracks the number of visitors to the three different parking lots for Kaaterskill Falls shows that there was a four-fold increase in visitors in 2020 from the previous year. The dramatic increase reflects the overall trend during the pandemic of overcrowded hiking trails in New York.

The crush of visitors to the falls has prompted some changes in how to see, access and hike there. Heres what to know about visiting Kaaterskill Falls.

Sharan Singh / Getty Images

1. Is Kaaterskill Falls closed?

Kaaterskill Falls is open year-round to visitors, with only a temporary closure in 2020 in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

2. Is Kaaterskill Falls a hard hike?

The hike to Kaaterskill Falls isnt necessarily hard, but caution is needed. After a series of trail changes made by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to improve safety, hikers can now access the falls from the upper trailhead at Laurel House Road. The 1.6 mile out-and-back trail leads to a viewing platform as well as a moderately steep slope down to the lower pools at the base of the falls.

Stick to the marked signs and avoid going off trail, which can lead to slippery rocks and increase chances of getting lost or injured. Similarly, definitely leave the flip-flops at home and wear sturdy shoes.

A short, half-mile long trailhead that starts below the falls along Spruce Creek is extremely steep and dangerous; the DEC closed the Molly Smith parking lot near that lower trailhead to discourage easy access.

Trail details from the DEC.

3. How long of a hike is Kaaterskill Falls?

DEC

The hike to Kaaterskill Falls differs slightly depending on which parking lot you use. The DEC recommends the following three parking lots as starting points:

From the Laurel House lot, the out-and-back hike to the base of the falls is 1.6 miles and passes the viewing platform;

The Scutt Road lot (sometimes spelled Schutt) adds about a mile to the out-and-back hike;

Additionally, hikers can park at the North-South Lake State Campground to the northeast, and hike the Escarpment Trail, crossing a 115-foot hiking bridge spanning Spruce Creek to get to the falls.

Downtime is the best time Make the most of your Hudson Valley weekend, every week with our newsletter.

4. Is there a fee for Kaaterskill Falls?

Lori Van Buren

There is no fee to hike or visit Kaaterskill Falls. However, due to an increase in visitors in 2020 and a surge in illegally parked vehicles along busy Route 23A, the Town of Hunter will tow all illegally parked vehicles at the owners expense. This impacted the old Molly Smith parking area above the trailhead to the falls, in an effort to enhance safety.

Visitors are instructed to drive to parking areas on Laurel House Road and Scutt Road, or they can go to the North-South Lake State Campground nearby.

5. How many people have died at Kaaterskill Falls?

At least nine people have died in the area since 1992 as visitors underestimate the terrain leading to the base of the falls, or as they attempt to climb up along the falls themselves.

The most recent death was in May 2021 when divers found the body of a 36-year-old Yonkers man in the water below the falls. In 2016, a Newburgh man died when he slipped on ice and moss at the top of Kaaterskill Falls. That same year, a 60-year-old woman and a 17-year-old boy from New Jersey were killed in falls.

Since then, the state has completed $750,000 in safety improvements at the Kaaterskill Wild Forest to remind visitors to the Greene County attraction to follow designated trails and obey posted signs. The agency also installed a 115-foot hiking bridge spanning Spruce Creek and connected the hamlet of Haines Falls to the Escarpment trail and North-South Lake campground.
Four local television reporters announced in the span of a week they were leaving their stations, joining seven other broadcast personalities that have already left in 2022.

The pandemic spurred a wave of departures in 2020 and, as viewer habits changed and expectations for broadcast journalists evolved, 17 more reporters left in 2021, with eight leaving the industry entirely.
SARATOGA SPRINGS  The traditional look of the City Council is about to change.

Minita Sanghvi, the city's new finance commissioner, is the first person of color on the council and the city's first openly gay official. The Bombay-born commissioner said she'll provide the council with a new perspective.

Its important in a couple of ways, the Democrat said Tuesday, just hours before her first council meeting. One is, it sends a message to a lot of people who are not the majority that there is a role for them and a place for them in our society and our city. They have a voice that they have not had before.

While she said many felt that upstate New York is not a place for progressive thinkers after the 2016 election, her win, as well as that of the newly elected Asian-American Mayor Ron Kim, does soften the citys image, which as of late has been deemed racist.

When you have people of different backgrounds, they bring along their own history and perspectives, their own cultural ideas about things, the 44-year-old said. Diversity adds more opinions and perspectives.

And that is what she is interested in gaining for city residents. She said she will start with the concept of participatory budgeting where she takes a small portion of the citys $54 million budget, about $50,000 to $100,000, and asks a committee of residents how they would like to spend it.

The idea here is young people, the homeless population, students, all get voice in a way they havent before, she said. If you take a person who is marginalized ... and put them into these positions, they bring along different ideas. There is a term: If you are not at the table, you are on the menu. When someone like me is at the table, we are expanding that table for so many more people to join.

She said she has seen that work in Greensboro, N.C., where she lived and worked as a professor at University at North Carolina before her 2014 move to Saratoga Springs, where she is now a full-tenured professor at Skidmore College teaching business and marketing.

But she would have never made her way to the Saratoga Springs table if she wasnt gay.

Her familys patriarch, Dwarkadas Jivanlal Sanghvi, was the founder of Wilson Pens in India. Uneducated and from a small village, Sanghvi said he was a rags-to- riches story when he developed the pen that was used to write the countrys constitution as it was breaking away from Great Britain.

"My whole life is trying to make him proud, even after his death," she said.

The pen business extended to Sanghvis father who went on to to establish Sanghvi Writing Industries.

I was raised in a business family and we learned business before anything else, she said.

Sanghvi said, however, she was interested in literature and history. But her father pushed her to study accounting and then earn her MBA. She did both at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, which at the time she was there in 2000, was ranked top 10 in India and the top 40 in Asia for business.

After graduation, she worked at Leo Burnett, an advertising agency also in Mumbai. And thats when her parents told her she was of marriageable age and they were seeking a husband for her. The idea struck her with terror.

I knew I was gay and I didnt want to get married, Sanghvi said. In India, you dont get married to just a boy, you get married to his whole family. I felt it was really unfair for me to ruin his life and his whole familys life because I could not tell the truth to my parents. I found the excuse to do another master's degree. My parents are pro-education and I knew it would be an out. I left for the U.S.

She enrolled at the University of Arizona, the only school with a retailing and consumer behavior program that accepted students in the spring semester so she could "get out as quickly as possible."

There in Tucson, she met other LGBTQ+ friends and felt transformed.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

In India, I never mentioned the words Im a lesbian, she said. Here it was so different, so brand new.

She returned home to India that summer, determined to come out to her family.

Im not sure they understood, but they were very accepting of me, she said. There was never any doubt they love me.

After graduating from the University of Arizona, she was offered a job at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, teaching business and marketing. She loved it and decided to go for Ph.D. She earned it with her award-winning dissertation Marketing the Female Politician: An Exploration of Gender, Appearance and Power.

Her 2014 dissertation could have been a manual for what she could expect in her near future.

Findings reveal the struggles specific to female politicians, such as impossible appearance standards, issues of self-doubt, trouble building credibility and dealing with the old boys network, as well as subtle forms of discrimination, such as lack of access to critical resources, she wrote in her introduction. This interdisciplinary study reveals how appearance is used as a code to indicate deeply-held, unconscious biases that facilitate the ongoing objectification of female politicians.

Sanghvi said she felt her appearance was an issue as she campaigned door-to-door and is certain that, on one occasion, city police were called on her because of the color of her skin.

But she does find it refreshing that being gay in Saratoga Springs is mainstream and she doesnt feel marginalized like she did in Greenboro where people called her derogatory names. Yet with so many people of color in Greensboro, her skin tone was a nonissue.

Its all a matter of perspective, geography and time period, she said. But I do think that my skin color (in Saratoga Springs) does give people more anxiety than my sexual orientation. But considering I got almost 50 percent of the vote (in a three-way race) that wasnt a barrier for a lot of people.

In addition to teaching and her role on the council, Sanghvi is also married and a mother of a 7-year-old boy. She is also a writer, completing the first Indian lesbian romance novel, All the Stars in My Sky, which will go to print with HarperCollins Publishers this spring. All this makes her a busy person. Regardless, she said she is excited to have a seat on the council.

I think everyone is excited to move the needle forward in different ways, whether it is complete streets, participatory budgeting or environmental initiatives, Sanghvi said. Everybodys heart is in the right place. Not everyone will agree with every decision. But its all done thinking of the larger population, equality and social justice.  We are not running away from problems, we are embracing them and dealing with them as they should have been done before.
Police officers responding to a shooting in Lakewood, Colo., discovered that the person they were attempting to apprehend had fatally shot five people, injured one and exchanged gunfire with police in two separate locations. Three-year veteran police officer Ashley Ferris confronted the suspect and, despite being seriously wounded by him, she returned fire and ended the threat.

As police protections across the nation continue to erode, we need to remember that Officer Ferris did not hesitate or retreat, she confronted the suspect at great personal risk, putting her own life in jeopardy to save others. This is the job.
ALBANY  Before taking several taxpayer-funded plane trips that potentially violated state ethics rules, Gov. Kathy Hochuls office was told that using a state-owned plane for the sole purpose of attending a campaign fundraiser was illegal.

After becoming governor, however, Hochul did use a state plane to attend a private campaign event in Buffalo. Her office maintains the flight to Buffalo was legal, using reasoning never specifically explored in past state ethics opinions.

On Aug. 10, facing likely impeachment, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that he would resign after a two-week transition period. That meant Hochul, the lieutenant governor, would take her new office on Aug. 24.

In the meantime, Hochul already had a campaign fundraiser scheduled for Aug. 18 in the Buffalo area. After Cuomo's announcement, interest in her event spiked  and had to be moved to a larger space.

Before that fundraiser, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, Hochuls top staffer asked Cuomos top staffer for use of a state-owned plane to transport Hochul to the event.

But in a phone call, Cuomos top aide, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa, informed Hochuls chief of staff, Jeff Lewis, that the request had been rejected.

DeRosa told Lewis that a state-owned aircraft could not be used for the purpose of flying to a campaign fundraiser. Another person, who was briefed on the conversation at the time, said Hochul's camp was irritated by the refusal as she prepared to ascend to the governorship.

On Thursday, Hochul's office did not dispute that the conversation between DeRosa and Lewis had occurred.

Needless to say, our administration does not take legal advice from the former administration," said Hochul's press secretary, Hazel-Crampton-Hays. "Every flight request is reviewed by counsel.

Earlier this week, Hochuls office told the Times Union that in light of questions about several flights during her first 45 days in office  when she conducted campaign activity, but none of the cost was reimbursed to taxpayers  Hochuls office had directed her ethics counsel to re-review all aircraft usage and make any appropriate reimbursements.

The rationale DeRosa cited for denying the flight is backed up by two 2007 ethics opinions and another from 2013 that determined for state aircraft to be used by a New York public official, the primary purpose of the trip must be  bona fide state business  not campaign fundraising.

Yet when Hochul became governor  and no longer had to ask Cuomo staff's permission  she did use a state aircraft in that manner for another campaign-related event in Buffalo.

As the Times Union reported on Thursday, on the morning of Sept. 19 Hochul flew from Buffalo to Syracuse and gave a commencement address at Syracuse University, which Hochul's office considered government-related, then held a campaign-related "private event." That afternoon, she flew from Syracuse to Buffalo, held a staff phone call, then held another private event at 7 p.m., before staying overnight in Buffalo.

Hochul flew from Buffalo to New York City the next morning, without conducting any other government-related activities in Buffalo, according to schedules recently posted by the Executive Chamber that detail her first 45 days as governor.

David Grandeau, the states former top lobbying enforcement official, said the Syracuse-to-Buffalo flight appeared to be an instance where Hochul's campaign and not taxpayers should pay for the entire bill. After landing in Buffalo, the only government-related activity was the staff phone call related to environmental policy announcements  an exchange that did not necessitate Hochul flying to Buffalo  ahead of the private political event there.

It's not clear if Hochul held a fundraiser on the evening of Sept. 19, or if the "private" event was of a different campaign-related nature. The Executive Chamber has repeatedly declined to say.

Citing a 2013 ethics opinion, Hochul's office says the Sept. 19 flight to Buffalo was legal, since she was returning "home" after conducting state business.

Originally from the Buffalo area, the governor moved into the Executive Mansion in Albany upon taking office on Aug. 24, though she and her husband still own a condo in Buffalo.

Hochul's office says she splits time between Albany, New York City and Buffalo. State ethics opinions have not addressed the issue of a governor having multiple residences, or whether returning to any of them enables an official to have taxpayers cover the cost of plane travel. In her first 45 nights as governor, Hochul slept in Buffalo nine times, her schedules indicate.

If a state ethics body such as the Joint Commission on Public Ethics were to investigate Hochuls flights, the conclusion could be more severe if her office had been made aware that its actions were potentially legally problematic.

According to the state law, any individual who knowingly and intentionally violates the Public Officers Law  including a provision banning state officials from using their position to secure unwarranted privileges  is subject to a civil penalty up to $10,000 and the value of the benefit resulting from the violation.

According to her schedules, during her first 45 days in office, Hochul attended 64 private events" related to her gubernatorial campaign, including donor meetings and fundraisers, allowing her campaign to raise a record-setting $10 million during her first three months in office.

Amid a whirlwind schedule juggling governmental and campaign activities, Hochul used state-issued aircraft for 45 flights over the first 45 days in office. None of the trips were considered mixed use by Hochuls office  consisting of both government and campaign-related activities  despite a busy campaign schedule on many of the trips. And none of the flight costs for using either a state-owned Beechcraft King Air 250 or a state helicopter were reimbursed to taxpayers by Hochuls campaign.

Many of the private events were back-to-back meetings lasting less than an hour and held in New York City, suggesting they were meetings with campaign donors. Under an exemption granted by JCOPE in 2013 when Cuomo was governor, public officials may fly to New York City, hold government and fundraising events there, and stay the night without reimbursing taxpayers for the flight  because the governor has an office in New York City.

Alleged misuse of state resources were also at issue during Cuomos tenure.

Cuomos 2014 campaign manager, Joseph Percoco, extensively used a state government office next to Cuomos to make campaign-related calls. Cuomo has said he was unaware of Percocos activities.

More recently, an Assembly Judiciary Committee issued in November detailed Cuomos extensive use of state workers to write a 2020 book that netted the then-governor $5.1 million. The report detailed how DeRosa was heavily involved in work on the production of the book. Cuomo says such work was legal, since the government staff volunteered.

And as the Times Union reported in August, Cuomo was said to have used State Police to run personal errands, walk dogs, and ferry the governors children to social events. State Police also maintain the fleet of aircraft and helicopters that governors, including Hochul, use for travel.

In her State of the State address on Wednesday, Hochul proposed replacing JCOPE with a new entity that would be far more independent of state politicians. Hochul's taxpayer-funded plane trips could serve as a test for New Yorks ethics apparatus: Since Cuomo resigned, she has replaced most of his six commissioners on JCOPE with her own appointees.
ALBANY  When Claudia Wolfgang converted her one-car garage into a classroom in 2020, she didnt see it as a sacrifice. She saw it as an opportunity.

While she was 10 feet away, reading to a gaggle of children, a handful of kids now had a space to learn. That was enough to replace the space with a smattering of desks, hundreds of books, jugs of paint, and more.

We just kept the kids rolling, said Wolfgang, an at-home child care provider in Rensselaer County. That was the focus, just keep the kids with their normal day. Nothing will change.

But things had changed. The focus of child care, intended for early development while providing relief to parents, was eclipsed during the coronavirus pandemic by a new set of rules: masks, distance, and a whole lot of bleach.

That added hours to the day and new costs that many providers couldnt make up. Wolfgang was one of the lucky ones who managed to stay open.

A few days earlier, three child care providers Wolfgang knew made the difficult decision to close permanently. They sold some of their supplies, like toys and puzzles, to Wolfgang, but it didnt soften the blow, she said.

The pandemic hit child care hard in New York. About 1,500 providers closed between April 2020 and last February  a span of just 10 months, according to data from the Schuyler Center, a research and advocacy group focused on family issues.

Thats not unique to the virus. Child care providers have been closing en masse in New York for years. There were close to 21,000 in 2014. By three years ago, that number had dropped to about 17,700, state data shows.

But while providers have closed, the total number of available spots has gone up  but only in New York City. Families outside the five boroughs have fewer options.

A lot of programs have had to close because they just couldnt make ends meet to stay open, said Kate Breslin, president and CEO of the Schuyler Center. Were in a tough spot, where were trying to reopen, and so many programs have closed.

At the same time, child care isnt getting any cheaper, and it was already expensive before the pandemic ushered in a new wave of economic insecurity among middle-income New Yorkers.

Two parents with one kid could pay as much as $15,000 annually for child care on average, according to state data. But the household would only qualify for financial help from the state if they earn less than about $43,000 together.

Otherwise, theyre left to pay for child care on their own. At $15,000, that would be more than a third of that households income  about the same share nearly half the states tenants spend on rent, according to the state Comptrollers Office.

Its an impossible situation, but one that could soon be met with an overhaul.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to include ideas for expanding access to child care in New York as part of her executive budget proposal in January, and sources said shes tasked top officials in her administration with developing that strategy.

Its not an unfamiliar issue for Hochul. She left her initial dream job as an attorney in the office of former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., because she couldnt find child care for her children in Buffalo while she was in Washington, D.C. After a few years of trying to juggle her family and her career, Hochul chose to return home to Erie County, where her political career would begin just a few years later.

Struggling to find care

Parents kept telling state Sen. Jabari Brisport, of Brooklyn, the same thing as he went along a nine-stop, statewide fact-finding tour over the past three months: they cant afford child care but they also cant find it.

We talked to people that have just accepted the reality of waiting lists that are years long, Brisport said.

One couple, he said, started calling child care providers right after their at-home pregnancy test was positive. They told him their hope was to get on a waiting list so that, by the time they go back to work after their child is born, a spot will be open for care.

Thats what happened with Casey OConnor, a parent from the Capital Region with two children.

OConnor has had his son with Wolfgang for more than two years now, first landing a spot with her when the boy was about 4 months old. But when his daughter needed care, Wolfgang didnt have an open spot. State regulations cap the number of pre-school children allowed at in-home group care programs at 12, and each spot was taken.

We pretty much begged to get in here, OConnor said. We called her, like, every week.

In the meantime, OConnor shuffled his daughter between family and a center-based child care provider, the kind thats in a brick-and-mortar facility instead of someones home. It was too expensive to send his daughter to the center-based provider full-time, he said, so he had to rely on his mother to make up the difference. And he couldnt find another provider that would take his daughter full-time.

Its not that theyre hard to find, OConnor said. Its that theyre hard to find spots in.

One of his calls to Wolfgang eventually paid off. A spot had opened up for his daughter. He took it without a second thought. It meant that he would no longer have to juggle his two children between two complicated avenues of child care.

OConnors story isnt unique. The state Office of Children and Family Services, the agency that regulates and supports child care in New York, has acknowledged the existence of wide swaths of the state where providers are few and far between.

Thats very real, said Sheila Poole, the agencys commissioner. We know thats a need that we want to be addressing in our child care deserts.

Child care deserts are areas where demand for child care exceeds availability. Theres no concrete data from the state on how many children in New York live in child care deserts, but a report from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, puts the number at 64 percent.

New funding sources and financial incentives are seen as key to easing the supply problem.

That happened during the pandemic. After an infusion of federal funds, New York launched the Child Care Stabilization Grant program, a $1.1 billion fund thats aided more than 12,000 providers since August. But that funding was temporary, and Poole said the state wont be able to sustain it in the years to come without more help from Congress.

Providers scrape by

Winifred Joy Wellington couldnt believe how little child care providers are paid  close to minimum wage, federal data shows  when she decided to open a facility almost five years ago with her son, Jason Wellington.

Shes like, How are we going to retain staff? She went immediately to staff, because you need teachers, Jason said.

Even in New York City, which has among the highest rates of income per capita in the state, child care providers are paid an average wage of $15.29 per hour, according to federal data. Thats 29 cents above the minimum wage in the five boroughs.

Because of that, they often rely on public benefits to make ends meet, according to research from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.

That doesnt inspire a lot of providers to remain in the industry if another opportunity comes along, the Schuyler Center's Breslin said.

If you don't love it, or even if you do love it, if you can do something that is easier or less demanding and make more money, you can understand why somebody would do it, Breslin said.

Child care in New York has to offer a level of instructional learning, physical activity, meals, and more, per state rules.

But theres a feeling among the states providers that theyre underappreciated by the public, said state Sen. Jessica Ramos, D-Queens, who embarked on her own statewide child care tour in recent months.

These workers have been thought of as babysitters and actually what they're doing is raising our children, Ramos said. We have to acknowledge the seriousness of this job.

Its also also an industry that presents challenges in terms of the opportunity for growth. Thats a disincentive for new providers to enter the field, Breslin said.

We don't value our caring workforce, Breslin said. And, you know, the reality is, this can be a tough job.

At the same time, its not always an option for providers to raise their rates to meet new costs, like higher pay for staff. That could put them at risk of losing business from parents who can already barely afford the service, they say.

Cost consumes parents

Thats step one  finding ways to sustain the states current collection of providers for parents. Step two, stakeholders say, is to address the cost burden faced by low-income families.

At $15,000 each year per child, the average cost of child care in the Empire State is more than double the tuition for in-state students at New Yorks public colleges and universities. A median-income, two-parent household with an infant and a 4-year-old would spend nearly 40 percent of their annual wages on child care at that price, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a national research group.

Low-income families can receive public subsidy payments that help cover the cost of care. Theyre distributed by local social services agencies, but largely funded by the state.

Those subsidies are available to households earning twice the federal poverty level or less. For context, the federal poverty level for a household of four is $26,500.

So, if the same two-parent household with an infant and a four-year-old earns more than $53,000 each year  which is lower than two full-time incomes at minimum wage for most in the state  they wouldnt be eligible to receive a subsidy.

There are also families who qualify for a subsidy, but dont receive one because of limited funds, Breslin said.

That doesnt mean subsidies are uncommon. About 132,000 children from 79,000 families received child care subsidies in New York last year, according to the state.

While those subsidies cover most of the average cost of child care, theres typically a difference that parents have to make up. That gap is a co-pay, and the state caps it at 10 percent of a households income above the poverty level.

Its possible that, between the subsidy and a familys co-pay, there will still be a gap between whats paid and what a provider charges. In those cases, providers are allowed to work out an agreement with the parents, or deny those children from their program.

Some families dont have to contribute a co-pay, like those who receive public assistance or dont have a permanent address, according to OCFS.

Limiting out of pocket expenses for parents through a direct subsidy is absolutely crucial, Poole said.

Amanda Key is one of the states thousands of parents who receive a subsidy to pay for child care, but cost isnt her only problem.

She has two children, and both need child care. One has a spot at Joyful Beginnings, but the other doesnt. The second child is old enough for school, but too young to be alone at home.

Key had to find a provider for her that was on the schools bus route, but that wasnt enough. She works non-traditional hours that dont line up with the providers schedule, so other sacrifices had to be made.

I have to leave work early to get them before the daycares close, Key said. If they were open until 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., I wouldn't really need to worry about transportation.

For parents who have family or friends that can offer care during non-traditional work hours, scheduling and transportation can be easier. But Key doesnt have that support.

Its worse for parents without reliable transportation in New Yorks rural counties, which typically dont have robust options for public transit. There is no safety net if parents dont have a solution to those problems. That leaves some with an impossible choice to make, Ramos said.

You fear the worst, that maybe some of these children are being left home alone, which is another part of the system we never talk about, Ramos said. There should be no excuse.

Child care debate in Albany

If New York is going to breathe new life into the states child care industry, the next six months will be crucial.

Hochul is expected to unveil her own plan for expanding access to child care in January. That starts the clock on an agreement with the Legislature before theyre scheduled to leave Albany for the year in June.

Ahead of Hochuls proposal, two bills have already been introduced to expand access to child care for parents and support the states struggling providers.

After his statewide tour this fall, Brisport introduced the Universal Child Care Act  a bill that would make child care free statewide, regardless of income, and create new funding streams to support providers and their staff. Brisports bill would chart a course toward no-cost child care immediately.

At the end of a transition period, the state would do away with income-based support, like subsidies, and fully finance child care for every household that needs it, at rates that would match the cost of care from providers.

Right now, we have a patchwork of providers and complicated means-testing, Brisport said. And it's important to be able to say that we're going to move to a system where everyone, anywhere in the state can have access to child care.

The Universal Child Care Act would also earmark funding to support costs for new providers, raise wages for their staff, and help build out physical infrastructure if they need it. It would direct more funds to providers that operate during non-traditional work hours.

The same idea is also found in a second bill to expand access to child care in New York: the Early Learning Child Care Act, sponsored by Ramos and Assemblywoman Sarah Clark, D-Monroe. Their bill would also create new tax incentives for providers that allow drop-in care, where parents can drop their kids in an emergency.

The Early Learning Child Care Act would create a support program regulated by the state Office of Children and Family Services. Child care would be free for families earning four times the federal poverty level or less. Above that, subsidies would be available on a sliding scale, with a co-pay ranging from half of one percent of a households income, up to 7 percent.

Households earning more than 10 times the federal poverty level  $265,000 for a family of four  would not be eligible for a subsidy.

The Early Learning Child Care Act would create funding streams to support higher wages for child care providers, the general cost of business, and new construction when needed. That would come with a catch. The bill would require providers that receive financial assistance from the state to pay their staff a minimum of $45,000 each year.

The legislation would also create an advisory panel of experts and stakeholders that could reject or modify new rules over child care from OCFS.

That all would be paid for through a small tax on New Yorks largest businesses, according to the legislation. Employers would be barred from charging the tax to their workers.

Companies with more than $2.5 million in payroll expenses would pay a tax of one half of one percent on those costs. The tax would be capped at 1 percent for employers with more than $10 million in payroll expenses.

What the biggest businesses will be doing is investing in their workforce of tomorrow, Ramos said. Theyre helping parents get back to work right now, but theyre also investing in the children who are years away from working for them.

Both bills would cost the state billions of dollars, according to estimates from both lawmakers. Brisport said he would seek to raise income taxes on the wealthy to finance his plan.

Others have argued for a second look at the states regulation of child care to ease costs for providers.

State Sen. Dan Stec, the highest-ranking Republican on the Committee on Children and Families, said lawmakers should consider those rules in any road to reform.

Most people that get into this, they want to take care of kids, they don't want to take care of paperwork, Stec said.

Neither bill is likely to pass as written. When major pieces of legislation are introduced in New York, theyre often negotiated between both chambers of the Legislature and the governors office before they receive a vote, if at all. The last scheduled day of the new legislative session is June 2.

Dan Clark is a managing editor for New York Now.
ALBANY  Gov. Kathy Hochul often talks about her self-described humble beginnings that culminated in her accession to be the 57th governor of New York. Along the way, the Erie County native has made many friends, some of whom have coalesced into her inner circle.

Ahead of Hochul's first legislative session as governor, she has generally kept her top priorities close to her. She has emphasized her desire not to negotiate policy in the press. Instead, Hochul looks to speak directly with those involved in the decisions, including state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl. E Heastie.

Hochul also has a wide range of people she has met along the way to becoming governor that she can trust and turn to for input. As lieutenant governor, from 2014 until former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned in August, Hochul often crisscrossed the state, cutting ribbons, touting economic development and cultivating relationships with people at all levels of government and commerce.

Here are a few people who the governor has said she turns to for advice.

Hazel Dukes

Hochul refers to the leader of the New York conference of the NAACP, Hazel Dukes, as her "mom on Earth." Hochul, who lost her mother seven years ago, views Dukes, 89, as someone who has "stood with me through thick and thin" and is a "spiritual advisor.

"She calls me all the time and I pick up the phone and say, 'What do you need, Hazel?'" Hochul said when she introduced then-state Sen. Brian Benjamin as her lieutenant governor in Harlem.

Dukes was one of the first noteworthy people to endorse Hochul for governor. Dukes has significant influence in New York City and is close with the similarly influential Rev. Al Sharpton. The two appeared on stage with Hochul and Benjamin during their press event in August.

An activist, but also representative of an older guard of Democrats, Dukes could be among the influential voices advising Hochul on how far to take criminal justice policies that are set to be among the most contentious issues this session.

Crystal Peoples-Stokes

Upstate Business This story appears in the Times Union's new quarterly magazine devoted to the major trends driving the Capital Region's economy. See More Collapse

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. People-Stokes may not outrank Heastie, but her long relationship with Hochul is likely to play a major factor in the dynamics during session.

While Peoples-Stokes, a Buffalo Democrat, has championed marijuana reforms, she has pushed back against more progressive policies. In the recent divisive race for mayor of Buffalo, she supported incumbent Byron Brown, who ran a successful write-in campaign, over the partys primary nominee, Democratic-Socialist India Walton. Hochul avoided offering an endorsement.

Peoples-Stokes has a long history in elected office. She was a member of the Erie County Legislature from 1993 to 2002, and has since represented the 141st Assembly district, which includes the city of Buffalo.

Peoples-Stokes recalled her close, decades-long relationship with Hochul in the days prior to Hochuls appointment as governor.

When Peoples-Stokes ran for Congress in 1998, Hochul, then on the Hamburg Town Council, was the only Democrat who was willing to walk me through her community as a candidate, Peoples-Stokes told Buffalo TV station WVIB in August.

In 2014, when Cuomo tapped Hochul to be his running mate, Peoples-Stokes was named as co-chair of Cuomos campaign.

And when Hochul did take over from Cuomo, Peoples-Stokes swiftly supported her fellow Erie County politician. She was among the first state lawmakers to endorse Hochul for a full term.

Mark Poloncarz

Hochul often talks about her time in local government and the importance of supporting the needs of those governments, as opposed to unilaterally placing unfunded and unpopular mandates that have been drawn up out of Albany or New York City.

One person Hochul has often referenced is Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. When Hochul was county clerk, Poloncarz was comptroller there.

On Nov. 22, prior to the emergence of the omicron variant of COVID-19, Hochul issued a statement specifically thanking Poloncarz for a mask mandate he put in place as that county was dealing with overwhelmed hospitals. This is an example of the leadership we need to see at the local level to combat this deadly virus, Hochul said.

Three weeks later, defending her statewide mask policy, Hochul once again gave a shout out to Poloncarz and then vaguely referenced other, unnamed county executives.

With the state mask policy, which by this news conference already had been receiving substantial political blowback, Hochul said the county leaders are certainly appreciative now that the state will give them air cover in a sense.

Gary LaBarbera

The president of the influential Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York has quickly become a frequent attendee at news conferences for the governor. While Hochul looks to advance an agenda of building up the city, in step with President Joe Bidens infrastructure goals, the governor has turned to the labor leader for support.

Although LaBarbera has yet to formally endorse Hochuls bid for a full term for governor, he has appeared alongside Hochul multiple times. In December, the two joined up at events celebrating the multi-billion dollar expansion of the John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens. LaBarbera, in a statement, thanked Hochul for her effective leadership in moving this landmark infrastructure project forward.

Hochul is continuing to look to unions for political and financial support in her run for governor. Many of the trades union leaders, including LaBarbera, were politically close to Cuomo, but have generally signaled that they are moving forward with Hochul, the states top Democrat.

In 2018, when Hochul was running against New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for reelection for lieutenant governor, LaBarbera endorsed Hochul as someone who has stood by our side on every one of our issues, bar none, according to news reports at the time. One of Hochuls potential Democratic primary opponents for governor is Williams.

Faith & Family

As much as there are political and business people that may have the ear of Hochul, she perhaps references her faith and family as guiding her more than any other North Star.

Hochul, a Roman Catholic, has peppered her speeches with religious allegories at certain times. She had also made it an early habit to frequent churches for Sunday service and subsequent speeches.

She may not be back home in Erie County for every Sunday, but the governor has shown she is often rooted in her view of her faith, which includes a deep desire to support the homeless. Hochul, though, is a strong supporter of womens rights and their rights to abortion.

When Hochul was sworn in as governor, her immediate family members were alongside. It included her two children, her father and others. Hochul has emphasized the need to protect the elderly during the pandemic.

Hochul has also referenced her familys personal experience with losing a loved one to addiction issues, which is a guiding principle for her views on the opioid epidemic and recovery.

Hochuls husband, William J. Hochul Jr., is general counsel and secretary to Delaware North Companies, a major statewide player that deals in hospitality and gambling. Her spouse is the former U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York, serving under President Barack Obama, a point Hochul likes to discuss.

The two have vouched they would maintain a firm firewall on any potential issues of conflict and her husband has pledged to recuse himself from work that could be viewed as a conflict of interest.
Cynthia Nixon was angry.

In was March 2018, and the acclaimed "Sex and the City" actress and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful was at the Hilton Albany berating then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for negotiating a new sexual harassment policy with four men in the room. The meetings, Nixon noted, excluded Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins  then and still the only woman to lead a New York legislative conference.

In addition to Cuomo, those men were Senate Majority Leader Leader John Flanagan, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie and Independent Democratic Conference leader Jeff Klein, who as Nixon was speaking was just weeks away from shutting down the breakaway faction. A few months earlier, Klein had been accused of forcibly kissing his former staffer Erica Vladimer outside a Lark Street bar. (It's a charge he denies.)

Launching her campaign, Nixon jabbed at Cuomo: "He's cleaned up Albany about as well as President (Donald) Trump has drained the swamp."

Almost four years later, three of those four men (as well as Trump, who has faced his own list of sexual misconduct allegations) are no longer in any room where state business is being conducted: Klein was defeated in the Democratic primary a few months after Nixon's speech, along with almost all of his IDC colleagues; Flanagan, who saw his GOP conference consigned to the minority in 2018, chose not to run in 2020; and Cuomo, of course, resigned in August after the state attorney general's office released a report that concluded he had serially harassed multiple women.

In 2022, two women  Stewart-Cousins included  will be running the show alongside Heastie as Gov. Kathy Hochul presents her first executive budget to legislators. For an official who acknowledged just before taking office that she had been largely shut out of Cuomo's circle in recent years, the negotiation will present Hochul with her greatest opportunity to mark herself as a formidable executive as she seeks a four-year term in November.

Shell have much on her plate: responding to a raging new COVID-19 variant, tweaking criminal justice reforms and  slightly less weighty  deciding whether to change the Capitol buildings Dunkin Donuts back to a deli. In a preview of her State of the State address last month, Hochul listed infrastructure investment, connecting the homeless to support services, instituting common-sense gun legislation and fighting crime in metropolitan areas as other top agenda items.

Amid all these challenges, does it matter that for the first time they'll be addressed at the top echelons of political power by female leaders? The answer, according to elected officials and political observers, is yes ... and no.

Those who anticipate a change in budget-negotiation dynamics simply because two of the leading participants are women are missing the point, argued Lisa Reid, managing director of Mercury Public Affairs.

The notion diminishes their ability by putting them into a gender box, Reid said. Their capabilities and their abilities and their strength have everything to do with who they are as people, and not their gender.

Both Hochul and Stewart-Cousins took non-traditional routes to reach their current positions  and both took those jobs after the tenures of men who are now notorious. The Senate leader's two predecessors atop the Senate Democratic conference, Malcolm Smith and John Sampson, both ended up in prison. She held different roles before jumping into politics, working for the New York Telephone Co., as a teacher and a newspaper reporter.

The majority leader doesnt mind if New Yorkers expect her to adopt what might be perceived as "female" gender traits during the budget process. People may expect me to be more compassionate or a people-pleaser, she said in a recent interview. I dont have any problems with being compassionate or even trying to make the people that I represent feel good and comfortable."

But don't misread her style as weakness: "I dont see that as mutually exclusive from being tough when you need to be tough, being clear about what your objectives are and accomplishing the things you set out to do, Stewart-Cousins said.

When it comes to negotiations, shes expecting more collaboration from Hochul's administration than lawmakers got from Cuomo's my-way-or-the-highway tendencies. When she was first allowed into the room as majority leader in the winter of 2019  when Cuomo found himself suddenly facing a unified Democratic Legislature for the first time  the meetings suddenly appeared to become less frequent.

3 1 of 3 Paul Buckowski / Albany Times Union Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Paul Buckowski/Times Union Show More Show Less 3 of 3





The amount of outreach (from the Executive Chamber) declined substantially, Stewart-Cousins said, adding that the past three budgets were passed in timely fashion and reflected the priorities of her conference.

Though political watchers might continue to fixate on the gender change at the top, Stewart-Cousins is optimistic that theyll also come to realize the new leadership team is capable and know how to get things done."



Hopefully, this will dispel any preconceived notions based on bias or prejudice, or just people conditioned not to see people who are female in these roles, she said.

In the past, those that have underestimated her havent fared well: Underestimating me has probably caused the most problems for people who actually deal with me, Stewart-Cousins said.  ... I'm doing the work, (and) youre sitting there saying, Oh well, she cant possibly do that.

Hochul, who joined Cuomo's ticket in 2014, has admitted that she never aspired to the states top job. Even so, she took hold of the reins of power quickly, selecting a lieutenant governor with an eye to boosting racial and geographic balance and staging that campaign fundraising blitz that contributed to Attorney General Letitia James' decision to end her own gubernatorial campaign after less than two months.

While Cuomo's attempts at retail politics could often come off as micromanaged to an almost comical degree, Hochul has described herself as the kind of politician that really wants to get to know her states residents. She regularly visits businesses or lets voters approach her on the street and ask about their concerns. In the early days of her administration, she toured Art on Lark, an annual Albany summer festival celebrating local businesses and artists. The Buffalo native headed into Stacks Espresso Bar in downtown Albany and sampled Saratoga Apple Hard Cider.

After her swearing in, Hochul took a moment to address New Yorkers, reflecting on the occasion's historical significance.

Upstate Business This story appears in the Times Union's new quarterly magazine devoted to the major trends driving the Capital Region's economy. See More Collapse

"I did not get here without the courage and sacrifice of others," she said. "The courage of the early suffragettes, who began the long march for equality and the elected women who came before me, paving the way for this day."

Both state. Sen Shelley Mayer, D-Westchester County, and Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, expect the negotiators' genders to play a role in the way they handle negotiations and what issues are prioritized.

Mayer specifically pointed out those related to childcare. Im happy because I believe the challenges of individual families, particularly parents of school children and people with family members that are sick or have lost family members, these kinds of very human empathetic needs will expressly be part of the conversation, she opined.

Fahy added: I think their personalities really bode well for a better working relationship. Women historically are known as having the more collaborative approach because we havent been in leadership. We havent benefited from exclusivity.

As Mercury's Lisa Reid goes into her 23rd legislative session, shes enthusiastic about introducing her daughters to a state government with two women at the helm.

Its kind of hard to believe it took us this long to get a female governor in the state of New York, but were thrilled that its happening  and its happening in our lifetime, she said.

An earlier version of this story misspelled the last name of Erica Vladimer.
The stats say that the plague is rapidly worsening and this time around its impacting younger students and hitting the already battered US economy.



Tonight we share a collection of local news on the topic of dire COVID numbers despite vaxx progress and promises.



Check TKC news links . . .

KC hospitals, EMS, school districts experience major disruptions due to staffing issues KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The latest surge of COVID-19 cases has stretched local hospitals and emergency management thin. Ryan Jacobsen, medical director of Johnson County EMS System, says ambulances often do not know where to drop off 911 patients with many hospitals busting at the seams. Patients then have to decide where they would like to be treated and are often taken to hospitals that are not their choice.

Park Hill School Board voted Friday night to bring back mask mandate for all school facilities KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Park Hill School Board voted in a special meeting Friday night to bring back the district's mask mandate. The vote was 6-1 with board member Scott Monsees as the lone no vote. The mandate will begin Jan. 9 and run through Feb. 3.

Medical team arrives at KC's Research Medical Center to help with COVID-19 support A team of medical professionals sent by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services arrived in Kansas City Friday to help with patient care at Research Medical Center.The hospital said it requested additional help from the state of Missouri to care for the growing number of COVID-19 patients and to expand the hospital's ability to treat other patients in need of care.The 15-member team from the National Disaster Medical System will provide short-term surge support to the hospital.

Weather, staffing and more contributing to COVID test struggles in KC area KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The line for the COVID-19 testing site at the Heavy Construction Laborers Union off Prospect stretched from 79th Street to 75th. Some in line said they've been desperately looking for tests. "I was looking for about three days because most of them require appointments, and this is one of them that didn't require an appointment," Gloria Estrada said.

COVID-related issues leave nearly 1,000 staff out at The University of Kansas Health System KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Organizations of all types are quickly feeling the impact of the number of employees who have become sick from the latest COVID-19 surge. During its daily call with doctors and reporters Friday, The University of Kansas Health System reported more than 950 employees were out either with COVID-19 or related to COVID-19 testing.

More than 400 Children's Mercy staff out with COVID-19 as child hospitalizations remain high Children's Mercy Hospital is seeing some of its highest COVID-19 hospitalization rates since the pandemic began. It comes as more than 400 staff members are out with the virus.

Metro school districts battle short staffing due to Covid-19 cases KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) --- Staffing shortages are crippling industries across the metro. The latest to shutdown was a charter school in Kansas City. University Academy canceled classes Friday because they didn't have enough teachers due to Covid-19 infections.

Allen Fieldhouse at KU to require masks KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Allen Fieldhouse, the indoor arena located at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, will require masks following a mask mandate passed by Douglas County, where the arena is located. "For the most part, this county mandate doesn't change anything on our Lawrence campus because we have been implementing our own university mask mandate since last August," University Chancellor Douglas A.

Kansas Supreme Court reverses Johnson County judge's ruling that pandemic law is unconstitutional The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday overturned a Johnson County judge's decision that a 2021 Kansas law enacted to address COVID-19 emergency measures is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court, though, made clear it was not expressing an opinion on the constitutionality of the law, Senate Bill 40.

Kansas sets new single-day record for Covid-19 cases TOPEKA, KS. ( WIBW) - The state's surge of COVID-19 cases shows no signs of letting up, with Kansas logging another record for new cases in a single day. The Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment's update Friday showed 5,048 new COVID cases diagnosed Jan. 4, 2022.

Mid-Missouri COVID hospitalizations increase as state surpasses record hospitalizations COLUMBIA - With the positivity rate continuing to increase in mid-Missouri, hospitals statewide have hit a record high with an increasing number of people coming in with COVID-19. Especially with children, Missouri is seeing the rate of kids being hospitalized for COVID-19 at a record-high level.

Kansas City temp agency busy as COVID-19 surge causes staffing shortages COVID-19 is causing staffing shortages at hospitals, schools and businesses all over Kansas City. In some places, it's leading to closings.If too many employees are out sick, it's hard to run a business. Temp agencies have been stepping in to fill the gap in some cases.It's a busy time if you're in the business of helping businesses hire."We never stopped.

All Shawnee Mission middle, high schools to mask for at least 2 weeks KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Two more Shawnee Mission School District buildings have joined the list of schools with more than 3% of students or staff in quarantine.

Missouri schools can close for a period of time if COVID cases get too high KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is trying to plan ahead, just in case mask requirements in certain cities and school districts don't work. "The options that Missouri school districts have in front of them this year is what we call the Alternative Methods of Instruction Statute, or AMI," spokeswoman Mallory McGowin said Friday.

As schools mask back up, some raise concerns about student mental health When the subject of masks in schools comes up, invariably so does the topic of mental health.

You decide . . .


January Cold often offers a respite from local violent crime. But not always.



Accordingly, here's a quick collection of local news that mostly focuses on vehicles and their dangers across the metro.



Here's the TKC collection . . .



OIathe man facing murder charge after alleged argument leads to deadly motorcycle wreck by: Makenzie Koch Posted: / Updated: OLATHE, Kan. - An Olathe man has been charged with murder after a fight led to a deadly wreck with a motorcyclist, prosecutors say. Ruben Rodriguez has been charged with second-degree murder in Johnson County, Kansas, in connection with the death of Dade Smith, who was killed in the November 2021 crash.

Woman taken in custody following police pursuit that began in Kansas City, entered Independence INDEPENDENCE, MO (KCTV) --- A woman was taken into custody Friday following a police pursuit that began in Kansas City and crossed into Independence. Independence police tell KCTV5 that the suspect was involved in an armed carjacking the occupant of the vehicle was armed.

Just released from jail, Gladstone woman charged with trying to steal vehicle by: Brian Dulle Posted: / Updated: LIBERTY, Mo. - A 24-year-old Gladstone, Missouri woman who was just released from the Clay County Jail is now facing charges with attempting to steal a vehicle that was left running unattended. Sarah James Lopez was charged earlier this week with tampering with a motor vehicle.

Transgender inmates say the way they're treated in Kansas prisons puts them in danger Rayne Bennett hadn't begun her gender transition the first time she was sent to a state prison. She was held in a men's prison and that felt like the right choice. Upon reflection and meditation, she decided while in that men's facility to begin her transition to female.

Duo captured breaking into Kansas City home; believed to be connected to other cases KANSAS CITY, Mo.- More Kansas City, Missouri residents are coming forward with their similar and frightening stories about neighborhood break-ins. One woman believes the same suspects shown in a previous FOX4 report are responsible for breaking into her home last month. "I clicked on it and was like those are the same guys.

Developing . . .


Alternate post title: Nobody's learning anything in Sleaze Scummit.



Today's example . . .



"The students marched through the halls, and then briefly left the building without leaving campus," Katy Bergen, executive director of public relations for the district, said. "The district responded by creating an opportunity for students to express themselves safely in the gym. Students in the gym were kept safe and supervised while they shared concerns before returning to class."



The protest was in response to information and rumors shared on social media by students about "discipline issues" by the school administration to an incident earlier this week where a student used a racial slur.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . .
In one of the most amateurish editorials ever published by The Kansas City Star, the newspaper inadvertently contends that the attendance of white students in public schools is a sign of progress.



We imagine they were trying to shame readers but the hypocritical progressive tactic promoted something worse than "low expectations" and revealed the inherent danger of race-obsessed thinking.



Here's their low-info argument . . .



Kansas City Public Schools has a student population of more than 14,000 students this academic year, but only about 1 in 10 is white. Kansas City is 60% white. The achievement gap over the last three years for white students in the district has grown faster than the rate for Black and Hispanic students, district data shows . . .



Now is not the time to rejoice. There is work to be done in Kansas City Public Schools. But progress has been made and momentum is on the districts side. But is full accreditation enough to bring white families back to the district? It should be.

Now here's an inconvenient fact . . .

OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS BLACK FAMILIES ALSO ABANDONED KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!



Moreover . . .

Running away from the KCPS is one of those rare issues that people from nearly every demographic group can agree upon.

Student population within the KCPS was counted at 14,128 in 2021. In the early 1970s peak enrollment was estimated at more than 73,000 students.



Translation . . .

EPIC DECLINE IN STUDENT POPULATION MEANS EVERYBODY GAVE UP ON KCPS YEARS AGO!!!



Accreditation or not . . .

People vote with their feet and we haven't noticed more families flocking to this educational option despite years of hype about regaining their status from Missouri education officials.



Nevertheless . . .



The point here is that the Kansas City Star is so race-obsessed that they can't even see the flaw in their own self-righteous argumentation.



Today's editorial ignores the plight of Black families in KCMO who struggle, relocate and sacrifice a great deal to ensure a better education for their students far, far away from the clutches of the KCPS.

Moreover . . .

From the comfort of home offices in Johnson County, The Star encourages working-class white families to experiment with the education of their youngsters in a district that has seen one of the worst declines in American history.

For what it's worth . . .

In recent elections, a reform group by the name of Blaque seems to be advocating for charter schools which have a great deal of independence from KCPS and some of their conversations have prepared/advocated for dissolution of the district in favor of a neighborhood model. That's a controversial approach which has its own set of problems but it's still a more genuine perspective on urban discussions than the silly idea that anyone is sitting around waiting for imaginary white students to save the day.

Yet again, The Star's obsession with antiquated ideas about "diversity" have distracted the newspaper from the only thing that really matters: Creating BETTER & SAFE SCHOOLS for ALL students.

So far there's not much evidence to suggest that a mere accreditation upgrade has really changed much for KCPS and parents are well within their rights to be skeptical of so much politically charged rhetoric.

You decide . . .


Brevard, NC (28712)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
Workers at the new Ponfeigh Distillery located at the former 84 Lumber yard in Somerset are working on getting the distrillery open by the spring.
Local members of the state legislature said they were not informed about Vision Together 2025s discussions about possibly bringing Afghanistan War refugees to Johnstown and Cambria County. And now state Reps. Jim Rigby and Frank Burns, along with state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., find themselves fielding questions from constituents with no answers to provide.
The state House is expected to vote on a proposed congressional map this week, as spring primary deadlines and a lawsuit that asks Pennsylvanias highest court to take over the highly consequential process loom large.
If youre reading this you probably also took in the first half of my annual feature that celebrates books last week; thanks for coming back for more. It was the great Western writer, Louis LAmour who said that once youve read a book you care about,  some part of it is always with you.
BLANFORD [mdash] Eric Todd Vandevender, 60, of Blanford and formerly of Cayuga, passed away at 7:55 a.m. EDT Saturday, April 16, 2022 at Clinton Gardens in Clinton, Indiana. Eric was born on May 6, 1961 in Danville, Illinois, the son of the late Floyd A. and Irma Jean (Weir) Vandevender. Sur
Compared to the rest of the state, Terre Haute and Vigo County rest somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to child care facilities. It's strong on facility availability for infants and toddlers and not bad in terms of high-quality child care, but has pockets  known as "child care deserts"  where children in need of care vastly outnumber the available providers.
Tullahoma, TN (37388)

Today

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mostly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 61F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mostly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 61F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
In the past 24 hours, on January 7, the Russian occupation forces three times violated the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, including once with the use of weapons proscribed by the Minsk agreements.

Thats according to a morning update by the Joint Forces Operation Headquarters.

"Near Katerynivka, Russian mercenaries fired at Ukrainian positions with grenade launchers of various systems and small arms. The occupiers opened fire using 120-mm and 82-mm mortars at Kamyanka, the update said.

Ukrainian defenders returned fire without using weapons proscribed by the Minsk accords and forced the enemy to cease shelling.

"There are no casualties among the Joint Forces as a result of the enemy's actions ... As of 7:00 on January 8, we recorded no new ceasefire violations by the Russian occupation forces," the military added.

Joint Forces continue to monitor the situation, remaining ready to deter and repel Russias armed aggression.

im
Russia is spreading disinformation, claiming that Ukraine is threatening them and that the Russian military buildup near the Ukrainian border is allegedly a defensive move.

This was stated by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spoke to the media on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"It (Moscow - ed.) claims that Ukraine is threatening Russia. That Ukraine seeks to provoke a conflict. And that the Russian troop build-up and the tanks and heavy artillery are all purely defensive. Thats like the fox saying it had to attack the henhouse because its occupants somehow pose a threat., Blinken said.

He reminded that in 2014, Russia attacked Ukraine, claiming Ukraine was an aggressor.

According to the top diplomat, Moscow is undertaking major propaganda efforts against Ukraine, NATO and the United States. This includes malign social media operations, the use of overt and covert proxy media outlets, Blinken said.

Disinformation is intended to influence audiences into falsely believing that Ukraine  not Russia  is to blame for escalating tensions. To this end, Russia also hacks media servers and conducts a range of cyber attacks.

"No one should be surprised if Russia instigates a provocation or incident  then tries to use it to justify military intervention (...) The idea that Ukraine is the aggressor in this situation is absurd.. Its Russia that, to this day, is fueling a war in eastern Ukraine," the secretary of state said, calling Russia an occupier and a party to the conflict that has failed to fulfill any of its obligations under the Minsk agreements.

"Its Russia thats taken aim repeatedly at Ukraines democracy. And its Russia thats sending troops to Ukraines border, once again. All these actions are violations of Ukraines sovereignty and an immediate and urgent challenge to peace and stability in Europe," Blinken added.

The secretary of state recalled that a special virtual meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Friday discussed a coordinated response to the build-up of Russian troops along the border with Ukraine and the threat posed by Russia and its rhetoric.

"Were prepared to respond forcefully to further Russian aggression. But a diplomatic solution is still possible and preferable, if Russia chooses it. Thats what we, together with our allies and partners, will continue to pursue intently next week at the Strategic Stability Dialogue between the United States and Russia, and at the meetings of the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe," said Blinken.

" In 2014, the Ukrainian people chose a democratic and European future for themselves. Russia responded by manufacturing a crisis and invading. Ever since, Russia has occupied Ukraines territory in Crimea and has orchestrated a war in the eastern part of Ukraine  with proxies that it leads, trains, supplies, and finances  that has killed nearly 14,000 people and redrawn Ukraines borders by force. Beyond its military aggression, Moscow has also worked to undermine Ukraines democratic institutions. Its interfered in Ukraines politics and elections; its blocked energy and commerce to intimidate its leaders and pressure its citizens; its used propaganda and disinformation to sow mistrust; its launched cyber-attacks on the countrys critical infrastructure. Then, starting last March and continuing through the fall, Russia began a massive, unprovoked buildup of military forces and equipment on Ukraines border  nearly 100,000 troops today, with plans to mobilize twice that number on very short order," the secretary of state said.

He also noted that support for Ukraine's accession to NATO has increased significantly since the Russian invasion  from 25% to 60%.

im
All NATO allies are unanimous in their strong support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian threat.

Canadas Foreign Minister Melanie Joly wrote about this on Twitter.

"Canada and our NATO allies are united in our support for Ukraine and its people," Joly tweeted.

She added that "any military incursion into Ukraine will have serious consequences, including coordinated sanctions."

As Ukrinform reported earlier, a virtual meeting of NATO foreign ministers took place on Friday, focusing on Russia's military expansion in and around Ukraine, as well as on other European security issues.

im
On January 12-13, the Chiefs of Staff of the NATO Armed Forces will hold a virtual meeting with the participation of Ukraine and Georgia representatives.

This is stated in the announcement published by the NATO press service, Ukrinform reports.

"NATOs highest Military Authority, the Military Committee, will meet virtually on 12-13 January 2022, in Brussels, Belgium. Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the Military Committee, will preside over the sessions, which will be attended by the Allied Chiefs of Defence," the press release reads.

The first day will focus on military-strategic thinking, discussing the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept, as well as progress on the Concept for the Deterrence and Defence of the Euro-Atlantic Area.

On January 13, the Chiefs of Staff of the NATO Armed Forces will meet with their Georgian and Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the security situation in their Nations as well as the ongoing progress with defence-related reforms, the report says.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba will take part in a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission in Brussels on January 10.

im
Russia's aggressive actions against Ukraine are not limited to Ukraine, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He stated this to journalists on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"[W]hats happening in Ukraine is not only about Ukraine. Its part of a broader pattern of destabilizing, dangerous, and often illegal behavior by Moscow as it tries to build a sphere of influence that covers the countries that were once under Soviet dominion, and to stop them from realizing their democratic aspirations as fully sovereign, independent nations," the secretary of state said.

Blinken recalled that over the past two decades, Russia invaded two neighboring countries  Ukraine and Georgia  and maintains troops and munitions Moldova against the will of the government. Also, Russia has interfered in elections in many nations, including the United States, used chemical weapons to assassinate opponents of the Russian government, including on NATO soil. Russia also supported violent dictators, enabled crimes against humanity in places like Syria.

According to Blinken, Moscows actions have threatened to set a new precedent on European soil whereby basic international principles that are vital to peace and security are up for debate.

"These principles transcend Ukraine. They transcend Europe (...) In challenging them, Russia seeks to challenge the international system itself and to unravel our transatlantic alliance, erode our unity, pressure democracies into failure," he said.

At the same time, Blinken expressed hope that Russia would choose diplomacy as "the only responsible way to resolve this crisis." He noted that the United States is ready for a meaningful reciprocal dialogue with Russia.

"We would far prefer a diplomatic path and a diplomatic solution to a crisis that Russia has brought forth," he said.

"If Russia has legitimate concerns about our actions, the United States, our NATO Allies, our OSCE partners are willing to hear them and to try to address them  if the Kremlin is prepared to reciprocate regarding its own dangerous and destabilizing behavior," he added.

im
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed the decisions of the Bucharest Summit on the future membership of Ukraine and Georgia in the Alliance, despite aggressive rhetoric and blackmail coming from Russia.

The head of the Alliance stated this on Friday in Brussels during a press conference following a virtual meeting of allied foreign ministers, where security developments around Ukraine were discussed, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We stand by our decisions of the Bucharest Summit when it comes to Ukraine and Georgia, we support help on their way towards further Euro-Atlantic integration with reforms, practical and political support. And I strongly believe that its important to send a message that reforms are important partly because it is a way to meet NATO standards, but this also makes the societies of Ukraine and Georgia stronger. So resilient and functioning societies are also less vulnerable to interference from Russia. So we will continue to provide support and continue to work with Ukraine and Georgia as they move forward," said Jens Stoltenberg.

He noted that the enlargement processes of NATO and the European Union over the past decades have been very important for the development of democracy, stability, peace and freedom in Europe. However, this is not to say that NATO is attracting new members  on the contrary, sovereign states are free to decide to join the Alliance, and then, after all democratic processes, Allies decide whether to expand the bloc.

The accession of Montenegro and Northern Macedonia to NATO, according to the Secretary General, was a confirmation of the Alliance's open door policy.

Answering journalists' questions, he stressed that this policy also applies to other partners, in particular, Sweden and Finland. These countries are also close partners of the Alliance, often invited to participate in meetings of the North Atlantic Council at the ministerial level, as well as to joint exercises and discussions.

"Such close cooperation is good for Finland and Sweden, but it is also good for NATO. Both countries are very close to NATO, have a common border with Norway and Denmark, and are also close to the Baltic States. Article 10 (Washington Treaty - ed.) Says so. that European countries that meet NATO standards can become members, which, of course, applies to Finland and Sweden. But we respect their will, and that must be the decision of Finland and Sweden, "said the NATO Secretary General.

He noted that the freedom of each sovereign nation to choose its own path and alliances also includes their right not to join the Alliance.

So it's up to Sweden and Finland to decide whether to join NATO, Jens Stoltenberg added.

As previously reported, one of the main points of the ultimatum currently being issued by Russia is NATO's public rejection of the Bucharest Summit's decisions on future membership of Ukraine and Georgia, as well as written guarantees of non-proliferation to the east and former Soviet Union. If the West refuses to accept such Russian "proposals", the Kremlin authorities are publicly threatening to take "military and military-technical" measures, and continue to concentrate troops around Ukraine's borders and its temporarily occupied territories.

im
The Biden administration is ready to propose discussions on scaling back U.S. and Russian troop deployments and military exercises in Eastern Europe.

The discussions could potentially address the scope of military drills held by both powers, the number of U.S. troops stationed in the Baltic states and Poland, advance notice about the movement of forces, and Russias nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in the Russian territory of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania, sources familiar with the planning told NBC News.

The U.S. administration is compiling a list of options for force posture changes in Europe to discuss with Russia at the talks, an administration official said. If Russia appears willing to discuss scaling back its presence in the region, the U.S. will be prepared to discuss specific moves, the official said.

For any change in the U.S. military presence in Europe, Russia would have to take reciprocal, equivalent steps to scale back its forces, and pulling back Russian troops from Ukraine would not be sufficient, the current official and former officials said.

Out of more than 70,000 U.S. troops stationed in Europe, roughly 6,000 U.S. forces are deployed in Eastern Europe on a mostly rotating basis, including about 4,000 in Poland. Other NATO countries also have thousands of troops on rotating deployments in the region to bolster the alliances eastern flank.

The Biden administration also has prepared a new U.S. package of military aid for Ukraine, in addition to the American military assistance that is already flowing to Kyiv, current and former officials said, the report says.

Apart from the threat of sanctions, the administration is prepared to warn Moscow that if Russian forces seize more territory in Ukraine, the United States would lend support to Ukrainian resistance fighters and would back an expanded NATO military presence in Eastern Europe, former officials said.

The United States is working with other NATO alliance members to arrange for the delivery of Stinger shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles requested by the government in Kyiv, current and former officials said.

A letter from 24 former national security officials and senior military officers last week praised Bidens approach so far but called for additional steps to prevent Russia from staging another invasion, instead of waiting until after an offensive is launched.

After the publication of this story, White House National Security spokesperson Emily Horne disputed that the U.S. would consider reducing the number of troops permanently stationed in Poland and the Baltic states.

The group called for providing more weapons to Ukraine now, suggesting Stinger missiles and additional shipments of Javelin anti-tank missiles and radar to track artillery fire.

It remained unclear if Russia was open to dialogue and compromise or whether it would stick to public positions that Washington sees as unrealistic and unreasonable, including demanding a guarantee that Ukraine would never be allowed to join the NATO alliance, former officials said.

im
Two years ago, a Ukraine International Airlines flight 572 Tehran-Kyiv was shot down from the skies over Tehran.

On January 8, 2020, after taking off from Tehran airport, a Boeing 737-800NG passenger jet was brought down by two surface-to-air missiles, Ukrinform recalls.

All 176 people on board died in the crash, including 167 passengers and nine crew members. Among the victims are citizens of seven countries, including 11 Ukrainians (nine crew and two passengers).

Iranian authorities initially claimed the crash was caused by a technical failure of the Boeing 737-800NG, which caused a fire in the jets engine compartment. In turn, the UIA management rejected the possibility of pilot error and called the minimum probability of technical failure of the aircraft. It was not until January 11 that the Iranian leadership acknowledged that PS752 had been mistakenly shot down by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It later became known that the UIA plane was shot down by two Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missiles, which Iran had received from Russia. This fact, as well as the fact that Tehran refused to hand over "black boxes" to Kyiv, raised doubts among some experts as to whether the Ukrainian plane was actually shot down by accident. Initially, Iran stated that it was not possible to decipher the information from the "black boxes" of the downed UIA plane, but they did not intend to hand it to other governments. However, on July 18, Iran sent "black boxes" to Paris. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine later reported that the PS752 "black boxes" had been successfully deciphered and that the transcript confirmed the fact of illegal interference in the flight.

Negotiations on compensation for Iran's downing of the PS752 have been underway since late July. Finally, on December 30, the Iranian government decided to pay $150,000 in compensation to each family of those killed in the crash.

In addition, Iran submitted to Ukraine the final technical report on the UIA passenger plane crash near Tehran.

Photo: AA

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Jennifer Ann Hancock was born Nov. 20, 1956, in Atlanta, to William Roy and Martha Jones Hancock. She went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, in Gray. She was preceded in death by her father, William Roy Hancock, and her brother, Timothy Roy Hancock, as well as grandparents
(@FahadShabbir)

Goma, DR Congo, Jan 8 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :A lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo's famed Virunga National Park, authorities said.

Conservationists have long sought to protect the world heritage site's gorilla population even as violence and instability has plagued the DRC's eastern provinces over 25 years.

"We're excited to announce the first lowland gorilla birth of the year! Rangers discovered the newborn during a patrol in the Tshiaberimu area yesterday," park authorities tweeted late Friday.

"Rangers are working hard to safeguard this vulnerable population which now stands at seven individuals," it added.

The global population of lowland gorillas has plunged from around 17,000 to fewer than 6,000 today and they continue to experience a rate of decline of 5 percent per year, according to the park.

They are often illegally hunted for bushmeat.

Seventeen mountain gorillas -- a close cousin of the lowland gorilla -- were born in the park last year.

Situated on Democratic Republic of Congo's borders with Rwanda and Uganda, Virunga covers around 7,800 square kilometres (3,000 square miles) of the North Kivu province, of which Goma is the capital.

Inaugurated in 1925, it is the oldest nature reserve in Africa and a sanctuary for the rare mountain gorillas, which are also present in neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda.

Virunga has also become a hideout for local and foreign armed groups that have operated in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for around 25 years.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Hong Kong, Jan 8 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :Multiple Hong Kong officials and lawmakers will be allowed to leave a quarantine camp after one of two coronavirus cases detected at a party they attended was declared a false positive on Saturday.

Dozens of senior officials and lawmakers were ordered into Hong Kong's 21-day quarantine facilities this week as health officials warn of an imminent outbreak due to the Omicron variant.

Hong Kong's top cop Raymond Siu and financial services and treasury chief Christopher Hui will be among those leaving quarantine after a day-long stay.

Authorities earlier confirmed 13 senior officials and 19 lawmakers attended a Monday night birthday bash for Witman Hung, a member of China's top lawmaking body.

Health inspectors have issued quarantine orders for all 180 or so attendees after finding two coronavirus case among the guests.

But on Saturday, health officials said the second case -- a woman whose virus test was conducted by her doctor husband -- was a false positive.

The doctor's hands were "most likely contaminated" by the Sinovac vaccine when he tested his wife, said microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung after inspecting the clinic with health officials.

The woman's sample raised suspicions as it contained a virus strain which is now only found in vaccines, Yuen added.

Around 80 people will have their quarantine orders rescinded, including more than 10 people who have already arrived at the Penny's Bay isolation facility.

Firebrand nationalist Junius Ho is expected to be among the lawmakers granted an early release, local media reported.

The other 100 party attendees will remain in quarantine because they were deemed close contacts with the confirmed virus patient.

Health officials said they have not yet found any virus transmission linked to the party.

On Friday night, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam ordered a probe into the 13 officials and promised to take "appropriate action" after completing investigations.

The incident triggered a wave of apologies from officials, lawmakers and the birthday celebrant Hung.

While the party was legal under rules at the time, health officials had advised people three days earlier to avoid big gatherings.

Lawmakers sent to quarantine will miss the first meeting of the "patriots only" legislature scheduled for Wednesday.

The city has recorded 223 Omicron cases as of Friday night.
NUR SULTAN, Jan 8 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :Former head of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee Karim Massimov has been detained on suspicion of treason, the committee said on Saturday.

In a statement, the National Security Committee said that a treason investigation was launched against Massimov on Thursday, adding that he has been placed in a temporary detention center.

Massimov, who was appointed in 2016, was dismissed from his position on Jan. 6 by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as nationwide protests continued.

The protests against the increase of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices have grown into massive riots across Kazakhstan over the past week.

So far, 4,266 people were detained, including citizens of neighboring countries, the Interior Minister said in a statement.

According to the Kazakh Interior Ministry, at least 18 security officers and 26 protesters have lost their lives during the ongoing unrest.

In response, Tokayev declared a state of emergency in the commercial capital Almaty and the oil-rich Mangystau region from where the protests spread to the rest of the country.

Deputy Chairman of the National Security Committee Samat Abish, who is the nephew of former Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was also sacked.
Paris, Jan 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :Omicron is causing record numbers of cases around the world, and though it causes less severe Covid-19 experts warn this wave still threatens to overwhelm health systems.

- Nose and throat, not lungs - Six weeks after it was first sequenced in southern Africa Omicron cases are smashing infection records with average new daily cases at nearly two million this week, according to an AFP tally.

At the same time, the illness caused by the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is proving less severe.

On Friday the French public health authority said the risk of hospitalisation was about 70 percent lower for Omicron, citing data from the US, the UK, Canada and Israel.

Experts point out that the lack of severity may be due to widespread immunity thanks to vaccination or previous infection.

But studies on animals point to another peculiarity: rather than affecting the lungs where severe Covid takes root, it seems to proliferate in the nose and throat.

This would not only explain the variant's less-dangerous symptoms but also its ability to spread quickly through coughing and sneezing.

Because of this, some experts are calling for better mask protection and Austria on Thursday made medical grade FFP2 masks mandatory outside.

- Hospitals on edge - But even though Omicron is causing less severe illness, the surging caseload overall has scientists urging caution to keep from overwhelming health systems.

"Even if the percentage of cases with severe disease is proportionally lower, when there are record cases, that still means record numbers of people in the hospital," tweeted US virologist Angela Rasmussen on Friday.

Unlike previous variant waves, however, this one seems so far to be affecting regular hospital admissions rather than ICU capacity.

This is the case in Denmark where national health service SSI reported that between December 1 and January 1 new Covid cases rose by about 70 percent across the country.

But hospitalisations only rose by 47 percent and ICU admissions by 20 percent.

- Jab immunity weaker - Lab tests show that antibody levels in blood samples from people vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna jabs drop when faced with Omicron.

The drop is even greater in those vaccinated with AstraZeneca or Sinovac, a Chinese jab authorised in about 50 countries.

A booster seems to increase antibodies, with both Pfizer and Moderna announcing positive results from recent tests.

But nobody knows how long the booster will be effective.

This does not mean vaccines are useless against Omicron: the body has a secondary immune defence called T-cell response, which fights the virus by attacking infected cells.

This secondary response is particularly important in preventing severe forms of illness.

A recent study from South Africa showed Pfizer/BioNTech remained effective at preventing severe Covid from Omicron even after just two shots.

- Last wave? - Some experts and officials have openly expressed hope that by spreading a less-severe Covid, Omicron could be helping the planet achieve herd immunity along with jabs.

Echoing French and Israeli counterparts, top Danish epidemiologist Tyra Grove Krause tweeted her "cautious optimism about the situation when we have overcome the Omicron wave".

The World Health Organization however is urging caution.

"The more Omicron spreads, the more it transmits and the more it replicates, the more likely it is to throw out a new variant," WHO senior emergencies officer Catherine Smallwood told AFP in an interview Tuesday.

But even if Omicron isn't the last variant, experts think immunity from previous waves might mean the worst will soon be behind us.

"New variants may challenge us," Grove Krause said, "but with vaccines hopefully SARS-CoV-2 will turn into just another airway virus we can live normally with."
:Minister for Interior, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Saturday said the federal government had deployed personnel of Pakistan Army and other civil armed forces as around 16 - 19 people died in their vehicles in Murree due to heavy snowfall

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :Minister for Interior, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Saturday said the Federal government had deployed personnel of Pakistan Army and other civil armed forces as around 16 - 19 people died in their vehicles in Murree due to heavy snowfall.

In a video message, the minister said five platoons of the Pakistan Army had been called in for rescue operation, while Rangers and Frontier Corps would be deployed on an emergency basis.

He said the administration and police of Rawalpindi and Islamabad had continued their rescue operation in the area.

Sheikh Rasheed said, "As many as 1,000 vehicles have been stuck since night while some have been evacuated. The locals provided food and blankets to the stranded people." He said only those vehicles would be allowed, shifting blankets and food for the stranded tourists or in any emergency like situation.

He said that the government has to close the road from Islamabad to Murree. "Islamabad and Rawalpindi's commissioners, deputy commissioners and police are carrying out rescue works in an organized manner", he informed.

The minister said the administration had continued rescue operations the whole night to rescue the maximum number of people.

He expressed the hope that the authorities would evacuate 1,000 vehicles by today evening, while the roads would remain closed to Murree till tomorrow 9 pm. "We have also decided to ban tourists who are planning to move to Murree by walk as this is not the time to come to Murree."He said this was for the first time that a large number of tourists rushed to Murree that resulted heavy traffic jams. "Keeping in view the situation, we have to stop allowing further tourists moving to Murree", he said.\932
Dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has died in detention in Tehran after falling ill with Covid-19, rights groups said Saturday, angrily blaming the Islamic republic's leadership for his death

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :Dissident Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has died in detention in Tehran after falling ill with Covid-19, rights groups said Saturday, angrily blaming the Islamic republic's leadership for his death.

"Baktash Abtin has died," the Iranian Writers Association (IWA) said in a statement on its Telegram channel after the author was put into an induced coma in hospital earlier in the week.

Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) confirmed his death in a statement on Twitter, saying he "had been unjustly sentenced to six years in prison and was in detention in hospital, ill with Covid-19 and deprived of the necessary care".

"RSF blames the regime's authorities for his death," it added, posting a picture of Abtin in striped Iranian prison uniform shackled by his leg to a hospital bed.

Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said "Baktash Abtin is dead because Iran's government wanted to muzzle him in jail".

"This is a preventable tragedy. Iran's judiciary chief (Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejeie) must be held accountable," he added.

Abtin had been convicted with two IWA colleagues in 2019 on charges of "assembly and collusion against national security" and for "propaganda against the system". He had begun serving his sentence in Tehran's Evin prison in 2020.

Along with fellow defendants Keyvan Bajan and Reza Khandan Mahabadi, Abtin had in September 2021 been given the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write award by writers' rights group PEN America.

"Our worst fears materialised today, as we mourn the utterly preventable death of Baktash Abtin," said PEN America's chief executive officer Suzanne Nossel.

"Covid is a natural killer, but Abtin's death was aided and abetted by the Iranian government every step of the way," she said, adding that he was previously denied medical treatment, underlying conditions were ignored and he was at times shackled to his bed.

- 'Directly responsible' - There has been growing concern in recent months among activists over deaths of prisoners in detention in Iran, especially in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic which campaigners fear is raging in Iranian prisons.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO, said that "the government which imprisoned this author, and (supreme leader) Ali Khamenei, are directly responsible for the murder of Baktash Abtin. They must be held accountable." Amnesty International in September published a study accusing Iran of failing to provide accountability for at least 72 deaths in custody since January 2010, "despite credible reports that they resulted from torture or other ill-treatment".

A group calling itself Edalat-e Ali (Justice of Ali) last August posted videos of leaked surveillance footage from Tehran's Evin prison showing guards beating or mistreating inmates.

At least 11 writers are known to be either currently imprisoned in Iran or living with an unserved prison sentence as they await a summons to jail, according to a list compiled by CHRI.

The IWA was founded in May 1968 under the imperial rule of the shah by an independent group of writers based in Iran to fight against state censorship of literature in the country.

The charges against Abtin and his two colleagues related to work on documents over the history of the IWA and participation in memorial ceremonies remembering members killed in the so-called "chain murders" of intellectuals in the 1990s that activists blame on the government.

The announcement that Abtin had died also coincided with the second anniversary of Iran's shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner shortly after take-off from Tehran on January 8, 2020, killing all 176 people aboard, an event that amplified anger over the behaviour of the Iranian authorities.

Nossel said: "We will remember Abtin as a gifted poet and filmmaker, but also as a courageous thinker and an honourable advocate."
Former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is in the country's capital and in direct contact with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Nazarbayev's spokesman said Saturday, following rumors of Nazarbayev having left Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th January, 2022) Former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is in the country's capital and in direct contact with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Nazarbayev's spokesman said Saturday, following rumors of Nazarbayev having left Kazakhstan.

"Elbasy is in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan. Please do not spread clearly fake information and speculations.

Elbasy is having several consultations and is in direct contact with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev," the spokesman tweeted.

Nazarbayev has spoken on the phone with "leaders of the states that are friends of Kazakhstan," the spokesman noted.

"Elbasy is urging all to unite around the president of Kazakhstan to overcome current challenges and ensure the unity of our country," the spokesman said.
Kazakhstan said Saturday its former security chief had been arrested for suspected treason during days of unrest, as Russia hit back at US criticism of its deployment of troops to the crisis-hit country

Almaty, Kazakhstan, Jan 8 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :Kazakhstan said Saturday its former security chief had been arrested for suspected treason during days of unrest, as Russia hit back at US criticism of its deployment of troops to the crisis-hit country.

News of the detention of Karim Masimov, a former prime minister and longtime ally of Kazakhstan's ex-leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, comes amid speculation of a power struggle in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation.

The domestic intelligence agency, the National Security Committee (KNB), announced that Masimov had been detained on Thursday on suspicion of high treason.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked Masimov earlier this week after protests over rising fuel prices erupted into widespread violence, with dozens killed and government buildings in the largest city Almaty stormed and set ablaze.

Tokayev told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a "lengthy" phone call that the situation in the country was stabilising, the Kremlin said Saturday, and thanked the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) for sending troops to help deal with the unrest.

The CSTO has been dispatching several thousand troops to Kazakhstan, including Russian paratroopers, who have been securing strategic sites.

Tokayev says the deployment will be temporary, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Friday that Kazakhstan may have trouble getting them out.

"I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Blinken told reporters.

- Russia slams 'boorish' US - The Russian foreign ministry slammed his comments as a "boorish" attempt "to make a funny joke today about the tragic events in Kazakhstan".

"When Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive, not being robbed or raped," it alleged.

Tensions between Moscow and the West are at post-Cold War highs over fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, with talks between Russia and the US to take place in Geneva on Monday.

Authorities in Kazakhstan said Friday that the situation was largely under control, but Tokayev issued a shoot-to-kill order and rejected any negotiations with protesters.

An AFP correspondent in Almaty said the city was quiet but tense on Saturday, with security forces firing warning shots at anyone approaching a central square.

Masimov, 56, twice served as Nazarbayev's prime minister and had been head of the KNB since 2016.

He was fired at the height of the unrest on Wednesday, when Tokayev also took over from Nazarbayev as head of the powerful security council.

Nazarbayev's spokesman Aidos Ukibay on Saturday denied rumours the ex-president had left the country and said he was urging Kazakhs to "rally around the president".

Denouncing those spreading "knowingly false and speculative information," he said the ex-leader was in the capital Nur-Sultan and in "direct contact" with Tokayev.

In a hardline address to the nation on Friday, Tokayev said 20,000 "armed bandits" had attacked Almaty and authorised his forces to shoot to kill without warning.

The initial cause of the protests was a spike in fuel prices but a government move to lower the prices and the sacking of the cabinet failed to stop demonstrations continuing.

- More than 4,000 detained - The violence erupted when police fired tear gas and stun grenades at thousands protesting in Almaty late on Tuesday.

The next day protesters stormed government buildings including the city administration headquarters and presidential residence, setting them ablaze, and a nationwide state of emergency was declared.

The interior ministry said 26 "armed criminals" had been killed in the unrest.

It said 18 security officers had been killed and more than 740 wounded.

More than 4,000 people have been detained, including some foreigners, the ministry says.

The full picture of the chaos has often been unclear, with widespread disruptions to communications including days-long internet shutdowns.

Flights into the country have been repeatedly cancelled and Almaty's airport said it would remain closed to civilian planes until at least Monday.

In Almaty, few people were out on the streets on Saturday.

The military continued to guard the square adjacent to the burnt-out mayor's office, firing warning shots whenever passersby were slow to heed instructions to stay away.

Pensioner Leonid Kiselyev, 68, said his car had been hit by gunfire at around 8:30 am as he drove past, showing a bullet that had pierced the boot.

"Yesterday it was calm so I drove here," said a shaken Kiselyev, standing in a long queue at a petrol station.

Israel's foreign ministry said a 22-year-old Israeli citizen who had been living in Kazakhstan for several years was killed by gunfire on Friday night.

Much of the public anger appeared directed at Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing over power.

Many protesters shouted "Old Man Out!" in reference to Nazarbayev, and a statue of him was torn down in the southern city of Taldykorgan.

Critics have accused him and his family of staying in control behind the scenes and accumulating vast wealth at the expense of ordinary citizens.
(@FahadShabbir)

Sidney Poitier, Hollywood's first major Black movie star who won mainstream popularity with a series of groundbreaking roles in the 1950s and 1960s, has died aged 94

Los Angeles, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jan, 2022 ) :Sidney Poitier, Hollywood's first major Black movie star who won mainstream popularity with a series of groundbreaking roles in the 1950s and 1960s, has died aged 94.

Poitier, who held dual US and Bahamian nationality, was "an icon, a hero, a mentor, a fighter, a national treasure," Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper said on his official Facebook page.

The celebrated thespian became the first Black star nominated for an academy Award with 1958's "The Defiant Ones" and, six years later, was the first to win the best actor Oscar for his performance in "Lilies of the Field." Star Trek actor George Takei paid tribute to "a trailblazer who will be mourned by so many for whom he opened the very doors of Hollywood." At a time of racial tension in America in the 1950s and 1960s, Poitier balanced success with a sense of duty to choose projects that tackled bigotry and stereotypes, including his 1967 classics "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "In the Heat of the Night." "I was conflicted with great sadness and a sense of celebration when I learned of the passing of Sir Sidney Poitier," Cooper said Friday.

"Sadness that he would no longer be here to tell him how much he means to us, but celebration that he did so much to show the world that those from the humblest beginnings can change the world.

"He will be missed sorely, but his is a legacy that will never be forgotten." Poitier was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2002 for his "extraordinary performances" on the silver screen and his "dignity, style and intelligence" off of it.

On television, he portrayed icons of history such as South Africa's first black president Nelson Mandela and the first Black justice on the US Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall.

And in 1997, he took up a ceremonial post as Bahamian ambassador to Japan.

He was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the country's highest civilian honor -- by Barack Obama in 2009.

Poitier was married to his second wife Joanna since 1976, and had six children as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
South Africa's ruling ANC, a storied liberation movement, marked its 110th anniversary Saturday in low-key fashion as the country reels from parliament's destruction, last year's deadly riots and emerging details of official corruption

Polokwane, South Africa, Jan 8 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Jan, 2022 ) :South Africa's ruling ANC, a storied liberation movement, marked its 110th anniversary Saturday in low-key fashion as the country reels from parliament's destruction, last year's deadly riots and emerging details of official corruption.

In the stands of a stadium in Polokwane, in northeastern Limpopo province, a few hundred party members sporting the African National Congress' signature yellow, green and black dotted the terraces.

It was a far cry from the noisy and large crowds of supporters that are traditionally bused in for the annual festivities, thanks to Covid-19 restrictions that limit outdoor gatherings to just 2,000 people.

Also weighing heavily on the party atmosphere are acts described by President Cyril Ramaphosa described as having "the effects of subverting our constitutional democracy".

"These acts include blatant acts of state (corruption) and criminality... the concerted campaign of public violence and destruction that took place in July last year, as well as ongoing theft, destruction and obstruction of infrastructure," Ramaphosa told party loyalists.

"This anniversary takes place just a few days after a devastating fire swept through our parliament in Cape Town.

"The entire country has been shocked, outraged and saddened by the destruction because the institution of parliament is a repository of our democracy -- and symbol of democratic stability of our people," Ramaphosa said.

He added his government was "in the process of reforming our law enforcement agencies, our security sector, so that it's better positioned to defend the gains of our democracy".

The party of Nelson Mandela, which led the liberation of South Africa from the shackles of white-minority apartheid rule, has been weakened by historically poor electoral showings and factionalism.

A more than 800-page report containing nearly four years of testimonies collected by a judicial panel on graft was handed to Ramaphosa on Tuesday.

The ANC is accused in the report of turning a blind eye to graft in state-owned companies which play a significant role in the South African economy.

Ramaphosa declared in his speech Saturday that "those who are guilty of corruption, ill-discipline, factionalism and undermining our democracy find no home" in the ANC, adding the party had been guilty of ignoring "acts of indiscipline".

- 'ANC is bleeding' - In last November's local elections, a majority of registered voters did not bother to cast votes, and the ANC's support at the ballot box fell below 50 percent for the first time in its history.

Now party officials are haunted by the possibility of an outright defeat in the 2024 general election.

"The ANC is bleeding. Either we renew the party or we perish," said party supporter Themba Ubisi, 40, after the celebrations.

Another supporter, Khathu Mathoho, 45, was more optimistic.

"The party is self correcting. There's a will to do things differently, but (some) elements are resisting change," they said.

Ramaphosa vowed the party would be renewed.

"Let us cleanse the ANC," he said.

The party's finances are also in shambles, with one political source confirming the ANC is indeed "broke" and that in addition to unpaid taxes, the party has a deficit of at least 400 million rand ($26 million, 22.6 million Euros).

On the eve of the ANC's celebrations, the party held a traditional fundraising dinner attended by businesspeople and senior party supporters.

But Ramaphosa's dinner speech to the gathering was interrupted by an unexplained power outage.

Ramaphosa tried to downplay the blackout, which local media is speculating was a security risk and which Police Minister Bheki Cele said is under investigation.
Valdosta, GA (31601)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
According to the Apostolic Administrator of Pemba, Bishop Antonio Juliasse, the situation in Cabo Delgado is anything but better.

Fr. Bernardo Suate - Vatican City

The assessment and appeal of Bishop Juliasse were made to Vatican News in light of a recent joint statement that was issued, on the situation of Cabo Delgado, by an Interreligious group of leaders in the area.

The problem of Cabo Delgado has not been solved



Bishop Juliasse reiterated that insecurity and the humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado are widespread. He regretted that the situation prevailing on the ground is not making much news in the various media outlets. Unfortunately, he said, an impression has been created that the problem in Cabo Delgado has been solved, but this is not true, insisted Bishop Juliasse.

Cabo Delgado still has 800 000 displaced people. He continued, and there is still much movement of displaced persons from insecure areas. There are the newly displaced people who leave their villages in search of secure shelter, Bishop Juliasse explained.



Explaining the continued insecurity, the Apostolic Administrator of Pemba cited the example of Nova Zambezia, near Macomia, which was attacked on New Years Day, 1 January 2022. In that attack, three people were killed, and one person was seriously wounded, said Bishop Juliasse. With the recent attacks, a new group of displaced persons is already on the move seeking secure shelter either from relatives or wherever.



Insecurity is driving displacement



At the moment, there are displaced persons in all the districts of the central and southern regions of Cabo Delgado Province, and there are also displaced persons in large numbers who are leaving the northern part of neighbouring Niassa province for the central and southern part of Cabo Delgado, said the Bishop.

The violence we have experienced as a result of this terrorism has worsened the humanitarian crisis here in Cabo Delgado, adding to the other factors that already existed before, such as poverty, exclusion and the lack of schools in various places - all these factors have been aggravated by this situation of terrorism, the Prelate said.



Tension in resettlement camps



Bishop Juliasse is worried about reports of tension in some resettlement camps. He called on the people of Cabo Delgado and elsewhere to bear in mind the mystery of Christmas recently celebrated. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was born in suffering, humility, and poverty.

While is it true that the suffering we have in Cabo Delgado is great, we must not lose sight of the real problem, of the origins of this conflict by falling into another cycle of violence or by starting new forms of violence, admonished Bishop Juliasse.



Bishops passionate appeal for help



Bishop Juliasse appealed for urgent humanitarian assistance on behalf of Cabo Delgado.

The humanitarian situation, therefore, remains as it was before, and it is getting worse and worse ... It is getting worse because people are starting to starve, and it would seem the World Food Programme (WFP) no longer can provide food for all displaced persons as it initially did. The number of people in need has grown. Similarly, the Diocesan Caritas and the Emergency Fund, while doing their utmost best to help, are struggling. They are now targeting only those who are really in dire situations, said Bishop Juliasse.



The message I have as an appeal is: Please do not forget the situation here. Do not leave Cabo Delgado alone to fend for itself. There is need for aid now and not later. Now, before it becomes too late, said the Apostolic Administrator of Pemba.


United States Catholic bishops welcome a recent joint statement by five nuclear superpowers on preventing nuclear war and express their hope that the UN Conference to review the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will be soon advanced. The Conference has been once again postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Lisa Zengarini

US bishops have commended the recent commitment by five of the world's nuclear powers to prevent nuclear conflict. In a rare joint statement issued on January 3, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) said they "believe strongly " that the further spread of nuclear weapons must be prevented and that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.

The statement followed the announcement that the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) which was due to start on January 4 had been once again postponed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to put a stop to the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goals of achieving nuclear disarmament. 191 States have joined the Treaty making it the most widely adhered to multilateral disarmament agreement. North Korea is the only country to have withdrawn from the NPT since it came into force in 1970.

Nuclear disarmament critical for peace



Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the US Bishops Conference (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, welcomed the statement. He also reiterated the US Bishops hope that negotiations on the NPT will be soon advanced, recalling Pope Francis prophetic words who, in his Encyclical Letter Fratelli tutti reminds us that international peace and stability cannot be based on the threat of mutual destruction or total annihilation.

In his statement, Bishop Malloy invited all Americans to continue in prayer and support of our leaders to advance the critical goals of disarmament.

Tenth NPT Review Conference postponed

The Tenth NPT Review Conference has been postponed to a later date, but no later than February 2022. During the Conference, State parties are expected to evaluate the implementation of the Treatys provisions since 2015 and identify the areas and means through which further progress can be made.

Discussions will focus on a number of issues including: the universality of the Treaty; specific practical measures for nuclear disarmament; strengthening of safeguards for nuclear non-proliferation; measures to advance the peaceful use of nuclear energy, safety and security; measures to address withdrawal from the Treaty and to further strengthen the review process, as well as ways to promote engagement with civil society in strengthening NPT norms and in promoting disarmament education.

Negotiations resume as tensions among global powers grows, notably between NATO and Russia over Ukraine and between the US and China over the status of Taiwan and increased military activity in the Pacific. The latest developments of the political crisis in Kazakhstan have further added to these international tensions.
On Jan. 6, Australian Northern Territory (NT) Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, announced a four-day lockout for those not fully-vaccinated after the territory claimed a record-high 256 COVID-19 cases.

The fully vaccinated continue as they were, Gunner said at a press conference on Jan. 6, while adding, For people who are not vaccinated, lockdown rules will apply to everyone 16 and above. If you are not fully vaxxed, stay home. You are a greater risk of catching COVID, becoming ill, and needing hospital care.

The lockdown will start at 1 pm on Thursday and last until noon on Monday, Jan. 10, when the statewide vaccine passport goes into effect which applies only to those who havent received at least two jabs.

The conditions

You may only leave home for three reasons: Medical treatment, including COVID testing or vaccination. For essential goods and services like groceries, power tokens, medications; To provide care and support to a family member or person who cannot support themselves, Gunner said.

Today, a Territory-wide lockout came into effect until midday Monday, 10 January 2022. Indoor mask mandate continues. Visit: https://t.co/9TlyTNxHVl. pic.twitter.com/oVUfsitOU2  Michael Gunner (@fanniebay) January 6, 2022

There are only three reasons to leave the home now, not five. Work is not a reason to leave the home. For the unvaccinated, the chief health officer has also determined that restriction of movement is critical right now and that one hour of exercise for the next four days is not essential.

The lockdown essentially puts the unvaccinated under house arrest, regardless of the fact that the relatively small NT outbreak affected fully vaccinated individuals just as much as the unvaccinated.

Recent opening-up

The announcement came after, on Dec.20, the Territory reopened its frontiers for fully vaccinated interstate travelers. Travelers were no longer required to show evidence of a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before traveling to the territory.

Meanwhile, the fully-vaccinated communities of New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland remain open while the virus is believed to still abound.

Gunner said that the unvaccinated population cannot go more than 30km (18 Miles) from their home, except for traveling to a hospital.

You cannot travel more than 30 kilometers from your home when leaving for one of the three reasons or the nearest practical destination. If you need to go to the hospital and its more than 30 kilometers from your home, thats OK, Gunner said.

READ MORE: COVID-19: Australia is Now Putting Citizens Deemed Close Contacts Into Quarantine Camps

READ MORE: Aboriginal Group Alleges 47 Residents Forcefully Detained, Trucked Away to Quarantine Camps

Remember, these restrictions only apply to those who are not fully vaccinated. Gunner added. The fully vaccinated are free to continue to go about their lives as long as they comply with the territory-wide mask mandate.

Meanwhile, Gunner tried to poach his subjects, implying that complying with the regulations comes with rewards, Territorians love having a beer with their mates, and the overwhelming majority get to keep doing this. We want you to be as safe as possible while having a frothy or a feed, he said.

Vaccine pass

He also addressed the vaccine pass that would start on Jan. 10, stating that the pass will be needed to enter high-risk public places like pubs and clubs, casinos, restaurants, cinemas, ticketed events for over 500 people in urban centers, and events consisting of 100 people for non-urban centers.

The responsibility to check in sits with the proprietors of public places, but managers will be tasked with the burden of checking for proof of vaccination.

I know there are unvaccinated people who can be impolite, I have experienced that. I do not want our hard-working frontline workers to experience that, Gunner said, adding, If there are trouble makers who try to breach this direction  call the police.

Solely NT inhabitants and essential workers will be admitted to the locked-down communities in the territory and must provide a negative rapid antigen test (RAT) on the day of arrival.

Gunner was previously lambasted for calling out vaccine-free citizens, telling them to stuff it  shove it during a press conference in November.
Todays edition is full of goodwill and cheer as Heather invites reporters, guests artists and friends such as Samed Gaida and King Ayusuba (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.
Aid workers and eyewitnesses are telling media an airstrike in Ethiopias northern Tigray region has killed more than 50 people. The Reuters news agency reports at least 30 others have been wounded after a camp for the internally displaced was hit Friday night.

An airstrike in Ethiopia's Tigray region reportedly killed 56 people and injured at least 30, including children, in a camp for displaced people, aid workers told Reuters Saturday, citing eyewitnesses and local authorities.

Ethiopian government officials have not confirmed the reported strike that hit an area of Dedebit town, near the border with Eritrea. Aid workers, who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters the strike occurred Friday night.

An aid worker said victims were brought to Shire Shul General Hospital, adding the camp was a residence for elderly women and children.

The reported airstrike happened after the government released detained Tigray Peoples Liberation Front senior leaders and other politicians Friday night in an attempt to curb the countrys crisis.

Ethiopias government communications service announced the release of Sebhat Nega, one of the founders of the TPLF, Abay Woldu, a former head of the Tigray region, Jawar Mohammed, Eskindir Nega and others.

Speaking to the state run news agency Saturday, Ethiopiaa minister for Justice, Gedewon Temotewos, said the individuals were released after the government dropped criminal charges against them.

Their charges were dropped to facilitate the national dialogue set to happen soon, he said. As you know, the country has established a commission for national dialogue and releasing them will make the process more inclusive and valid, too.

Ethiopia introduced the process of creating a national dialogue commission in December. Justice Minister Temotewos says the government wants every part of society in the country to take part in the process.



In remarks Saturday, he revealed the government also has dropped charges against Debretsion Gebremichael, Tigrays region head, and five other TPLF officials. But there is no confirmation whether the TPLF will be part of the upcoming national dialogue.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the decision to release detainees. He has called on the two parties to end hostilities and launch a credible and inclusive national dialogue.

Tigray forces announced in December they were pulling out of parts of Ethiopias Amhara and Afar regions as part of a cease-fire agreement. In a letter addressed to the United Nations secretary-general at that time, Gebremichael set demands, which include establishment of a no-fly zone over Tigrays airspace.

Aid agencies told Reuters this week at least 146 people have been killed and 213 injured in airstrikes in Tigray since October 18. But the Ethiopian government denies targeting civilians during the 14-month conflict with Tigray forces.
Police fired tear gas and water cannons Saturday in Tirana as stone-throwing protesters stormed into the headquarters of Albania's opposition Democratic Party in a deepening power struggle between party rivals.

At least one police officer and one protester were injured, and dozens of protesters were arrested, police said. The protests were dispersed in the afternoon.

The protesters were supporters of former president and prime minister Sali Berisha, who was thrown out of the party last year after Washington banned him from entering the United States over alleged corruption.

Berisha, who denies wrongdoing, has since mounted a leadership challenge against party leader Lulzim Basha. Last month, Berisha called a party assembly and announced himself as leader.

During Saturday's unrest, Berisha supporters used hammers to smash open newly installed metal security doors at the offices and threw up ladders in a bid to reach the second floor.

Police said in a statement they were forced to intervene after "a group of lawmakers inside the Democratic Party requested police help because lives were in danger."

Local media said people inside the building had sought to keep the protesters out by spraying fire extinguishers before police arrived.

"The battle will continue as we consider the party building as our home, and we will liberate our home," said Berisha, speaking just after he was stopped from approaching the building again by police using paper spray against him and his supporters.

The EU office in Tirana called for calm and restraint: "There must be no room for violence in politics," it said.

The U.S. ambassador in Albania, Yuri Kim, said Washington was deeply concerned about recent tension surrounding the Democratic Party.

"Those inciting violence or undermining the rule of law will be held accountable," Kim said in a tweet.
Protesters took to the streets in several German cities Saturday, demanding a halt to restrictions on those who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The main demonstrations occurred in Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Magdeburg, while walkabouts took place in many other German cities against measures imposed to combat the omicron variant.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Friday that proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test will now be required to enter bars and restaurants in the country.

Proof of vaccination has been required to enter many public venues for several weeks but the new measure expands the mandate to include eating and drinking establishments.

Scholz announced the decision to reporters in Berlin following a COVID-19 strategy meeting with Germanys 16 regional governors.

The leaders also agreed to shorten quarantineor self-isolationfor those exposed to COVID-19 cases from 12 to 10 days. Those vaccinated or fully vaccinated with a booster will not have to quarantine at all.

Scholz said the government met its goal of administering 30 million booster shots by Christmas. He said it is now aiming to administer another 30 million by the end of January.

Protests against government coronavirus restrictions also took place Saturday in Turin, Paris and Beirut.

Indias capital, New Delhi, was shut down Saturday to halt the spread of the coronavirus, after a nearly fourfold nationwide spike in infections in the last week alone. Most shops were closed, but some essential services remained open.

The surge in infections is fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant as political rallies attended by tens of thousands of people continue to be held by candidates before state elections are held later this year.

Global surge

Britain reported a record high 146,390 new cases Saturday. The country also reported 150,000 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, more deaths than any other European country except Russia.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned Friday that hospital admissions were rising and said the countrys health system was facing a rocky few weeks ahead.

Sri Lankan health authorities began vaccinating children ages 12 to 15 Friday to fight off a wave of COVID-19 cases driven by the omicron variant.

In Japan, the government approved new restrictions Friday in the southwestern regions of Okinawa, Yamaguchi and Hiroshima to stop a rise in coronavirus cases. The restrictions include reduced hours for restaurants and bans on large-scale events.

A COVID-19 vaccine deadline is rapidly approaching for Citigroup employees in the U.S. The financial firm has issued a mandateget the COVID vaccine by January 14.

The company says those who do not comply by Friday will be placed on unpaid leave until the end of the month and will then face termination. The unvaccinated Citigroup staffers also could lose out on end-of-the-year bonuses.

Staff can apply for medical, religious or legal exemptions.

Reports say more than 90% of the staff have complied with the companys vaccine mandate.



The deadline for the Citigroup vaccine mandate approaches as the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday it has recorded 303.2 million global COVID cases and 5.5 million deaths. Johns Hopkins said 98.3 billion vaccines have been administered.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, health officials Friday announced that more than 100 people, including at least nine government officials and several lawmakers, have been sent into quarantine after attending a birthday party where they had encountered two attendees who later tested positive for COVID-19.

Hong Kong public health chief Edwin Tsui told reporters the entire guest list of about 170 people would need to be isolated after a second person tested positive for COVID-19. The guest list at the Monday evening party included Home Affairs minister Caspar Tsui, Hong Kong police chief Raymond Siu and immigration minister Au Ka-wang.

The guest list also included at least 20 lawmakers, but as some left early it is not clear how many will be required to quarantine.

The party came three days after health officials advised residents avoid large gatherings. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Friday expressed disappointment that officials set such a bad example for the public.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Family members of slain journalist Wilguens Louis-Saint were inconsolable Friday, as police officials provided details about his death.

Haitian National Police officers found the remains of Louis-Saint and Amady John Wesley, another reporter, in Fesa, a commune of Petionville, an official told VOA.

The two had been on assignment in the Laboule 12 neighborhood, a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where gangs are locked in a battle for control, when they were gunned down.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry has vowed to find the criminals and bring them to justice.

Wesley worked for Radio Ecoute FM, while Louis-Saint reported for Tele Patriote and Tambou Verite, two online media outlets.

"We found no identification on them," Justice of the Peace Eno Rene Louis told VOA. "They sustained bullet wounds to the head."

The law enforcement official told VOA one of the victims also sustained bullet wounds to his hands and neck and that the other also had injuries to his mouth and nose.

Louis-Saint's brother spoke to him a short time before his death.

"He had gone to repair his motorbike, and the company he works for called him and asked him to go do an interview in Fesa. And while he was in Fesa he ended up dying," the brother said.

Fellow journalist Robest Dimanche told VOA the killings have had a huge impact on the local press.

"We are devastated, we are extremely sad," Dimanche said. "We learned the two fellow journalists died at the hands of thugs while reporting. It makes us realize we've been abandoned by our country. I think people need to wake up and realize what is going on so that we can make changes.

Louis-Saint and Wesley are the latest in a series of journalist murders that have gone unpunished in Haiti.

At least six journalists have been killed on assignment in Haiti between 2000 and 2021, four of whom were murdered, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists. No one has been held responsible for the killings.

The CPJ Friday called on the authorities to find and prosecute those involved in this weeks killings.

"Haitian authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the brutal killings of journalists John Wesley Amady and Wilguens Louis-Saint, and bring those responsible to justice," CPJ said in a statement.

We are shocked by the brutal killing of journalists John Wesley Amady and Wilguens Louis-Saint, who were reporting on security issues in a gang-controlled area in Haitis capital, said CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick in New York.

The fact that the first killings of journalists in the Americas in 2022 occurred in Haiti  highlights the deadly risks faced by reporters in the country, she added.

Rampant gang violence has had a major impact on transportation, the economy, politics and social life nationwide.
While Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen put the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Five-Point Consensus for peace in Myanmar back on the regional agenda during his two-day visit to the country, analysts said any agreement is unlikely to end the bloodshed that has engulfed the country since last Februarys coup.

The consensus calls for an immediate cessation of violence, constructive dialogue among all the parties, mediation to be facilitated by an envoy of ASEAN's chair with the assistance of the secretary-general, humanitarian assistance and a visit by the special envoy to Myanmar.

A communique issued after Hun Sens meeting reaffirmed the consensus. Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn told reporters If Myanmar is in the midst of a civil war crisis, as we are concerned, it will have a devastating effect on our region, a bad reputation on ASEAN as well as ASEAN unity, so helping Myanmar is like helping ASEAN.

Cambodia is this years ASEAN chair and Hun Sens visit, which started Friday, is the first state visit by a foreign leader to Myanmar since the coup after ASEAN failed to enforce the consensus.

Bradley Murg, distinguished senior research fellow at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said the process to date had been a failure, as shown by the continuing violence, but Hun Sen had created an opportunity to move the crisis out of its existing stalemate.

The joint statement between both governments ticked the boxes, all of them, regarding the Five-Point Consensus, he said following Hun Sens meeting with junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing.

Now what that ultimately means, were not going to know immediately. Were going to initially wait until the ASEAN foreign ministers retreat and see how this plays out and the reaction from the various ASEAN capitals, he said.

The planned January 18-19 retreat in the northern Cambodian town of Siem Reap is an informal gathering of foreign ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries and is used to discuss issues facing the bloc.

Failure to enforce the consensus resulted in Min Aung Hlaing being denied entry to the October ASEAN summit and the ASEAN-China summit the next month.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian research group Future Forum, said Hun Sen got what he had asked for, and that included an extension by the military of a cease-fire agreement with ethnic groups until the end of this year.

However, Hun Sen did not meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, the jailed de facto leader of the former elected government.

That was a sticking point during the two-day visit, which was sharply criticized by human rights groups as legitimizing the military leadership and as a tool for Hun Sen to deflect criticism from his own human rights record and a harsh crackdown on dissent at home.

However, Ou Virak, said the meeting seems to suggest that the ASEAN special envoy, Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, would eventually be allowed to negotiate with Suu Kyi and her supporters.

It will be interesting and important to see whether Aung San Suu Kyi and the opposition will be involved and invited to take part in a credible way. I think thats the only way to make an effort in Myanmar legitimate.

I would be very shocked and surprised if Cambodia would just accept not being able to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, Ou Virak said.

The visit was met with rowdy protests across Myanmar and by the diaspora abroad as Min Aung Hlaing rolled out the red carpet and an honor guard for Hun Sen.

Most ASEAN states have condemned the coup and the ensuing crisis, which has claimed more than 1,400 lives, including the massacre of more than 30 people in Kayah state on Christmas Eve while intensive attacks in Karen state continued throughout December.

The group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights also accused Hun Sen of threatening cohesion among its 10 members by going rogue in an attempt to bring Myanmar back into the ASEAN fold.

Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at Australias University of New South Wales, said the visit went against ASEAN policy, but as Hun Sen occupies the chair, he has a sort of leeway to act.

To me there was a deeper agenda, he said, noting Cambodias poor track record on human rights.

But yes, ASEANs under pressure and hes just picked up the mantle and hes broken the ice. I mean hes gone there, thats just been done and theres nothing ASEAN can do to turn it back, he said. Hes established the basis for a dialogue.

Thayer also echoed Murgs sentiments, saying the real test will arrive when ASEAN ministers begin their annual summits and whether or not Myanmar leaders will be allowed to attend, including possible meetings in Washington between ASEAN heads of state and U.S. President Joe Biden.

That meeting was expected to be held later this month but is yet to be confirmed.

Phil Robertson deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch, said Hun Sen was using Myanmar to deflect his own international criticism, which has intensified in recent years with the court dissolution of the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party.

That enabled Hun Sens long ruling Cambodian Peoples Party to win every seat contested at elections in 2018 and since then hundreds of CNRP supporters have been arrested and jailed alongside journalists, environmentalists and civil society activists.

He [Hun Sen] wants to be left alone, he wants to be able to continue his dictatorial rule and if he has to use Myanmar as the foil, then, you know, thats one of the perks of being the ASEAN chair, Robertson said.
Chinas construction of a bridge spanning a Himalayan lake that lies along the India-China border has reinforced concerns in New Delhi about the ramping up of military infrastructure by the Asian giant in contested areas along their frontier.

The bridge being built over Pangong Lake lies in territory that Beijing controls but is also claimed by India. It will enable Chinese troops to mobilize rapidly in the area where both sides were engaged in a prolonged military standoff, according to analysts.

Days after satellite pictures revealed the construction of the bridge, India said that it has been closely monitoring the construction activity. This bridge is being constructed in areas that have been under illegal occupation by China for around 60 years now, foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing this week. As you are well aware, India has never accepted such illegal occupation.

In response, Chinas foreign ministry said on Friday that its infrastructure construction is aimed at safeguarding China's territorial sovereignty and security as well as peace and stability on the China-India border." Officials, however, did not refer directly to the bridge.

The bridge will make it much easier for Chinese troops to access the north bank of the Pangong Lake from their military base in Tibet, said Manoj Joshi, a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. So they want to reinforce the north bank, which is a sensitive area for China because it provides access to a key Tibet highway.

Two thirds of the glacial lake, situated above 4,000 meters in elevation, lies in Tibet, the rest extends into Ladakh in India.

Ladakh emerged as a flashpoint between the two countries in 2020, when India accused Chinese troops of intruding into its territory.

Although Indian and Chinese troops withdrew last year from the Pangong region, where they stood in close confrontation for nine months, Ladakh still remains heavily militarized. Both sides have deployed an estimated 50,000 troops in the region, as disputes along several other strategic locations continue to fester.

In recent years China has stepped up building military infrastructure, such as helipads, airstrips and roads all along its border with India, according to analyst Joshi. They are pumping a lot of money into Tibet for development, and they want to ensure that the borders are well defended, he says.

India is also accelerating projects to build roads and bridges to enable easier movement of troops and artillery as it confronts the new strategic reality of a more aggressive Beijing and a heavily militarized border.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh last week inaugurated 27 roads and bridge projects, most of which have been built to ease access for troops along the Indo-Tibetan border. Those projects include a road above 5,800 meters in eastern Ladakh.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Bagchi told reporters Thursday that the government has raised the budget for border infrastructure and completed more roads and bridges than ever before.

However, analysts point out that India cannot match the infrastructure built by the Chinese. To catch up with China is impossible although great efforts have been made in the last two or three years. But India has been very late in starting, says Claude Arpi, a scholar on Tibet and an expert on India and China relations. First of all, there is the issue of terrain. It is more mountainous on the Indian side, so it is far more challenging for India to build roads and bridges, whereas Tibet is a plateau.

New Delhi flagged the construction of the bridge by China days before military commanders of the two countries meet to resolve the standoff in Ladakh. The dialogue on January 12 will be held three months after the last round of talks ended in a stalemate.

But the atmosphere between the two rivals has again soured since China announced it had given Chinese names to 15 places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as South Tibet. India slammed the announcement, calling it a ridiculous exercise to support untenable territorial claims.
More Russian troops arrived Saturday at Kazakhstans Almaty International Airport, according to video released by Russias defense ministry, on the heels of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayevs order Friday directing security forces to shoot to kill protesters in the Central Asian nation.

"Terrorists continue to damage state and private property and use weapons against civilians, the president said, giving the order in a televised national address. I have given the order to law enforcement to shoot to kill without warning."

In a week of unrest, Kazakh security forces have killed 26 demonstrators and arrested more than 4,400, the Interior Ministry said Saturday. Eighteen law enforcement officers also died.

Almaty, Kazakhstans largest city, was mostly quiet on Saturday, according to Agence France-Presse, but security forces were firing warning shots if anyone approached the central square.

Also Saturday, authorities announced the arrest of Karim Massimov, former head of the National Security Committee, on suspicion of high treason. Masimov, 56, led the committee, which is responsible for counterintelligence, until Tokayev removed him earlier this week.

The mostly Russian troops began arriving in Kazakhstan after Tokayev declared a state of emergency Wednesday and appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Eurasian intergovernmental military alliance, for help quelling the protests. About 2,500 troops are being deployed, some guarding government buildings in the capital, Nur-Sultan, freeing up part of the forces of Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies [to] redeploy them to Almaty to participate in the counter-terrorist operation, said a statement from Tokayev's office.

The CSTO is made up of forces from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Tokayev told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Saturday that terrorist attacks are still being carried out in some areas of his country, despite the clampdown, according to a statement on the Kazakh presidential website.

The Kremlin described Saturdays conversation as lengthy, during which Tokayev described to Putin the unrest, noting that it is developing towards stabilization.

Tokayev dismissed international calls Friday for his government to negotiate with the protesters. He continues to claim, without evidence, they are trained and organized by unnamed foreign entities.

He called the protesters bandits and terrorists who must be destroyed and promised this would be done shortly. He also thanked Putin for promptly sending troops, at Tokayevs request, to help crack down on the protests.

The presidents exchanged views on the measures taken to restore order in Kazakhstan and agreed to remain in constant contact, the Kremlin statement said.

Protests broke out in Kazakhstan late last week over fuel prices and escalated into widespread violence.

The U.S. State Department on Friday approved the voluntary departure of nonemergency U.S. government employees and their families from the U.S. consulate in Almaty and warned that the situation in Kazakhstan could affect the U.S. Embassys ability to provide assistance to U.S. citizens departing the Central Asian nation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was "very concerned" about the state of emergency in Kazakhstan.

"We're watching the situation with real concern, and we are encouraging everyone to find a peaceful resolution," he said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also called Friday for an end to the violence in Kazakhstan.



Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Tokayev on Friday for having decisively taken strong measures at critical moments and quickly calming down the situation, and referred to the violence by protesters as a large-scale riot.

China has invested heavily in Kazakhstan, which is a crucial part of Beijings Belt and Road initiative project connecting China to Europe.

Feng Chongyi, an associate professor in China Studies at Sydneys University of Technology, told VOAs Mandarin service that China is very worried about spillover effects from the Kazakhstan violence, which could encourage citizens in Kazakhstans neighbors, or even Chinese citizens, to rise up against their government.

He also noted that while China and Russia often work together on the international stage against the United States, they also have their own conflicts with each other, which he said could flare up over the violence in Kazakhstan. He said if Kazakhstan moves closer to Russia as a result of the current situation this would pose a threat to Chinas interests.



Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. VOAs Mandarin Service, Ricardo Marquina contributed to this report.
During violence and protests in Kazakhstan this week, a media worker was killed and a video journalist was injured when their vehicle came under attack.

Muratkhan Bazarbayev, who worked for Almaty TV as a driver, died when the station's vehicle was shot at during clashes in the city of Almaty on Wednesday. A camera operator for the station was hospitalized in the same attack, according to the news outlet and media rights groups.

The news crew was covering protests that began late last week in response to a fuel price hike and evolved into mass unrest and violence in the capital and other cities.

Dozens of protesters have died after security forces opened fire. Journalists have also been arrested or injured while covering the unrest.

The Vienna-based International Press Institute (IPI) called on authorities to examine the circumstances of Bazarbayev's death and warned of the risks to media workers.



"Journalists across Kazakhstan are currently working in extremely challenging conditions while documenting the unrest, from indiscriminate attacks by protesters to detentions and brutality from security services," the IPI's advocacy officer Jamie Wiseman said in a statement.

"It is vital that the safety of all journalists and media workers is guaranteed and that the freedom of the press is fully respected in the wake of the unrest," Wiseman added.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said journalists, including those clearly identified as press, have been arrested. One of them, Uralskaya Nedelya editor Lukpan Akhmedyarov, was questioned for several hours about alleged "extremist activities." Others were injured by rubber bullets and stun grenades.

Two journalists with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) were also detained. RFE/RL and VOA are both independent networks under the U.S. Agency for Global Media.



Police in the capital, Nur-Sultan, detained RFE/RL editor Darkhan Umirbekov at a protest on Tuesday. A few hours earlier, Almaty bureau chief Kasym Amanzhol was detained briefly after he filmed protests.

Access to news websites including RFE/RL, Orda.kz and KazTag has been blocked, along with some messaging platforms, and the internet was suspended throughout the country Thursday, RSF said. Internet was restored briefly that day for a televised address by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Kazakh authorities have condemned the violence and protests, with Tokayev blaming "bandits" and referring to the unrest as a "terrorist attack."

In a separate televised national address on Friday, Tokayev issued a shoot-to-kill order, saying, "Terrorists continue to damage state and private property and use weapons against civilians."

The head of RFE/RL, Jamie Fly, said that at this unstable time, Kazakhstan should allow journalists to "report the facts as they unfold."

"Reports of gunfire and other violence directed at those reporting on these protests, are deeply concerning  as are attempts to limit the flow of information within and out of the country, by targeting the internet and social media and blocking media websites, including that of our Kazakh Service," Fly said in a statement.

Following an election in 2019, Kazakhstan appeared to be opening up to allow greater freedom of expression, though the state sought to control the internet and block access to some news websites and social media platforms, RSF data show. The country ranks 155 out of 180 countries where 1 is freest on the watchdog's press freedom index.


More than 100 people reportedly have been killed this week by armed gangs in Nigeria's Zamfara State, one of the African nation's most troubled regions.

The attacks this week took place in the Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas of the northwestern Nigerian state.

According to Zamfara state residents who spoke to media, large numbers of armed men invaded up to nine villages in these areas on Tuesday evening, shooting and torching houses. The violence lasted until Thursday morning.

Survivors who spoke to the Associated Press and local media say more than 100 people were killed, with many more displaced from their homes.

Zamfara state authorities confirmed the attacks on the villages. The state commissioner of information, Ibrahim Dosara, said authorities are awaiting more details on the attacks.

If the number of fatalities is confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest attacks in Nigeria in recent years.

Authorities have deployed military aircraft to search for the assailants, who are believed to be gang members.

This was not the only attack in Zamfara state this week. On Tuesday, while 97 abductees were rescued by the police force, authorities said another tactical police team prevented an attack elsewhere in the state.

Nigeria has been battling violent attacks by marauding armed groups who are intent on looting, killing and kidnapping for ransom.

These latest attacks cast doubt on statements by both national and Zamfara police officials whove claimed huge successes in battling gangs throughout the region.
The Indian government renewed permission for late Catholic nun Mother Teresa's charity to receive foreign funds, weeks after rejecting it, the organization said Saturday.

On Christmas Day the Narendra Modi government moved to cut off foreign funding to the Missionaries of Charity and refused to renew its license under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

Charities and nonprofit firms need to register under FCRA to receive money from abroad.

"The FCRA application has now been renewed," Sunita Kumar, a close aide to Mother Teresa, told AFP.

The Missionaries of Charity, which runs shelter homes across India, was founded in 1950 by the late Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who devoted most of her life to helping the poor in the eastern city of Kolkata.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize and was later declared a saint.

India's home ministry issued a statement in December saying it was rejecting the renewal application because the charity did not meet "eligibility conditions" and that "adverse inputs were noticed.

Last week, Oxfam India said the Indian government had blocked its access to international funds, a move which it said would have severe consequences for its humanitarian work.

The Modi government has been accused of cutting off access to funding of charities and rights groups in the country.

Amnesty International announced in 2020 that it was halting operations in India after the government froze its bank accounts.
Former President Barack Obama commemorated the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday as a man "who got things done," as Democratic leaders gathered from around the country to recall Reidoften laughinglyas a man whose impatience for pleasantries was part of a drive to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.

The turnout at Reid's Las Vegas memorial service testified to Reid's impact on some of the most consequential legislation of the 21st century, despite coming from a childhood of poverty and deprivation in Nevada. President Joe Biden escorted Reid's widow, Landra Reid, to her seat at the outset of services, before an honor guard bore a flag-draped casket to the well of a hushed auditorium.

Reid died December 28 at home in Henderson, Nevada, at 82 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

"Let there be no doubt. Harry Reid will be considered one of the greatest Senate majority leaders in history," Biden said, as leaders credited Reid's work on strengthening health care and on Wall Street reform and economic recovery in the wake of the 2008 recession.

Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who described Reid to mourners as a "truly honest and original character," spoke during an invitation-only memorial. Former President Barack Obama, who credits Reid for his rise to the White House, delivered the eulogy.

Obama said that when Reid helped pass the Affordable Care Act, "he didn't do it to burnish his own legacy," recalling how, as a boy, Reid's family was so poor that Reid himself pulled out one of his father's teeth.

"He did it for the people back home and families like his, who needed somebody looking out for them, when nobody else did. Harry got things done," Obama said.

"The thing about Harry, he never gave up. He never gave up. He never gave up on anybody who cared about him," said Biden, who served for two decades with Reid in the Senate and worked with him for eight years when Biden was vice president.

"If Harry said he was going to do something, he did it," Biden added. "You could bank on it."

Reid's son, Leif, was one of a series of speakers who recalled his father's well-known habit of abruptly hanging up on telephone conversations without saying goodbye, sometimes leaving the other personwhether powerful politicians or close familychatting away for several minutes before they realized he was no longer there.

Leif Reid said it was "part of the narrative" of his father's life, and tried to explain that the gesture was more about Reid preserving time for family.

"When he hung up on you, maybe so quickly, it isn't as much about him being brusque as it is about him being devoted to my mom," Leif Reid said.

"I probably got hung up on the most by Harry Reid, two or three times a day, for 12 years"Pelosi told mourners.

"Sometimes I even called him back and said Harry, 'I was singing your praises," Pelosi said. To which Reid replied: "I don't want to hear it," she said, before she'd hear the phone click dead.

Reid served for 34 years in Washington and led the Senate through a crippling recession and the Republican takeover of the House after the 2010 elections.

Harry Mason Reid hitchhiked 40 miles (64 kilometers) to high school and was an amateur boxer before he was elected to the Nevada state Assembly at age 28. He had graduated from Utah State University and worked nights as a U.S. Capitol police officer while attending George Washington University Law School in Washington.

In 1970, at age 30, he was elected lieutenant governor with Democratic Gov. Mike O'Callaghan. Reid was elected to the House in 1982 and the Senate in 1986.

He built a political machine in Nevada that for years helped Democrats win key elections. When he retired in 2016 after an exercise accident at home left him blind in one eye, he picked former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to replace him.

Cortez Masto became the first woman from Nevada and the first Latina ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

Those flying to Las Vegas will arrive at the newly renamed Harry Reid International Airport. It was previously named for Pat McCarran, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Nevada who once owned the airfield and whose legacy is clouded by racism and anti-Semitism.
Pakistan has concluded a months-long campaign to register Afghan refugees and issue them identity cards that will protect and safeguard their interests.

The government-run campaign, supported by the U.N. refugee agency, began in mid-April. The registration drive has updated the data of some 1.4 million Afghan refugees. This is the first large-scale effort to verify the status of refugees in Pakistan in the last 10 years.

UNHCR spokesman, Babar Baloch says the refugees are given so-called smart identity cards that legitimize their status and facilitate their access to humanitarian aid and other benefits.

The new identity cards are an essential protection tool for Afghan refugees and give them the faster and safer access to health and education facilities and to financial services as well," Baloch said. "This drive also provided an opportunity for Afghan refugees to flag any specific protection needs for vulnerabilities.

The UNHCR reports more than 300,000 Afghans have fled to Pakistan since the Taliban took over their country in August. Their situation is precarious as most have entered the country illegally and may be liable for deportation.

The United Nations warns Afghanistan is becoming one of the worlds worst humanitarian crises. It notes 24.4 million people, more than half of the population, need life-saving humanitarian assistance. It says more than 9 million Afghans are displaced within the country, with little prospect of returning soon to the homes they fled.

Baloch says more than 40 verification sites were set up across Pakistan during the registration drive last year. He says mobile registration vans sought out Afghan refugees living in remote areas.

He says a mass information campaign also was carried out to explain the purpose of the campaign to Afghan refugees. He says this effort has paid off with large numbers participating.

Among them, there were 200,000 children under the age of five who were registered by their refugee parents," Baloch said. "More than 700,000 new smart identity cards have also been issued to date. The remaining cards will be printed and distributed in early 2022. These cards are valid until 30th of June 2023.

Baloch says the campaign is part of a wider effort to assist and protect Afghan refugees. Gathering more detailed information about the refugees, he says will enable the government and aid agencies to better tailor assistance to them.

In addition, he says it will facilitate support for those refugees who decide to return home, when conditions in Afghanistan allow.
Principals, superintendents and counselors are filling in as substitutes in classrooms as the surge in coronavirus infections further strains schools that already had been struggling with staffing shortages.

In Cincinnati, dozens of employees from the central office were dispatched this week to schools that were at risk of having to close because of low staffing. The superintendent of Boston schools, Brenda Cassellius, tweeted Wednesday she was filling in for a fifth grade teacher. San Francisco's school system asked any employees with teaching credentials to be available for classroom assignments.

Staff absences and the omicron variant-driven surge have led some big districts including Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee to switch temporarily to virtual learning. Where schools are holding the line on in-person learning, getting through the day has required an all-hands-on-deck approach.

"It's absolutely exhausting," said history teacher Deborah Schmidt, who was covering other classes during her planning period at McKinley Classical Leadership Academy in St. Louis. On Thursday, she was covering a physics class.

In a school year when teachers are being asked to help students recover from the pandemic, some say they are dealing with overwhelming stress just trying to keep classes running.

"I had a friend say to me, 'You know, three weeks ago we were locking our doors because of school shootings again, and now we're opening the window for COVID.' It's really all a bit too much," said Meghan Hatch-Geary, an English teacher at Woodland Regional High School in Connecticut. "This year, trying to fix everything, trying to be everything for everyone, is more and more exhausting all the time."

Labor tensions have been highest in Chicago, where classes were canceled after the teachers union voted to refuse in-person instruction, but union leaders in many school systems have been clamoring for more flexibility on virtual learning, additional testing and other protections against the virus.

In New Haven, Connecticut, where hundreds of teachers have been out each day this week, administrators have helped to cover classrooms. When her classroom aide did not show up for work Wednesday, special education teacher Jennifer Graves borrowed paraprofessionals from other classrooms for short stretches to get through the day at Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School  an arrangement that was difficult and confusing for her young students with disabilities.



"It's very difficult to get through my lesson plans when somebody doesn't know your students, when somebody is not used to working with students with disabilities," Graves said. "Some students need sensory inputs, some students need to be spoon-fed. So it's very hard to train someone on the spot."

Even before infection rates took off around the holidays, many districts were struggling to keep up staffing levels, particularly among substitutes and other lower-paid positions. As a result, teachers have been spread thin for months, said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association.

"All of these additional burdens and stresses on top of being worried about getting sick, on top of being stressed like all of us are to after a two-year pandemic ... it just compounded to put us in a place that we are now," Pringle said in an interview.

Some administrators have already been helping for months in classrooms and cafeterias to fill in for sick and quarantining staff.

"We're not in love with the circumstances, but we're happy to do the work because the work is making sure that we're here for our kids," said Mike Cornell, superintendent of the Hamburg Central School District in New York, who spent time this fall on cafeteria duty poking straws into juice pouches and peeling lids off chips to fill staffing gaps.

Among the schools that went virtual this week because of staffing shortages was second grade teacher Anna Tarka-DiNunzio's school of roughly 200 students in Pittsburgh. Some taught their students despite being sick with the virus, said Tarka-DiNunzio, who was disappointed to hear some characterize staffing shortages as the result of teachers arbitrarily taking off work.

"It's not just people calling off. It's people who are sick or who have family members who are sick," she said.

The strains on schools this week might have been even tougher if not for large numbers of students being absent themselves. In New Haven, teachers say classes have been only about half full.

Jonathan Berryman, a music teacher, said some of his students haven't shown up for weeks. He worries what that will mean for the performance targets set for students and their teachers.

"Before omicron came along, there was fairly smooth sailing. Now the ship has been rocked," he said. "We get to make midyear adjustments in our evaluation system. And some I'm sure are wondering whether we should even be concerned about that academic progress piece."

Graves, who is in her 12th year of teaching in New Haven, said that she is grateful for administrators who have been helping out in classrooms and the aides who have pitched in, but that her students have struggled with the lack of consistency in staffing.

She also has been frustrated with quickly changing health protocols, and worried about the health of herself and her extended family. Most of her young students are not able to tolerate wearing masks for long stretches, and many have been coughing lately.

"This is the hardest year I've had," she said.
The Taliban's religious police have put up posters around the Afghan capital, Kabul, ordering women to cover up, an official said Friday, the latest in a string of creeping restrictions.

The poster, which includes an image of the face-covering burqa, was placed on cafes and shops this week by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Since returning to power in August, the Taliban have increasingly curtailed freedoms, particularly those of women and girls.

"According to Sharia law, Muslim women must wear the hijab," the poster reads, referring to the practice of covering up.

A spokesman for the ministry, responsible for enforcing the Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islamic law, confirmed to AFP on Friday that it was behind the orders.

"If someone does not follow it, it does not mean she will be punished or beaten, it's just encouragement for Muslim women to follow Sharia law," Sadeq Akif Muhajir said.

Trying 'to spread fear'

In Kabul, women already cover their hair with headscarves, though some wear modest Western clothing.

Outside the capital, the burqa, which became mandatory for women under the Taliban's first regime in the 1990s, has remained common.

"What they're trying to do is to spread fear among the people," a university student and women's rights advocate, who did not want to be identified, told AFP.

"The first time I saw the posters I was really petrified. I thought maybe [the Taliban] will start beating me. They want me to wear a burqa and look like nothing, I would never do that," the student said.

The Taliban, who are eager for international recognition to allow funding to again flow to the war-wracked country, have so far refrained from issuing national policies.

Instead, they have published guidance for men and women that has varied from province to province.

"This is not good  100 percent, this will create fear," said Shahagha Noori, the supervisor of a Kabul restaurant where the poster had been put up by the Taliban. "I think if the Taliban get international recognition, then they will start to enforce it."

Although the Taliban have promised a lighter version of the hardline rule that characterized their first time in power from 1996 to 2001, women are largely excluded from government employment, and secondary schools for girls have remained shuttered in several provinces.

Women have also been banned from traveling alone on long journeys.

No nation has yet formally recognized the Taliban government, and diplomats face the delicate task of channeling aid to the stricken Afghan economy without propping up the hardline Islamists.
The United States is accusing Russia of trying to "gaslight" the world regarding tensions with Ukraine, continually seeking to portray Kyiv as the aggressor even as Moscow plans to mobilize as many as 300,000 troops for a potential invasion.

The accusation came Friday from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, following a virtual meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers, and ahead of a series of talks involving the U.S., NATO and Russia set for the coming week.

"We've seen this gaslighting before," Blinken told reporters, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its illegal seizure of Crimea in 2014. Gaslighting is defined by one online dictionary as causing people to doubt their sanity through psychological manipulation.

"No one should be surprised if Russia instigates a provocation or incident, then tries to use it to justify military intervention," the top U.S. diplomat added, warning that Russia's military buildup involves "nearly 100,000 troops today with plans to mobilize twice that number on very short order."

"This is a test for Russia," Blinken added, cautioning progress can be made only "in the context of de-escalation."

"If it is serious about resolving the situation in eastern Ukraine and to resolve it diplomatically and peacefully, the Minsk [Agreement] is the way to do it," he said, adding that a failure to do so would result in "massive consequences."

Speaking separately in Brussels earlier on Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Moscow's willingness to engage in talks this coming week. But he warned that while NATO would listen to Russia's concerns in "good faith," the Kremlin must be willing to do likewise on a range of issues, including arms control.

"For dialogue to be meaningful, it must also address allies' long-standing concerns about Russia's actions," Stoltenberg told reporters. "That has to be reciprocal."

Stoltenberg further warned that NATO would not give in to Russian demands.

"We will not compromise on core principles, including the right for every nation to determine its own path," he said. "We cannot end up in a situation where we have second class NATO members where NATO as an alliance is not allowed to protect them."

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of carrying out a military buildup of its own and has demanded that NATO agree to a series of security guarantees, including a rollback of the alliance's military presence in Eastern Europe and that it put an end to any expansion, including possible membership for countries like Ukraine and Georgia.

In an interview with Bloomberg News on Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said President Vladimir Putin wanted to see immediate results following the upcoming talks.

"That's not a figure of speech," Ryabkov said, adding that the success or failure of the upcoming talks will depend on "the extent to which our American colleagues are receptive to our demands."

On Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke by phone with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu about "risk reduction near Ukraine's borders."

Still, Russia's tough talk has touched off a flurry of diplomatic activity among Western allies, including calls between NATO officials and the leaders of Finland and Sweden.

And Blinken spoke by phone Friday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, reassuring Kyiv of U.S. support.

However, speaking to reporters, Blinken said, "It will be very difficult to make actual progress if Russia continues to escalate its military buildup and its inflammatory rhetoric."

And in Brussels, NATO's Stoltenberg added that the Western alliance is clear-eyed about the upcoming discussions.

"We need to be prepared for the talks breaking down and that diplomacy will fail," he said. "That is exactly why we are sending a very clear message to Russia that if they once again decide to use military force against a neighbor, then there will be severe consequences, a high price to pay  economic sanctions financial sanctions, political sanctions."


The Biden administration on Friday again signaled U.S. support for the European Union and Lithuania against China, which is accused of blocking Lithuanian exports in protest of the Baltic country's diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai today spoke with European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis "and expressed the United States' strong support for the EU and for Lithuania in the face of economic coercion from the People's Republic of China (PRC)," a statement from Tai's office said.

Lithuania, one of the smallest countries in the European Union, made waves in July when it allowed Taiwan to open a diplomatic outpost in Vilnius.

The move outraged Beijing, which does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state and considers the island a rebellious territory of the mainland.

China began to limit its diplomatic and economic ties with Lithuania in retaliation.

"Ambassador Tai emphasized the importance of working with the European Union and its member states to address coercive diplomatic and economic behavior through various avenues, including the US-EU Trade and Technology Council," Tai's office said.

Tai already spoke with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis by telephone Wednesday, reiterating Washington's support for his country.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a major setback for the music industry in Africa and beyond, but African musicians embraced the digital space to release global hits. Here are our highlights of some of the biggest African songs of 2021.
South Africa Police report that they have arrested 14 Zimbabweans, who were travelling from their country to South Africa without proper documents.

In a tweet, the South Africa Police Service said, 14 illegal immigrants traveling from Zimbabwe to Gauteng were arrested by Gauteng police during operation #OkaeMolao. The driver was also arrested for bribery after he offered law enforcement officials an amount of money for them to be allowed to go through.

The Zimbabweans are expected to be deported within the next few days.

South Africa says it has arrested hundreds of Zimbabweans for illegally crossing the countrys border without proper documents in the past few days.

Some South Africans immediately reacted to the tweet with most of them urging state security agents to take tough measures against illegal immigrants fleeing home because of the harsh economic, social and political situation.

One of them identifying himself as Adad said, They must be charged with being in SA illegally. Prosecuted and sentenced. After serving their sentence, declared undesirable and deported. Banned from coming to SA for 5 years.

Blackberry Mlaba had no kind words for these Zimbabweans. Well they should be punished n stay for 6 Months in Lindela so they could think twice to come in SA.

According to another person who responded to the tweet, identified as Teboh, The bribe part just spoilt it for me. Like you were tempted but managed to resist. You shouldn't even have to mention that. Let's hope proper processes are gonna be followed and those people safely returned to their home country.

And Mantsha Monageng urged South Africa to build high walls and reintroduce refugee camps.

A person believed to be a Zimbabwean identified as EasyGuy noted that it's painful to be a Zimbabwean, where must we go coz SA is our last hope.

Thousands of Zimbabweans are leaving home saying they are no longer able to make ends meet despite claims by President Emmerson Mnangagwas government that the countrys economy has improved following the removal from office of former president Robert Mugabe in 2017.
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Caldera 1725 m (5,659 ft)Iceland, 64.42N / -17.33W(1 out of 5)ca. 1310, 1332, 1341, 1354(?), ca. 1370, ca. 1390, ca. 1430, ca. 1450, ca. 1470, ca. 1490, ca. 1510, ca. 1530, 1598, 1603, 1619, 1629, 1638, 1659, 1681, 1684-85, 1706, 1716, 1725, 1753, 1768, 1774,(Laki fissure eruption: the largest historically known effusive eruption), 1794(?), 1796(?), 1816, 1823, 1838, 1854, 1861(?), 1867, 1873, 1883, 1887-89, 1891-92, 1897, 1902-04, 1922, 1933, 1934, 1934, 1938, 1939(?), 1941(?), 1945, 1948(?), 1954, 1972(?), 1983, 1984(?), 1996, 1998, 2004 (Nov.), 2011 (21-26 May)Effusive, explosive magma-water/ice reaction.Produces notorious and frequent floods of melt-water bursts from the glacier (jokulhlaups).

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, as an increase of seismic activity has been recorded. Read all The Icelandic Meteorological Office raised the Aviation Color Code for Grimsvotn to Yellow on 30 September, noting that activity had been increasing over time and was above background levels. The report stated that seismicity increased over the past month, cauldrons had deepened in several places around the caldera signifying increased geothermal activity, surface deformation surpassed the level prior to the 2011 eruption, and magmatic gases were present in emissions over the summer. Additionally, water levels in the subglacial lake were comparable to levels prior to floods in 2004 and 2010. Read all One of Iceland's most active volcanoes might be getting ready for a new eruption. Recent observations by scientists from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) monitoring the sub-glacial volcano lead to this conclusion, IMO reported in a recent press release. Read all

See which volcanoes are erupting at the moment! Probably more than you think...

We sometimes invite you to "test" new itineraries or destinations with us. Such trips are a reduced cost and require a higher degree of flexibility, but often offer a great deal of adventure.

A relaxed walking and study tour to one of Greece's hidden treasures and also one of the least known volcanically active areas in Europe.

Look at one of the most surreal landscapes on Earth, created by hot springs, colorful salt deposits and volcanic gas vents.

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Dear compatriots,

The anti-terrorist operation continues in our country. The police, the national guard and the army are carrying out large-scale and well-coordinated efforts to restore law and order in accordance with the Constitution.

Yesterday, the situation in the cities of Almaty, Aktobe, and Almaty region was stabilized. The implementation of the state of emergency is ensuring results. Constitutional legitimacy is being restored across the country.

However, terrorists continue to cause damage to public and private property, and use weapons against citizens.

I have given orders to law enforcement agencies and the army to, where necessary, open fire without warning.

There are some calls abroad for the parties to hold talks to resolve problems peacefully. This is nonsense! What kind of negotiations can take place with criminals and murderers?

We have had to deal with armed and trained bandits, both local and foreign. They must be eliminated, and this will be done soon.

Law enforcement forces are morally and technically ready to perform this task.

As you know, based on the main provisions of the CSTO charter documents, Kazakhstan appealed to the heads of the participating states with a request to introduce a joint peacekeeping contingent to assist in restoring constitutional order.

This contingent has arrived in our country for a short period of time to perform supporting functions.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Prime Minister of Armenia, who chairs the CSTO, as well as to the Presidents of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

I would like to express my special gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He very quickly and, most importantly, in a warm and friendly manner responded to my appeal.

I also express my gratitude to the Presidents of China, Uzbekistan, Turkey, the heads of the UN and other international organizations for their words of support.

The tragic events in our country highlight the problems of democracy and human rights in a new way.

Democracy does not mean permissiveness nor, moreover, incitement, including in the blogosphere, to illegal actions.

In my speech on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Independence, I said that law and order are the main guarantee of our countrys well-being.

And not only for Kazakhstan, but all civilized states.

This does not mean an attack on civil liberties and human rights. On the contrary, as the tragedy of Almaty and other cities of Kazakhstan has shown, it is precisely non-compliance with laws, permissiveness, and anarchy that lead to human rights violations.

In Almaty, administrative buildings, but also the personal property of local residents, were damaged by terrorist bandits. Not to mention the health and lives of hundreds of civilians and military personnel.

I extend my sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims.

Let me remind you that the law on peaceful assemblies of citizens was adopted at my suggestion in May 2020.

This law is a big step forward in promoting democracy in our country, because it provides for the notification of meetings and gatherings, including in the central districts of all cities of the country.

But some so called defenders of human rights and activists put themselves above the law and believe that they have the right to gather where they want and say what they want.

Due to the irresponsible actions of these self-proclaimed activists, the police are distracted from their main duties of law enforcement. They are often subjected to violence and abuse.

Because of these activists, the use of Internet gets limited, as a result of which the interests of millions of citizens and domestic businesses suffer. In other words, internal economic, social and political stability is greatly damaged.

The so called independent mass media and the figures based outside of he country, who are not aligned with the fundamental interests of our multiethnic people, play an accessory role and, in some cases, an inciting role in violations of law and order.

It is no exaggeration to say that these irresponsible demagogues have become complicit in unleashing this tragedy in Kazakhstan. We will respond harshly to all acts of illegal vandalism.

There is no doubt that we will quickly overcome this black mark in our history. The main goal is to prevent such events from happening again in the future.

I have created a special interagency group that will search for and detain bandits and terrorists.

I promise our citizens that all these individuals will be held to the strictest criminal responsibility.

I ask all citizens of Kazakhstan to be careful and vigilant. Report any suspicious activity or suspicious individuals to law enforcement agencies and hotlines.

There will be a debriefing in connection with the actions of law enforcement agencies and the army, as well as their interdepartmental coordination.

It also clear that we lacked special forces professionals and special equipment. We will address these issues as a matter of urgency.

It is critically important to understand why the state was not aware of the underground preparation of terrorist attacks by sleeper cells and militants. Almost 20 thousand bandits attacked Almaty.

Their actions showed a clear plan of attacks on military, administrative and social facilities in almost all areas, coordination of actions, high combat readiness and brutal cruelty.

In addition to the militants, there were specialists trained in ideological sabotage, skillfully using disinformation or fakes and capable of manipulating peoples moods.

It seems that their training and leadership were handled by a single command post. The National Security Committee and the Prosecutor Generals Office have begun to deal with this.

Now for the good news.

Due to the stabilization of the situation, I have decided to enable Internet communication in certain regions of the country for specific time intervals. I know that this decision will have a positive impact on the life of our citizens.

However, free access to the Internet does not mean free publication of fabrications, slander, insults, and inflammatory appeals.

If such materials appear, we will take measures to detect and punish their authors.

The counterterrorism operation continues. The militants have not laid down their weapons, and they continue to commit crimes or prepare for them. The fight against them must be brought to an end. Those who do not surrender will be eliminated.

There is a lot of work ahead to learn the lessons of the tragedy we have experienced, including from a socio-economic point of view.

The Government will need to make specific decisions, which I will discuss in the Mazhilis on January 11.

Now I want to tell you, dear compatriots, that I am proud of you.

I would like to express my gratitude to those citizens of Kazakhstan who have remained calm in recent days and made efforts to ensure stability and public order.

Despite provocations and destructive calls, you have remained loyal to the law an0d your country.

I thank students of large cities, members of labor collectives, and industrial and agricultural workers for their civic consciousness.

I thank the residents of the regions whose protest was peaceful.

All the demands expressed in peaceful terms were heard. As a result of the dialogue, a compromise was reached, and solutions to acute socio-economic problems have been formed.

Therefore, we will gradually lift the state of emergency in the regions where the situation is stable.

I am absolutely sure that our sacred fatherland  Kazakhstan will become a strong state on the world map, our economy will develop dynamically, and the social situation of our citizens will improve. To achieve these goals, I will propose a reform plan and concrete measures to implement them.

I wish you all good health and prosperity!
The Kazakh Security Council met on 6 January 2021 in Nur-Sultan, presided over by the head of state, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and in the presence of the speakers of the legislative assemblies.

The Council took stock of the terrorist attacks that were staged during the 2 January protests over a hike in fuel prices. According to reports, those perpetrating the attacks belong to the same groups of foreign jihadists who fought in Syria. Snipers on rooftops randomly killing protestors and police in order to sow chaos. These groups have taken over weapons storage facilities and are distributing weapons to domestic Islamists.

The Council turned for assistance to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to protect the civilian population.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered Kazakh security forces to shoot to kill jihadists without warning.
Kazakh Security Council President Karim Masimov (photo), who was removed from office on 6 January, has been detained on charges of high treason.

Former President Nursultan Nazarbayevs nephew, Samat Abish, was also reportedly arrested and detained on charges of high treason. However, his arrest has yet to be confirmed. Some years ago, one of Nursultan Nazarbayevs sons-in-law had attempted to stage a coup detat.
Photo: Mark Von Holden/Getty Images

Music legend Quincy Jones has paid tribute to trailblazing actor and activist Sidney Poitier in a lengthy remembrance on Twitter. We were joined at the hip from our times scraping to get by, coming up in New York in the 50s, to achieving all of our dreams & working together in Hollywood, Jones wrote, to standing up to use our voices in support of the things that truly mattered. According to Jones, Poitier possessed a quality of regalness that surpassed ruling members of royalty. The pair of longtime friends remained close throughout their rise to prominence in the film and TV industry. Beginning with the 1965 thriller The Slender Thread, Jones composed and arranged music for several movies starring Poitier, including the Oscar-winning In the Heat of the Night. In 1996, Poitier presented the Best Picture category at the Jones-produced 68th Academy Awards ceremony. Through thick & thin we shared the highest peaks & the lowest valleys of life together, Jones tweeted. I will miss you forever my dear brother  & when I feel like my soul needs to smile, I will think of you & our decades of memories shared together. Read his full tribute below.

1/6 I couldnt even begin this morningLosing my dearest of brothers, Sidney Poitier, is like losing a piece of myself. We were joined at the hip from our times scraping to get by, coming up in New York in the 50s, to achieving all of our dreams & working together in Hollywood  Quincy Jones (@QuincyDJones) January 8, 2022

2/6 to standing up to use our voices in support of the things that truly mattered. And through it all, it will be the countless hours we spent traveling the world, eating, laughing, & talking into the wee hours, that I will treasure the most.  Quincy Jones (@QuincyDJones) January 8, 2022

3/6 Sidney had an aura of royalty & regalness about him unlike any that I had ever seen before or after. And Ive known Counts & Dukes & Heads of State. It was a royal stature that sucked the air out of the room when he walked into it, & left the ladies swooning in his wake.  Quincy Jones (@QuincyDJones) January 8, 2022

4/6 It was a regalness that no mere actor could ever conjure, so you knew it was bestowed unto him by a higher power & could never be replicated. And it wont be.  Quincy Jones (@QuincyDJones) January 8, 2022

5/6 From those dues-paying days in New York to having you present the Best Picture category when I produced the Academy Awards in 1996, you were always there for me Sidney. Through thick & thin we shared the highest peaks & the lowest valleys of life together.  Quincy Jones (@QuincyDJones) January 8, 2022

6/6 You were there for me during the darkest moments of my life, always in my corner rooting for me. I will miss you forever my dear brother& when I feel like my soul needs to smile, I will think of you & our decades of memories shared together. pic.twitter.com/B23WxvnE3w  Quincy Jones (@QuincyDJones) January 8, 2022
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President Mattarella signed Italy's new covid decree into law on Friday night.

Italys premier Mario Draghi is to hold a press conference on Monday 10 January to explain the governments controversial move to make the covid vaccine mandatory for the over 50s.

The prime minister's decision to face questions from journalists follows "days of reflection", reports Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, amid tensions within the coalition government and public opposition to the "undemocratic" vaccine mandate.

It will be Draghi's first press conference since he spoke to reporters on 22 December, when he defined himself as a "grandfather at the service of the institutions" after being asked multiple times if he wished to take over from Sergio Mattarella as president of Italy.

Draghi has defended the government's latest sweeping anti-covid measures, which will affect all public and private workers from 15 February, as a bid to "slow down the growth of the contagion curve and push Italians who still arent vaccinated to do so.

We are acting in particular on age groups that are most at risk of hospitalisation" - Draghi said in a statement earlier this week - "to reduce pressure on hospitals and save lives."

There are currently 5.3 million unvaccinated people in Italy over the age of 12; of these some 2.1 million are over the age of 50, the government announced on Friday.

The vaccine mandate, one of the strictest in Europe, states that unvaccinated workers aged 50 or over can be suspended from work without pay, while unvaccinated over 50s who are unemployed also risk sanctions.

Draghi is expected to outline the reasons behind the government's move on Monday, the same day that Italy's new Super Green Pass rules come into force in restaurants, hotels and on public transport.

It is also the same day that Italy's schools reopen after the Christmas break, with new covid protocols, and the same day that the number of regions in covid 'yellow' zones rises to 15 with the addition of Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Valle d'Aosta.

Vaccinations were already complusory in Italy for healthcare workers, teachers, police and the military, along with the recently added category of university staff.

The Green Pass system has been in place in the workplace since October, requiring all workers to show proof of vaccination or a negative covid test.

However under the new Super Green Pass rules, the over-50s will no longer be allowed to go to work by presenting a negative test result.

From 15 February all workers over 50 must present proof that they have been vaccinated or recovered from covid-19.

On Friday there was a backlash over reports that over-50s caught without the vaccine would face a one-off "mini fine" of 100, a prospect described by prominent virologist Roberto Burioni on Twitter as a "grotesque farce... roughly equivalent to two parking fines".

Italian nurse Martina Benedetti - whose bruised face from wearing a mask during gruelling hospital shifts became a symbol of Italy's fight against covid in March 2020 - described the 100 fine on Facebook as "the price of our health. Of our lives. Of the sacrifices we have been making for two years."

Palazzo Chigi responded to the controversy, reports news agency ANSA, clarifying that the fines for those who violate the new vaccine mandate will reach up to 1,500, recalling that workers over 50 without the Super Green Pass will face suspension from work without pay and fines from 600 to 1,500.

In addition, Palazzo Chigi pointed out that there are already sanctions in place from 400 to 1,000 for all citizens, regardless of age, who are caught violating Green Pass or Super Green Pass rules.

The Super Green Pass is a "reinforced" version of the "basic" Green Pass and can only be obtained by those who have been vaccinated or recovered from covid-19.

The Green Pass is a digital or paper certificate showing that people have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from covid-19.
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From Unilever Plc to Colgate-Palmolive Co., consumer goods makers in India are facing distribution blues that have nothing to do with pandemic-induced shortages and bottlenecks. The trusted middlemen that brands have traditionally relied on to reach millions of small neighborhood stores in 8,000 towns and 660,000 villages are in revolt. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Its a mutiny that the multinationals have invited upon themselves.

About 90% of what gets consumed in the continent-sized economy flows through a pipe known as general trade: Brands appoint third-party distributors who stock bulk inventory, dispatch goods in small quantities to shops in their area, collect cash and offer retailers unsecured credit at zero interest (without the cumbersome know-your-customer, or KYC, checks of the formal financial system).

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Distributors also take the onus of compliance with existing rules and regulations for the brands as theyre the ones dealing directly with the the last-mile outlet, known as kirana.

Each of these services is important in its own right. Together, theyre worth at least 11.5% of the final price of merchandise, estimates Sumit Aggarwal, a U.S.-trained engineer who returned to run his familys consumer goods distribution business in north India. Yet, the distributors share of the pie is barely 5%-to-6%. The rest of their value addition benefits other stakeholders, including consumers.

If the pipe is only now gurgling with discontent, its because a new breed of rivals has arrived. Better-funded bulk suppliers such as Walmart Inc., billionaire Mukesh Ambanis JioMart and Germanys Metro AG as well as business-to-business e-commerce firms like Udaan and Big Basket are flexing their superior financial muscles to win over the small shopkeeper.

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The price at which distributors get merchandise from brands allows for only 10%-12% margins for retailers. Apps are offering as much as 20%. Since none of the new-age intermediaries are operationally profitable, the deep discounts are very likely backed by investor capital, of which there is no shortage at present. Retailers are switching to more modern suppliers, and the traditional distribution chain is up in arms.

Reuters recently chronicled the story of Vipresh Shah, a Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc distributor in a small town 200 miles south of Mumbai. When reporters caught up with him, Shah, who has been selling Dettol bars to shops in his area for 14 years, hadnt had a single order in eight days. Storeowners are buying the same soap 15% cheaper on the JioMart Partner app and accusing Shah of ripping them off.

Daring to take on the behemoths, the middlemen are sending an SOS: Dont turn us into a bunch of frustrated Willy Lomans from Death of a Salesman. We, too, can digitize and compete. Distributors in Indias Maharashtra state stopped supplying Hindustan Unilever Ltd.s Kissan range of ketchups and sauces from Jan. 1. and threatened to expand the blockade to personal-care products and detergents. Colgate, which is facing a similar embargo on its Max Fresh line of toothpaste, has been warned by an association of traders that its products may vanish from retail outlets in Maharashtra by February. The ban might extend to other states as well.

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It probably wont come to that. Small and midsized intermediaries are scattered across the country. While they have temporarily come together in one state, they dont have the staying power for a prolonged, nationwide strike against the far more resourceful producers. (According to latest news reports, the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation has suspended its boycott of Unilever, though the campaign against Colgate continues.)

The mobile internet is transforming the retail landscape in India. Pure e-commerce, the kind offered by Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.s Flipkart, is still a minuscule part of overall consumer spending. But owners of mom-and-pop kirana shops are increasingly whipping out their smartphones to source goods as cheaply as they can. Credit, which was the No. 1 reason for them to rely on distributors, is now being offered by a whole range of new fintech players. The combination of digital and physical commerce is expected to account for most of the $700 billion expansion in Indian retail by 2030 and half of new jobs.

Technology-led disruptions will fundamentally enhance the productivity of commerce. But the conventional trade channel doesnt deserve to be left behind. Theres room for everyone, says Aggarwal. If brands ignore general trade, and distributors sales people lose their jobs, apps and other bulk suppliers will inevitably use their market power to raise prices. That wont be good for anyone.

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Instead of letting their long-term partners in the country fall by the wayside, brands must help the direct trade channel embrace technology to become more efficient and profitable. It wont take much by way of handholding. With simple digital tools, distributors can have access to verified customer KYC, evaluate and underwrite credit risks and present a transparent account of their services in a language financiers can understand. The middlemen will become more bankable, their cost of capital will go down. Aggarwal is helping the Mumbai-based fintech ePayLater roll out some of these innovations.

Households in India withstood two debilitating waves of the pandemic without much fiscal support from the government beyond free food. Research has shown that it isnt so much the formal financial system that helped them survive the lockdowns and the elevated medical expenses, but informal credit from shops. Where will a hole-in-the-wall kirana obtain the resources to be a lender of last resort for the bottom of the pyramid in remote towns and villages? The answer lies in the traditional distribution chain, nurtured by a previous generation of multinational managers. Their successors shouldnt let a myopic vision of technological change destroy this important safety valve.

More from other writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

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 Can You Trust Your Suppliers After a Lousy 2021?: Anjani Trivedi

 Shopping Is Going to Be A Lot More Painful in 2022: Andrea Felsted

 Shoppers Havent Minded Higher Prices. That Might Change Soon: Tara Lachapelle

(Corrects attribution of story of Vipresh Shah to Reuters in 8th paragraph.)

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services. He previously was a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He has also worked for the Straits Times, ET NOW and Bloomberg News.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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The British monarchy can be ruthless and decisive when it thinks its survival is at stake. For many years the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, advocated a slimmed down royal family  keeping official duties to a select core of the clan. But he found himself blocked by his mother, the Queen, who protected the status of his younger brother Andrew, the Duke of York. That is until the dukes behavior became a live issue in the 2019 general election.

In a televised debate between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn, the audience applauded as the Labour Party leader criticized the royal family. Fresh in everyones minds was media coverage of Andrews friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the New York financier who had committed suicide in prison earlier that year after being charged with sexual offences. Johnsons blanket defense of the royals was heard in silence.

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Corbyn would be trounced at the polls but the Queen moved swiftly to protect the institution of the monarchy. The Duke of York is often referred to as her favorite son but she stripped him of all his official public duties and the shutters came down at his private office at Buckingham Palace.

Prince Andrew is now the subject of a civil suit in a New York court alleging sexual assault against a minor, brought by Virginia Guiffre, now 38. The Duke of York categorically denies the accusations. Excruciating embarrassment aside, why are the royals so nervous that one black sheep could damage the popularity of the entire fold? After all, opinion polls show the British approve of their monarchy by a wide margin  republicans dont even dare attack the universally respected 95-year old woman who heads it. Other trends also favor hereditary heads of state.

An influential new book, Corruptible, by the Washington Post columnist Brian Klaas, argues that, in the modern era, a diminishing number of normal people are attracted to leadership roles in politics. The intrusion of social media and the 24-hour news cycle demand unacceptable personal sacrifices. Democratic societies are therefore increasingly governed by power-hungry oddballs. That development favors a wholesome royal family which stands above the tainted political class and takes its ceremonial obeisance. As they make no promises, the royals cant lose popularity by breaking them either  unlike their prime ministers.

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Those favorable opinion polls, however, have a sting in the tail. Younger British people in the 18-24 age group are least likely to support the monarchys retention. The Palace, always on the alert to danger, knows it cannot afford to rest on its laurels. Prince Charles will inherit the throne at an advanced age and he already expects a younger generation to share his duties.

In Katherine, the wife of his level-headed eldest son Prince William, the monarchy has a star in the making. The Duchess of Cambridge is not an aristocrat but a commoner who looks like a prettier version of the girl next door. However, The Firm, as the royal family calls itself, found it could not contain the talents of a real superstar, Kates American sister-in-law, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, who decamped with her husband Prince Harry to California in disgust at royal protocol and press hostility. Last week Meghan won her legal costs for a bitterly fought privacy action against a London newspaper. She received a derisory 1 pound ($1.35) in damages and she had to apologize to the judge for discrepancies in her testimony.

Meghans departure was a loss: She appealed to young, diverse Britain but Kates ordinary glamour in the long run will serve the Royal Familys interests better. Prince Andrew can neither fit in with this younger monarchy nor, to the palaces dismay, can he be removed from the limelight. The ramifications of his friendship with Epstein wont go away.

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Nowadays The Firm can take divorce, dynastic rows and disputes over money in its stride  these are storylines familiar to every family soap opera  but tales of Epsteins circle of rich, powerful men and underage women are beyond relatable experience for most Britons. And in the age of #MeToo, the Duke of Yorks links to Epstein nauseate the youthful demographic that the monarchy is trying to woo.

Prince Andrews legal team  his mum is picking up the tab  is now involved in increasingly desperate legal manuevers to close down Guiffres civil suit. She claims that when she was 17, she was offered for sexual services to the Duke of York by Epstein and his former girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell, recently convicted by a New York jury for sex trafficking (she is looking for a retrial).

Prince Andrews bizarre explanations for events given in a disastrous BBC interview have only made matters worse. The Duke cant recall having met Guiffre despite the evidence of a photograph taken at Maxwells house which shows him with his arm around her (his friends say it must be a fake). He also claims that Guiffres testimony of his perspiring must be wrong because, while serving as a pilot in the 1982 campaign to retake the Falkland Islands from Argentina, his sweat glands were permanently damaged.

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Prince Andrews service in that war was genuinely heroic: He flew his helicopter as a decoy to attract enemy missiles away from British ships. He is also innocent unless proven guilty. That said, the court of public opinion in the U.K. is against him and is unlikely to change its mind. Speculation is mounting that Andrews team will be forced to settle with Guiffre  without an admission of liability  in order to spare him the humiliation of a trial.

All the while Buckingham Palace can only look on in horror. All royals must live a life less ordinary but the Duke of York is embroiled in a scandal beyond ordinary experience.

More From This Writer and Others at Bloomberg Opinion:



Britain Begins to Think the Unthinkable: Life After the Queen: Martin Ivens



The Queens Gambit Puts Tony Blair Center Stage Again: Therese Raphael

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Jes Staleys Reign at Barclays Was Haunted by Jeffrey Epstein: Paul J. Davies

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Martin Ivens was editor of the Sunday Times from 2013 to 2020 and was formerly its chief political commentator. He is a director of the Times Newspapers board.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Israeli scientists monitoring samplings of sewage water in 2013 made a startling discovery: an outbreak of paralyzing polio was imminent. A national vaccination campaign was quickly mobilized and no cases appeared. That same year, Swedish scientists provided public officials with an early warning for outbreaks of hepatitis A and norovirus using the same methods.

If we are to regain, and retain, normal living, well need the same kind of early warning system for future variants and pandemics. Fortunately, were getting closer to having that.

Monitoring sewage systems is now one of the hottest areas of pandemic research, as viral RNA is shed through feces. (Those squeamish about the scatological, consider yourselves warned.) Used properly, this approach could help public health authorities build resilience against virus outbreaks.

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Already wastewater surveillance has provided authorities with a picture of rising omicron rates. Britain has wide-scale wastewater surveillance (sampling covers 70% of the population of England)  no small feat given the age of the sewage system. Monitoring was ramped up during the pandemic under the U.K. Health Security Agency. Omicron found in wastewater has aligned with clinical trends observed across the country since the beginning of December.

Slushing through sewage for insights into public health is hardly new. London doctor John Snow traced cholera outbreaks in the mid-19th century to contaminated water. For decades, scientists have looked for viral pathogens and other biomarkers, including illicit drugs, in the water we flush from hospitals, homes and businesses. And yet, prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, most sewage monitoring was relatively small-scale, often focused on retrospective samples analyzed largely for academic or broad public health purposes.

The Netherlands was one of the first countries to demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 could be picked up in sewer systems. Ever since, research funding has poured into the area. Surveillance systems were cobbled together, scaled up and made to work faster. Some countries have sophisticated public-facing dashboards.

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Federal agencies in the U.S. set up the National Wastewater Surveillance System to inform and coordinate the patchwork of state and local efforts. Scientists at the University of California Merced have helpfully created a sweeping CovidPoops19 dashboard to post information on global wastewater testing, currently covering efforts in 58 countries.

Such systems may be our best leading indicator, at least if those doing the sampling know what they are looking for. Scientists at the University of Barcelona tested archival wastewater samples (which had been frozen) and found the presence of SARS-CoV-2 dating back to mid-January 2020, 41 days before the announcement of the first case on Feb. 25.

Sewage sampling in Paris in 2020 revealed viral RNA that anticipated the shape of the infection curve. In certain contained settings, such as schools, care homes or airports, wastewater sampling can provide critical time for health authorities to mobilize clinical testing or other policies. In one study in Britain, Covid was detected in the sewage system of 80% of schools studied a week before community tests provided confirmation.

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When we are at the peak of a wave like in the spring of 2020, you know you are in a pandemic. But when you are in the present situation, where the virus has reappeared and new variants are showing up, then its very important to have this early warning system, says Albert Bosch, professor of microbiology at the University of Barcelona and head of the Enteric Virus Laboratory, which conducts Spains surveillance program. His team found omicron in Madrid the same week it was reported in South Africa.

Such systems offer a relatively cost-effective way to look for the presence of the virus and spot trends. The results of wastewater monitoring are unaffected by lack of access to testing or whether people even bother to get a test. All of this can help authorities identify where to target resources, which should mean both quicker reactions and fewer restrictions for most people.

And yet its also harder than it sounds. Differences in methodology, conditions and sampling analysis can make comparisons across areas difficult, theres still a poor understanding in many places of how to interpret and use surveillance data for public health purposes.

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The technology for wastewater surveillance is in some ways very basic, but there are complexities that can get in the way of getting accurate readings or using them for policy. Unlike the viral RNA found on a nose or throat swab, wastewater contains a great many biological and chemical substances that can muddy the picture. Changes in the physical and chemical composition of sewage mean its inherently less stable than your standard nasal swab.

The simplest technique is whats known as a grab sample  pretty much a ladle dipped in sewage water. But samples can be affected by any number of factors from the time of day (most people use the bathroom in the mornings) to the weather (heavy rainfall can impact things). More sophisticated surveillance, known as composite sampling, uses programmable pumps to draw water at regular intervals.

The effects of dilution, hydraulic action in sewage systems, water chemistry and other factors mean the viral signal can vary significantly between test sites, making comparison difficult. Samples also need to be refrigerated during transport. And interpreting data requires both epidemiological expertise and experts on statistical methodology and wastewater specialists.

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Then the onus is on authorities to put the information to good use. That seems to be happening at the community level in some places. A team of researchers at the University of Kentucky has developed a new technology for extracting the viral RNA from wastewater using magnetic beads and partnered with the owners of nursing homes and long-term care facilities to use wastewater surveillance to get an early warning of infections there.

James Keck, assistant professor of medicine and research lead at the university, says the big challenge is not gathering and analyzing samples but interpreting data, decision making and communication. Its a relatively new science  how you communicate the results and to whom are not easy and public health officials are not used to using that kind of data.

Indeed, U.K. health authorities view such surveillance as supplementary information; its not clear how exactly its used for decision making or what the thresholds are for triggering a policy response. Belgium uses three alerting indicators based on viral concentration levels and the speed and trend of increase in wastewater and publishes its findings, which at least adds transparency.

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If we are to build more resilient response systems to future variants and pandemics, then governments need to direct more resources to wastewater surveillance methods, infrastructure and training (including in rural areas and developing countries where testing isnt widely available). Increased sewage monitoring could even play an essential role in what may be the next major health crisis we face  antimicrobial resistance.

As we hopefully emerge from omicron, its nice to know that some smart people have their heads in the gutter.

More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Lying Flat Without Health Insurance Is Very Uncomfortable: Alexis Leondis

 Trust Funds Shouldnt Just Be For Rich Kids: Chris Bryant

 Why 2022 Is the Year to Buy Your First Luxury Electric Car: Conor Sen

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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By 8 a.m. on the first Friday in February, Chris Giza had biked 21 miles with a few colleagues he met on a nearby oceanfront trail  before each of them sat down at home, miles apart, for a virtual meeting. If he hadnt carved out time for this fake commute, he says, he wouldnt have done anything but grab a cup of coffee before plopping down in front of his computer.

Its almost a no-brainer, Giza, a pediatric neurologist in Los Angeles, says about his morning bike-riding routine. Theres all good and not really any downside. It helps you think better, its good for your mental health, its good for your physical health and its good for your social health.

Of all the things work-from-home employees might miss about pre-pandemic life, commuting wouldnt seem to register high on the attention meter. But nearly a year after being sent home from the office, some employees, such as Giza, have realized that losing that time in the car  or on the bus, train or street  has had some drawbacks.

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Jon Jachimowicz, an assistant professor of business administration in the organizational behavior unit at Harvard Business School, says commuting provides a temporal and spatial separation between all the different roles we play. Its a buffer that eases the transition from one identity to the next, a consistent dose of in-between time to reflect and reset.

Before the pandemic, the average commute was 38 minutes each way, Jachimowiczs research indicates. Not only have employees lost that buffer, but they have also taken on more work: about 48 extra minutes per day. They are also dealing with more meetings and more communication that spills into off hours, according to findings published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in July.

When we dont psychologically detach from work, we risk becoming exhausted and burned out, says Samantha Pieknik, a licensed clinical psychologist in Phoenix. Weve lost that time to sit with ourselves and shake everything off from the day, she says. Were working at home and were sleeping at work, and its really confusing for our brains.

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From practicing mindfulness to spending time outdoors, here are some tips for overcoming what some are calling pandemic fatigue and avoiding burnout. (Video: Drea Cornejo/The Washington Post, Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

A fake commute, however, can help you reclaim that precious transition time and reestablish the boundaries that have been blurred from working from home, something that Giza has learned. He now commutes about 100 miles per week. Before adopting the practice, I didnt have the usual time to clear my head, he says, which made it difficult to be focused while he was in work mode or fully present when he was in home mode.

Of course, a fake commute doesnt have to involve biking. You can walk, meditate, stretch or listen to an audiobook, though Jachimowicz notes the practice is a luxury and might not be possible for everyone, such as the parents of young children.

Pieknik, who now offers telehealth services from her home rather than commuting 10 minutes to her private practice, has added a fake commute to her mornings: She drives out to get coffee. She recommends the habit to others. It doesnt have to be super elaborate, she says. Its just a matter of tricking your brain into starting a new routine.

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Here are tips on how to incorporate a fake commute into your work-from-home day:

Find the ritual thats right for you. There are many ways to reap the benefits of a fake commute. Like so much else, the important thing is choosing the method youll stick to.

Robin Gibson, a social work administrator in Oklahoma City, started working from home on March 16 and soon realized that it wasnt a short-term situation. So she resumed her old commuting routine: listening to news podcasts, such as NPRs Up First and the New York Timess The Daily. Its about an hour and a half of listening that I start when I get in the shower, she says. In the evening, she decompresses by tidying up, listening to more podcasts and writing down her plans for the next day. I missed that time of getting myself right with the world, she says. I sort of have my own little commute in my head in order to take care of myself.

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Be strategic about timing  and strive for consistency. Its best to engage in your chosen ritual when youre easing into and out of the workday, Jachimowicz says. He suggests workers establish fake commutes that last at least five to 10 minutes each way and are repeated as many days of the workweek as possible.

Block out uninterrupted time on your calendar to help make it a priority. Some companies are embracing this idea: Microsoft, for example, recently announced that it was launching a virtual commute feature that allows employees using its Teams software to schedule commute time at the beginning and end of the day. In a news release, the company said it hopes to help boost workers well-being by encouraging them to take breaks to reflect and recharge.

Leave home if you can. Debbie Plotnick, vice president for mental health and systems advocacy at Mental Health America, believes that those who get the most out of fake commuting are the ones who physically leave their home-turned-office. But that doesnt mean you have to go far: Doing yoga in the backyard or jogging around the block would suffice. Plotnick, whos based in Colorado, likes to spend time in the nature surrounding her home. I live in the mountains, and its spectacular, she says. I go outside and just revel in how fabulous it is. Your time commuting doesnt have to be solitary, she adds: Use part of it to call a friend or family member, which helps foster vital social connections.

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Consider including your family. Kids who are learning virtually are missing out on their own commute time, Plotnick says. That means theyve lost opportunities to socialize while walking, riding the school bus or having one-on-one conversations with the parent dropping them off. Its really hard for the young folks who are feeling so isolated now, she says, and a fake commute can help. So maybe theres a restful time families spend together. Maybe its a little bit of a family meditation or a family gentle yoga practice.

Practice role-clarifying prospection. Commuting is an opportunity to think about and plan for the role were transitioning into, such as shifting from supervisor to parent, Jachimowicz says. Let work go at the end of the day by spending part of your fake commute reflecting on your upcoming role: what you want to make for dinner, which chores need to be done, what youll watch on TV. Similarly, on a Sunday night, coax yourself out of weekend mode by making a list of what youd like to accomplish in the week ahead.

Get serious about disconnecting. Fake commutes can help us transition between our roles  but the onus is on us to actually stay in them, rather than letting our minds drift back to other parts of the day. Its not just, Great, all I need to do is go for a walk after work,  Jachimowicz says. How many of us, after we transition, continue checking emails or texting? Were like, Oh, this isnt working. Of course its working! Were continuously activating our work roles. He suggests turning off your phone or silencing notifications in the name of better physical, mental and emotional health.

Angela Haupt is a writer and editor based in the District. Follow her on Twitter @angelahaupt.

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Negotiators for the United States are planning to show up to talks with their Russian counterparts Monday with proposals to discuss the placement of missiles and scope of military exercises in Europe, according to a senior administration official and others familiar with the plans. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The White House is looking to test whether Moscow is serious about ending the Ukraine crisis through diplomacy or is making unworkable demands as a delay tactic or pretext for a new invasion.

The bilateral talks in Geneva  with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman leading the U.S. delegation and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov serving as lead representative for the Russians  come as Moscow continues to mass forces and materiel on the border with Ukraine, threatening to take military measures if Washington and its allies fail to address the Kremlins security concerns.

The Geneva talks will be followed by a special meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on Wednesday and a session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna on Thursday  chances for the United States to engage Russia together with its allies and partners.

Since early December, U.S. intelligence agencies have warned that Russia was planning a massive military invasion of Ukraine. Heres why Moscow would do that. (Video: Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

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Our intention is to have an open, sincere and serious dialogue about European security with the Russians at the table. We want to be inclusive. We dont want to go over anybodys head, U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter said in an interview.

The multicountry engagements at NATO and the OSCE are a priority for the White House, which has regularly reassured European allies and partners, including Ukraine, that it wont negotiate about them, without them. But the Geneva talks are likely to be the most substantive and closely watched indicator of whether there is a diplomatic deal to be struck that will avert a renewed war in Europe.

The way the Russians think, theres only one venue that matters to them and its the bilateral one, said a U.S. government official specializing in Russian affairs who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issues sensitivity. The rest, from their point of view, is decoration.

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U.S. officials dont know whether Russian President Vladimir Putin believes the time is right to invade Ukraine once again and attempt to pull the country back into Russias strategic orbit by force, or if he is undertaking a more nebulous gambit to extract security concessions from the United States and its allies by threatening Ukraine.

In Geneva, U.S. officials will be looking to see whether their Russian counterparts emphasize demands the Kremlin knows are nonstarters  such as providing a legally binding guarantee that NATO will not expand eastward to include Ukraine  or instead focus on areas where there is room for negotiation.

If the Russians come on Monday and they only want to talk about NATO expansion, then we are going to be at an impasse. I think the administration is prepared to push back  that this is not up for discussion, said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a Russia expert at the Center for a New American Security. But if the Russians want to talk about conventional arms control issues, then there is a discussion to be had  and it would raise the prospect that there could be a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

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Ahead of the talks, top U.S. officials have stepped up their rhetoric about Russian threats.

On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken listed grievances Washington has with Moscow, including Russias invasions of two neighboring states, election interference and attempted assassinations with chemical weapons, accusing the Kremlin of driving the false narrative that NATO is threatening Russia.

Thats like the fox saying it had to attack the hen house because its occupants somehow pose a threat, Blinken said. Weve seen this gaslighting before.

Last month, the Russian Foreign Ministry published draft treaties laying out what Russia wants the United States and NATO to accede to. Parts of the texts were so unrealistic that many Western lawmakers dismissed the Russian approach as unserious. Among other things, Russia demanded the United States and its Western European military allies agree not to put weapons or forces in any of the former Warsaw Pact countries that are now members of NATO.

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The drafts raised worries that Putin was looking to create a pretext for a new invasion of Ukraine once the proposals were inevitably spurned. What the Russians are willing to accept short of those demands remains unclear to American negotiators.

The U.S. government official who specializes in Russian affairs believes the Russians are still interested in a real dialogue and want to see whether Washington is willing to discuss any sort of commitment that constrains U.S. power, which for example could include placing limits on U.S. missile deployments in parts of Europe that could threaten Moscow.

The Russians are waiting to see what were going to offer, and theyre going to take it back and decide is this serious? the official said. Is this something we can sell as a major victory for security, or is it just, from their point of view, another attempt to fob us off and not give us anything?

U.S. officials have also said they are proceeding on the principle of reciprocity and wont cut deals unless the Russians address U.S. concerns.

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From the U.S. perspective, clearly a de-escalation of the situation in and around Ukraine is a priority, Carpenter said.

While building up forces on Ukraines border, Putin has accused the West of coming with its missiles to our doorstep and raised the possibility of U.S. offensive missiles being placed in Ukraine. The two draft treaties Russia released both proposed limits on intermediate and short-range missiles.

A senior Biden administration official on Saturday said the United States is willing to have a discussion with Russia about the placement of missiles in Ukraine and intermediate-range missiles more broadly.



Putin has also said that military exercises with U.S. nuclear-capable aircraft close to Russia have crossed Moscows red lines. The senior administration official countered that Russia has been holding ever larger and more coercive military exercises near its border with NATO allies.

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We are willing to explore the possibility of reciprocal restrictions on the size and scope of such exercises, including both strategic bombers close to each others territory and ground-based exercises as well, the senior official added.



Concerns about missiles have taken on increased urgency since President Donald Trump, citing Russian violations, pulled out of the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which banned midrange, ground-launch missiles. Putin has proposed a moratorium on such deployments as a replacement, but NATO has dismissed the suggestion as insincere, saying Russia violated the ban in the first place.

President Biden, in a phone call last month with Putin, underscored that the United States had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine, according to a Kremlin readout of the call.

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U.S. allies are divided on how best to deal with Russia. Britain and the NATO allies that make up Europes eastern flank, including the Baltic states and Poland, want the United States to take a hard line in Geneva and offer little-to-no concessions at the outset.

The challenge with the Russians is that if you offer anything, they just want more. Even something that is relatively modest, like the placement of missiles, risks changing the trajectory of the negotiations, said a European official.

Other big European powers such as France, Germany and Italy want the United States to prioritize de-escalating the situation in Ukraine, fearing that a uniform denial of the Kremlins proposals could provide a pretext for Russia to invade.

The Geneva talks have inspired the most anxiety of the three summits, as U.S. allies on both sides of the divide lobby Washington to pursue their goals.

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The senior administration official said the Geneva talks will be exploratory in nature, and the United States wont be making any firm commitments. Everything discussed will need to come back to Washington and also be discussed with allies later in the week, the official said.

At the NATO-Russia Council, a large format gathering that allows representatives from Moscow and the 30 allied countries to take the floor, Russia is expected to receive heated criticisms from U.S. allies over Ukraine and other issues.

After invading neighboring Georgia in 2008, the Kremlin similarly demanded a new, legally binding European security agreement, leading to talks under the OSCE known as the Corfu process and a 2010 summit in Astana. But the efforts failed to result in a meaningful agreement.

Members of the OSCE are now discussing new talks.

What were doing quietly behind the scenes is talking to all the players, including the Russians and allies and nonaligned countries, about what would be the best format for having a serious significant, meaningful results-oriented dialogue on European security, Carpenter said. Those discussions are ongoing.

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BUCKHANNON, W.Va.  Most mornings in the spring of 2019, sisters Riley and Macie Queen got up before daybreak and drove out to their familys hemp farm in central West Virginia with their childhood friend Cayla Collett. After hours spent trimming and tending hundreds of plants with loving precision, theyd all ride together to class at the local college, hemp leaves still stuck in their hair.

We just had to tell our professors, like, look, were not smoking before we get to class, Riley Queen said. But we are working.

Their multitasking has paid off. Run by three generations of women from the Queen family, Moon Flower Hemp is approaching its third growing season. The company, which has four full-time and six part-time employees, has sold to customers in every state, placed products in nearly 30 stores, created more than two dozen new items, and bought space for a future bricks-and-mortar retail location in one of West Virginias most vibrant towns. All this, despite a fire in November 2020 that destroyed $60,000 worth of inventory and supplies and caused $200,000 worth of damage to the building, as well as a pandemic that closed thousands of small businesses nationwide.

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The company has had 400 percent growth since its first year, Riley Queen said.

Online and at retail partner locations, Moon Flower sells smokable hemp products as well as CBD tinctures, teas and balms, and edibles with delta-8, a product that is made by combining CBD with an acid and that can create a high akin to that of marijuana.

The companys growth is linked in part to the protracted rollout of medical cannabis in West Virginia. It is the slowest of any state, said Karen OKeefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, D.C. State legislators legalized medical cannabis in 2017, but the first dispensaries didnt open until November 2021 because of banking issues. Early on, it was unclear who would finance the industry.

Observers have said that in places where cannabis is not legally accessible, people seem to be using delta-8 instead.

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There are multiple patients in West Virginia that have turned to the hemp industry to get some sort of relief while theyre waiting on medical cannabis, including CBD and delta-8 products, said Rusty Williams, a patient advocate on West Virginias Medical Cannabis Advisory Board.

Moon Flower also found a niche that employees say puts health and well-being over profit and focuses on the customer experience.

Promotional material often features the Queens on the farm using the products. The family turned down an opportunity to sell products in a convenience store chain along the East Coast, because they feared the items would be placed among less scrupulous ones and because they thought customers wouldnt find knowledgeable store owners to ask questions about Moon Flower or cannabinoids in general.

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With a degree in fine arts, company co-owner Riley, 23, handles marketing and social media and creates colorful, distinctive packaging.

Her sister, Macie, 22, a reporter for the local newspaper, is part owner and writes promotional material for the company.

Their mother, Jamie Queen, 47, manages the hemp farm and wholesale retail operations and has the third stake in Moon Flower with her husband, Jason Queen.

The couple have opened and closed more than 20 businesses since their daughters were young.

Weve had a chain of convenience stores, weve had a day care, we had a retail clothing store, a granite countertop shop  I could go on and on, Jamie said. Weve raised them with that entrepreneurial spirit since they were babies.

Jason, a retired longtime police officer, approached the family in 2018 about buying land for a farm, initially thinking they would focus on industrial hemp products. The Queen sisters asked their parents for some space of their own there, where they could baby their plants, as Riley put it, and process them for a small side business, a fortuitous move considering that the coronavirus pandemic upended their parents bulk CBD oil sales.

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In the way that covid kind of killed the bulk side of things, it kind of caused Moon Flower to take off, partly because people were looking for solutions to mental health problems that emerged, Macie said.

Jasons mom, Laura Queen, 69, had perhaps the biggest learning curve as a retired employee of the county prosecutors office, where she had worked with victims of domestic violence. Four days a week, she arrives at Moon Flower around 6 a.m. to make gummies, a bestseller, using a turkey baster to fill molds.

Do I get tired at the end of my shift? Sure, Laura said. But just to see where it started, where its gone and where its going  its been just a lot of fun.

Perhaps Moon Flowers ace in the hole is Collett, head of research and development. Collett, 25, who is working on a masters degree in chemical engineering at Kansas State University, took classes at Jamie Queens dance studio as a kid and roomed with the Queen sisters in college. At Moon Flower, she works on extraction, turning plants into oils and then into products. Her role sets the company apart from its competitors and could lead to novel product development in the future, said Don Smith II, who has been involved in the cannabis industry in West Virginia for nearly a decade.

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If you have a chemist on board, and you can ensure a consistent, high-quality product. . . . youve got something there, he said.

Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University have found an alarming lack of safety standards, accurate labeling and quality control in the delta-8 market, which, unlike CBD and marijuana, is not regulated by any agency.

Other scientists have made similar observations. On a recent trip to Wisconsin, Marcel Bonn-Miller, vice president for human and animal research at Ontario marijuana company Canopy Growth Corp., did a double take when he saw a dispensary in a state where even medical cannabis is outlawed. A kid he said appeared to be younger than 18 walked in looking for something to help him focus and walked out with delta-8.

Im sure there are a lot of people who are doing delta-8 correctly, said Bonn-Miller, who is also a former adjunct assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. But there are a lot of questions there for me as a consumer.

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As Collett put it, Its always a mystery of what is actually inside many of these products, especially delta-8, which is sold in businesses including head shops and gas stations.

Were doing it in the right way, Riley Queen said. There is so much room for that cannabinoid to be extracted wrong, to be produced wrong. And there are a lot of bad delta-8 products.

The Queens send their CBD oil that Collett has processed and refined in-house to a company in Oregon that creates the delta-8 product. Moon Flower has its CBD and delta-8 products tested at a lab in neighboring Kentucky and posts the results on its website. (The chromatography equipment to make delta-8 is too costly for the company right now.)

Although Moon Flower receives regular requests for vape cartridges filled with delta-8 oil, the only delta-8 products the company sells are edibles.

Weve worked on a [vape line] a couple of times, but theres just no way to safely do it that we feel comfortable putting it out there and its not going to affect someone negatively, Collett said.

The Queen sisters said they receive feedback every day from people who say their products have helped with anxiety, pain and sleeplessness. Their grandmother hasnt tried delta-8 but swears by CBD to treat ailments such as general aches and pains as well as gummy hands. (She once made 7,000 in one week, according to the company.)

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Some states, including Kentucky, have banned delta-8, but agriculture officials in West Virginia instead have taken a neutral stance on it, a spokesman said. The state Agriculture Department sent a letter in October notifying hemp manufacturers that non-naturally occurring cannabinoid products that have recently entered the states retail supply chain are not legal under West Virginia law. (Moon Flower does not make or sell these.)

The states Farm Bureau joined law enforcement officials in opposing hemp production until it was legalized, said Dwayne ODell, the bureaus director of government affairs, but the organization has no public policy position on it.

The Queens plan to open a shop in downtown Buckhannon this year and hope to be regarded as businesswomen and farmers. In the early days, they said, they often felt underestimated.

Nobody was taking our farming seriously, Riley said. We probably baby these plants way more than anybody else.

Macie agreed: Were out here singing to em.

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10 bodies found near governor's office Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Ten bodies  eight men and two women  were found Thursday in a parked van near the governors office in Zacatecas in north-central Mexico. The vehicle was parked under a Christmas tree in the state capitals main plaza, according to the newspaper La Jornada. Initial autopsies performed on seven of the 10 bodies showed that they ranged in age from 18 to 45 and that the cause of death was strangulation. Some of the victims showed signs of being tied by their hands and feet.

So far, police have partially identified four of the bodies. Also, a 20-year-old woman from Zacatecas has been positively identified by her family members as one of the victims.

Zacatecas Gov. David Monreal Avila said in a video posted Thursday on his official Twitter account that the people thought to be responsible had been arrested, but declined to give further details because an investigation is ongoing.

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 Maite Fernandez Simon

Opposition leaders freed; talks planned

Ethiopia has freed several opposition leaders from prison, the state broadcaster reported Friday, as the government said it would begin talks with political opponents after 14 months of war during which thousands of people have been arrested.

The move to free leaders from several ethnic groups is the most significant breakthrough since war broke out in Ethiopias northern Tigray region, threatening the unity of Africas second-most-populous country.

Some leaders of the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front, which is fighting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmeds central government, were said to be among the freed.

 Reuters

Tallest Galapagos volcano erupts: The tallest mountain in the Galapagos islands was erupting Friday, spewing lava down its flanks and clouds of ash over the Pacific Ocean, according to Ecuador's Geophysical Institute. A cloud of gas and ash from Wolf Volcano rose to 12,444 feet above sea level after the eruption, which began shortly before midnight Wednesday, the institute said. There was no immediate danger to populated areas, which are on the opposite side of Isabela island, the largest in the Galapagos chain.

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Berlin teacher convicted in 'cannibalism fantasies' killing: A teacher in Berlin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the killing of a man that the court said was carried out as part of "cannibalism fantasies." The 42-year-old, identified only as Stefan R. in keeping with German privacy rules, also was convicted of disturbing the peace of the dead. The Berlin state court found that the defendant killed a 43-year-old mechanic in September 2020 "to live out his cannibalism fantasies," Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. The men met on a dating site and agreed to meet for sex at the teacher's apartment in Berlin, investigators said. The court found that the defendant killed the man there, cut up his body and then spread parts of it in various neighborhoods.

 From news services

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DENVER  President Biden met Friday with Colorado families who survived an unprecedented deadly fire at the end of the year, saying climate change is responsible for the supercharged wildfires that have hit the country in recent years. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The president was in the state to survey the damage from a rare winter wildfire that destroyed more than 1,000 homes in two communities about 20 miles north of Denver and burned more than 6,000 acres.

The situation is a blinking Code Red for our nation, Biden said, citing unusually high winds, prolonged drought conditions and the late arrival of snow as responsible for creating a tinderbox.

The president visited the Louisville neighborhood of Harper Lake, now covered in snow, to witness burned-down houses, charred trees and husks of torched cars from the Dec. 30 Marshall fire.

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I cant imagine what its like to be in this neighborhood, Biden said, and see winds up to 100 miles per hour and flames approaching. He praised the residents for their incredible courage.

Biden offered hugs and spoke with survivors who showed him their fire-ravaged homes.

Well get through this, one man told the president.

Biden was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) and at least three members of the states congressional delegation. They all stopped to speak and shake hands with a group of 10 fire and rescue officials.

Biden, even more than most presidents, has made a point of visiting disaster areas such as hurricanes and wildfires to console the survivors, and the United States has experienced a high number of such events during his first year.

On Friday, Biden said his message to firefighters is, Were here with you  The federal government is not going to go away.

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The first lady hugged a man who said, We lost everything.

The fire, which broke out during a period of extremely high winds after several months of drought, destroyed 1,084 homes in the towns of Louisville and Superior worth more than $513 million, according to an updated statement released by the Boulder County authorities on Thursday.

That makes it the most destructive fire on record for the state in terms of property loss. Human remains believed to be of one of two missing people were found on Wednesday. On Friday, the Boulder County coroner identified the body as that of 69-year-old Robert Sharpe, the Denver Post reported.

The Biden administration declared the area a major disaster last week, directing federal aid to assist state and local recovery efforts.

Bidens visit comes less than four months after his last visit to Colorado while on another tour of weather disasters and he touted his climate agenda, promoting investments in green infrastructure and technology.

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At the Louisville Recreation and Senior Center Friday, Biden pitched his Build Back Better plan, noting it includes money for wildfire preparedness. That package  which would allocate billions to firefighting, forest management and carbon emissions reduction  has passed the House, but Biden is still working to get it through the Senate.

Were going to stay here as long as it takes, Biden said. And its going to be better. Its going to be better.

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LAS VEGAS  He spoke at a private memorial for the former first lady of Indiana, eulogized two former Republican senators and sat in the audience to honor the life of a onetime GOP secretary of state. He flew to Delaware to pay homage to the states former governor. And he made a four-hour round trip to Wilmington on a Wednesday night in May to drop in at the viewing of a longtime former Senate aide.

All while running the country.

On Saturday, President Biden will attend what is at least his seventh event as president to commemorate the death of a friend or former colleague when he speaks at a memorial service for Harry M. Reid, the former Senate majority leader who served with Biden for years.

If a presidents most valuable resource is his time, this one has made a particular point of setting aside hours to grieve, console and mark the friendships hes built over his roughly half-century in public office. Its an under-the-radar but particularly Bidenesque ritual, say longtime aides and friends, who explain his desire to make room for funerals and eulogies as a consequence of his relationship-driven approach.

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Though attending funerals is frequently caricatured as the purview of vice presidents, in this administration Biden has made sure to go himself, and may have attended even more if not for the coronavirus pandemic.

The tendency to show up for those in mourning is a pattern of his years in public office.

Ted Kaufman, a former Delaware senator and longtime aide to Biden, said that staffers throughout his career have figured out quickly not to fight him too hard on attending these events.

When youre a staff person for anyone, there are certain things they do that you dont agree with, Kaufman said. But if youre smart, and youre staff, and you do it for a while, you figure out, Thats who they are. 

For Biden, eulogizing colleagues, especially Republicans, is also a resonant way to reiterate his core message that the country must return to a less-polarized time when political adversaries did not have to be personal enemies.

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Not everyone believes that era can be revived, however. And in a sense, Bidens attendance at these events highlights the extent to which practitioners of that kind of politics are increasingly passing from the scene.

And as the oldest president, at 79, Biden may simply be experiencing more of his peers passing away than his predecessors did. Reids memorial service Saturday is expected to feature remarks not only from Biden but also from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former president Barack Obama.

Reids body will lie in state in Washington next week, which would have been a more convenient time for Biden to pay respects had he chosen to do so.

Bidens ability to stretch his schedule to accommodate the events at times surpasses his wifes. The president, speaking in November at a Milford, Del., funeral for former Delaware governor Ruth Ann Minner explained in his address why he was there solo, saying, The reason Jill is not with me today is shes teaching today, full time as a professor at Northern Virginia Community College.

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Allies argue that Bidens focus on grief and empathy is particularly important for the country at a moment where more than 800,000 lives have been lost to the pandemic. But his tendency to go to funerals and give eulogies has been long a part of his political brand, the way other politicians call supporters on their birthdays.

Its a stark contrast particularly with former president Donald Trump, who has famously skipped significant commemoration services. Trump did not attend the service for John McCain, with whom he often tangled, at the insistence of the late senators family. Biden, then out of office, went to Arizona to speak at it.

Bidens attempts to connect with grieving families dont always hit the mark. In August, when the president greeted family members of U.S. soldiers who had died during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, several family members said they felt that Biden dwelled on his own tragic past and that his remarks seemed scripted and shallow.

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Those close to Biden note the tragedy hes experienced in his own life. He lost his wife and daughter in a 1972 car accident just before Christmas. In May 2015, he lost another son to brain cancer.

Joe Biden has a deep spirituality that has been shaped by living through grief, by the experience of getting up and living again after having been knocked down so hard that it would take your breath away, said Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), a longtime friend.

Coons said Biden has always been known in their shared small state as a person who would come to funerals and memorial services. He recalled attending a service for a Delaware bar owner who helped launch his career when a motorcade pulled up and in came Biden, who was then serving as vice president. Biden then waited in a long line to comfort the family.

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Only when I became a senator did I realize he doesnt just do that in Delaware, Coons said.

Bidens role does not stop after a funeral is over, according to aides and friends. He regularly checks in with people who have lost loved ones on key dates, including the birthday of the deceased and the first holiday after the death. Sometimes the calls come on multiple milestones  the first month after the loss, the first six months, the first year.

To manage the process Bidens staff has kept a list of people Biden has promised to stay in touch with along with key dates, according to a person familiar with Bidens operation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share Bidens private process. A White House spokesman said that as president, Biden has detailed notes to help him keep his word.

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When Biden delivers eulogies, he spends hours poring over the text, according to former staff members. His speechwriters, who are trained at crafting sweeping policy addresses, are at times flummoxed because they do not always know the intricacies of the relationship that Biden had with the deceased. Former aides and Jill Biden may contribute material, but ultimately Biden rewrites the final product himself.

He pours himself into preparation for these things, Kaufman said. Hes got really good speechwriters and really good people helping him. But when he does a eulogy, its handmade. He just really labors over it.

The services, and his desire to participate in them, represent the era when Biden came of age as a politician: A time when lawmakers had a certain collegiality even if they disagreed bitterly on policy. Biden as president has so attended an equal number of events honoring Democrats and Republicans (though the Reid event will tip the balance to the Democratic side).

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The Republicans include Colin Powell, who in addition to being secretary of state was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Sens. Bob Dole and John Warner.

Some say that will not happen in years to come.

Can you imagine some Democratic senator wanting to go to Josh Hawleys funeral or Ted Cruzs? said Bill Kristol, who was former vice president Dan Quayles chief of staff, referring to the combative senators from Missouri and Texas. Not to be macabre about it, but in 20 years that would be the equivalent.

Speaking at Warners funeral in June of last year at Washington National Cathedral, Biden praised the former senators dedication to American democracy, making an implicit contrast with Trump and his followers.

He understood that democracy is more than a form of government  democracy is a way of being, Biden said of Warner. He understood it begins and grows in an open heart, and with the willingness to work across the aisle and come together in common cause.

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He made a similar point at Doles memorial.

In his final days, Bob made it clear that he was deeply concerned about the threat to American democracy, not from foreign nations but from the divisions tearing us apart from within, Biden said.

But that eulogy was also laced with anecdotes only he could know, such as Bidens recollection of a Senate vote to defund Amtrak.

Dole, he recalled, voted against his own Republican Party to keep funds flowing to the train service, which Biden was known to use frequently to commute home to Delaware. When asked why, Biden recalled that Dole quipped, Its the best way to get Joe Biden the hell out of here at night so hes not here in the morning.

Not all of Bidens presidential eulogies have been in public.

The presidential motorcade pulled up to Washington National Cathedral just before noon on a late September 2021 day for a memorial service for Susan Bayh, the former first lady of Indiana, who died in February of brain cancer, just like Bidens son Beau.

Her husband, former governor and senator Evan Bayh, said in an interview that he had not been sure Biden would make the event until the day before. I mean, who knows whats going to happen on the presidents calendar? Bayh said.

Biden walked into the cathedral and spent about ten minutes privately consoling his former Senate colleague and his sons. That was extraordinarily meaningful for them, Bayh said. And theyll remember it the rest of their lives.

Biden spoke at the beginning of the service, Bayh said. Then took his seat and stayed for the full two hours. Afterward, he made a beeline for Susan Bayhs sister to privately console her.

He is the busiest man in the world, Bayh said. But hes not forgotten what its like to be an ordinary person, and in particular, what its like to experience loss and grief.

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correction An earlier version of this article reported the wrong age for Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). He is 61, not 60.

Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, announced Saturday that he will run for reelection in 2022, ending months of speculation about whether he would seek to remain in the Senate. Thune, 61, is the Senate minority whip, making him the No. 2 Republican in the chamber and a potential successor to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

South Dakota deserves a strong and effective senator who can deliver the results they expect, he said in a statement. I am uniquely positioned to get that job done, and I look forward to earning the support of South Dakotans in the 2022 election for U.S. Senate.

A former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and former chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, Thune first came to Capitol Hill in 1997 as the representative for South Dakotas lone district, serving three terms before joining the Senate in 2004.

Thunes decision has been closely watched because he is considered a candidate for Republican leader whenever McConnell steps aside and because he has been on the receiving end of harsh criticism from former president Donald Trump, a situation that has caused other Republicans to leave Congress.

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In December 2020, when Trump was still president, Thune drew his wrath when he criticized efforts by House Republicans to challenge the results of the election on Jan. 6, 2021, saying it would go down like a shot dog.

Trump labeled him Mitchs boy and a Republican in name only while urging Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) to challenge Thune in a primary. Noem, who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, indicated she had no interest in a Senate bid.

Thune is widely favored to win another term. He hasnt faced a serious challenge in South Dakota since his election. Democrats havent yet announced a candidate for the seat.

Thune first won his Senate seat in 2004 after a competitive and expensive race against Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle, ending Daschles 18-year run in the chamber. Daschle was the Senate Democratic leader at the time of his defeat.

Thune has, of late, pushed against the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which was carried out by supporters of the former president. Thune has said investigating the attack could hurt Republican chances in the 2022 midterms.

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A lot of our members, and I think this is true of a lot of House Republicans, want to be moving forward and not looking backward, Thune told CNN in May. Anything that gets us rehashing the 2020 elections I think is a day lost on being able to draw a contrast between us and the Democrats very radical left-wing agenda.

Thune has also spent the last year pushing against President Bidens agenda, calling parts of it a $5 trillion down payment on socialism.

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A stop road sign is seen next to skyscrapers at the Moscow International business center. (Reuters)

Experts anticipated a Moscow-led cyber assault; instead unprecedented attacks by hacktivists and criminals have wreaked havoc in Russia.
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Bill Gardner is hardly a household name nationally, but when he announced this past week that he would be stepping down as New Hampshire secretary of state, the news drew stories in The Washington Post, the New York Times and on CNN.com. Such is the power, prominence and controversy surrounding New Hampshires first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

For 45 years, Gardner has been the states leading protector of the Granite States prime status, clashing with political leaders from other states jealous of New Hampshires privileged position in the nominating calendar and sometimes putting himself at odds with other elected officials and party leaders in his own state.

Though a Democrat, Gardner is fiercely independent and iconoclastic. He is an encyclopedia of knowledge of presidential primaries and in particular the evolution of New Hampshires place in that history. He knows what many in other states think about his states primary  that New Hampshire is unrepresentative of the nation as a whole and that its influence far exceeds its size and makeup  but he has a counterview.

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We are not representative, certainly, in some things, he said during a telephone interview on Friday. But theres a lot of different factors that come into New Hampshire. What New Hampshire does have is a fair playing field. We dont have one corporation that has a third of the workers, or one political figure who dominates how people will vote.

He declined to say which states might fit that description, but the gambling industry dominates Nevada, another early state in the calendar, and in 2020 at least, the endorsement from Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) helped give Joe Biden a huge victory in that states presidential primary, another early contest, that quickly propelled Biden to the Democratic Partys nomination.

Gardner argues that, while it might not seem fair, New Hampshire has earned its position. Its a place where the little guy has a chance to come in and see a lot of people, he said. We saw that in 1968 and have seen it several times since.  It doesnt happen every time, but it has happened. And its not the end of the [nominating] process, its the beginning of the process.

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His 1968 reference was to then-Sen. Eugene McCarthys showing in the Democratic primary, when as an anti-Vietnam War candidate, the Minnesotan nearly got more votes than then-President Lyndon B. Johnson and claimed a moral victory. Within weeks, Johnson announced he would not seek reelection.

In 1976, then-Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, a dark horse Democratic candidate, made it to the White House with New Hampshires help. And there have been other cases that, while not leading to their partys presidential nomination, changed the trajectory of the races those years. Those include upsets by Democratic Sen. Gary Hart (Colo.) in 1984, Republicans Pat Buchanan in 1996 and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in 2000, and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) in 2016, who ran for the Democratic nomination.

New Hampshires primary dates to 1916, a product of the progressive era, when many other states were experimenting with the idea of giving more power to individual voters rather than party leaders. Many states later gave them up, and by 1968, Gardner recalled, there were only about a dozen states with a presidential primary.

Theres a reason why its here, he said of his states longevity in helping to pick presidents. This wasnt a sapling planted on the main street of a town. It happened here naturally and happened here without New Hampshire ever taking from anyone else.  The people were willing to pay for it when it was not a national event.

Gardner has fended off efforts by other states to usurp New Hampshires pole position in the political calendar. Many years ago, he said, a young Democratic state legislator in Nevada named Harry Reid, who went on to become the U.S. Senate majority leader and who died last month, pushed legislation designed to challenge New Hampshires status. Ive got all the documents, he said. They were shipped to me. Gardner said the bill was vetoed after a phone call from the then-New Hampshire governor to the then-Nevada governor.

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Nevada isnt the only state whose politicians have tried to dislodge New Hampshire. Politicians in Arizona and Delaware tried. For years, Carl Levin, the long-serving senator from Michigan who died in July, went after the Granite State, unsuccessfully. Gardners recollections of battles in 1996 and 2000 are as richly told  and detailed in their retelling  as if they had happened last year. He can still take a listener into the rooms where things happened, recounting from his point of view who said what to him and what he said in return.

The New Hampshire secretary of state has the power to set the date of the presidential primary, and Gardner has adhered strictly to New Hampshires law, which says no other similar contest can be held earlier. Iowa, which stages the first contest every four years, gets a carve-out because it has party caucuses, rather than a primary. Those caucuses are under even more challenge today after the botched counting in 2020 and concerns that caucuses disenfranchise some voters.

New Hampshire long was a proving ground that counted, with no one in the modern era who finished below second place going on to win the presidency that year. Biden broke that tradition in 2020 when he finished a weak fifth but nonetheless emerged as the Democratic nominee.

Gardner not only has dealt with efforts to dislodge New Hampshires place in the calendar, he also had to fight off a challenge to his position from within his own party.

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The secretary of state is elected by the state legislature, and for many years, Gardner enjoyed bipartisan support and faced no opposition. In 2018, however, he drew a Democratic opponent, who criticized him for his participation in the election integrity commission assembled by President Donald Trump.

Trump falsely claimed that millions of undocumented immigrants had voted in 2016. Gardners challenger, Colin Van Ostern, said Gardner had helped provide legitimacy to what Trump had claimed by serving on the committee. Gardner prevailed by four votes on a second ballot.

Trumps commission dissolved in controversy, but not before Gardner confronted its chairman, Kris Kobach, about allegations of problems in New Hampshire. Before its demise, New Hampshire Democratic elected officials called on Gardner to step down, but he refused with a blast back at those politicians. Gardner then and now defended his decision to be a member. Its better to be at the table than on the menu, he said at the time.

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Hes gone against Democrats in other ways. Recently, he testified against the For the People Act, the Democratic-sponsored voting bill, and disapproves of a second version that is stalled in the Senate. He said the legislation amounts to a federal intrusion into state responsibility. New Hampshires Democratic senators and representatives have taken issue with him publicly.

Gardner said he dislikes how Trump has behaved since losing the 2020 election. But he believes there are widespread concerns about the integrity of elections that go across party lines and that predate Trumps election. We have to have not only fair, free and equal elections, he said. We have to have people believing there should be fair, free and equal elections. That is fundamental. And if one side doesnt believe it, that is a problem. And we cant just say theyre terrible people. Were not going to get there [that way].

Why are we the longest surviving free democratic society? he asked. Because weve had stability. Weve had people coming in and being part of the country.  Were one country. Were diverse, yes, but diversity has been our strength.

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Gardner believes dialogue across political lines is essential, but many argue that, given what Trump has done and the willingness of most in his party to embrace those falsehoods, that isnt possible until Trumps influence has been dislodged.

Gardner has been a fixture in New Hampshire for nearly half a century. He leaves office at a moment of political crisis and distrust. After he departs, his states presidential primary likely will face future challenges, but it is the larger question about the future of democracy that poses the bigger issue. Out of office, Gardner said, he plans to be part of that debate.

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Washington, IN (47501)

Today

Rain likely. Low 62F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

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Rain likely. Low 62F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Economists are warning the rate of wage growth this year may end up below expectations as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 pushes up case numbers and threatens to disrupt Australias economic recovery.

After years of stagnant wage growth, economists had been predicting wages would rise by more than 2 per cent during 2022. But those forecasts may be under review, or pushed back to 2023, as economic activity takes a turn for the worse amid supply chain woes and staffing problems sparked by the rapid spread of the virus.

Wage growth may not meet forecasts for 2022 as COVID-19 cases continue to disrupt the economy. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

If we have another severe disruption - either because cases continue to rise rapidly and people self-regulate their behaviour so they become more cautious, or alternatively, the authorities get to the point where they say there are too many cases here  and we go into some sort of lockdown - then you have another setback in the economy, AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Thats probably the main risk to this, that it slows things down [and] we end up with a more subdued profile for wages [2.25 per cent instead of 2.75 per cent].
The newcomers are an iteration of a growing, US-influenced protest movement in Australia that is trying to legitimise its various agendas by co-opting Indigenous people and issues through a process activists and academics have termed Blackfishing. They first turned up at the Tent Embassy in early December and, according to Ngunnawal elder Matilda House-Williams, speaking to The Canberra Times, theres a whole tonne of them. When police forcibly moved them they responded with QAnon-style phrases, such as youre non-player characters and paedophile protectors. Video posts by some of the groups adherents and influencers as well as its alt-right supporters reveal how gaining control of the Tent Embassy is only a stepping stone in a more ambitious scheme. They want to take the chair of Old Parliament House itself. And despite a number of arrests after the disastrous smoking ceremony, it appears they are there to stay.

Daily call outs are now being made for freedom supporters to converge on the nations capital to join them. Original Sovereigns At the head of the new protest group is Murrawiri and Budjiti environmental activist Bruce Shillingsworth, whose prominent activism around water shortages and related issues in the Murray Darling Basin have been nationally lauded. Around him are several Indigenous men and women already prominently involved in the alt-right freedom movement rallies in Sydney and Melbourne. None would speak to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Shillingsworth was closely associated with respected Yuin elder and cultural lore man Uncle Max Harrison, who was allied with the vaccine-sceptical Informed Medical Options Party and the broader freedom movement, before his sudden COVID-related death in early December. Uncle Max addressed the millions march rally in Sydney two weeks before he died in a COVID ward at the Sutherland Hospital. Shillingsworth and his group, black and white, have called via social media videos for the broader sovereign citizens movement as well as Indigenous Original Sovereigns groups around the country to converge on Canberra in convoys.

When police moved them away from the portrait gallery on Thursday, they responded with QAnon-style phrases, such as youre non-player characters and paedophile protectors. Indigenous members of the group demanded the police prove their jurisdiction over the area with deeds and titles, and Shillingsworth repeatedly demanded that $100 trillion in taxpayer gold be transferred to his personal bank account for breaches of a pseudo-legal contract he attempted to serve on senior officers. A series of virtual meetings between prominent Indigenous group members and non-Indigenous alt-right activists suggest a plot to effectively copy the US Capitol Hill insurrection. For the Australian version, the target is Old Parliament House. Activist Bruce Shillingsworth at a protest in April. Credit:Brook Mitchell They believe the quasi-mystical locus of power in Australia is vested in the seat of the Old Parliament because that is the address listed on the ABN registrations of the Commonwealths economy and trade departments. The new Parliament House, the seat of federal government since 1988, is pretend, they say, and the governments jurisdiction fiction.

Over the past fortnight, Shillingsworth has identified himself as an Original Sovereign  a local variation of the international Freemen on the Land movement. Many of the planning meetings tied to the new protest group involved Indigenous man David Cole, also known as Lurnpa, a leading figure in the Original Sovereign Tribal Federation (OSTF) which was established by non-indigenous man Mark McMurtrie aka Gunham Badi Jakamara after he was impressed in 2009 by the pseudo-legal counsel of David Wynn Millar, an American retired tool and die welder and self-appointed king of Hawaii. Scenes to fire the imagination: what some Australian alt-right protesters would like to see at Old Parliament House. Credit:AP Last year The Age and Herald revealed the collaboration between the Original Sovereign Tribal Federation and former One Nation senator Rod Culleton who, at the time, was trying to establish a right-wing political party in a formal alliance with the Indigenous sovereign citizen movement. In the United States, sovereign citizens are regarded by the Justice Department as a domestic terrorism threat after several armed actions in which law enforcement officers and civilian men, women and children have been killed. They do not have the same label in Australia.

Moses and the pandemic law On December 30, video posted to social media accounts run by members of a Sovereign Citizens group showed demonstrators banging on the doors of Old Parliament House, which is now run as a museum. Shillingsworths son, known as Buddy, and Bundjalung woman Cindy Roberts (aka Widjabul Dubay) were among them. Police made five arrests in the days after the fire. One who was arrested, released on bail, arrested again and released again was Nicholas Reed, who is accused of carrying numerous armfuls of kindling and several coolamon loads of hot coals to the front of Old Parliament House. An ACT court was told he had been shown in posts on social media stoking the fire. Nicholas Malcolm Reed leaves the ACT courts this week. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Reed, a white man who also goes by a tribal name, allegedly has a separate pending legal matter in Victoria, and is crowdfunding online for the Djab Wurrung Sovereign Tribal Government Fund, a campaign purportedly to benefit the Djab Wurrung people located in Victorias Western District. The most recent campaign has raised $3759.

The Australian has reported that Reeds bail rules included that he live at an address which, according to property records, is owned by Business Council of Australia president Tim Reed and his wife, Karola Brent, a former Lane Cove councillor on Sydneys north shore. Tim Reed declined to comment. Among others in attendance at the fire, though not arrested, was Roberts, who in a video interview with Tartaria Australia on December 10 said she saw herself as Moses on the forecourt of Old Parliament House before revealing that she intended to knock the locks off the doors, enter and reclaim what was rightfully hers. Cindy Roberts. Credit:Rhett Wyman This week police made two more arrests in the area known as the parliamentary triangle. One was of Buddy Shillingsworth for outstanding warrants related to past driving offences. The other was a white man named Dylan Didge Wilson from the NSW Northern Rivers, a self-described land lore marshal recognised by a circle of Elders across this continent. Both were later released. But the arrests and charges are not the end of it.

On Sunday, a strong cohort is expected to arrive from Victoria, many motivated by ongoing opposition to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, whose government succeeded in changing the states pandemic response legislation late in the year after weeks of protest by anti-vax and anti-lockdown groups on the steps of Spring Street. Among the props taken to protests were an apparently operational gallows. Several posts to social media among this group have expressed anger at a decision by a court in Myrtleford, Victoria, in which the protesters had invested high hopes that Andrews would be found guilty of treason. These posts encourage supporters to head to Canberra. No place When Senator Thorpe tweeted on the day of the fire: Seems like the colonial system is burning down. Happy New Year everyone, it seemed like the action might have broader significance in the Aboriginal protest community than it did. Thorpe later removed the tweet and this week told The Age and Herald: I stand in solidarity with the Tent Embassy. The people responsible for the fire have disrespected Ngunnawal Traditional Owners. There is no place for anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists in the struggle for First Nations sovereignty. Back at the Tent Embassy, some key representatives are too nervous of the newcomers to speak on the record. But Ngunnawal and Ngambi traditional owners and senior figures from the earliest Tent Embassy protest cohorts of 1972 -73 have spoken out about the failure of the new group of protesters to observe cultural protocol and obtain consent to conduct their ceremonies on the site.

Meanwhile, as the federal government announced it would establish a $316.5 million Indigenous cultural centre within the parliamentary triangle nearby the area where the embassy stands, they are trying to prepare for the demonstrations and cultural ceremonies which will mark the golden anniversary. The work, they told The Age and Herald, was an assertion of commitment to the legacy of the embassy. Prominent First Nations activist group Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) is clear, though, on the question of sovereignty, and the attempt by the Original Sovereign movement to co-opt the First Nations Sovereignty rights movement, according to a spokesperson, Gamilaraay and Kooma woman Ruby Wharton. Loading The biggest difference between First Nations sovereignty and that being claimed by the sovereign citizen movement was simple, she said: Sovereignty is our birthright. Its our birthright to occupy our traditional homelands, its our birthright to speak language, its our birthright to practise our traditional laws and protect our Country. The sovereignty these other people talk of is sovereignty away from the Crown, which is totally delusional because the only way these white people have sovereignty in this country is through the Crown.
A source with knowledge of the governments plans says next up will be children  ensuring they get vaccinated, starting from Monday, and ensuring schools open and stay open at the start of term 1. Were willing to go hardline on this, the source says. We want schools to stay open, to make sure classes dont shut down if theres one case there. The last thing to address in the national reopening plan is the international border, with inbound and outbound travel still seriously restricted. The government source says that will be addressed in the coming months, but Omicron had been a game-changer for travel. It will hasten international travel, its the last cab off the rank, the source says.

States and territories are working on living with COVID even as cases continue to rise, including working on systems to collect rapid antigen results as more jurisdictions move away from requiring PCR diagnosis of cases. University of Melbourne professorial fellow in epidemiology, Tony Blakely, says the country doesnt need to collect all positive rapid antigen test results for Omicron, but it would be useful to get such services up and running for the future in the face of more serious variants. We need systems for the future. We have no idea what variant is coming at us after Omicron, he says. People queue outside the Prahran Town Hall COVID-19 testing clinic in Melbourne. There is high demand for PCR tests as case numbers rise. Credit:Chris Hopkins Omicron is milder than Delta, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly confirmed this week. He said that means healthcare systems would be able to cope with rapidly rising cases.

Were seeing very large numbers of cases, but very, very few people with severe illness, he said earlier this week. It is an issue for health care workers, Im not denying that, but we have plenty of spare capacity. We have surge plans in place, weve had them since the beginning of the pandemic and they were reinforced recently ... to be prepared for exactly this sort of scenario. Despite Professor Kellys assurances, there are clear signs health systems are under strain. As has occurred numerous times over the past two years, reopening has not been a simple path forward. In NSW, where hospitalisations are predicted to exceed 4500, new restrictions come into force on Saturday including the banning of singing and dancing in pubs and nightclubs. Health authorities will reassess upcoming major events and non-urgent surgeries will be suspended until mid-February to ease pressure on the health system. Victoria also brought back density limits on Thursday and encouraged hospitality venues to cancel dancefloors, and has temporarily reduced elective surgeries.

Australian Medical Association President Dr Omar Khorshid says hospital systems and GPs are already in a dire situation with tired and overworked staff forced to work harder as hundreds are furloughed due to being close contacts or contracting the virus. Loading We dont know where and when the peak is going to come. If its in a few days, itll be tough, but well cope, he says. If the Omicron wave takes a few more weeks to peak, as predicted by many experts, he says the whole health system and other essential services including food delivery and supply chain distribution will collapse. If we get anywhere near the latter scenario, then lockdowns are in our future, he says. The government is absolutely opposed to it, they wont do it unless theyre forced to. But if we cant turn this curve around, soon, it will be the only tool left to them to try and keep the population safe and the economy working.

Isolation for positive cases has already dropped to seven days, but the government source says that will narrow further, down to five or even three days in coming weeks to help ease pressure on health workforces and supermarket supply chains. Thats the ticket out of the employment crunch, the source says. It might go to three days for those who have had [COVID-10], and it might happen sooner than you think. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, in Cairns on Friday, said the federal government had waited too long to order rapid antigen tests, and its lack of action to slow the spread of Omicron was hurting the country. The cost of inaction from this government is that supermarket shelves are being left empty, is that businesses are closing, is that workers are unable to go to work, he said. People in the health sector, whove been working day in, day out now for two years of this crisis deserve better than the sort of pressure that they are under because of shortages in the workforce. That is the price that Australians are paying for Scott Morrisons lack of action.

Dr Khorshid says at the moment COVID-19 patients are treated differently in hospital, requiring more staff and more protective equipment even if theyve been admitted for a broken leg, or appendicitis rather than the virus. But in the future, hospitals may have to simply let the virus circulate to conserve resources. GPs will bear the brunt of coronavirus treatment this year but are also caught in a perfect storm, dealing with staff shortages while running vaccination clinics for boosters and soon children, while preparing to treat thousands of COVID-19 infections. Dr Khorshid says the fear is this will push more patients into hospital who could otherwise be treated by their local doctor. The way things are going, its going to be hard to reassure Australians that our healthcare system is going to be able to be there for them when they need it, he says. The federal government has repeatedly touted booster shots as the key to preventing a repeat of either the Omicron or Delta waves of the pandemic.

Loading Boosters will be a very important part of the response to this particular wave, Professor Kelly said on Wednesday. By the end of January 16.1 million people will have become eligible for third doses, and so far 3.2 million have been administered. Those people move up to something like 70 per cent less chance of getting infected within a couple of weeks after being boosted, Professor Blakely says, adding the combination of boosters plus the fact that millions of Australians will have had Omicron by the time it subsides means the country will be very resilient against future strains. That is what the federal government is banking on. It is also working on the assumption - shared by many virology and epidemiology experts - that future variants will become less serious as the pandemic wears on.

Ultimately, Professor Bennett says, the country will move to treating COVID-19 like influenza: testing people who have been admitted to hospital with symptoms so they can be prescribed the right treatments, or testing people through general practices that are part of the national sentinel surveillance system. Loading That way we will know when numbers are going up in the community when the coronavirus season has started, and then if they test positive theyll take a proper swab, and we can see what variants are circulating, she says. When exactly that move towards surveillance will happen is unclear, and Omicron is going to be far from the last strain to circulate around the world. As the Prime Minister said earlier in the week, the coronavirus writes its own rules.
Salisbury, MD (21801)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable..

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A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low near 55F. Winds light and variable.
Weatherford, TX (76086)

Today

Mostly clear skies early, then thunderstorms developing late. Low 57F. S winds shifting to ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Mostly clear skies early, then thunderstorms developing late. Low 57F. S winds shifting to ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
MINERAL WELLS  Santo High School sophomore Tess Hall stood next to her dad, Corey, on Wednesday  and her sheep, Goliath  as she reflected on whats fun about the Palo Pinto County Fair and Livestock Show.

I really enjoy coming to the shows, and I like the people, she said. Theyre great. And I like the animals, too.

The young ag student probably summed up what any of the 100 or so people attending the five-day showcase for 4-H and FFA students would have said.

Parents and students inside the vast county Expo Center were milling about on Wednesday, dressing entries for judging or watching from bleachers the sheep judging under way in the dirt pen on the centers south side.

Goat judging would follow, just part of a week of livestock trials, canning, photography, horticulture and ag mechanic demonstrations and more in the annual event.

An auction Saturday morning will help the young people with future projects as well as future education paths.

Its something youve got to put time and effort into, Mineral Wells senior Caleb Carter said on Thursday, shortly before showing his three hogs in that days swine show. You cant just show up. (Theres) a lot of bright-and-early mornings, and some late nights as well.

Event Chairwoman Deeann Hampton said the fair is now into its ninth decade. Between 300 and 350 students from Mineral Wells, Santo, Graford, Gordon and Strawn ISDs joined this years fun.

Carter Hill of Graford was there on Thursday hoping his hog would bring home the bacon that afternoon.

I named it, Ham Solo  you get the term? he said, acknowledging his entrys Star Wars namesake before sharing the ups and downs of hog raising. The worst thing is probably having to get up early. The best thing is getting to do the show and hang out with my friends.

The fair returned to fully open this year, after pandemic precautions last year prompted organizers to limit attendance to contestants and their family members. That meant Michael and Katie Drake of Santo could bring their 2- and 4-year-old girls, Leddy and Autumn, to see the show they could well join down the chute.

They just love animals, their dad said. We just come to support our crew.

That was on Wednesday, about the time Abbi Youngblood, 13, and Roxy Hall set the hind legs of their sheep before lifting the entries from the chest to let their front hooves fall into position for the judges.

Its a good time in Texas, Sheep Superintendent Bobby Meeks had said on the public address system as Wednesdays sheep show began. Theres a lot of county shows.

Outside the hall, Kathryne Holder was practicing positioning with her goat, Peanut Butter. The Strawn High School junior hopes to take her entry beyond the county to fairs across the state.

We want to go to (fairs in) Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and then Austin, Kathrynes mother, Kerri, told a visitor. She put a lot of work into it, so we just want to see how far that work gets us.

The daughter said she hopes to earn scholarships through her ag endeavors to open the door to her aspirations.

Something in the science field, she said. I really like science.

Showing livestock tends to be a family affair.

My brother used to show pigs, 14-year-old Victoria Rico of Santo said on Thursday as she and her Rosco waited for the competition to begin. And I thought Id get into it.  This is my first year showing.

Colt Bridges of Santo found a perch on the pens Thursday while he and his parents, Cody and Brandi, waited for Colts hog, Michael Jackson, to get his spin in the judging pen. The 11-year-old explained his hogs celebrity name.

Because he does a little moonwalk, he said, his mother explaining the pig has a unique shuffle similar to the late pop stars iconic dance move.

Strawn sixth-grader Lane Fawcett, 11, finished blowing down the fur on his goat, Sugars, forelegs before Wednesdays show. (The rest of the animals legs and body were sheared).

It makes their legs feel fluffed out, to make it look like he has big leg hair, Lane explained while using blasts of air to enhance the desired look for Sugar.

Back inside, Community Christian School students Que Crawford, 16, and Colby Johnson, 13, stood in a holding pen with Crawfords 7T7 goats, named for the Santo area ranch from which the goats hail. Crawford gave his own first name to one of his entries.

The other goat?

Its name is the word, Nothing, he said, after sharing why he devotes his time to Nothing and Que. Its just a chance to just get off of everything else I do.

Plenty of long hours, typically spent before heading out to the school day, go into preparing entries for the demanding pen shows. But it was clear this past week those labors of love come with their own reward, win or not.

I like how he baaahhs all the time, 9-year-old Andrea Berumen of Strawn added, standing next to the pen holding her goat, Dash.
Ermal Caushi was stuck, trying to come up with a name for his new restaurant on West Hartfords Park Road. He had a list of 32 candidates, but nothing stood out.

One late night after dinner service at his first restaurant, Division West in the towns center, a friend stopped by. When Caushi told him he was trying to decide on a name for his new eatery, the friend said Great. Thats what this town needs, just another restaurant. The quip was delivered sarcastically, but it all clicked for Caushi. He leaned into the JAR abbreviation, using mason jars as water glasses and constructing a chandelier with rope-suspended jars surrounding light bulbs.

Caushi opened the restaurant in May, presenting a menu of international tapas-style small plates. The dishes spanned the globe: birria taco pizza, yakitori skewers, Texas ribs, carne asada, and even Balkan lamb cevapi (grilled sausage) and patate shqiptare (crispy pan-fried potatoes with mustard butter) from Caushis native Albania.

But before long, Caushi was facing the same staffing issues as restaurateurs all over the country. His first chef left, and the replacement chef didnt work out, either. It was a domino effect, he says. Caushi changed the menu four times in as many months, streamlining it and offering dishes that were easier to prepare with fewer kitchen employees: tacos, nachos, sliders, wings, fish and chips. He began closing the restaurant for lunch hours, focusing instead on dinner and bar business. With the restaurant business, once you start getting bad reviews, theres no coming back from that, he says.

Caushi is looking to the future again, with plans to revamp the menu under a new chef. He wants to keep successful dishes going: spicy fried chicken bites in a miso garlic sauce, pork gyoza, edamame, calamari. A charcuterie board will stay, along with a zesty baked buffalo chicken dip served with tortilla chips. But hes also looking to bring back some of the international flavors his early customers enjoyed. I want to contribute a little bit from everybody, he says, explaining that he wants to evoke peoples memories of home  wherever in the world that may be. When you taste and smell, it brings up memories.

Home for Caushi has been Connecticut for nearly two decades, when he came to the U.S. from Albania in 2003 as a teenager. He started working as a dishwasher at Peppercorns Grill shortly after he came to the country, and a few years later went to college to study construction management and civil engineering.

He continued working at Peppercorns, where he was eventually elevated to a general manager position. Once he finished his degree, he worked as a building inspector, but quickly realized that wasnt what he wanted to do. He would take his restaurant experience to the next level. I learned everything from Dino, he says of Dino Cialfi, Peppercorns longtime owner. Hes an amazing chef; an amazing business owner. I owe everything to him.

In 2017, Caushi and his brother-in-law, Jimi Brahimi, opened Division West on LaSalle Road in West Hartford center, an upscale bistro and bar with fresh pastas, seafood entrees, steaks and chops. When the Park Road space became available a few years later (formerly home to Chengdu Restaurant and later Uncle Chow Asian Bistro) Caushi realized it needed little work, beyond some construction and cosmetic touches.

JAR quickly became a town favorite for its spacious patio, with string lights, handmade wooden tables and flower boxes. Caushi has also filled the evenings with social activities: a Tuesday game night for service industry workers, live music on Thursdays and late-night ladies night specials, and DJs on Fridays and Saturdays.

At the bar, JARs team gets creative with both the names and recipes, dubbing a Titos vodka and ginger beer drink the Ermule after Caushi, with rotating fruit flavors. A scorpion-bowl style drink serves two, with seasonal ingredients, and an espresso martini with Madagascar vanilla liqueur is one of the bars best-sellers.

Caushi is also working on another project, this time across the river in Manchester. Hes leased the former Catsup and Mustard burger spot on Main Street, with plans to open a restaurant with customized pizzas in the spring.
Allentown, PA (18103)

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Mostly cloudy. There might be a lingering shower early, mainly north and east..

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Mostly cloudy. There might be a lingering shower early, mainly north and east.
Reading, PA (19601)

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Mostly cloudy. There might be a lingering shower early, mainly north and east..

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Mostly cloudy. There might be a lingering shower early, mainly north and east.
A live-action musical version of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is coming and the search is on for a young lead.

Rachel Zegler, who has been wowing audiences as Maria in Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story, will take on the title role, with Gal Gadot set to play the evil Queen. Marc Webb will direct, with production expected to start in 2022, according to Deadline.

A new casting notice from the Telsey Office has revealed a search for a 10-year old Latina actor to play the young Snow White. Speaking with a standard American accent, the performer is expected to sing with dance experience a bonus.

Rehearsals for the movie will begin this month in London, with shooting to start in March, also in the UK.

The original Snow White was released in 1937 and was the first animated feature film created by Walt Disney Productions. Building on the cartoon, which has songs by Frank Churchill, Larry Morey, Leigh Harline, and Paul J. Smith, this new version will feature additional songs by Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman scribes Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Among Disney's other recent live-action remakes of its classic animated titles are Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid, which is currently shooting.
Quincy, IL (62301)

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Rain likely, heavy at times in the evening. Low 54F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Rain likely, heavy at times in the evening. Low 54F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Social Science and Research Specialist, Nepal

Organization: UNICEF

Country: Nepal

City: Kathmandu

Office: UNICEF, Kathmandu

Closing date: Wednesday, 19 January 2022

General

Description of assignment title: Social Science and Research Specialist

Assignment country: Nepal

Expected start date: 02/01/2022

Sustainable Development Goal: PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS

Volunteer category: National UN Volunteer Specialist

DoA reserved for persons with disabilities: No

Host entity: UNICEF

Type: Onsite

Duration: 12 months (with possibility of extension)

Number of assignments: 1

Duty stations: Kathmandu

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. In all of its work, UNICEF takes a life-cycle based approach, recognizing the particular importance of early childhood development and adolescence. UNICEF programmes focus on the most disadvantaged children, including those living in fragile contexts, those with disabilities, those who are affected by rapid urbanization and those affected by environmental degradation. UNICEF was created with a distinct purpose in mind: to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and discrimination place in a childs path. We advocate for measures to give children the best start in life, because proper care at the youngest age forms the strongest foundation for a persons future. We promote girls education - ensuring that they complete primary education as a minimum - because it benefits all children, both girls and boys. Girls who are educated grow up to become better thinkers, better citizens, and better parents to their own children. We act so that all children are immunized against common childhood diseases, and are well nourished: no child should suffer or die from a preventable illness. We work to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people because it is right to keep them from harm and enable them to protect others. We help children and families affected by HIV/AIDS to live their lives with dignity. We are UNICEF, the United Nations Childrens Fund.

Context

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save childrens lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfil their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Communication for Development Specialist, or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Social Science and Research Specialist will: Provide the following key functions/accountabilities: 1. Technical expertise and operational support to identify needs for social evidence and design effective social research in support of SBC. 2. Technical expertise and operational support to foster high quality implementation of priority SBC research. 3. Foster Knowledge Management (KM) and learning through broad dissemination of research findings to inform the design, measurement and monitoring of programs and outcomes. Detailed tasks: 1. Technical expertise and operational support to identify needs for social evidence and design effective social research in support of SBC. i Contribute to developing Terms of Reference, research tools, frameworks, and protocols for generating evidence to inform both development and emergency initiatives. i Identify social data and research gaps, provide recommendations for deepening the data collection to support the achievement of programmatic and social and behaviour change objectives set by the office. i Revise existing SBC data collection tools, formulate recommendations for areas of improvement. i Support further development of the Community Feedback and Social Listening mechanism by identifying and including new sources of feedback, structuring the analysis, further improving the reports and briefs. i Monitor and assess the impact of social and behavior change initiatives and activities on the CO and UNICEF goals and their contribution to achieve measurable behavioral and social change results for the improvement of childrens rights and wellbeing. Provide technical support in establishing monitoring mechanisms to collect, analyze and report on social and behaviour change indicators. 2. Technical expertise and operational support to foster high quality implementation of priority SBC research. i Participate in conducting comprehensive analysis of evidence on social, communication, behavioural and other issues. Analyze and triangulate the data collected by the office, the partners and from different other sources, report on comparable social data sets and on identified trends and inconsistencies. i Strengthen C4D and programme teams capacity to research, analyze and equitably address trends that drive social and individual behaviours and norms, using a wide range of approaches including, behavioural analysis, human centered design, social listening, behavioural insights, participatory research, and other quantitative and qualitative approaches. i Identify and adapt innovative research and data collection methodologies and tools, to generate new and comprehensive data and knowledge tailored to the SBC and programmatic needs. i Provide regular updates on progress and challenges in SBC research. 3. Foster Knowledge Management (KM) and learning through broad dissemination of research findings to inform the design, measurement and monitoring of programs and outcomes. i Guide the development of research reports to present main findings in a clear and actionable way. i Disseminate research findings and best practices and support exchange of experiences and uptake of new methods among government officials, programme staff and UNICEF partners. i Propose and develop innovative presentation and dissemination formats, channels, and events, more appropriate for the specific SBC and programmatic and advocacy needs. Develop advocacy briefs, social data briefs, power point presentations on the main findings for sectors, partners, and general public. i Through networking and proactive collaboration, build and maintain partnerships with national and international research agencies, academia, community groups to harmonize, link and/or coordinate evidence generation to enhance SBCC attribution and contribution to programmatic outcomes i Assess and recommend potential contacts, networks, resources and multiple/social/digital media and tools to support maximum impact and outreach of UNICEF-supported research and SBCC initiatives. i Support the development and implementation of capacity building initiatives, to enhance the research and use of data competencies of stakeholders/partners in SBC and across programme sectors. i Support the establishment of behavioral insights lab in close collaboration with SBC partners, academia and government counterparts. Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

Eligibility criteria

Age: 27 - 80

Nationality

Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.

Requirements

Required experience

3 years of experience in Required Education Level: Masters degree Required Experience: 3 years a) Education, qualifications, skills, experience, areas of expertise i Masters Degree in social and behavioral sciences, including anthropology, sociology, social studies, research methodology, communication studies/communication for development, psychology and/or related field is required. i At least 3 years of professional work experience at the national and/or international level in qualitative and quantitative research and data collection, social development program planning, monitoring and evaluation, social and behaviour change or related areas at the national and/or large organization., or other relevant programmes; i Experience working in the UN or other international development organization is an asset; Specific Technical Knowledge Required i Knowledge of research and analytical methodologies. i Experience of practical application of both qualitative and quantitative approaches and using different research techniques. i Able to design research projects, defining research questions and writing draft specifications. Working knowledge of a range of research methods and an awareness of new innovative methods, including within the SBC field. i Working knowledge of relevant data analysis packages, particularly SPSS and Excel, and qualitative packages. i Working knowledge of ethical issues in research and of legal requirements surrounding research, particularly data protection. b) Common Technical Knowledge Required i Confidence in using Microsoft Office software. i Accuracy and attention to detail for handling and analysing data and reporting research findings. i Clear knowledge of the format and style required to report research results; able to report research information clearly in writing i Report writing skills. c) Technical Knowledge to be Acquired/Enhanced i Understand the role and social research needs in support of the UNICEF-Government of Nepal Country Programme. i Tailor approach and frames research output in a way that is directly relevant to the UNICEF and its partners needs

Area(s) of expertise

Community development, Development programmes, Economics and finance

Driving license

-

Languages

English, Level: Working knowledge, Required Nepalese, Level: Fluent, Desirable

Required education level

Master degree or equivalent in social and behavioral sciences, including anthropology, sociology, social studies, research methodology, communication studies/communication for development, psychology and/or related field is required

Competencies and values

Professionalism

Integrity

Teamwork and respect for diversity: c3peaWW Dh7qKS

Commitment to continuous learning:

Communication:

Planning and organizing:

Flexibility:

Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance; and commitment towards UNICEF ROSA s mission and vision, as well as to the UN Core Values.

Other information

Living conditions and remarks

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a persons race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy

Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1641406983058
Willmar, MN (56201)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. Low 36F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. Low 36F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
BEIJING (AP)  A strong overnight earthquake shook a sparsely populated area in western China early Saturday and forced the suspension of high-speed rail service because of tunnel damage, authorities said.

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, people stand on the street after an earthquake in Xining in northwestern China's Qinghai Province, early Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. An overnight earthquake shook a sparsely populated area in western China early Saturday, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. (Wang Bo/Xinhua via AP)

BEIJING (AP)  A strong overnight earthquake shook a sparsely populated area in western China early Saturday and forced the suspension of high-speed rail service because of tunnel damage, authorities said.

Four people with minor injuries in Menyuan Hui Autonomous County had been treated and released, officials told a news conference.

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The magnitude 6.9 quake struck at 1:45 a.m. in a mountainous part of Qinghai province that is 3,659 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level. It was felt 140 kilometers (85 miles) southeast in Xining, the provincial capital, where some people rushed outside of homes and buildings.

Nighttime video posted online by CGTN, the overseas arm of state broadcaster CCTV, showed furniture and ceiling lamps swaying and livestock suddenly standing up and moving in its pen. Photos from the state-owned China News Service showed scattered damage to homes including a broken window and wall tiles and a large ceiling section that had fallen.

There are five villages within 5 kilometers (3 miles) of the epicenter, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Service on some sections of a high-speed rail line from Lanzhou in Gansu province to the Xinjiang region was halted because of damage to several tunnels, Xinhua said. Some lines between Qinghai and Tibet were closed and inspectors were sent to check the tracks.

Rescue and firefighting teams in Qinghai and neighboring Gansu province have sent about 500 rescuers to the epicenter, the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management said in an online statement. Another 2,260 rescuers from neighboring provinces were on standby.

The ministry and the China Earthquake Administration dispatched a team to Qinghai to help investigate the situation and resettle any affected residents.
MISSION, Kan. (AP)  Confusion is clouding the legality of vapes, gummies, teas and other products that include a chemical cousin of marijuanas main intoxicating ingredient.

MISSION, Kan. (AP)  Confusion is clouding the legality of vapes, gummies, teas and other products that include a chemical cousin of marijuanas main intoxicating ingredient.

A recent Kansas attorney general opinion, court decision and law change have raised questions for prosecutors and law enforcement as the products, which are frequently sold in smoke shops and even gas stations, proliferate.

At issue is a chemical called delta-8 THC that is billed as producing a milder high than the better-known delta-9 THC. Delta-8 is often marketed as being legal even where marijuana is not. That argument stems from the fact that most delta-8 is synthesized from CBD, a popular non-intoxicating chemical thats prevalent in hemp, a form of cannabis that Congress legalized in 2018.

In the Hays area in western Kansas, Ellis County prosecutor Robert Anderson sent a letter last week to 15 different businesses warning them that selling the products can open them up to criminal liability.

I do not doubt that you and likely many others feel as though marijuana and/or hemp products should be decriminalized or legalized in some fashion," he wrote, urging people seeking legislative change to contact their lawmakers. My obligation to the Ellis County attorney is to enforce the laws as they are written.

Delta-8 has rocketed to popularity over the last year, and the cannabis industry and state governments are scrambling to reckon with it amid debate over whether its legal. Kansas lawmakers amended the state's hemp act last year, and the law took effect April 29.

Kelly Rippel, the cofounder of Kansans for Hemp, said the state law was intended to make more hemp products legal, such as delta-8.

But the way it was written raised questions for Anderson and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation about whether the products were now illegal.

Rippel, who serves on the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Hemp Advisory Board, insists that they remain legal. He said there are different types of THC and delta-8 is not considered a controlled substance. He said state labs, however, don't have the capability to tell whether the THC in a product comes from delta-8 as opposed to an illegal marijuana plant.

We need some clear parameters from the Legislature on this," he said. Because prohibition hasn't worked; we know that."

The attorney general opinion states that cigarettes, teas, flour and vapes are illegal regardless of the level of THC.

But Rippel said other products, including gummies and topicals, are legal as long as they contain no more than .3% total THC.

Anderson said in an interview that the issue is that many products being sold contain far higher levels of THC.

A judge in Ellis County also weighed in on Dec. 22, finding that delta-8 products are illegal. The ruling stemmed from a charge of unlawful possession with intent to distribute that Anderson filed in August against a man accused of burglarizing a businesses that was hawking delta-8 products and then selling what he allegedly stole.

Anderson said the man's attorney filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the product was legal, but the judge disagreed.

It kind of creeped its way into every county across Kansas," he said of delta-8. And so now were just stuck in this strange spot all throughout Kansas where theres going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses who sell this stuff and theyre arguably selling it illegally as if theyre like a common drug dealer. And in certain counties, they may get treated that way.

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He said another concern is that people could unwittingly get in trouble if they are arrested on unrelated charges and law enforcement runs a field test that detects THC in their system. He said the tests can't distinguish between whether the THC comes from marijuana or hemp.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which requested the attorney general opinion, hasn't conducted enforcement operations, nor sent notice letters to anyone believed to be selling delta-8 products, said agency spokesperson Melissa Underwood. She said hoped that the opinion provides clarity.

After Anderson first raised concerns last year, Shaun Musil stopped selling chocolates and gummies containing delta-8 THC at the Paisley Pear wine bar, bistro and shop that he and his wife run in downtown Hays. He said he still has about $300 worth of the unsold product.

Were probably getting ready to destroy it because its just not worth it," he said, adding that he never used it personally. I personally think eventually, maybe Im wrong, but eventually, it will probably be legal in Kansas."

___

This story has been corrected to show the amount of THC legally allowed in some products is .3% not .03%.
A Winnipeg funeral-home operator has been caught in a legislative catch-22 for more than a decade preventing him  and others in the province  from offering an environmentally friendlier alternative to cremation.

A Winnipeg funeral-home operator has been caught in a legislative catch-22 for more than a decade preventing him  and others in the province  from offering an environmentally friendlier alternative to cremation.

The water-based technology, sometimes called aquamation (the technical terminology is alkaline hydrolysis) does essentially the same thing as incineration  reducing human remains to powdery ash. But the process requires only heated alkali, water and electricity; it does not emit any greenhouse gases and uses 90 per cent less energy than flame cremation.

Its allowed in Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Yukon, along with 24 U.S. states and other locations around the globe.

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Prize-winning human-rights activist who died last month at the age of 90, underwent the process, referred to as part of the "green burial" movement.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kevin Sweryd has been trying for more than 10 years to get funeral home regulations in Manitoba changed to allow for a 16-year-old technology called alkaline hydrolysis that uses water instead of flames to reduce the body to ashes.

Kevin Sweryd, who owns and operates Bardal Funeral Home & Crematorium and is the current president of the Manitoba Funeral Service Association, has been anxiously awaiting a review of the provinces bereavement legislation for several years, hoping to see new regulations that would allow him to build such a facility.

Bardal operates out of an old building near the Health Sciences Centre with plenty of space to install the technology and build a proper visiting centre. But because of his location hes never been able to install a traditional crematory because it is too close to residences.

The provincial Cemeteries Act states: "No crematory shall be constructed nearer to any dwelling house than 200 yards."

Alkaline hydrolysis status in North America

But that is just one piece of the provincial bereavement legislation puzzle standing in the way; the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Act and the Prearranged Funeral Services Act factor in, as well.

Beyond uncertainties of a legislative review, the province is also in the process of disbanding the Funeral Board of Manitoba, a not-for-profit regulatory organization, and roll it into Consumer Protection Office.

Bardal is part of co-operative of five funeral home operators who have a crematory in Selkirk, but Sweryd said many clients do not want loved ones remains transported to another location.

Sweryd is an advocate for aquamation, which is the term used by Bio-Response Solutions, the Indiana company that originated the technology; other equipment suppliers use names that include biocremation and Resomation.

"The line I have been given repeatedly from the province is when they do the legislative review  which I have been told is coming which has been coming for 12 years  they we will look at it," Sweryd said.

Technology in use for decades Alkaline hydrolysis technology has been in use a long time in medical and bio-containment applications. The process became popular for the disposition of pets in the 90s. Bio-Resolution Solutions, the Indiana company that first commercialized the technology has built and sold more than 300 of the units for the veterinary industry. It introduced the technology to address human remains in 2005 and currently has equipment in 50 funeral-preparation facilities. Its first installation was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which is still in operation. click to read more Alkaline hydrolysis technology has been in use a long time in medical and bio-containment applications. The process became popular for the disposition of pets in the 90s. Bio-Resolution Solutions, the Indiana company that first commercialized the technology has built and sold more than 300 of the units for the veterinary industry. It introduced the technology to address human remains in 2005 and currently has equipment in 50 funeral-preparation facilities. Its first installation was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which is still in operation. Bio-Resolutions website describes the process, once the deceased is placed in the system, as gently circulating a heated solution of 95 per cent water and five per cent alkali around the body for an extended period of time, which varies depending on the set temperature. The process typically takes six hours at 148.3 C, or 16 hours at 95.5 C. By comparison, flame cremation typically takes two or three hours at 870 C to 980 C. Unlike flame cremation, the ash content is composed only of the mineral calcium phosphate remains of the deceased. There is no ash content from caskets, clothing, cardboard, etc. Another interesting element of the technology is that after alkaline hydrolysis, medical implants remain in perfect condition and, conceivably, be repurposed. The process is a proven sterilization technology in which all pathogens are destroyed, as well as all chemotherapy and embalming agents, if present in the body. Regulatory approval has proven to be a slow and painstaking process. In addition to the five Canadian and 24 U.S. states where it is permitted, legislative change is pending in 20 more U.S. states. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Close

"But they tell me they cant really address it right now because there is nothing in the act that regulates or governs it."

The Funeral Board of Manitoba said the current legislation its concerned with has no provisions for aquamation.

"Therefore legislative changes would be required for the practice to be offered in Manitoba," a spokesperson said.

Its a problem that has affected implementation around the world: it may not be legal, but its not specifically illegal.

Bio-Response has a total of 50 of its units in operation, with another 15 to 20 in production. Other suppliers have smaller numbers.

Sweryds enthusiasm for the technology has a lot to do with competitive instincts. Cremations have become the disposition of choice, especially in Canada, accounting for more than 73 per cent of all internments, up from 54 per cent in 2005.

But since he cant install a crematory, this is a great option.

Samantha Sieber, the vice-president of research at Bio-Response (and daughter of its founder) said when given the choice between flame cremation and alkaline hydrolysis, the latter is chosen 80 per cent of the time.

"And that is typically at a slightly higher price," she said.

While the cost for clients may be a little more, the long-term return on investment will be greater because of almost zero maintenance costs. Flame crematories need to be rebricked after a certain amount of use at significant expense.

SUPPLIED An Aquamation (alkaline hydrolysis) system, left, in a U.S. crematory next to two flame units.

She has also found that the environmental concerns are not necessarily the most important consideration when it comes to the demand.

"You would think the eco thing would be the driver, but its really just an added bonus," she said. "For most people it is personal."

She related a story from a Saskatchewan funeral home, the first in Canada to install the equipment about 10 years ago; a family travelled several hours to purchase the service for their father  a firefighter  from Grays Funeral Chapel in Prince Albert.

The chapel is one of only two in that province after a decade of regulatory permission.

Drew Gray believes thats because other operators offering cremations have already invested in the traditional flame equipment and do not want to make another investment in AH, effectively competing against themselves.

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Gray said he decided to become an early adapter of the technology for the same reason Sweryd wants to install it  zoning bylaws would not allow cremation in his location. He is glad he took the leap of faith.

"We have had nothing but success with it," he said. "Our clientele embraced the concept right away."

And while Sieber may not think environmental concerns are the main driver for the companys equipment now, in time that may change.

"It has an unimaginable role in the future," she said. "We keep trying to move things forward. When you step back and look, worldwide, the impact is going to be huge."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
The head of a Winnipeg social service agency says its not going anywhere despite failing to get funding to stay in the former Neechi Commons building on Main Street.

The head of a Winnipeg social service agency says its not going anywhere despite failing to get funding to stay in the former Neechi Commons building on Main Street.

We dont have much of a choice, so were not leaving, executive director Angela McCaughan told the Free Press. We have no choice. Where am I going to put (these) people? Its -41 C out with the windchill.

The eviction deadline for Sscope Inc., which houses 46 people and has 40 extra overnight spaces, was Jan. 6.

Sscope moved into the building at 865 Main St. in August 2020 after Assiniboine Credit Union agreed to lease the it for a year with the condition that Sscope would take it over afterward. The agency had hoped to get funding from the government, including the rapid housing initiative, but was not successful.

McCaughan said she was bound by confidentiality agreements and couldnt say whether she had been offered another extension.

The space is filled to the brim, with 110 people getting shelter currently because of the extreme cold.

We have to recognize that in January in Manitoba, this is what we get, she said. The reality is, this is peoples homes, they shouldnt have to leave them.

An ACU spokesperson wouldnt comment on the status of Sscopes lease, but said the credit union would continue to work through the process with them to ensure the well-being of those currently using their services.

McCaughan said Sscope applied for funding from the rapid housing initiative  a federal housing program for vulnerable people  several times, and was rejected every time.

She noted many residents are not allowed to stay in other shelters due to behavioural problems or addictions.

Weve already reached out to all three levels of government a long time ago, and weve heard nothing, she said.

The program handed out $12.5 million to the City of Winnipeg last year, which approved five of the 33 applications it received for funding. Sscopes $3.9-million proposal didnt make the cut. This year, it asked for $2.7 million, and the city rejected the pitch again.

Now, McCaughan said, Sscopes looking for $1 million from any channel that will provide it.

Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux has advocated for supporting the agency, which is in his riding of Winnipeg North. He plans to meet with Sscope again.

We are not in a position to see a reduction in emergency bed shelters, in short-term shelters. So if were losing in one area, we better be picking up in another area, he said.

Lamoureux reached out to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the federal agency that oversees the rapid housing initiative.

The indication that I was given is that there was some concern surrounding the proposed project and issues, possibly of eligibility. They really couldnt go into details because of privacy-related issues, he said.

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CMHC said it wouldnt comment on this specific situation, but there is significant interest in the program, however not all projects that submitted applications will be able to receive funding.

Lamoureux said he was optimistic about Sscopes future, in part because McCaughan is determined and tenacious.

All programs tend to be over-subscribed, so that means you have to make decisions, and you try to make those decisions based on the programs or the projects that are brought forward, and not everyones going to prevail, he said.

McCaughan is taking it one day at a time.

Im not abandoning them, period, Im not. But realistically right now, theres really nowhere suitable for us to go, she said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
New water bottle-filling stations could pop up in Winnipeg in an effort to help vulnerable folks cope with future heat waves.

New water bottle-filling stations could pop up in Winnipeg in an effort to help vulnerable folks cope with future heat waves.

If council approves, a new pilot project seeks to connect three such stations to the municipal water supply during the extreme heat season, which typically lasts June to September.

We went through a heat wave this summer, and what we found was there was a real need in our vulnerable populations in downtown, actually in all (areas)  in making sure people stay hydrated, said Jason Shaw, Winnipeg assistant chief of emergency management.

With climate change expected to increase the number of extremely hot days in Winnipeg going forward, he said, We need to be prepared for these changes in environment and these extreme weather events.

A city report notes providing access to clean drinking water is expected to help reduce the most serious heat-related illnesses, by preventing severe dehydration and elevated body temperatures.

If approved by council, the project would cost about $10,000.

The municipal government would also waive about $300 of fees each year to provide free access to city water. That access would be used by the water bottle-filling stations and all temporary drinking water supply trailers approved by emergency management.

The water trailers have been used to address extreme heat situations since 2017, with the city placing them in areas where vulnerable Winnipeggers tend to spend time.

End Homelessness Winnipeg welcomed the filling station proposal Friday, noting access to water is critical for those experiencing homelessness, who may spend lengthy periods outdoors in all types of weather.

While the current water tanks are well-used, filling stations with a steady water supply would be easier to maintain, said Kris Clemens, the non-profit organizations manager of communication and community relations.

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It is nice to see this evolution coming from the emergency management office towards something that will be more sustainable and definitely help to mitigate the health impacts of extreme heat on people experiencing homelessness. But, ultimately having publicly accessible water filling stations will (also) be a benefit for every Winnipeg resident during extremely hot days, said Clemens.

Coun. Brian Mayes, who leads councils water and waste committee, said he expects to support the proposal, deeming it an innovative and affordable anti-poverty initiative.

The report does not set specific locations to add the new stations, noting those spots would be chosen by emergency management officials.

While Environment Canada guidelines result in heat alerts when temperatures exceed 32 C or the humidex soars part 38 C on two or more consecutive days, a City of Winnipeg report notes an extreme heat response can begin prior to that point.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
A Winnipeg woman is speaking out against the provinces very sneaky, very underhanded protocol for hospital patient transfers amid the recent pandemic surge.

A Winnipeg woman is speaking out against the provinces very sneaky, very underhanded protocol for hospital patient transfers amid the recent pandemic surge.

Patricia Fostys 84-year-old mother, Irma Rougeau, died New Years Day at Morris General Hospital, 50 kilometres south of the city, after being moved from Seven Oaks General Hospital to free up space for COVID-19 patients.

Adding to the family pain, Fosty was then told she was responsible for paying for the bodys return to Winnipeg, to the tune of around $600.

After media inquiries, Shared Health contacted the family Thursday with an apology, saying it was an error and all such transfers are paid for by the healthcare facility.

"To confirm, policies related to inter-regional care clearly indicate that these transfers will not result in any out-of-pocket transportation expenses for patients or their families. This extends to the transport of remains should an individual pass while at the receiving facility," a spokesperson for Shared Health said in an email Friday.

Out-of-region patient transfers have increased as hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have spiked in the province. As of Friday morning, Shared Health said 163 such patients had been transferred since October, including four in the past day and 12 in the last week.

The process has left Fosty in a fighting mood.

Rougeau received a letter while a patient at Seven Oaks in late November, saying it was possible she may be transferred to another hospital to free up space, Fosty said.

The letter was "impersonal" and even not addressed to the individual, Fosty said. Then, she received a call from a bed utilization clerk who said Rougeau had been identified as a possible transfer  but said she was told it wouldnt happen if Fosty (the primary care power of attorney) didnt consent to it.

Days later, Fosty said, she was told her mother would be transferred  and that if she didnt want it to happen, she could come to pick up her mother herself.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, visitation hours at Morris General Hospital are limited, making it difficult for Rougeaus loved ones to visit her in her final days.

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"I know that shes at the end-of-life stage, and I know that shes confused, and I know that shes somewhat bewildered, and I know that shes still grieving the loss of her husband of 63 years because it only happened a year ago," Fosty said.

"For me, (the transfer protocol) feels very sneaky, very underhanded. Lets keep this a secret as long as we can, and then bam, lets do it, so people dont have a chance to jam a stick in our spokes."

Her mothers handling was "callous," Fosty added, hoping in sharing her story "the government gets embarrassed enough that theyre going to start addressing this issue, and other people dont have to go through this."

"Im not asking for Shared Health to pay for her private home care, but give me fair notice, fair warning, and fair opportunity to make a different choice," Fosty said.

"That would have been a gentler end of life for my mother. This government talks about mental health and, and isolation but theyre contributing to this."

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Wilson Andersons dream of retirement included reading, taking university courses, volunteering for charities and walking his dogs.

Wilson Andersons dream of retirement included reading, taking university courses, volunteering for charities and walking his dogs.

Instead, he has spent a year waiting for cataract surgery.

"Sitting and staring out a window, quite seriously, is all I can do," said the 66-year-old Anderson during a news conference Friday.

"My independence has been severely impacted due to all these vision issues. I find walking, cooking, taking medication, navigating stairs and steps safely, are very difficult to me."

He is far from alone.

Doctors Manitoba said on Friday 4,945 Manitobans have had their cataract surgeries called off during the pandemic  and there was a backlog even before that. Delayed cataract surgeries are part of Doctors Manitobas estimated backlog of 152,116 surgical and diagnostic procedures delayed during the pandemic.

Doctors Manitoba said on Friday 4,945 Manitobans have had their cataract surgeries called off during the pandemic.

The organization pointed to statistics compiled by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which show Manitoba leads the country in the worst way: the number of cataract and lens surgeries dropped 44 per cent from March 2020 to June 2021, compared with pre-pandemic numbers.

Nationally, the reduction for that category of surgeries during that time was 22 per cent.

Alberta fared the best, with a two per cent reduction. Newfoundland Labrador and Ontario experienced reductions of 39 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively.

Anderson said his cataracts have put his physical safety at risk.

"In December 2021, I had a severe fall outside where I split my lip, cut up my face, and broke a pair of glasses  all because I have problems looking and seeing the distance of steps and curbs."

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS My independence has been severely impacted due to all these vision issues. I find walking, cooking, taking medication, navigating stairs and steps safely, are very difficult to me, Anderson said.

Dr. Jennifer Rahman, an ophthalmologist and president of Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, said the pandemic has made the backlog severe.

Rahman said at Misericordia  the provinces main eye surgical centre  about 8,900 cataract surgeries have been performed amid the pandemic, a drop of about 46 per cent from pre-pandemic levels.

She said 4,300 procedures were shifted to the private Western Surgical Centre, but not all patients can go there.

"Patients who have more complex cataracts and multiple medical problems are preferentially booked to have surgery at Misericordia or other public facilities," she said.

"These surgeries are expected to be longer, more difficult, and may carry more anaesthetic risk."

As well, Rahman said delays can mean cataracts become denser and take more time for surgery and recovery.

In December 2021, I had a severe fall outside where I split my lip, cut up my face, and broke a pair of glasses  all because I have problems looking and seeing the distance of steps and curbs.  Wilson Anderson

Misericordia has also lost specialized opthalmology nurses during the pandemic "to retirement, sick leave, or other jobs.

"All surgeries at Misericordia Health Centre have been drastically reduced by closing three out of the five full-time operating rooms there was a significant backlog before the pandemic and now it has significantly gotten worse. We need ongoing increased funding to address this backlog now and in future."

Rahman said for a province with a population of Manitobas size, 15,000 cataract surgeries should be performed every year.

"We should have 7.9 surgeons per 100,000 patients and in Manitoba we have just over two per 100,000 patients," she said.

"We are at the bottom of the provinces."

All surgeries at Misericordia Health Centre have been drastically reduced by closing three out of the five fulltime operating rooms.  Ophthalmologist Dr. Jennifer Rahman

A spokesman for the provincial government said "the province launched a task force last month to address diagnostic and surgical backlogs and is actively reviewing all areas that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The first regular update is expected later this month."

Anderson said in just one month  last January 2021  he went from being able to see to having cloudy vision, poor night vision, and impaired colour vision.

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"I normally read three books a week," he said. "Now, I cant read properly."

Anderson said he has also had to pull out of some of the university courses and drop volunteer work.

It has even affected the care of his two Pomeranians.

"I walk my dogs five to seven times a day and I have to be very careful in doing that," said Anderson. "I no longer do five to seven walks, I do two walks if theyre lucky and I only do them during the daytime and if there is no snow I still dont know when I will be able to get cataract surgery and be able to go back to a normal life.

"I cant express how frustrating it is."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
To count or not to count. Thats the dilemma facing governments across Canada on whether to include so-called incidental COVID-19 cases when publishing daily hospital numbers.

Opinion

To count or not to count. Thats the dilemma facing governments across Canada on whether to include so-called incidental COVID-19 cases when publishing daily hospital numbers.

Some patients are in hospital for medical reasons other than COVID-19, but test positive for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus while there. Theyre still counted as COVID-19 patients, even though thats not the reason they were admitted.

Given the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, some government officials  including in Manitoba  are considering reporting only those admitted due to COVID-19 infection. The rest would be categorized as incidental cases.

Doing so would paint a less-grim picture of Omicrons impact on hospitalizations, which continue to soar in Manitoba. But there are questions about how accurate (or useful) the data would be, given the relationship between the disease and other medical conditions.

There is some validity to changing the methodology. If a patient with a fractured bone requires emergency surgery and tests positive for COVID-19 post-admission, theyre not necessarily affecting hospital capacity as a COVID-19 patient.

The main reason public health officials monitor hospitalizations is to gauge the extent to which COVID-19 is affecting hospital capacity.

Incidental cases have been included in hospital counts since the beginning of the pandemic. But they may be higher now with a more infectious variant the dominant strain in Manitoba.

Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer, said this week the province is considering teasing out incidental COVID-19 cases in the data from the pure ones. The goal would be to get a clearer picture of how Omicron is affecting hospital capacity.

Its supposed to help government decide when, or if, new public health measures are needed to protect hospital capacity. Ontario is considering a similar move, as are some hospitals in the United States. (Massachusetts facilities are planning to report next week whether admissions are primary or incidental to COVID-19.)

However, attempts to draw a clear line between the two may not be that simple.

Doctors who treat patients in hospital will tell you profiles are rarely that cut and dried. Elderly patients with broken bones who require emergency surgery, for example, could have fallen because they were disoriented from a previously undiagnosed case of COVID-19.

Patients often present with multiple medical conditions, one or more of which could be triggered by COVID-19. The infection may not be detected until after the patient is admitted to hospital. The disease may not be the primary reason for hospitalization, but it can be a major factor.

How then to differentiate between primary and incidental? Who would make that call  doctors? Hospital administrators? Government bureaucrats?

If the line is that blurred, the usefulness of the data might be questionable. It may be clearer in some cases than others but it would take a significant amount of time and resources to sift through.

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Time is not something front-line health-care staff have an abundance of these days.

Besides, COVID-19 patients considered incidental would still put pressure on hospitals: they have to be isolated from others and provided with appropriate care. Also, their condition could deteriorate to the extent COVID-19 becomes the primary ailment, yet they wouldnt be included in the official tally.

The push to differentiate between primary and incidental COVID-19 patients feels more like an attempt to cover up for poor planning than a genuine effort to improve surveillance methods. It may do little more than provide COVID-deniers with evidence hospital overcrowding was exaggerated all along.

If the goal is to gauge hospital capacity, the most important metric should be overall hospitalizations and ICU admissions, COVID and non-COVID. Its important to know how the virus is driving up admissions, but its even more important to know what the overall situation is in hospitals, including how close they are to a breaking point.

The Manitoba government doesnt do a great job of making that information public. Teasing out real COVID-19 hospital cases from incidental ones would do nothing to help that.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
It was billed as a charity fundraiser to support sick children while also bringing excitement to Manitoba ice fishers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was billed as a charity fundraiser to support sick children while also bringing excitement to Manitoba ice fishers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

With hundreds taking part, the 2021 Full Tilt Winter Walleye Tournament ended up being one of the biggest virtual ice fishing competitions in Canada, according to participants.

They were told all proceeds would go to the Childrens Hospital Foundation of Manitoba  but its been 10 months, and the charity hasnt received a donation from the event organizer.

The Winnipeg Police Service is looking into the matter, as disappointed and angry fishers raise questions.

The virtual tournament (in which fishers do not gather in person, but submit evidence of catches via an app) was organized by Christian Lillyman, who runs a home renovation company based in Ste. Anne, according to online profiles and people who know him.

Lillyman did not respond to messages from the Free Press seeking comment. The Facebook page for the event is no longer active.

CHFM confirmed it has not received a donation as of Friday, but officials have set up a meeting with the tournament organizer. An emailed statement stressed the foundation had no involvement in organizing or running the event.

Todd Brega, manager of The Fishin' Hole at 1522 Regent Ave. West, was disappointed about what happened with the virtual ice fishing tournament and is helping now to raise money for the Children's Hospital Foundation. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press)

"To date, the funds from this third-party event have not been turned over to the foundation," a spokeswoman said. "We are continuing to try to resolve this with the organizer."

Police are aware of the situation, said spokesman Const. Rob Carver.

"Investigators are assessing the information. No investigation has been initiated as of yet," he wrote in an email.

Entry fees for the tournament, held Feb. 20 to March 7, 2021, were $50 for adults and $25 for children 16 and under.

Participants and sponsors who spoke to the Free Press believed about 500 fishers signed up and had been expecting to eventually learn of the donation total.

Those interviewed said they had no doubts about the competitions legitimacy or intent when they paid entry fees or agreed to donate prizes. They were happy to support a good cause and enjoy the sport at a time when in-person tournaments were on hold due to public health restrictions, they said.

The Full Tilt event used the FishDonkey app for its entrants. Organizers collect entry fees via the app, which takes a service fee. The platform has been used by thousands of tournaments in Canada and the United States.

FishDonkey co-founder Bonnie Amundson said the company, based in St. Paul, Minn., has been contacted by the Winnipeg police financial crimes unit.

Fishers in the virtual tournament submit evidence of catches via an app. (Chelsea Kemp / The Brandon Sun files)

She declined to say how many Manitobans had signed up for the 2021 event, nor how much money may have been collected by the organizer.

"We are in communication with the police and leaving it in their hands. If, in fact, it is true, we have also been duped and misled," said Amundson.

Manitoba businesses donated dozens of prizes, including cash, fishing gear and guided trips. It was unknown if every winner received his or her prize.

The Fishin Hole agreed to be a lead sponsor after being approached by Lillyman, said Todd Brega, who manages the Prairie retail chains Winnipeg store.

It donated $1,000 as a grand prize and an ice auger for an early bird draw.

He was disappointed to learn CHFM had not received a donation.

"We were told after the event it was the largest virtual tournament held in Canada," Brega said.

Shu-Mon Mok, who runs the Fishing Prairie and Shield blog, interviewed Lillyman for a post published just before the tournament started.

RUTH BONNEVILLE Participants and sponsors believed about 500 fishers signed up for the event. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press files)

"All events help good causes, theres a lot of money made from this and the fishing community is pretty good with that," Lillyman was quoted as saying. "It was quite heartwarming to see the community get together. None of this would be possible without the sponsors and people participating."

In an interview, Mok told the Free Press fishers began asking questions after an entrant claimed they didnt receive their prize and was unable to contact Lillyman.

"Theres a lot of disappointment and anger," said Mok.

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Some fishers and sponsors are worried the issue could hurt the communitys reputation. Jerry Esau, who entered the Full Tilt tournament, is part of a group planning a yet-to-be-finalized fundraiser to support CHFM.

"Theres a lot of anger. We want to make good and help the community heal," Esau said.

Selkirk-based Harvester Outdoors, which donated a guided river trip to the now-disputed event, is donating profits from its bait sales to CHFM.

"The outdoor industry is extremely charitable. They have a really good heart," said owner Sean Johnston.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching
Rural paramedics are quitting and entering other professions due to chronic understaffing that their union blames on changes to Manitoba health care.

Rural paramedics are quitting and entering other professions due to chronic understaffing that their union blames on changes to Manitoba health care.

"Our system has been leaned out to a razors edge," said Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.

"It is chaos, and its immensely stressful on those paramedics who want nothing more than to be able to respond to that call in a very reasonable time."

New data shows ambulances in Manitoba are idle due to a lack of personnel.

A statistics report for last October issued by the Medical Transportation Co-ordination Centre, the command centre for almost all ambulances outside of Winnipeg, was obtained by the union.

The data show a steep rise in the hours out-of-service metric, which is the amount of time an ambulance is supposed to be on rotation, but does not have the legislated requirement of having a two-person crew available.

That metric has tripled since March 2020, when COVID-19 took hold in Manitoba, until October 2021.

"There is not an option to not respond to emergencies, so the system cascades on every single member whos out there," said Moroz, whose union represents more than 800 rural paramedics.

"It is certainly showing a really disturbing and frightening trend, that weve been talking about for a long, long time already."

The number of hours ambulances could not be deployed had dropped after the PCs took office in 2016  and Shared Health noted that in that time, it added 149.2 full-time equivalent paramedic positions.

Despite those hires, the total hours that Manitoba was able to deploy rural ambulances dropped by five per cent since late 2016, which suggests the system has operated on a skeleton crew for several years.

Moroz chalks that up to a thinning out of the health service before COVID-19 wreaked havoc and staff absences soared, followed by the decision by health officials to shuffle patients around the province last fall to make room for COVID-19 cases.

For example, rural paramedic calls in October 2021 were equally split between interfacility transfers and primary response calls. Moroz said there should generally be more responses to emergencies than transfers.

Although Shared Health would not say whether thats a normal ratio, it acknowledged the system does not have enough employees.

"Staffing of emergency response services has long been a challenge in some rural parts of the province, with efforts underway to recruit staff to provide 24/7 paramedic coverage in order to reduce Manitobas reliance on overtime or on-call staffing," wrote spokesman Jason Permanand.

"As COVID has progressed, existing staff vacancies have been exacerbated at various points in time by staff sick calls and individuals who are unable to work either due to COVID-19 diagnosis, symptoms or exposure," he wrote.

Ambulances are still available, he insisted.

The agency said Manitoba has tried to improve the situation by contracting out some transportation, dispatching ambulances from different regions and allowing trainees to do more shifts alongside fully qualified staff.

Moroz said Health Minister Audrey Gordon needs to add surge capacity, instead of requiring ambulances to travel long distances to fill gaps in other regions. Her office noted she met with the union, and responded to a letter outlining their concerns.

"We encourage them to continue working with Shared Health on these matters, as they are the employer," reads a statement attributed to Gordon.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said the PCs need to take control of the situation, instead of letting Shared Health tinker with technical adjustments.

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"There really is no way around this other than to add staff," he said, arguing rural health outcomes will otherwise only get worse.

"This is an ambulance shortage from a staffing crunch the province should have seen coming."

Moroz said the province might have missed an opportunity to address the issue in the summer, when the hours ambulances could not be staffed seemed to plateau as COVID-19 cases dropped.

Instead of that metric falling, it shot up last fall, according to data Moroz noted provincial officials would have received. The Omicron variant has undoubtedly worsened the staffing shortage since October.

"Manitobans dont need spin; they need action," he said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
That September, when the beeping of the machines and the hiss and sigh of the ventilator grew too loud for my last broken nerves to handle, I stopped visiting my father where he lay, unconscious, in the ICU. Instead, I huddled for days on my bed, seeking solace in the one place that had all the answers, which was Google.

That September, when the beeping of the machines and the hiss and sigh of the ventilator grew too loud for my last broken nerves to handle, I stopped visiting my father where he lay, unconscious, in the ICU. Instead, I huddled for days on my bed, seeking solace in the one place that had all the answers, which was Google.

This is a story I havent told to anyone before, because on some level, Im still embarrassed.

For weeks, doctors at St. Boniface Hospital had been preparing my family for the fact that the damage caused by the acute respiratory disease that had suddenly struck down my father might be unfixable. I was desperate for another opinion; Id begun to "do my own research," at a time just months before that phrase would become a bitter invective against COVID-19 expertise.

That week, I emailed a couple of doctors who were experts in a certain rare condition that, Id become convinced, may have been missed by the staff at the hospital. I begged them: would they take a look at my dad? Was there anything they could do to suggest something we hadnt tried, a test that hadnt been taken, or one that should be done again?

It wasnt that I didnt trust the doctors caring for my father. I did, theyd been wonderful. I knew one of them personally and trusted him completely. The problem wasnt them; its that, facing the bleak map for what lay ahead  one which led right to the edge of an unbearable cliff  I couldnt bring myself to accept there was no way around.

Desperation can do many things to a mind. It makes tapestries of hope from a few tattered threads. It also makes you close your eyes and cover your ears, unwilling to face what you have so patiently been told by those whose work is to see the facts for you, to explain it, and to know.

Desperation can do many things to a mind. It makes tapestries of hope from a few tattered threads.

To their credit, the doctors who responded to my emails were both caring and professional. They advised only that my father was in the best place he could be for care, and in the hands of the best doctors and there wasnt anything they could do. Their responses landed in my inbox like a cold wind, snuffing out a light; but I knew they were right.

I didnt argue with them, or the doctors at the hospital, either. I didnt swear at them, or question their education. I saw, as those last bits of hope were severed, how theyd been held together only by the love of a daughter, and I let them go.

Two weeks later, my father died, just as the doctors so gently prepared us he might, almost from the beginning.

Two weeks later, my father died, just as the doctors so gently prepared us he might, almost from the beginning.

That was more than two years ago, now. But sometimes, late at night, when Im crossing the last part of the bridge between wake and sleep, my mind still pulls out that old map of my dads journey through the ICU, and begins to search again for any paths not taken. On those nights, part of me understands how seductive it can be to believe anything but the truth.

On Wednesday, medical officer of health and vaccination task force lead Dr. Joss Reimer made, for what must be the millionth time during the pandemic, a calm and measured plea to Manitobans to get the shot.

Yes, she told a news briefing, the effort is about protecting the medical system. But it is also about protecting every single Manitoban, and while the vaccines arent as effective at stopping infection with Omicron as with previous variants, they still work wonders against the worst the virus can do, especially with a booster.

"Being in the hospital is a very unpleasant experience," she said. "Being in ICU is a traumatic experience."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES "Being in the hospital is a very unpleasant experience, Being in ICU is a traumatic experience," Dr. Joss Reimer said Wednesday.

It was good that she used this word  traumatic  because the trauma of critical illness is, perhaps, one of the many aspects of this pandemic that hasnt been much discussed. By the time the pandemic is over  and all pandemics do someday end  there will have been many more Manitobans than usual who survived critical care, and carry the scars.

Clinicians have long known that many people come out of the ICU changed, and not just in body. In 2015, researchers at Johns Hopkins scoured the scientific literature to better understand the extent of the trauma. They found that about one-quarter of patients who required critical care and survived suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Clinicians have long known that many people come out of the ICU changed, and not just in body.

Thats roughly the same rate of PTSD as is seen in combat veterans and sexual assault survivors. It represents a hard fact about critical care that isnt evident until youve spent time around it: modern medicine can do incredible things to bring people back from the brink, but what needs to be done to haul them back can be horrifying.

And thats to say nothing of families and the trauma they carry from what they endure. Its to say nothing of how you live when a loved one is in ICU: afraid to sleep because youre terrified of being woken by a phone call, afraid to wake because only in sleep can you escape the dread of what the next hour or even the next minute will bring.

The greatest tragedy of all is that since vaccines rolled out, most of the trauma that has come has been preventable. So much pain in our lives comes to us without warning, without reason, without any chance to prepare; but most of what unfolds in ICUs now with COVID-19 could have been prevented with two or three needle pricks.

At this point, with the tensions between the vaccinated and unvaccinated long since boiled over, we ought not forget, as Reimer pointed out Wednesday, that for the most part, the effort to prevent so much of this pain has been incredibly successful; the large majority of Manitobans have been vaccinated.

By now, theres probably not much anyone can say or write that will alter the decision of most of the others.

"We cant convince everybody," she acknowledged.

I think about all the stories that have trickled out about terrified anti-vaxxers who, about to be intubated, cried after begging for a shot and being told by doctors and nurses it was too late for that to help them. Of those same people making a last plea to everyone they knew to get vaccinated before they were placed on a ventilator and gave up their consciousness for days, or weeks, or forever.

I think about how, the day after Christmas, a friend called, someone who lives in an area with low vaccination rates that had been hit hard by Delta. He knew of several people who had survived ICU care for COVID-19. I asked if going through that, if seeing people go through that, had changed any minds about vaccination.

"Oh, they all change their minds," he said, and it broke my heart to think that might be true.

I think about all the stories that have trickled out about terrified antivaxxers who, about to be intubated, cried after begging for a shot and being told by doctors and nurses it was too late for that to help them.

Many years ago, I read an essay from a Christian minister who started his pastoral career doing hospital visits, sitting with the sick, praying with the dying. I cant remember his name anymore, nor can I find the essay, but the story of it burrowed into my mind and stayed there, pocketed away as a vivid picture of faith and of suffering.

He wrote about praying his heart out with patients, including a young mother dying of breast cancer. He wrote about how, over time, he noticed that no matter how hard he prayed, things usually went how the doctors predicted. If they said that a patient had weeks to live, that patient usually died within weeks.

He (a Christian minister) wrote about how, over time, he noticed that no matter how hard he prayed, things usually went how the doctors predicted.

That experience pushed the young minister to a crisis of faith, he wrote, one from which he emerged with a far different understanding of his work than the youthful hope he had first brought into his calling. But he stayed a minister. He still believed, just differently than when hed started, and now with a wisdom wrought by walking beside pain.

I think about how, the morning my father went into ICU, I ran to a church and banged on the door until they let me in. The priest led me into the sanctuary, where we sat in the empty quire while tears ran down my face. I asked him to help me pray, because I never learned how, because I didnt know what to ask for, but I needed to ask now.

He bowed his head, and called my dads name. I expected him to pray for my fathers life, to ask God to ensure that my dad, the light of my world and that of so many others, would somehow survive, but thats not what the priest did.

"We pray for wisdom for the doctors," he said. "So that they may discern the best course of action."

Even then, I saw how loving it was to pray not for a miracle, but for the strength inside us to see, to know and to listen.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

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Canadians may have a newly-named house hippo in their living rooms, thanks to a Winnipeggers tweet going viral.

Canadians may have a newly-named house hippo in their living rooms, thanks to a Winnipeggers tweet going viral.

University of Manitoba assistant professor Dylan MacKay came across a Leons furniture store ad for a brown polyester hippopotamus-shaped ottoman, named the "Hippo Storage Ottoman," while scrolling through his phone with his wife.

They were drawn to the ungulate footrest and MacKay noted there was a missed opportunity in the complementary vowels between the two words  why didnt the company call it the "Hippopottoman?"

"We were laughing at the idea and we just sort of turned it into a joke  I went and told my kids, and they were like, Oh, thats a lame joke, so I put it on social media," MacKay told the Free Press Saturday.

He took his wordplay to Twitter, sharing a photo of the ottoman with the caption "The fact that this is not called a hippopottoman is a huge failure"

MacKay uses Twitter quite a bit and isnt one to shy away from posting a joke or two, but wasnt expecting the tweet to blow up like it did  after just a few days, the tweet gained thousands of likes and retweets. As of Saturday, it has 7,000 retweets and nearly 60,000 likes.

"Twitters great for science and that kind of stuff, and lately I use it all the time for COVID numbers and the news, so its my main social media platform, but Ive never truly gone viral like this before," he said.

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That response  and a direct tweet from MacKay suggesting they change the name  convinced Leons to change the name and send MacKay and his wife a Hippopottoman of their own. Leons also sells a "Cow Storage Ottoman" and a "Dinosaur Storage Ottoman" ("Look I am not going to say Triceratottoman isnt a better name," MacKay noted on Twitter), along with the newly renamed Hippopottoman.

"Yesterday, I actually had a socially distant in-person tour, and two of the people were like, Oh, I saw you on the news, or Oh, I saw you on Twitter, and started making Hippopottoman jokes," MacKay said.

Going viral is a new experience for MacKay, who said the hundreds of new followers hes gained will be met with "politics, bad jokes and nutritional science"  and probably not many hippopotamuses.

"Its been a lot of Hippopottoman content lately, and Im kind of done with it now," he joked.

"But Im glad that lots of people are finding it funny and making their own jokes and extending it, the kind of stuff that happens on the internet. Its non-COVID content, and thats great. Everyone needs a bit of a distraction from the current situation were in, I think."

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
NEARLY a year ago, the Manitoba government established the Pandemic Response System (PRS) with four levels: limited risk (green), caution (yellow); restricted (orange); and critical (red). Government indicated the plan was created to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus to prevent serious illness and death, to reduce economic impact and to keep society functioning.

Opinion

NEARLY a year ago, the Manitoba government established the Pandemic Response System (PRS) with four levels: limited risk (green), caution (yellow); restricted (orange); and critical (red). Government indicated the plan was created to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus to prevent serious illness and death, to reduce economic impact and to keep society functioning.

While each level on the PRS has a clearly established set of criteria to identify the current level of risk, provide public health guidance and explain the range of measures in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Manitoba, the Progressive Conservative government has repeatedly ignored its own plan, public health data and advice from the larger medical community.

Theres a reason traffic lights have only three colours: having too many options muddles the message and creates dangerous conditions for the public. Red means stop, green means go, and  contrary to popular belief  yellow means prepare to stop, not gun it.

Instead of making proactive decisions to employ circuit breakers, the government has implemented half-measures, or code orange, to send Manitobans a message. Time and again, it has not worked. Level orange is akin to when a parent tells their unruly child, Im going to count down from three to one and youd better start behaving yourself. Three. Two. One and three quarters. One and a half. One and a quarter. Are you listening yet?

Just like the countdown parent, the PC government does not want to count down to one, a.k.a. critical (red), because that means it will have to have to follow its own rules, impose consequences and act.

Over the course of the pandemic, teachers have watched as the government created an alternate PRS colour code for the education sector. Last year, the government seemed to expand the choices as if they were paint-store colour swatches: code peach, code blood orange, or code pink. But really, each colour blend was no laughing matter.

The repeated requests to pivot on the PRS demonstrated this governments lack of understanding of the realities of the public school system. Each shift on the PRS was an additional strain on teachers, educational assistants (EAs), principals and support staff, who were left to implement plans that were not feasible given the physical space, time and resources available to them.

The impact of spending most of last year in code orange is still reverberating in the education system. This is evidenced by the lack of substitutes available for teachers and EAs, and increased medical leaves for educational workers who have spent far too long attempting to make the impossible possible.

When these positions go unfilled, the vicious cycle is perpetuated as teachers and principals take on the roles of others in addition to their own, further exhausting themselves and bringing them one step closer to a medical leave of their own.

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While code red is not the long-term solution, schools may be forced to move to remote learning when staffing levels become critical, to ensure some level of educational continuity for students.

Despite having had adequate time and money to make essential infrastructure investments in schools and to acquire improved masks and rapid tests for students and staff, the government now seems to believe that one week will provide the time needed to make everything safe. But that is unrealistic.

Prior to January, the education system was already facing staffing shortages. The impact of Omicron, added to this already existing challenge, will be felt well beyond Jan. 17. Last year, the province moved Hanover School Division to code-red critical when the test positivity rate in the community surpassed 25 per cent.

On the day of this writing, the provincial test positivity rate is over 40 per cent, and almost 50 per cent in Winnipeg. If those figures werent sobering enough, the backlog of COVID-19 tests currently in process means the true percentages are likely considerably higher.

It is time for the government to recognize that in failing to plan for the return to school, it has planned to fail. In shifting the responsibility for finding solutions back onto public school teachers and the very school boards and school divisions it was attempting to dissolve through Bill 64, it has predetermined who will serve as its scapegoats when this human experiment colossally fails.

Marcela Cabezas is president of the Louis Riel Teachers Association.
In the context of the City of Winnipegs $1.19-billion operating budget, its a relative pittance to contribute $100,000 to a legal challenge of Quebecs Bill 21. But the modest sum has large ramifications.

In the context of the City of Winnipegs $1.19-billion operating budget, its a relative pittance to contribute $100,000 to a legal challenge of Quebecs Bill 21. But the modest sum has large ramifications.

Its highly unusual for this municipal government to get involved in the business of a provincial government so far removed from Winnipegs direct interests. If the donation is approved by Winnipegs executive policy committee after its scheduled debate this month, expect blunt advice from some Quebecers that perhaps cities in other provinces should stay in their lane.

The Winnipeg proposal is also noteworthy because its going where the federal government fears to tread. The infamous Quebec law  which bars public employees in positions of authority, including teachers, from wearing visible religious symbols such as turbans, kippahs and hijabs while working  has been on the books since June of 2019, and has not been legally challenged by the Justin Trudeau federal government, which historically depends on strong voter support in Quebec.

When the bill became law, the only provincial leader to oppose it publicly was Manitobas then-premier Brian Pallister, who called it "dangerous legislation." Say what you will about Mr. Pallister, and many Manitobans decline to say anything laudatory about this controversial former premier, but his assessment of Bill 21 was well considered.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Former Manitoba premier Brian Pallister, whose assessment of Bill 21 was well considered, called it dangerous legislation.

With Mr. Pallister now retired, Winnipegs new objection to the Quebec legislation came from Mayor Brian Bowman on Dec. 16. "Bill 21 is something that we havent seen for some time in Canada," he said while initiating the motion that the city donate $100,000 to the legal fight. "It is so objectionable. It is contrary to everything that we hold dear as Canadians."

It is so objectionable. It is contrary to everything that we hold dear as Canadians.  Mayor Brian Bowman

Winnipeg is not the only Canadian city donating to the challenge. As part of a co-ordinated push, Toronto and Brampton, Ont., have each agreed to contribute $100,000, and Calgary, Alta., is discussing a possible contribution.

The cities uncommon attempt to right a wrong beyond their municipal boundaries comes after fresh controversy related to Bill 21 erupted in December when Fatemeh Anvari, a popular third-grade teacher in Chelsea, Quebec, was removed from her classroom and reassigned to another role because she wears a hijab. The motto of her school, Chelsea Elementary, is "Respect for all, by all."

Ms. Anvari became the face of opposition to the provincial law, with protests across Quebec and criticism from across the country.

Federal politicians, aware Bill 21 has 64 per cent support among Quebecers, restricted their reactions to nothing more than words. Marc Miller, the federal minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, called the law "cowardly."

Mr. Trudeau, always quick to position himself as a proponent of diversity, said he personally is "deeply" opposed to the law, but for jurisdictional reasons his government wont support the legal challenge.

Conservative leader Erin OToole also said he personally opposes the law, and also wont commit to intervening against it.

The wordsbutnoaction stance of federal politicians is of little practical value to the groups challenging the law (Bill 21).

Unfortunately, the words-but-no-action stance of federal politicians is of little practical value to the groups challenging the law: the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the World Sikh Organization of Canada and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. They need help to pay the legal bills necessary to match the substantial financial resources of the the Quebec government.

Its into this void of volition that Canadian cities are stepping up to help fund the challenge of what has been accurately described as "legislated intolerance."

Winnipegs EPC should approve the $100,000 donation, even though it transcends city councils normal jurisdiction. When injustice is so brazen, Winnipeg should refuse to look the other way and mind its own business.
By the time Carley Sylvester graduated from nursing school, she had lived in the Twin Cities, La Crosse and Rochester. But she chose to return to her native Wabasha to start her career.

Theres something about Gundersen St. Elizabeths that you dont find at other places, Sylvester said. Ive learned so much about how to treat people, how to be my own person and how to act with respect. Here, nobody works in silos. From start to finish, the care is holistic.

Its that holistic, supportive care that Winona State University professor Terese Hemmingsen tries to share with her students  working registered nurses returning to education for a bachelors degree in nursing.

Hemmingsen has a vested interest. She practiced at then-St. Elizabeths Medical Center for 28 years and witnessed the benefits and balance working and living in a smaller community.

My students often have the belief that if you work in rural health care, youre just working with one age group or a certain population, Hemmingsen said.

Gundersen St. Elizabeths nurse practitioner Zhonghua (Jessica) Xie agrees.

Originally from China, Xie graduated nursing school in Japan before working in an intensive care unit in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

While she loves practicing in a small town, Xie says there can be stereotypes comparing urban and rural health care.

Whether its rural or urban health care, our standards as practitioners and providers are the same, she said.

And with La Crosse, Winona and Rochester nearby, she says practicing in Wabasha doesnt really feel remote.

Practicing in a more rural area encourages us to band together as a team, to use our resources and think on our feet, she said.

Hemmingsen added, Rural health care is incredibly exciting and ever-changing. One day can include a trauma, a cardiac event and a pediatric care visit.

The nursing professor is a first-generation high school and college graduate.

Seven weeks after her third child was born, she returned to school for an associate degree in nursing. While practicing at St. Elizabeths Medical Center, she earned her bachelors degree in nursing, her masters degree in nursing education and her Doctorate of Nursing degree.

I know how hard it is for these nurses to go back to school at this stage in life. For most of them, this is their second career, Hemmingsen said. And many of them have spouses, families and busy schedules.

Like WSU students and registered nurses Michael Sampson and Nadia Hauger.

Last fall Sampson and Hauger, in the same cohort, sat at a table in the main corridor of Gundersen St. Elizabeths and shared about the importance of radon kits. This was part of Wellness Wednesday, a wellness initiative between WSU and Gundersen St. Elizabeths.

Sampson, 30, works at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire on the neuro/peds/trauma unit. Hauger, 29, works at Mayo Clinic Health System in Rochester on the organ transplant floor.

After graduating and working for a couple years, both returned to school to get their RN degree. Now theyre earning their BSN which will give them more options and opportunities in the future.

This mutually beneficial relationship gives students like Sampson and Hauger a peek at rural health care while allowing nurses at Gundersen St. Elizabeths to take a breather  nurses like Julie Hirsch.

In 2019, Hirsch took on her current role at Gundersen St. Elizabeths as employee health nurse. A year into her new assignment, a global pandemic swept across the country.

I was fielding COVID-like illness calls and testing team members multiple times a week, Hirsch recalled. As a small but mighty team of three employee health nurses, we were on call 24/7.

By fall 2021, Hirsch was exhausted. When approached, she accepted a boost from Hemmingsens students to help launch and run an employee flu clinic.

Those students did a fantastic job, Hirsch said. It was a win-win for them, for me and for our employees.

Hemmingsen hopes that if or when Sampson, Hauger and others are ready for a workplace change, theyll remember that rural health care isnt as far away as they think.

Often we hear about nursing shortages in big cities and larger hospitals, Hemmingsen said. But rural health care faces just as many hardships. And most nursing students arent exposed to rural health care as a possible career path.

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Winona, MN (55987)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 42F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 42F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
JUNEAU  An 18-year-old Watertown man was found guilty of a robbery last fall at a gas station on North University Avenue in Beaver Dam.

Thatcher Sehrbrock entered a no contest plea for a felony count of robbery with use of force. Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Sciascia found Sehrbrock guilty of the charge.

According to the criminal complaint, two younger masked men entered the gas station on Nov. 28, 2020, at 12:45 a.m. One of the men sprayed the clerk with pepper spray and the same person selected several packs of Marlboro Red Seventy-Twos.

The clerk attempted to detain and was able to demask the men, but they both were able to flee on foot.

Some merchandise in the store was damaged.

Police obtained the video footage from the assistant manager.

According to the criminal complaint, Beaver Dam Police did a Wisconsin Crime Alert on Dec. 1, 2020, and came back with a tip about Avery Bence being the primary suspect.

Bence has a sentencing hearing on Jan. 25.

According to the criminal complaint, police spoke to the mother of Bence who confirmed he was the one in the photos from the gas station.

Bence told investigators that he did not know the name of the person who was with him but was able to identify him on social media.

Both Watertown and Oconomowoc Police were contacted and identified Sehrbrock as a possible suspect. Beaver Dam Police were able to match Sehrbrocks DNA with DNA that was found on a bandana that was left on the scene.

Sehrbrock is scheduled to be sentenced on April 19.
As the country awaits a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a New York state case that may create a federal constitutional right to carry guns outside the home, what lessons can the nation draw from the recent acquittal in Wisconsin of Kyle Rittenhouse and the convictions in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia?

The obvious first lesson is that no one would be dead, maimed or going to prison if the men in these cases had not possessed firearms or had just left their weapons at home. The man Rittenhouse maimed learned that his self-proclaimed constant gun carrying not only did not protect him or others, but simply added him to the victim count when he pointed his gun at Rittenhouse.

During the oral argument in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen on Nov. 3, a number of the conservative Supreme Court justices seemed unaware of a second lesson: The best empirical evidence shows that carrying guns outside the home substantially elevates the risk to the public. As my own research and 14 academic papers in the past four years alone have shown, the restrictions on gun carrying in states such as New York and California have reduced violent crime. Expanding the Second Amendment beyond its current scope of a right to possess a gun in the home would likely reverse this progress.

Travis McMichael is one of three white men convicted of chasing down and shooting Arbery, an unarmed Black man. McMichael testified at the trial that there had been much crime in his neighborhood and that he had a Smith & Wesson pistol stolen from his truck in front of his house. Lesson three: That gun and other guns stolen outside the home abundantly arm American criminals  to the tune of roughly 100,000 guns per year. Even before McMichael murdered Arbery, he was already contributing to violent crime indirectly.

Lesson four concerns the deceptive, or at best opaque, feature of Wisconsin law that even the judge in the Rittenhouse case said was confusing. The statute states: Any person under 18 years of age who possesses or goes armed with a dangerous weapon is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor, where dangerous weapon includes any firearm, loaded or unloaded.

While this law would prevent someone of Rittenhouses age from carrying a handgun, stun-gun or brass knuckles, it has buried cross-references that end up exempting all long guns, including Rittenhouses AR-15.

Whether this was through poor legislative drafting or influenced by lobbying from gun rights groups in Wisconsin is unclear, but if the intention of the law was to protect the public from dangerous weapons, then this public interest was undermined by an obscure statutory regime that prohibited minors from having dangerous but non-lethal weapons while permitting them to walk city streets with an AR-15.

Lesson five is that if the federal assault weapons ban had remained in place instead of lapsing in 2004, the Rittenhouse tragedy might not have happened. The AR-15 once again proved to be attractive to someone who should not have had the weapon, with Rittenhouse testifying that he was drawn to the gun because it looked cool.

This is indeed part of the marketing strategy of gun sellers  to exploit the fantasies of young men that assault weapons will make them more manly. As the Parkland High School shooter in Florida noted just before killing 17 in 2018, With the power of the A.R., you will know who I am. The Sutherland Springs Baptist Church shooter posted a picture of his AR-15 with the heading Shes a bad bitch shortly before he killed 26 in Texas in 2017.

Rittenhouse should never have had an AR-15 in the first place. The federal Gun Control Act prohibits the sale of any firearm to someone under the age of 18, and the 17-year-old Rittenhouse only had one because he used an illegal straw purchaser to circumvent this federal law to procure his assault rifle. A straw purchaser acts as a proxy buyer of a weapon for someone who is not legally entitled to purchase the firearm, which is a clear federal crime.

As NRA leader Wayne LaPierre once testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee: Weve said straw-man sales should be prosecuted for years.  If someone is doing a straw-man sale, they should be prosecuted, absolutely.

Rittenhouses friend, the gun purchaser, can be prosecuted for this felony offense, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years.

But can Rittenhouse as the recipient of the gun also be charged? Some might argue that the federal gun laws are as porous as Wisconsin law and that the answer is no. This uncertainty demonstrates the need for a clarified federal law prohibiting both the straw purchaser and those such as Rittenhouse who take ownership of guns in violation of the law. Thats lesson number six.

Securing a federal felony conviction of Rittenhouse would prevent him from owning the AR-15 that the lobbying group Gun Owners of America planned to send him to celebrate his Wisconsin acquittal.

The final lesson of how guns outside the home generate unusual harms was underscored by the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in which disaster was avoided because Washington gun laws prevented hundreds from carrying their handguns and assault weapons during the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

As the Supreme Court justices consider the New York case, Id argue they should be cautious about ignoring the need for constraint that is articulated in the text of the Second Amendment referring to a well-regulated militia. And I believe theyd be wise to recognize the long history and tradition of restricting gun carrying outside the home to promote the safety of the citizenry and, indeed, the health and perhaps existence of our democracy.

Donohue is a professor of law at Stanford University: donohue@law.stanford.edu.
New developments tonight in the Michael and Kristine Barnett case. The state's appeal to the supreme court of Indiana over six felony counts dismissed by a Tippecanoe County judge was denied.
BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday sent a message of sympathy to Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani over his infection with the COVID-19 virus.

In his message, Xi said that learning about the infection of President Ghazouani, he extends sympathy to him and wishes him a speedy recovery.

The Chinese government and the Chinese people firmly support the Mauritanian government and people in the anti-pandemic fight, Xi said, adding he believes that under the leadership of Ghazouani, Mauritania will surely defeat the pandemic at an early date.

(Source: Xinhua)
A police officer stands guard in front of the city hall in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Jan. 5, 2022. [Photo by Kalizhan Ospanov/Xinhua]

China, Xi said, firmly opposes any force undermining Kazakhstan's stability, threatening the country's security, and sabotaging the peaceful life of the Kazakh people.

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua)  Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sent a verbal message to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev over the recent large-scale riots in Kazakhstan.

Noting that the riots have caused heavy casualties and property losses, Xi expressed his sincere sympathies to President Tokayev in the message.

He said President Tokayev has taken decisive and effective actions at a critical moment, quickly calming the situation, which has shown his sense of responsibility as a statesman, and demonstrated a highly responsible attitude to the country and the people.

China, Xi said, firmly opposes any force undermining Kazakhstan's stability, threatening the country's security, and sabotaging the peaceful life of the Kazakh people.

Military personnel patrol in front of the presidential palace in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Jan. 6, 2022. [Photo by Kalizhan Ospanov/Xinhua]

Furthermore, China strongly rejects any attempt by external forces to provoke unrest and instigate "color revolutions" in Kazakhstan, as well as any attempt to harm the friendship between China and Kazakhstan and disrupt the two countries' cooperation, Xi added.

Xi said that China, as a fraternal neighbor and permanent comprehensive strategic partner of Kazakhstan, is ready to provide necessary support to help it overcome the difficulties.

No matter what risks and challenges get in the way, China will always remain as a trustworthy friend and reliable partner of Kazakhstan, and the Chinese people will forever stand with the Kazakh people, Xi added.

(Source: Xinhua)
Plaid Cymru calls on health minister to better explain the reasons behind change to cervical screening

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jan 8th, 2022

Plaid Cymru have called on Wales health minister to contact everyone affected by recent increase to cervical screening intervals to better explain the reasons behind the change.

At the start of this month Cervical Screening Wales (CSW) extended the routine screening for 25 and 49 year olds from three to five years  if human papillomavirus is not found in their cervical screening test.

In Wales smear tests, had been routinely offered to women and people with a cervix in the age group every three years.

Public Health Wales say the change is as a result of the current screening being more accurate than the previous screening test and brings the advice for this age group in line with the screening interval for those aged 50 to 64.

However the change has faced a backlash from the public and opposition parties, with hundreds of thousands of people signing a petition urging the Welsh government and Public Health Wales to rethink the decision.

On Thursday (6 January 2022) Plaid Cymru spokesperson for health and care, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS wrote to Health Minister Eluned Morgan to ask her contact everyone affected by the recent increase to cervical screening intervals to better explain the reasons behind the change.

In his letter, Rhun ap Iorwerth said: I am writing about the communication of the recent change to the arrangements for cervical cancer screening. I was disappointed to read about the change at first, but having done my own research, and having received a note of explanation from Cancer Research UK stating that they support the new regime, I am satisfied that this is a sensible, evidence-based step.

However, many thousands of people are now concerned about this, and I think that is based on a failure to communicate clearly the reason for the change.

I am aware that Public Health Wales has apologised for the lack of clarity, but I would like you to consider again how to contact people in Wales urgently to allay their fears, and indeed to explain why developments in our understanding of how best to screen for HPV can positively influence the frequency of screening.

Rhun ap Iorwerth MS said: Many thousands of people in Wales are concerned about the recent changes to cervical screening  a move that has taken many by surprise, and which was accompanied by a surprising lack of detail.

Having reviewed the evidence, and having received further information from Cancer Research UK, Im satisfied that this is an evidence-based change, due to improved understanding of the relationship between screening, the HPV vaccine and the risk of cancer.

But this must be explained clearly and directly, and that is why I have written to the Health Minister to ask her to contact everyone in Wales affected by these changes  as a matter of urgency  to better explain the reasons behind the change in screening strategy.

Last week Public Health Wales and the Welsh government moved to reassure the public about the change, which has been recommended by the UK National Screening Committee in 2019.

Since 2008 girls aged 12 or 13 have been offered the HPV vaccine across the UK to help protect against cervical cancer.

Research has shown that the vaccine has led to about a 90 per cent reduction in the number of people with pre-cancerous cells.

Louise Dunk, Head of Programme for Cervical Screening Wales at Public Health Wales said: Testing everyone who attends for cervical screening using a test for high risk HPV will identify those at risk and prevent more cancers than just examining the cells alone.

It is a really positive development that this more effective test will mean that people with a cervix, who test negative for HPV, now only need to attend their testing every five years, rather than three.

Going for your screening appointment could save your life. By making an appointment you have the chance to prevent cervical cancer from developing, or picking it up at an early stage when it is more treatable.

Health Minister Eluned Morgan said: I would like to reiterate that the change has been made because the current screening is more accurate than previous testing and, therefore, less frequent screening is required for those who do not have HPV.

Those who are identified as having HPV will be followed up closely, either by being referred for further review at a hospital colposcopy clinic or by invitation for a further test in a years time if there were no cell changes present in their sample.

The change to the screening interval has been made in line with the independent, expert advice of the UK National Screening Committee, which made the recommendation for the interval change in February 2019 after undertaking a public consultation.

This is therefore the current evidence-based recommendation at a UK level. It was implemented in Scotland in March 2020.

The change is now being made in Wales as the evidence has shown it is safe to extend the screening interval due to the improved test.
Top of Omicron wave could come in the next 10 to 14 days  majority in critical care are not vaccinated

This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jan 8th, 2022

The First Minister Mark Drakeford has said he is hopeful figures in Wales could start to reduce from around two weeks time.

The comments came during the live briefing held yesterday lunchtime in Cardiff, with the First Minister referring to modelling several times and comparing it to what has been recorded in firm figures.

The First Minister said of the above slide, It shows you how the modelling that weve had done for us here in Wales shows how the Omicron wave wave is expected to behave. The blue line shows how cases are predicted to grow over the coming weeks. The black line shows the actual confirmed cases.

As you can see, the actual cases are following very closely the predicted wave, and what the wave shows is the speed at which the Omicron wave will break over us and then how cases decline at a relatively rapid rate as well.

Now we havent reached the peak of that wave as yet, it could be within the next 10 to 14 days. But, we will get to the top of the wave and then hopefully we will see the numbers reducing again here in Wales.

The latest figures show that there are more than 2300 cases per 100,000 people across Wales. Cases are highest amongst 20 to 39 year olds but we are also now seeing rises in older age groups. As community transmission increases rapidly, while the figures are clearly concerning, they are in line with what the modelling forecasts told us.

Every close contact is an opportunity for it to spread.

Data was also released on the number of people to being admitted to hospital with coronavirus, The latest figures show that there are now a total of 994, just under 1000, COVID-19 patients in our hospitals in Wales and that is a 43% increase on a single week and that number is the highest we have seen in Welsh hospitals since March of last year.

There are now around 40 people are so ill in hospital that they have to receive critical care and the majority of those people are people who have not been vaccinated. Very sadly since just the start of this year, public health Wales has reported 38 New deaths from coronavirus.

When asked about reversing restrictions, and what timeframes could be involved, the First Minister said, As people will have seen from the model that we showed earlier, the position over the next 10 days to two weeks is not going to be one that is easing.

The numbers are likely to continue to rise. So it will not be until we have past the peak of infections and we are sure that we can see the pressures on the spread of this virus in the community are beginning to reduce, and will then take a while as it always does to feed through into reducing pressure on health services, hospital services, critical care services.

So I dont anticipate that over the next fortnight we will be in a position to move away from the level of restrictions we currently have in place. But, we will track it every day. We will review it every week. And when we see that corner being turned and we can see the number as we hope coming down reasonably rapidly. That will be the point at which we will be able to assess when it is safe to begin to lift the extra restrictions and protections we put in place so far.

You can view the full update and briefing on the below video:
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Educators Rank-and-File-Safety Committee (UK) has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday January 11 at 7 p.m. to discuss a fightback against the rampant spread of COVID-19 throughout schools.

Readers can register for the meeting here.

This Tuesday the committee issued a statement No Return to Schools! Childrens Lives Matter! insisting, Schools must shut in favour of online learning, as part of an urgent programme of lockdowns and other public health measures to eliminate the virus.

The situation facing teachers and support staff in the UK and internationally is intolerable, with complete disregard shown for the health and lives of children. This has to stop now! We urge teachers and school staff to take matters into their own hands. Mass walkouts from unsafe schools must be organised! Independent rank-and-file committees must be formed to lead this fight and impose the necessary restrictions to bring the virus under control.

Primary school pupils return to a school in Bournemouth, England on Monday September 6, 2021 (WSWS Media)

Omicron is not mild and we cannot learn to live with it!

Some 127 children have already died of COVID in the UK. More than 77,000 are suffering Long COVID symptoms. On January 7, another 133 children in England alone were admitted to hospital with the virus. This took the total number of child hospitalisations since the beginning of the pandemic to 14,533. Of the 149,405 new COVID cases reported in England yesterday, 32,551 (21.7 percent) were children aged 0-19.

The Johnson governments allowing Omicron to rip though the population has left thousands of educators ill and unable to work at the start of term. A survey by the National Association of Head Teachers of 2,000 mainly primary schools on the first day back Tuesday showed:

A third of schools in England had whole-school staff absences over 10 percent.

A quarter of schools had over 10 percent of teachers absent due to COVID-19.

Nine percent of schools had more than 20 percent absences.

95 percent of schools reported pupil absences, and almost a third were missing 10 percent of their pupils due to COVID.

Teachers are being told to merge classes and move sites, with non-teachers asked to cover. With no mask wearing in primary schools and little or no mitigations elsewhere the virus will continue to spread, putting lives at risk.

The education unions have done nothing to protect teachers and childrens lives, only asking that classes arent merged to stop further transmission and calling for more ventilation and air filters in classrooms.

Educators in Chicago in the US are showing the way forward by overwhelmingly supporting strike action. Their lead is being followed by teachers in other states nationwide.

Invite your friends and colleagues to attend Tuesdays online meeting to discuss these important issues and the fight to end the pandemic.

Register for the meeting here.
Adhering to prosecutors recommendations, Georgia Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced the three white men responsible for the murder of African American jogger Ahmaud Arbery on February 23, 2020 to life in prison.

Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty for the three men, all of whom were convicted of felony murder, or committing felonies that caused Arberys death. Walmsley sentenced Travis McMichael, 35, and his 66-year-old father, Gregory McMichael, to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while 52-year-old William Roddie Bryan received a lesser sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

This photo combo shows, from left, Travis McMichael, William "Roddie" Bryan, and Gregory McMichael during their trial at at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga. [Credit: AP Pool]

The defense teams for all three defendants asked the court for life sentences with the possibility of parole. Bryan will not be eligible for parole for at least 30 years.

This past November a Georgia jury, comprised of 11 white people and one black person, convicted all three men on felony murder charges as well as lesser assault charges. It is likely the convicted will seek to appeal their sentences to the Georgia Supreme Court, however all three still face federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges with that trial set to go forward next month.

Before Fridays hearing, Lee Merritt, an attorney for Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arberys mother, told assembled press that federal prosecutors had approached her to see if she would accept a plea deal regarding the federal charges which would include a 30-year prison sentence for the three men.

Speaking to CNN, Merritt said: She rejected that offer because we believe that today the state will move forward with life sentences without the possibility of parole, and we think thats the appropriate sentence.

In victim impact statements made before the judge prior to sentencing, members of Arberys family requested that all three men be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Cooper-Jones told the court:  these men have chosen to lie and attack my son and his surviving family. They each have no remorse and do not deserve any leniency. This wasnt a case of mistaken identity. Or mistaken fact. They chose to target my son because they did not want him in their community.

She continued: These men deserve the maximum sentence for their crimes. Ahmaud never said a word to them. He never threatened them. He just wanted to be left alone. They were fully committed to their crimes. Let them be fully committed for their consequences. Your honor Im standing here before you as the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, asking you to please give all three defendants who are responsible for the death of my son the maximum punishment in this court, which I do believe is life behind bars without the possible chance for parole.

Prior to imposing the sentence, Judge Walmsley held a minute of silence, which he said, represents a fraction of the time that Ahmaud Arbery was running in Satilla Shores, the Georgia suburb where Arbery was shot and killed.

Arbery, a standout linebacker at Brunswick High School, had been out for a jog less than two miles from his home when the McMichaels saw him run by their house. The former cop and his son armed themselves and pursued Arbery in Traviss pickup truck, which he had adorned with a Confederate emblem, while their neighbor, Bryan, gave chase separately in his truck filming the incident.

Arbery managed to elude his pursuers for roughly five minutes, but eventually the three men used their vehicles to corner Arbery with the armed McMichaels attempting to perform a citizens arrest on the unarmed man. In the ensuing altercation Travis shot Arbery three times with a shotgun.

Prior to sentencing, judge Walmsley remarked that Arbery was hunted down and shot and that he kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores.

The killers, none of whom were ever physically or verbally threatened by Arbery, or witnessed the young man commit any crimes, were not arrested at the scene and walked free for months, facing no charges. This was due in part to ex-Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson, who refused to bring charges against the men, no doubt due to her prior relationship with the McMichael family.

The elder McMichael retired in 2019 after spending 37 years as a cop, which included a stint as an investigator in Johnsons office until 2019. After participating in the murder of Arbery, Greg McMichaelfrom the scene of the crimecalled Johnson and left a voice mail seeking protection: Could you call me as soon as you possibly can?

For months, prosecutors refused to bring charges, regurgitating the defendants thinly-veiled racist lies that Arbery initiated the altercation and that the killers were well within their rights to perform a citizens arrest of the threatening Arbery.

On May 5, the Arbery family, through their attorney, released video footage proving the McMichaels lied in description of the incident. The release of the footage, along with mass outrage following the police murder of George Floyd on May 25, uncorked a geyser of social anger worldwide. Workers around the world identified with Arbery and demanded that his killers be charged.

While the sentencing of Arberys killers provides some measure of justice, the fact is, had Arberys family not been able to produce the cell phone footage, which went viral worldwide, Arberys killers would have likely gotten away with their crime. The sentencing of Arberys killers is the exception that proves the rule. Overwhelmingly, current and former police are given free rein to terrorize the working class.

In 2021, US police killed 1,123 people according to data compiled by Mapping Police Violence, which has tracked similar figures over the past seven years. From 2013 through 2020 the website has found that 98.3 percent of police killings do not end up in charges filed against the officers.
On Wednesday, the Atlantic published an article by Professor Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University, titled, Universities Need to Catch Up to the Post-vaccine Reality. Oster argues that the recent decision by a number of colleges and universities to temporarily return to virtual learning in the face of skyrocketing COVID-19 cases is a mistake.

People wait in line at a COVID-19 testing site near the NYU campus in New York, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021 [Credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig]

Oster makes three deceitful arguments: 1) Students are not themselves at risk of illness; 2) Campuses will not lead to community spread of the virus; and 3) campuses must be opened to protect students mental health.

Osters arguments are not based on science or experience. They are made on behalf of the political establishment and with no regard for the lives and livelihoods of the students she claims to care for.

The reality must be stated clearly: No, colleges and universities are not safe from COVID-19, especially as the vaccine resistant Omicron variant has taken its place as the dominant strain throughout the country.

Young people are in no way immune from infection and death, and, if infected with the virus, will spread it to all those with whom they come into contact. While mental health issues are an important concern, Oster, following the lead of the entire political establishment, has weaponized the severe mental health crisis among young people to justify the intentional infection of the population with the virus.

The arguments made in Osters article are reflective of the entire strategy of the Biden administration and worth answering in some detail. But let us first address the question: Who is Emily Oster?

Ivy League Democratic Party operatives fight for a policy of mass death

Oster is a well-seasoned official Democratic Party academic operative who has been tapped throughout the pandemic to advocate for the unsafe reopening of schools. In 2020, she authored a number of articles where she argued that schools were not significant spreaders of Covid-19.

Among these articles are two for the Atlantic titled Schools Arent Super-Spreaders and Go Ahead, Plan a Family Vacation with Your Unvaccinated Kids. Another notable piece by Oster was published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal titled Effectiveness of three versus six feet of physical distancing for controlling the spread of COVID-19 among primary and secondary students and staff. This latter study published March 10, 2021 was picked up by the CDC and used as its primary evidence for changing social distancing guidelines.

Remarkably, Oster has no background in public health, biology, or any other field related to the science of the pandemic. She holds a PhD from Harvard in economics, is currently a professor at Brown University and has authored books on pregnancy and parenting. She has no expertise or authority in the field in which she is meddling.

The data she uses to back her arguments for keeping schools open are riddled with errors at best, and are purposefully skewed and distorted at worst.

In August of 2020, for example, Oster claimed she had created a database of COVID-19 infections in schools that showed that just 0.23 percent of students and 0.49 percent of teachers had become infected, making her case that schools are not super spreader events.

However, this information was derived from just 550 public and private schools, and over 200 of them were fully remote during the time the data was collected! Additionally, the most populated schools from urban areas where there have been the largest outbreaks were excluded.

In the three versus six feet article, similar errors were made to claim that a three- or six-foot social distancing guideline made little difference in transmission and could be abandoned. Most notable was that the study only compared schools that had differing official guidelines without actually investigating if they followed those guidelines.

In other words, the study contains no actual science or experiments to test the different social distancing methods. The actual science of COVID-19 has shown that the virus is airborne, meaning that even six feet of social distancing is not sufficient to stop its spread.

In short, Emily Oster is not an expert on the pandemic or school safety in any sense. She is a mouthpiece for the ruling class in its aggressive drive to reopen schools to keep parents at work and the economy afloat. Her concerns are not the health and wellbeing of students and families but the profit demands of Wall Street.

Are school classrooms safe for in person learning?

There is no way to evaluate the current pandemic conditions and conclude that schools, including colleges and universities, are safe to reopen without engaging in an immense level of self-deception or false arguments. For Oster, it appears to be the latter.

Oster writes in her article that the world has changed since the pandemic began, and yet, the rise of the Omicron variant and the ensuing spike in COVID cases have led many university administrators to articulate the same old concerns: Students could possibly spread the virus to community members, who could in turn end up in hospitals, which could be overwhelmed.

She continues: Such a chain reaction is of course possible, but the probabilities are not what they used to be, because the great majority of students are now vaccinated and the percentage of people in the surrounding communities who are at risk of landing in the hospital is much, much smaller than it used to be. [emphasis added]

Students could infect others, and the hospitals could become overwhelmed, Oster skeptically suggests. Is this not the very situation taking place in towns and cities across the country right now?

It is false to suggest that the percentage of people who are at risk of landing in the hospital is smaller than it used to be. In fact, hospitalizations among 1829 year olds is at a record high since the start of the pandemic, standing at a seven-day average of 1,433 new patients per day. For those aged 3039, the average is 1,532 hospital admissions per day, also a record high.

Child hospitalizations are also at their highest point ever, at 766 per day. Lurie Childrens hospital in Chicago reported Thursday that child hospitalizations have increased 10 times compared to the number of admissions at the end of November.

Across the country, one in five hospitals reporting to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) noted that their ICUs were above 95 percent capacity. Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, told CBS 42, Im worried now! Thats right now where my main concern lies. You know, we may have beds, but we dont have anybody to staff the beds.

Hospitalizations have increased 161 percent in the last 10 days across the state.

Patricia Maysent, chief executive officer of University of California San Diego Health, told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the university system had more than 500 health care workers test positive over the last week, forcing some of their departments to operate at half capacity. This is the first time, she said, from the very beginning of the COVID pandemic, that Im actually worried that we dont have enough staff to take care of the patients.

On Thursday, Beaumont Health, one of the largest hospital systems in Michigan, with nine hospitals in the Detroit area, reported that 430 employees had COVID-19 symptoms in a notice sent to the public headlined, Were at a breaking point. The notice said that hospitalizations have increased 40 percent in the last week.

It is in this context, in which nurses and doctors around the country are at a breaking point, that Ms. Oster insists that closing the schools reflects an outmoded level of caution.

She goes on to claim that, in fact, closing colleges expresses a failure of universities to protect their students interests. The natural question to ask from such a statement is what are students interests and how are they best protected?

Osters only answer to this question is to point to the youth mental health crisis. Her claim is that the closing of schools and a temporary shift to online learning has too great an impact on students mental health, and schools therefore must remain open at all costs.

The weaponization of the youth mental health crisis

Oster writes, Moving to remote schooling when the conditions on the ground have changed so dramatically is an abdication of universities responsibility to educate students and protect all aspects of their health. College students are in the midst of a mental-health crisis.

There is no question that mental health issues affect an alarming number of young people. But the arguments made by Oster do not in fact have students interests in mind to the slightest degree.

While it is true that mental health issues have been accelerated by that pandemic, alongside all other social crises, it is not their root cause. Oster and those she speaks for never made the slightest noise about mental health issues until it became a convenient cover to justify the unsafe reopening of schools.

Students do indeed need immediate access to mental health treatment and services. But deteriorating mental health is only the symptom of a much deeper problem.

The situation facing the average American student even before the pandemic is a distressing one. Many young people find themselves stressed to the point of exhaustion, balancing studies while also working to make ends meet. Those who live on their campuses and in the university dorm rooms must deal with poverty-like conditions with crumbling facilities and unhealthy food.

Most students will come out of school saddled with thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and few quality jobs to repay their loans. For many young people, a trip to the emergency room or even an unexpected car repair is enough to entirely cripple them financially.

The pandemic has undoubtedly added significantly to these issues with an abrupt shift to online learning certainly being a challenge. But how are these issues to be resolved? Are we to be expected to believe that, by keeping campuses open, students will have forgotten all these other inescapable problems?

Oster has nothing to say about the real difficulties and challenges students and youth face living under capitalism. For Oster and people in her privileged middle-class layer, the pandemic has been merely an inconvenience where their routines have been disrupted by lockdowns or mitigation efforts. Their solution: pretend like nothing is happening, return to classes, and resume business as usual.

Students need relief from their crushing debt and access to health care and resources, so that they no longer need to rely on food pantries and other charities to survive. Students need the ability to study and learn without the concern that they might become infected or infect their parents and loved ones with COVID-19.

If mental health is the concern, the situation currently underway in high schools and colleges that have opened can only deepen them. In recent days, students have flooded social media with reports of schools practically devoid of teachers who are all sick. Students are testing themselves for COVID-19 in bathrooms followed by a panic as they are left to figure out how to appropriately respond. How is forcing students into this kind of environment supposed to relieve their anxiety?

There will be no resolution to the mental health crisis as long as the pandemic rages on. And to defeat the pandemic requires the intervention of the working class, which is already under way.

Thousands of teachers and students are in the midst of a struggle against reopening, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Teachers in Chicago have bravely voted not to return to in-person learning amid record-breaking case numbers, with graduate students at the University of Michigan, teachers in San Francisco, and other major cities following closely behind them. There is growing anger and outrage among broader layers of the working class over being forced to continue to work in factories and workplaces that are centers of COVID transmission.

The working class is the social force that must be mobilized. To defend students is to protect them from infection from COVID-19 and fight for an international program to eliminate the virus once and for all.
Around Australia, more than 116,000 new COVID-19 infections were reported today, smashing yesterdays record high of 78,166. Per capita, the pandemic is now growing faster in Australia than in the United States.

A man receives a COVID-19 test in the eastern suburbs of Sydney last September [Credit: AP Photo/Mark Baker]

While New South Wales (NSW) remains the worst-affected state, with 45,098 new cases reported today, infections are increasing rapidly in every state and territory, except Western Australia, which has not yet opened its borders to the rest of the country.

In Victoria, 51,356 infections were reported today, including the results of around 20,000 rapid antigen tests (RATs) taken earlier in the week, but registered yesterday. Even discounting these, daily case numbers in the state have increased more than four-fold in the space of one week.

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said todays figures were exactly what we wanted to happen, because we knew there were undiagnosed cases out there. The ghoulish comment, welcoming infections that will lead to serious illness and death, follows the state Labor governments refusal to implement even limited health measures recommended by medical experts, including caps on attendance at indoor venues and mass super-spreading events.

The inclusion of RAT results underscores what has been clear for several weeksthe official figures are a vast underestimation of the true level of infection in the community. NSW and Queensland will soon follow Victoria in allowing individuals to register their RAT results. Even so, with RAT kits in short supply around the country, the majority of infections will likely remain uncounted for some time.

Queensland reported 11,174 new infections, the third straight day of more than 10,000. Almost 34 percent of tests in the state were positive.

Tasmania registered 2,223 new cases, more than the total number recorded throughout the pandemic in the state before Tuesday.

Record high infection figures were also recorded in South Australia (4,274), the Australian Capital Territory (1,305) and the Northern Territory (594).

Twenty-five deaths from COVID-19 were reported in Australia today, nine each in NSW and Victoria, two in Queensland and five in South Australia.

The rapidly growing surge of COVID-19 has forced numerous hospitals in Sydney, the NSW capital, to abandon the separation of infected patients from those who have not tested positive.

A senior Westmead Hospital doctor told the Sydney Morning Herald: With Delta, we had red wards or dedicated COVID-19 wards but now the hospital is ensuring most wards can take patients who are positive.

The doctor said the hospital had resorted to triaging patients in their cars because the emergency department was full.

The Daily Telegraph this morning reported it had received a leaked email, written by Mohammad Khadra, head of surgery at Nepean Hospital, stating the hospital would do away with treating Covid positive patients any differently to Covid negative patients.

They are both going to be treated as a negative patient but with universal precautions of mask (including the patient), eye protection and hand hygiene, the email continued.

This was necessary, Khadra wrote, because numbers are growing and staff are diminishing with more and more positives in the facility. I think we have to assume that in any theatre, the probability is either the patient or staff are positive.

According to the Herald, Liverpool Hospital, where more than 200 patients have COVID, is also treating people with the virus on non-COVID wards. Around 260 workers at the hospital, including junior doctors, have contracted the virus and a further 100 are isolating as close contacts.

An intensive care nurse told the Herald the hospital faced a mass depletion of experience because at least 20 ICU nurses had resigned after the Delta wave. There arent enough senior nurses, she said.

NSW Healths Critical Intelligence Unit revealed yesterday that 5,218 health workers in the state were in COVID-19 isolation, more than one third higher than the 3,846 reported two days earlier.

The state yesterday released new modelling predicting COVID-19 hospitalisations would rise to between 3,158 and 6,000 before the end of January, with up to 600 patients requiring treatment in an ICU.

Amid the mounting crisis, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet declared in a press conference yesterday, even in a worst-case scenario [the health system] is in a strong position to deal with the challenges that well face over the next few weeks.

The reality is, the NSW health system is already in a catastrophic state, with 1,795 COVID-19 patients hospitalised for COVID-19, and 145 in ICU, less than one-third and one-quarter respectively of the worst-case scenario outlined in the modelling.

At present, according to the Guardian, 6,400 of NSWs 9,500 public hospital beds are occupied by non-COVID patients. While an additional 3,000 beds in private hospitals can also be used if necessary, the worst-case scenario would see virtually every bed filled across the state. In reality the capacity is likely to go far lower as increasing numbers of health workers contract the virus.

Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW President Dr Danielle McMullen hit back at Perrottets claims, telling the Telegraph: Hospitals and primary care are collapsing under the weight of these massive case numbers.

McMullen confirmed the rapid increase in hospital admissions was already resulting in an intermingling of positive and negative patients.

That means increased lines of transmission with vulnerable people in hospital, so we think the government needs to do something to flatten the curve, slow the Omicron so we can maintain capacity to deliver urgent and usual care, she said.

Victorian hospitals also face a staffing crisis, with more than 300 critical care workers in isolation or infected with the virus.

While Perrottet insisted yesterday, opening up is the best thing we can do for our economy, the reality is that economic activity has tanked as infections have soared. According to ANZ, spending on dining and shopping in Sydney and Melbourne was 39 percent lower in the first week of 2022 than in the week ending December 24.

David Plank, head of Australian Economics at the firm, said: The data shows starkly how behaviour is impacted by surging case numbers even without government intervention.

The decline in spending reflects a widening chasm between the Australian political establishments criminal let it rip stance, and a working class that is deeply concerned about the raging virus.

While many people are sensibly taking whatever measures they can to avoid exposure to COVID-19 from non-essential activities, the continued refusal of state, federal and territory governments to implement lockdowns or serious public health measures leaves workers with little choice but to attend work and risk infection, illness and death.

One Sydney musician aptly described the situation in a Facebook post yesterday. He wrote: Almost every single musician I know has had COVID. Why? Because the only way that we get to do our jobs now is to run the gauntlet and risk getting a virus so that we can pay our bills. I literally had a string of gigs in a weekend and thought, theres no way Im not going to get COVID. And I did.

There are clear signs of widespread workplace transmission of the virus. Up to 40 percent of Coles and 20 percent of Woolworths warehouse workers are off due to COVID, while trucking companies and fruit and vegetable suppliers are reporting shortages of up to 50 percent across the eastern states.

As a result, businesses, in lockstep with unions, are demanding further changes to close contact rules to force employees back to work, even if they are infectious, in line with what has already been carried in hospitals and aged care.

At yesterdays press conference, NSW Health Deputy Secretary Susan Pearce declared: To suggest that a couple of months ago that we couldve foreseen this is not right.

This is utterly false. The current crisis was not only predictable, but predicted. The warnings of countless epidemiologists, along with the experience of most of the world in the preceding two years, were willfully ignored by Australian state, federal, and territory governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike, who were determined to proceed with the profit-driven reopening, whatever the human cost.

The working class must now reject the murderous policies of big business and capitalist governments and fight for a socialist perspective, in which the health and lives of ordinary people are prioritised over the profit interests of a wealthy few.
Sabre rattling against Russia and expressions of mutual friendship were the focus of the inaugural visit by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to Washington on January 5. The Green Party politician and her American counterpart Antony Blinken outbid each other with threats against Moscow.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a news conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the State Department, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in Washington [Credit: Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP]

Russian trade is marked with a clear price tag, warned Baerbock. A violation of Ukrainian sovereignty would have grave consequences for Russia. Tension is increasing worldwideand especially on the border with Ukraine. It is therefore important that we as Europeans work together with our American friends, she added. Now is the opportunity to renew the transatlantic friendship.

Dear Tonyas Baerbock called her American colleaguethreatened Russia with harsh economic sanctions in the event of a military escalation in eastern Ukraine. And thats not just the position of the United States and Germany, he emphasized. It is the collective position of many countries, allies and partners that have come together.

Moscow has the choice of continuing to pursue an aggressive policy or taking a diplomatic path, said Blinken. In the first case, there must be quick and major consequences. The controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has been completed but not yet approved, is a lever in the hands of the Europeans. It is difficult to imagine that in this case gas will flow through the pipeline.

Baerbock, who had already spoken out against the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 during the election campaign, indirectly agreed with him.

With her aggressive stance against Russia, Baerbock is following in the footsteps of the last Green Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, who held the office from 1998 to 2005. At the time of the Rambouillet Conference, Fischer, in close cooperation with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, constructed the pretext for the NATO war against Serbia, an ally of Russia.

Fischer and Albright relied on the UCK leader and later President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, who was implicated in organized crime and serious war crimeswhich did not prevent them from portraying the war as a campaign for human rights. Meanwhile, Thaci is facing charges at The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war.

In 2014, the Greens and their Heinrich Boll Foundation actively fueled the Maidan protests, which served as a cover to overthrow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych with the help of right-wing extremists and replace him with a nationalist, pro-Western regime. Despite the central role that fascist forces played in this coup, the Greens glorified it as a democratic revolution.

Since then, NATO has been systematically using the conflict in Ukraine to put pressure on Russia and further encircle it militarily. In doing so, NATO consciously accepts the risk that Europe will become the focus of a war that would wipe out a large part of its population.

Baerbock seamlessly embraced this policy and disguised it with hollow phrases about Western values and human rights. After her appointment as Foreign Minister, she announced that she would pursue a value-based foreign policy. She also emphasized this in Washington.

Germany will use its chairmanship in the G7 group of the leading western industrial nations this year to strengthen democracies, announced Baerbock. It wants to show that the economic success of the G7 states is linked to their democratic and constitutional governments and their advocacy of fair rules.

This coincides with the rhetoric of the Biden administration, which portrays its campaign against Russia and China as a struggle between democracy and autocracy.

Just how false this rhetoric is can be seen by the fact that Baerbock visited Washington on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The attempt by US President Donald Trump to overturn the election by means of a coup and to establish a personalist dictatorship failed by a hairs breadth and exposed the rottenness of American democracy.

Nothing about that has changed under Biden. His government is neither willing nor able to oppose the coup plotters. Trump and the masterminds of the conspiracy in the state apparatus, in the military and in the Republican Party will not be held responsible and have been left to prepare for the next coup unhindered. The reason for this lies in the class character of the Democratic Party, whichlike the German traffic light coalition governmentrepresents the interests of the stock exchange, corporations and the affluent middle class. Since it is waging a war against the working class, it must downplay the danger of dictatorship in order to prevent a social explosion.

The decline of American democracy is also directly linked to the criminal wars that the United States has waged over the past 30 years with German and European support and that have destroyed and devastated entire societies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. The growing escalation of the conflict with Russia, and especially with China, threatens to plunge humanity into a third world war that it will not survive.

Despite all the expressions of friendship during Baerbocks visit, tensions between the US, Germany and other European powers are also growing. As in the First and Second World Wars, Germany regards Eastern Europe and Russia as its preferred area of influence and expansion, as a source of cheap labour and raw materials, and as a destination for investment. Therefore, it views US activities with suspicion.

It is known that Chancellor Olaf Scholz and large sections of German big business want to stick to Nord Stream 2. Without Russian gas supplies, Germany will not be able to meet its energy needs in the coming years if it abandons nuclear energy and coal-fired power generation. Within the traffic light coalition, considerable effort has been required to publicly suppress the conflict over Nord Stream 2.

German and European politicians have repeatedly voiced the fear that Biden and Putin could come to an agreement over the heads of the Europeans. The German Foreign Minister also publicly warned Blinken in Washington that there could be no decision on security in Europe without Europe. The involvement of the European states concerned is central in upcoming talks.

Blinken assured her that this would not be the case: When it comes to questions of European security, there will be no Europe without Europe. But several competing rounds of negotiations with Russia are planned.

A high-ranking Franco-German delegation travelled to Moscow for a meeting on Thursday. Its aim is to try to get the Normandy format going again, in which Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine negotiated without the United States. A special online meeting of NATO foreign ministers took place on Friday. On Monday, bilateral talks between Russia and the US begin in Geneva, which Biden and Putin agreed on at their summit in the summer.

The danger that the mounting tensions between the great powers lead to war, as in 1914 and 1939, is growing day by day. Only an independent, socialist movement of the international working class can stop the warmongers.
Tony Blairs knighthood in the New Years honours list is an insult to the millions around the country and throughout the world who despise him.

Even when measured against former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher and now Boris Johnson, Blair is the most hated politician in the UK. He will be forever associated with the illegal war of aggression against Iraq, waged in alliance with the United States under President George W. Bush based on lies claiming Saddam Husseins regime possessed weapons of mass destruction that were a direct threat to the Western powers.

Protesters pack London's Whitehall during a march to Hyde Park, to demonstrate against a possible war against Iraq. February 15, 2003 (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Opposition to the war was massive, with upwards of one-and-a-half million people taking to the streets of London on February 15, 2003, as part of the worlds largest global protest mobilising over 11 million people.

The fears expressed by working people were realised in a grotesquely unequal conflict that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, countless maimings, the destruction of whole cities and the dismemberment of Iraqi society. Together with the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, it marked an explosion of imperialist militarism, centred on the Middle East, and prepared the way for subsequent catastrophic interventions in Libya and Syria.

Blairs domestic record was no less reactionary. He left office in 2007 having vastly expanded the role of the private sector in essential public services, encouraged social inequality, trampled over democratic rights and finalised Labours transformation into a Tory Party mark two that earned him the praise of Thatcher and the undying hatred of the working class.

The former Labour leaders knighthood was greeted with a wave of anger and contempt. One million people, at the time of writing had signed the petition, Tony Blair to have his Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter rescinded. Its introduction argues that Blair should be held accountable for war crimes.

The petition demanding that Blair's knighthood be rescinded

Many have noted that the grotesque honour was bestowed on Blair in the week that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange marked 1,000 days entombed in Belmarsh Prison, fighting extradition to the US and a lifetime in jail for exposing the war crimes perpetrated in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Families of soldiers killed or injured unnecessarily in these bloody military adventures expressed outrage and said they will return military medals if the knighthood goes ahead.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who leads a thoroughly Blairite cabinet, came forward as expected to defend Blairs knighthood. But he squirmed like a worm on a hook while doing so. Insisting on ITVs Good Morning Britain that the issue was not thorny at all and that Blair deserves the honour, he was forced to acknowledge strong views on the Iraq war while arguing pathetically that this did not detract from the fact that Tony Blair was a very successful prime minister of this country.

The Blairites were so nervous that Starmer was almost alone in mounting a defence of their ideological mentor.

This makes more extraordinary still the fact that it took a full five-days before any figure on the Labour Partys nominal left made any response. Even for much of Thursday, the media was reduced to citing one Labour MP who hid behind speaking on condition of anonymity to describe Blair as an untried war criminal, and a single Twitter comment from Socialist Campaign Group MP Richard Burgon that it says a lot about what is wrong with our system when after being one of the leading architects of the war on Iraq, Tony Blair, is honoured with a knighthood.

Only later that day did former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn publish a tweet in which, unlike even Burgon, he succeeded in not mentioning Blair by name.

This underlines once more what a disastrous act of aggression the war on Iraq was, he wrote. Parliament must never be misled into backing an illegal war again.

The tweet was not even written in direct reference to Blairs knighthood, but to an Independent article reporting Blairs own defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, claiming in his self-serving memoir that he had been told to burn legal advice ahead of the Iraq invasion warning of its illegality. A co-conspirator with Blair, Hoons memoirs were published two months ago and dug out first by the pro-Conservative Daily Mail in the absence of any oppositional Labour angle on the Blair knighthood story.

This is the closest Corbyn could get to saying nothing without maintaining his by then deafening silence. No one should be surprised by this. His weasel words are in line with his four-and-a-half-year tenure as leader of the Labour Party, during which he did everything possible to defend the partys Blairite core.

Corbyns popular reputation as a left was built on his opposition to the Iraq war, in particular his speech to the 2003 protest in London warning that a war will set off a spiral of conflict, of hate, of misery, of desperation that will fuel the wars, the conflict, the terrorism, the depression and the misery of future generations and telling Blair, Stop now or pay the political price. He was chair of the Stop the War Coalition from 2011 until taking leadership of the Labour Party in September 2015.

Jeremy Corbyn speaking at the Stop the War Coalition anniversary meeting in September 2021 (screenshot of video/StoptheWarCoalition/YouTube)

During the leadership election, Corbyn was asked if Blair should stand trial for war crimes and replied, If he has committed a war crime, yes. Everybody who has committed a war crime should be. He continued, It was an illegal war. I am confident about that Is he going to be tried for it? I dont know. Could he be tried for it? Possibly.

Referring to the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War, he concluded, At that point Tony Blair and the others that have made the decisions are then going to have to deal with the consequences of it.

Statements like these indicating that he would finally bring the Blairites to account won Corbyn an unprecedented 59.5 percent of first preference votes, delivered by hundreds of thousands of Labour members and supporters itching for a political fight with the party right-wing. The only candidate to openly identify herself with Blairs toxic legacy, Liz Kendall, came last with 4.5 percent.

Just two months later, Corbyn was handed a golden opportunity to drive Blair and his acolytes out of the Labour Party. The Chilcot Inquiry was published in July 2016. Stopping short of declaring the war illegal, Chilcot nevertheless said the case for war was deficient, that peaceful diplomatic options had not been exhausted and war was therefore not a last resort, and that the legal case for UK military action was far from satisfactory.

Even Blairs deputy prime minister, John Prescott, admitted in the Mirror in response that the war had been illegal, saying he would have to live with the decision of going to war and its catastrophic consequences for the rest of my life.

Corbyns own response at a time when the Blairites were on the ropes proved him to be a despicable political coward. No one was in a better position than he to give voice to the millions of working people who view Blair as an unindicted war criminal. But at the parliamentary debate on the Chilcot Inquiry on July 6, he apologised on behalf of the Labour Party for its role in the conflict while refusing to name anyone responsible. The Financial Times reported with surprise, The word Blair did not pass his lips. Neither did my predecessor. Nor even the former Labour prime minister.

For his pains, the Blairite scoundrel Ian Austin MP told Corbyn to sit down and shut up during his speech and to called him a disgrace. Scottish National Party MP Deidre Brock noted, Head shaking & groans of discontent going up from Labour back benchers behind Corbyn as he speaks in statement on Chilcot.

As happened again and again, it was the Blairites and not Corbyn who were allowed to go on the offensive. Two weeks before, 23 of his shadow cabinet members had resigned and 172 Labour MPs had delivered a vote of no confidence in his leadership, in the early stages of an attempted political coup which produced a second leadership election from July-September 2016.

Yet it was Corbyn who was objectively in the most powerful political position and who had mass support. He was re-elected on September 24 with an even larger percentage of the popular vote.

He responded with yet more efforts to build bridges to the hated Blairite cabal in the parliamentary party, preaching unity with those who had stabbed him in the back. By October 2019, Corbyns Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was being interviewed by Blairs spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who had been kicked out of the party for bragging about voting for the Liberal Democrats. Campbell asked McDonnell directly, Is Tony Blair a war criminal? to which Corbyns right-hand man replied, No! No! Asked whether he supported Campbells expulsion, he replied, No Come back, Alastair, all is forgiven!

Screenshot of YouTube video of Blairs spin doctor Alastair Campbell (left) interviewing Corbyn's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell in 2019 (source: GQ/YouTube)

With Corbyn focused on appeasement, it was left to the SNP to table a motion, debated in November 2016, calling for an investigation into Blairs misleading of parliament over Iraq.

This time there was no pretence of opposition from a penitent Corbyn and his allies. Just five Labour MPs voted in favour of the motion, with 158 against. In arguably the most shameful of many shameful actions, Corbyn did not even attend the debate.

Not even this gave pause to Corbyns apologists in Britains pseudo-left groups. Momentum, the Stop the War Coalition, and the Stalinist Morning Star refused to mention Corbyns absence. The Socialist Workers Party claimed pathetically that he had been committed elsewhere. The Socialist Party suggested politely that he had made a mistake.

Today, just as Corbyn cannot bring himself to speak Blairs name as he tries desperately to argue that workers must remain loyal to Labour, so too the pseudo-left cannot explainwhile making their ad hominem denunciations of Blairwhy he is in a position to receive his knighthood after the Labour left they so steadfastly championed led the party for nearly five years.

If there was ever a time for Labour members to deal with Blair, it was 2016. Corbyn, however, used the year to turn the massive popular movement which twice secured his election into a rout. The result is that five years later, Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair KG is being praised by Starmer as the leader of the pro-big business, pro-imperialist, pro-war party Corbyn inherited from Ed Miliband and then left untouched.

The anger directed against Blair is more properly the common property of the entire Labour Party, including its shrinking and widely discredited left apologists. The years during which Corbyn and his various acolytes promised that Labour could be pushed to the left and would act as a political champion of the working class proved to be an unmitigated disaster. Corbyn gave Labour back to the Blairites and, having allowed his own supporters to be witch-hunted and expelled amid lying accusations of anti-Semitism, is still on the stump for Labour even though he has been suspended from the parliamentary party.

He does so after his betrayal of the mass support he enjoyed handed power to Boris Johnson and the Conservatives in 2019, leaving millions facing a de-facto government of national unity implementing a herd immunity agenda that has claimed over 174,000 lives. The mass socialist movement desperately needed by the working class to take on capitalism and all its political defenders will only be developed in uncompromising opposition to everything both Blair and Corbyn represent.
Under conditions of a massive Omicron-driven surge in infections and hospitalizations, the Cross-Canada Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (CERSC) will hold an emergency meeting this Sunday, January 9, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the fight for a Zero COVID strategy. To participate in the meeting, email the CRESC at: cersc.csppb@gmail.com

Sundays meeting has been called in response to hitherto unheard-of levels of COVID-19 infection. On Friday, the federal governments daily epidemiology update reported 43,148 new infections, the highest total since the pandemic began. Across Canada, there are currently 376,670 active COVID-19 cases, including more than 100,000 each in Quebec and Ontario. To put this in perspective, over 15 percent of the 2.43 million registered infections since the pandemic have occurred in just the past two weeks.

Hospitalizations are skyrocketing. In Ontario, 2,472 people were receiving treatment in hospital as of Friday, the largest number at any point during the pandemic. Hospitalizations have approximately doubled since Tuesday, when Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott announced they had surpassed 1,200. And 338 patients are currently in intensive care.

As horrific as these statistics are, they underestimate the extent of the virus spread. Canadas testing infrastructure has been overwhelmed by Omicron, with provincial governments imposing restrictions on PCR tests. Even the less reliable rapid tests are impossible to obtain for large sections of the population.

The current catastrophe is the direct product of the policies pursued by Justin Trudeaus federal Liberal government and its provincial counterparts. They all let Omicron run rampant after it was first detected in November, even though it was established very early on that it could evade vaccine immunity and was much more infectious. As the CERSC explained in its recent statement calling for an elimination strategy in response to the spread of the new variant, Omicrons propertiesits unprecedented infectiousness and ability to evade vaccinesrepresent a serious medical problem, but the principal reason it is having a devastating impact is political.

Confronted with a looming health care crisis of their own making, and widespread public anger over their disregard for the populations health, provincial governments felt forced to delay the return to school in the new year. Both Ontario and Quebec announced schools would not reopen for in-person learning prior to January 17, while British Columbia delayed the start of the school term by a week from January 3 to January 10.

Teachers, students, parents, and their families were no doubt relieved by this temporary reprieve. However, the provincial governments are already laying the groundwork to reopen schools with no additional protections in place, which would produce yet another upsurge in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. This was precisely what happened in early 2021, when Premiers Ford and Legault prematurely reopened schools after they were forced to shut them at the height of Canadas second wave. The result was last springs third wave of infections, which claimed over 5,000 lives.

If an even worse disaster is to be averted, everything depends on the independent political mobilization of educators and working people more broadly. Throughout the pandemic the trade unions have smothered worker opposition to the ruling elites open economy/open schools policy. Now, as all sections of the political establishment explicitly embrace the fascistic policy of herd immunity, the unions have no intention of lifting a finger to oppose a reckless reopening of schools.

The CERSC demands a halt to this policy of social murder, we declared in our most recent statement. We urge education workers, parents, students, and other workers across the country to join our struggle for an elimination strategy by establishing rank-and-file safety committees in their workplaces and neighbourhoods. These committees should call for the closure of schools, universities, colleges, and all nonessential production with full wages paid to workers and their families until the pandemic is brought under control. Vast resources must be made available to provide every student with the technology and comfortable environment required to participate in online learning from home. In addition, a huge expansion of social and health care services is required to help children, their families, and education workers cope with the devastating impact the ruling elites policy of mass infection and death has had on mental health and wellbeing, and to provide care for the growing numbers stricken by Long COVID.

We strongly urge everyone who agrees with this program to register to attend the CERSCs emergency meeting this Sunday, January 9, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. To attend and/or find out more about the CERSCs work, email us at cersc.csppb@gmail.com.
The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) lockout of educators continued for the third day on Friday. Teachers remain defiant in their effort to prevent the pandemic from worsening, while the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is continuing its negotiations with district officials to reopen for in-person learning as soon as an agreement can be reached, or by January 18, whichever comes first.

Teachers in Chicagos Pilsen neighborhood march against the unsafe reopening of Chicago Public Schools last year [Credit: Twitter, @rcoppo1]

The citys lockout of teachers has created a chaotic situation, angering many parents. Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared Friday evening that ongoing negotiations with the union remain productive but must be concluded this weekend. The district has announced that classes will again be canceled Monday, but that administrators are dedicated to working day and night so we can get our students back to school next week, hopefully on Monday, raising the possibility it will reopen schools with little notice at the start of next week should it reach a deal with the CTU.

On Friday, parents and educators told the World Socialist Web Site that the lockout is preventing teachers from reporting their COVID-19 test results to their online CPS accounts. Thus, those who test positive are presently unable to be approved for telework due to illness and would therefore be required to report in person if classes resumed Monday, a possibility which is prompting growing outrage among both teachers and parents.

The school district has attempted to lie, threaten and intimidate educators back into classrooms. Immediately after educators voted to teach remotely, city lawyers reportedly filed an unfair labor practices charge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in a bid to get the action declared illegal.

On Thursday, Chicago Public Schools published a Facebook post attempting to break up the ranks of teachers protesting in-person learning. The post claimed that 1 in 10 teachers showed up to work on January 5, and 1 in 8 on January 6. After protests by educators, the post was deleted.

Staffing levels in some schools are too low to allow the buildings to remain open. While teachers remained locked out of their school accounts and unable to conduct remote classes, CPS schools contacted parents Thursday night to announce that school buildings, which CPS had indicated would open at least in part, would be closed due to custodial and security staffing shortages.

Parents are angry at CPS refusal to offer remote instruction during the lockout and at having to make important decisions about their families health with little or no information. A mother of two attending Inter-American Elementary, a school on the citys North Side, spoke with the World Socialist Web Site. She said, We shouldnt be in this situation right now, but it is not the teachers fault. I wish we could stay remote. The kids should be getting instruction. We should be able to reach the teachers and they shouldnt have locked them out.

My kids are different. One does very well with remote learning, the other one struggles more. It is not ideal, but something is better than nothing.

My son was exposed to COVID and is quarantined, but my other child is not. I cant drop off one and not the other! One has gotten tested at school, but not the other and I dont understand why not. There is no way to keep them away from each other, so I am keeping both at home. I am getting robocalls saying Attendance is important, but I dont think its safe to send them in. Its possible the absences will be unexcused.

There has been a vicious gang-up by Democratic and Republican officials in the national news media against the Chicago teachers, whose courageous refusal to return raises the possibility of a broader mobilization against the Biden administrations mass infection policy.

Michael Bloomberg published an editorial on the Bloomberg news site titled Children Cannot Afford Teacher Walkouts, in which the billionaire media mogul essentially accused teachers of going AWOL. As if teachers were conscripts, he writes: Chicago teachers decision to walk out on their students and refuse to return to the classroom Wednesday is a profoundly troubling abdication of duty that should be met with public outrageand national opposition to its spread... We need to say loudly and clearlyas Democrats, Republicans and independentsthat teachers are essential workers, we need them physically present in classrooms, and we will not stand for walkouts.

In his opinion piece, Bloomberg also promoted his own $750 million charter schools initiative. One might ask, how much of Bloombergs $70 billion would it take to improve remote learning for school children?

Despite the efforts by the political establishment and corporate media to demonize teachers, the defiant struggle by Chicago educators has been met with broad support by workers and students, both in the city and internationally.

Nathan, a sophomore student at Dunbar High School in the citys Bronzeville neighborhood, told the World Socialist Web Site, No, we should be doing the stuff here, be learning at home. Remote learning isnt difficult. I dont want to catch COVID at all. Not at all. I dont want anyone in my family, my friends or in my community to catch COVID. Its not even a question.

On the return to school last fall, before the latest spike, he said, It did feel like a new beginning, but then it [COVID] started spreading. It wasnt safe. No one was six feet apart. When youre in school, youre with your friends, youre busy, youre not thinking of COVID.

Far from being isolated, the move by Chicago teachers to force a shift to remote learning is part of a wider and growing movement by educators and workers to stop the spread of the pandemic. This week, teachers conducted mass sickouts in San Francisco and Oakland, California. Approximately 20 percent of the workforce in both cities was absent Friday, forcing the closure of 12 schools in Oakland.

Even as the negotiations to reopen schools continue and Chicago city leaders maintain an intransigent position, the pandemic situation is rapidly growing more dire, with child hospitalizations climbing significantly.

Illinois recorded 42,903 cases on Friday, just below the previous daily record set the day before. Just 9 percent of total intensive care unit beds remained available in Chicago as of Thursday, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data, or 63 for a city of nearly 3 million.

On Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported that area hospitals are increasingly boarding patients in emergency rooms due to lack of more suitable beds elsewhere in their facilities. Paramedics are also reporting wait times in emergency rooms of up to 15 hours, according the Tribune.

In an interview with WGN News on Friday, Dr. Robert Murphy of Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine and Institute for Global Health gave a blunt assessment. Asked if Chicago Public Schools are safe enough to open and have in-person learning? Murphy, an infectious disease expert, replied:

It is not safe to open the schools. Im sorry. Its very bad to do home learning. I mean, that doesnt work as good, everybody knows that. But look at whats happening. They cant even keep the schools open. They didnt have enough employees to work to keep the schools open. We were just interviewing that teacher. It just isnt safe now. Why cant they just say, okay, January is a write-off? Like, why dont you just stop going to school, work remotely for a month, until this thing starts to calm down, until we get over this holiday bump? Schools are not safe right now.

While Chicago Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady claims hospitalizations of children remain very rare, recent data from several childrens hospitals in the area report a sharp increase, especially among younger children.

Lurie Childrens Hospital, associated with Northwestern University, reported having 10 times more COVID-19 patients in the last two weeks than in late November. In those last two weeks, the hospital treated 110 children with COVID-19, most of whom were hospitalized specifically for infection with the virus. Only 20 to 25 percent of the hospitalized children tested positive for COVID-19 after having been admitted for something else.

Among the most alarming developments has been the rise in hospitalizations among children under the age of five, who are currently ineligible to receive a vaccine. This population comprises around half the children hospitalized with COVID at Advocate Aurora, the largest health system in Illinois; over half at Lurie Childrens Hospital; and a third of the hospitalizations at Comer Childrens Hospital, affiliated with the University of Chicago.

At Advocate, about one quarter of children required intensive care, with Advocate physician Dr. Nekaiya Jacobs noting, Were starting to see more and more patients of the pediatric age suffering from severe complications that are related to either their initial infection with COVID, or post-COVID syndromes.

As CPS and CTU work on a reopening plan, teachers must prepare to broaden their struggle. The main demands of the Chicago Teachers Unionthat the district agree to a positivity metric for taking schools remote, the availability of KN95 masks for teachers and staff, and increased testingare utterly inadequate for stopping mass infection, even if Chicago Public Schools could be relied upon to hold up its end of the bargain.

The World Socialist Web Site calls on Chicago teachers to join the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, founded one year ago to oppose the reopening drive by the Democrats that took place with the assistance of the CTU. The committee will provide the means to link up the struggle of teachers in Chicago with those in New York City, Detroit, Northern California, and cities across the US, as well as in other countries, where committees have been formed against the unsafe reopening of schools.

These organizations, formed independently of the unions, are guided by what is necessary for saving lives and preventing lifelong debilitation in childrennot by what is good for big business, which throughout the pandemic has determined the policies of the Democrats and Republicans, as well as the American Federation of Teachers and other unions.

To contain the pandemic, a Zero COVID policy involving universal testing, contact tracing, isolation of infected patients, masking and vaccinations is urgently needed, alongside the temporary shutdown of schools and nonessential workplaces to break the chain of infection, with full income going to all affected. Such measures, however, will be brought about only through the development of a mass movement of the international working class, the overwhelming majority of the worlds population, basing itself on science and fighting to place its needs over those of the financial aristocracy.
As COVID-19 is spreading rapidly throughout the Dana auto parts plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the United Steelworkers union is working hand in glove with management to keep workers on the job, in many cases even if they are positive and exhibiting symptoms, several workers have informed the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter.

Dana Plant Fort Wayne

This latest betrayal comes as the United Steelworkers (USW) has kept workers at the plant, as well as the Dana plant in Louisville, Kentucky, on the job for more than two months without a contract after they voted down a concessions contract last October. The contract was part of a national agreement involving 16 locations covered by both the USW and United Auto Workers (UAW), which was nearly identical to one which workers overwhelmingly rejected in late August. The unions were able to ram through the agreement at the other 14 plants through a campaign of intimidation and threats, including helping management identify and fire militant workers.

In opposition to the sellout campaign by the USW and UAW, Dana workers from across the country joined together to form the Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee, to build up opposition among their coworkers, pierce the information blackout from the unions and link up with workers across the auto industry for support.

On Tuesday, USW Local 903 sent a letter to Fort Wayne workers informing them that the USW International was prepared to unilaterally impose the sellout agreement.

Local 903 Letter

[The] company and the union is not saying anything about COVID, one legacy worker told the WSWS. Here is something I heard recently. Wednesday and Thursday around 30 people went out for COVID. Its hitting many departments. This is due to the company policy of bringing people back who are sick.

There is no mask enforcement, even though the company says theres a requirement. Management sometimes tells people they are not contagious, and they dont need a negative test. They give people those blue paper masks instead of the N95. Some people are not even aware [that N95s exist]. Its already dangerous with people slipping and falling all the time, now with COVID, conditions are worse. He said many workers who are suffering from Long COVID are being continuously hassled by management and human resources to come back to work before a negative test. The employers are saving money not paying FMLA [Family and Medical Leave Act] to workers for taking time off [during the pandemic].

He explained the legalistic loopholes the USW is using to unilaterally enforce the contract. [District] rep Doust is telling people that the [local] bylaws are no good. He claimed that the committee for these bylaws are not lawyers, showing that the union is for the company. All plants voted down both global and local contracts in [August]. But when we were one of the last plants to oppose the second TA [tentative agreement] then the union and company isolates us.

We dont pay dues for this betrayal. They take $1,200 from the legacy pensions a month. Theres likely over $200,000 in the local. You could pay every worker full pay and have a strike. They act like its their money, but its our money. Theyre criminals. Most unions are like big companies. We used to have $2,400 pretax per month after 30 years of working. Now they the union has control over the pensions which was frozen in 2007. At 65 Ill have roughly $1,200 per month. The union will also double dip on dues especially for vacation pay if you dont take the time off. For the company the union costs them money, but they work for them like a layer of management.

A Tier Two worker spoke on the broad impact of the pandemic. This whole thing is bigger than just us. Its the entire world. Everyone all over just wants this to return to normal. [At Dana] they seem to think as long as you were the only around an infected person for a few minutes then youre fine. Its a joke how they deal with it. She responded to the CDC changing quarantine guidelines from 10 to five days. It Just goes to show that everything is ruled by money. It makes me disappointed in the government yet again.

A production worker from Fort Wayne told the World Socialist Web Site that Friday morning workers found out that 140 workers were out sick. [The] wife of an employee tested positive yesterday, the company told him, Put your mask on and come back to work. He said this account was confirmed by the plant safety director. Other workers reported that many more workers left throughout the day Friday due to COVID.

According to the Indiana Department of Health, the seven-day positivity rate is 10 percent, with many counties reaching above 15 percent. There were over 15,000 new cases statewide on Wednesday. In Allen County, where the Fort Wayne plant is located, there were 1,180 new positive cases and 10 new deaths. Since the beginning of the pandemic the state has seen 18,794 deaths, very likely an undercount. Now, with the lowering of quarantine guidelines by the CDC from 10 to five days, infections and deaths will increase exponentially.

At the same time, corporations have celebrated the influx of profits over death and infection. While its annual financial statement has not yet been released, pretax earnings were $198 million through three quarters last year, compared to a $73 million loss by the same time in 2020. On top of this, Dana will receive $46 million in tax abatement over the next 10 years from the city of Fort Wayne in exchange for new investments in the plant and for retaining 855 jobs at the facility.

A member of the Dana Workers Rank-and-File Committee at Fort Wayne said, [Workers] need to take the next steps, the existing unions are company puppets. I think the USW needs to be voided. Many of us heard that the local agreement was going to be signed for all five of the USW plants. Just what some of us thought was going to happen after five months of lies. People need to wake up.
Details have emerged on the cause of the horrific row house fire in Philadelphias Fairmount neighborhood Wednesday morning. The fire broke out in the upscale neighborhood nicknamed the Art Museum Area at around 6:40 a.m. and resulted in the deaths of 12 people, including eight children.

A Philadelphia firefighter works at the scene of a deadly row house fire, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia. [Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke]

On Thursday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the cause of the fire may have been as simple as a 5-year old child playing with a lighter near the familys Christmas tree. According to the publication, the child told a neighborand later a paramedic, a firefighter, and hospital staffhow the fire had started and that his mother had died.

Authorities are still investigating the claims, with Deputy Chief Dennis Marrigan, the citys fire marshal, saying that a very complex investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire. Investigations had previously determined that several of the smoke detectors on the upper floors, where the majority of residents stayed, had been inoperable.

House fires are a tragically frequent phenomenon in the United States. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reported nearly 1.4 million residential fires in 2020, the year of its last study. Nearly 15,200 people suffered injuries and 3,500 people lost their lives due to fires that year.

The fire occurred in a rent-controlled scatter property owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA). While the PHA listed 20 people on its leases, investigators said they found 18 people living on the buildings upper floors, with eight living below. PHA president Kelvin Jeremiah explained this was caused because [t]his is the time of year when family gathers. The PHA president added that his agency was not going to be critical of families who have suffered this unimaginable loss.

A CBS News report on Wednesday noted that [n]eighbors and residents... sounded the alarm with PHA many years ago about escape routes during a fire. The story quotes PHA resident Regina Cureton, who states [the PHA] gave us no fire escape, they told us to jump out the window, that was what I was told by the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

The tragic event produced an outpouring of grief and support within the neighborhood, across the city and throughout the country. Jacuita Purifoy, who lost 10 family members in the inferno, spoke on Thursday night at a vigil held at Bache-Martin elementary school, where two of the children attended. The event attracted hundreds.

My sisters, my nephews, my nieces are gone, they are deceased. They are never coming back. They were relevant. They were [people] who were supposed to continue life, she said.

Ronald Dennison, a transit employee who worked in the area remarked to the New York Times how he had recalled seeing the family enter the subway system: One would come in and pay and hit the button, one of the adults. And then all of the sudden the kids would run in, he said. Dennison stated he was just devastated by the news, recalling how he had realized Hold it, thats the group!

A GoFundMe page set up for funeral expenses by a family member has raised nearly $250,000 in less than two days. Bache-Martin Elementary School has become the center of the communitywhere families have gathered in grief, where officials have spoken and where the hundreds came together for Thursday nights vigil, the Times reported.

The Times interviewed Kristin Luebbert, a former teacher at Bache-Martin who had taught Quintien Tate-MacDonald, one of the children who died in the fire. According to the Times, Luebbert said that many of her students families struggled to remain in the neighborhood as the cost of living went up.

WHYY reports Philadelphia is now the least affordable housing market in the region. The publication notes that [t]he median home price in Philadelphia is now roughly $225,000. It was roughly $170,000 three or four years ago. This has occurred even as a rental boom, the product of generous tax abatements, has resulted in nearly 10,000 units being built in the city, more than triple the average annual total of 3,000 to 4,000 new apartments.

The PHA estimates that the average waiting time for an affordable home is 13 years. Despite this, a survey conducted by the University of Cambridge determined there were 10 unoccupied homes for every homeless individual in the city. The city of Philadelphias affordable public housing currently has a $1 billion price tag in needed repairs while a Pew study recently determined that 23 percent of the citys residents lived in poverty.

As of 1999 the PHA owned as many as 6,400 formerly-private scatter homes which had been purchased by the authority as Philadelphias industrial boom ended in the 1960s and 1970s. Local publication Billy Penn quoted former PHA director John Kromer, who explained [s]catter site housing has always been more difficult to manage than conventional high- or mid-rise apartments, both because its dispersed and because of the age of the housing.

This method of public ownership increasingly lost steam as the federal government sought to cut budgets for social spending over the years. A 2014 Center for Budget Policies and Priorities report indicates that federal funds for housing programs fell by 25 percent between 2001 and 2014.

This has caused local authorities to increasingly turn toward public-private initiatives which allow government subsidizing of privately-owned homes.

The Rental Assistance Development Program (RAD), introduced by the Obama administration in 2015, allowed public housing agencies to leverage public and private debt and equity in order to reinvest in the public housing stock, according to the department of Housing and Urban Development. The agency states this initiative was critical given the backlog of public housing capital needs.

The Biden administrations heavily-promoted $1.75 trillion Build Back Better social spending bill had earmarked $65 billion for the maintenance of affordable housing but has been effectively killed in the Senate by Democrats opposed to any increase in social spending.
The Chicago teachers who voted against a return to in-person teaching on Tuesday are part of a growing wave of opposition around the world directed against the reopening of schools as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations skyrocket. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) vote produced a majority of 73 percent in favour of fully moving to online schooling. Teachers in Detroit, Michigan; New York City; and San Francisco and Oakland, California, are also resisting in-person teaching.

In Germany, teachers, parents and students are following the struggle of Chicago teachers with great interest and agreement. Here, too, the coalition government led by Olaf Scholz (Social Democratic Party, SPD) is giving the virus free rein, keeping schools and businesses open at all costs. As in the United States, quarantine times are also being shortened here, meaning the virus can progress even more rapidly. In response to these criminal policies, the trade unions advocate keeping workplaces and schools open in the interests of the rich against the workers.

Here are some recent statements that have been sent to the World Socialist Web Site in support of the struggle of the Chicago teachers.

Tamino from Baden-Wurttemberg

Tamino, a student from Baden-Wurttemberg, drew the obvious international parallels in his letter of support. He stated: I support the Chicago teachers fight against the policy of deliberate mass infection in schools. The conditions you are fighting against are the same conditions that students and teachers face worldwide! Here in Germany, too, all the state governments are reopening schools after the holidays, endangering the lives and health of students and teachers.

Even before the holidays, coronavirus was spreading rapidly in schools here. But now with the Omicron variant this will come to a head once again. At the same time, plans are being made to shorten the quarantine period. Schools are to be treated as critical infrastructure so that pupils and teachers can be sent back as quickly as possible after an infection. This, too, will undoubtedly further accelerate the spread of the pandemic in schools.

This policy is supported by the trade unions. The chairperson of the GEW education union, Maike Finnern, for example, stated that she would also back the shortening of quarantine if the federal governments expert council recommends it. This makes clear that a fight for safe educationwith us as with youcan only be successful if carried out independently of the unions.

Primary school teacher Lara from Berlin said, Solidarity with all teachers, whether in Chicago, Berlin or elsewhere! In their hypocritical school reopening policies, the elites clearly and inhumanely show that they are not concerned with the right to education or care. They leave us teachers, the rest of the staff and above all the kids unprotected in their ramshackle and crammed childrens barracks and callously provoke the resulting suffering. Instead of introducing sustained measures like better working conditions, hygiene, development and family support, schools are degenerating into forced labour for capitalist profit.

Olivia, a mother from South Tyrol in Austria, pointed out the dangers of schools reopening: I see that the Omicron variant is spreading uncontrolled worldwide. Even a so-called mild progression of the illness can produce long-term damage to organs. And the percentage in which this is also the case in children is, in my opinion, not yet knownbut that it happens, is clear!

With the much higher transmissibility of the Omicron variant, combined with the non-professional management of mask-wearing and hand/surface disinfection in schools, I see too high a risk of infection, especially among younger children. The consequences will be even more sick children, full hospitals and carrying it home to grandma and grandpa.

Olivia concluded, I am in favour of protecting children preventively through a short school lockdown. As soon as possible, children must also be vaccinated. Of course, the state must ensure the necessary financial help for needy families, as well as social supervision for otherwise vulnerable children.

Student Laura, in solidarity with the teachers struggle in Chicago

Laura described her personal experience of the pandemic in a letter of solidarity for the teachers in Chicago. She wrote, I am a student, and before the Christmas holidays began, some of us came down with the coronavirus. Among them are classmates with whom I have close contact! I find it very scary that my closest friends got infected. My thoughts on this for a while now have been, Its only a matter of time before it gets me. Especially the rapidly spreading Omicron variant makes the worries grow when I must go back to school on 10 January.

A global pandemic cannot be contained or eradicated at the national level. We need an international fight against COVID to successfully eradicate this virus. To do this, we need to unite globally and make clear our discontent with the inadequate measures that only end up putting profits over human lives.

This is why I support the Chicago teachers strike. Given the high risk of infection that schools pose and the growing numbers of infections among children, the opening of schools is a major threat to the health of younger, unvaccinated students, but also to teachers. We need to support the Chicago teachers fight against the herd immunity policies in schools around the world!

The following statement was sent by a teacher from the Ruhr area who wished to remain anonymous: In Chicago, three-quarters of the teachers have stated that they are not ready to go back to in-person teaching in the face of the deadly Omicron wave. My colleagues in the USA not only have my full support but deserve broad solidarity from all German schools.

The teachers in Chicago give us their courageous voice because they consistently act for their students, the weakest in society, as well as for their families and for themselves. Daily, I have seen my students fearful they could infect their parents and grandparents, lose their teachers as school caregivers or eventually contract Long COVID themselves, given the recurring waves of new SARS-CoV-2 variants.

A 14-year-old girl from our circle of acquaintances has only narrowly escaped death after being hospitalised in a neighbouring town. This kind of thing makes many students very thoughtful, some even depressed, and prevents them from learning successfully. Our students know better than most politicians would have them believe that our cramped schools are among the most frequent and dangerous transmission sites for Omicron.

We so often hear it said that its school closures that supposedly hinder focus on learning. In fact, the opposite is true. Students, parents and school staff need an encouraging perspective on how the virus can finally be eradicated. To that end, maintaining social distancing is paramount, and that includes temporary school lockdowns and online instruction, which we have already practiced since 2020.

The Chicago teachers decision against in-person teaching sends an important signal to us as well: students, parents and all school staff can see that it is possible to stand up to the unrestrained policy of deliberate mass infection. COVID-19 must be eliminated, and ultimately this can only be done at the international level, as it is in the nature of this epidemic. We now need school rank-and-file committees worldwide. Form them now everywhere, including in Germany, and spread the word about the exemplary action of the teachers from Chicago!

Joshua, student from Bavaria, with his poster: German students stand with Chicago teachers! #SafeEdforAll; NObacktoSchool; livesbeforeprofits; #SchoolStrike2022

Joshua, a student from Bavaria, told the WSWS, I completely support the Chicago teachers fight against the murderous Back-to-School campaign. I strongly condemn the reaction of the Lightfoot administration to take away the pay of striking teachers. The strikers demands are life-saving measures and must be enforced!

It is no different in Germany. I come from Bavaria, and next Monday in-person teaching is to continue regularly here too, although Omicron is rampant and the intensive care units are full. The lies of the ruling class that vaccination alone plus a few measly mitigation measures would suffice have already been discredited and refuted by leading scientists.

The only way out of this pandemic is eradication. But this conflicts with the profit interests of the ruling class. Therefore, the working class itself must fight to close schools and all non-essential businesses. The teachers in Chicago have led the way, and the German teachers and the whole international working class must follow them and start building independent action committees!

These statements show that more and more young people and teachers are learning the lessons of the ruthless profits-before-lives policies and are courageously coming out publicly to call for an end to the pandemic, which is fraught with so much danger, suffering and death. The examples of this are multiplying day by day.

In Germanys most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, trainee teachers have started a petition on Change.org addressed to the state government, which has already received more than 4,500 signatures in just a short time. They are objecting to the fact that state Education Minister Yvonne Gebauer (Liberal Democratic Party, FDP) has cancelled all pandemic-related special regulations regarding their teacher training. They write, Despite all the measures, one thing remains: the fear of infection and the fear of not being able to cope. They also demand, among other things, the possibility of conducting seminars remotely.

On Twitter, a video by school student spokesperson Mati Randow from Austria is currently circulating widely. In view of the spread of Omicron, Mati advocates school closures because he cannot see any other responsible option in the current situation. He objects to students being societys little lab rats, adding, The pretence is always that schools are kept open for the mental health of students. This is a hypocritical discussion  Our mental health is already f***ed anyway.

The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) and its sister parties around the world are fighting to build independent rank-and-file committees to stop the spread of COVID-19 in schools and workplaces. We call on all our readers to register as active supporters today to participate in building these committees.
India, where COVID-19 cases have recently begun growing exponentially, officially confirmed its first death from the highly infectious Omicron variant Wednesday. Friday saw a second, of a 45-year-old woman from Odishas Balangir district.

Health workers set up beds inside a ward being prepared for the omicron coronavirus variant at Civil hospital in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, Dec. 6, 2021 [Credit: AP Photo/Ajit Solanki]

These reports shatter bogus claims by Prime Minister Narendra Modis government and the capitalist ruling elite that the new variant is milder and that there is no need to panic. It has now spread to 27 of Indias 36 states and Union Territories.

The first victim, a 73-year-old retiree who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in December but recovered from the disease, had in fact died on December 31 in Rajasthans Udaipur district.

The fully vaccinated man was admitted to a government hospital on December 15 after testing positive the same day. Tests done on this man on December 21 and 25 came back negative. However, on December 25, his genome sequencing report confirmed that he had the Omicron variant. Dinesh Kharadi, the Chief Medical and Health Officer in Udaipur, told reporters: The death appeared to be from post-COVID pneumonia with comorbidity of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hypothyroidism.

Joint Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Lav Agarwal, who is at the forefront of efforts to paint Omicron as milder, downplayed its role in this death, saying: He was an elderly person who had diabetes and comorbid conditions. Instead of alerting the public to the devastating emergency situation emerging worldwide as the Omicron variant spreads, Agarwal encouraged the public to write it off as the product of old age and ill health, not deliberate policies.

Capitalist politicians proceed with naked indifference to life. In May 2020, as 400,000 people fell ill and 4,000 died every day in India, Modi government health advisor Jayaprakash Muliyil warned: With a substantial opening up of the lockdown, India may see at least two million deaths. Yet Modi opened up the lockdown before viral spread had ended and contact tracing was set up, and epidemiologists have estimated that at least 6 million people have died in India of COVID-19, though the notoriously under-counted official toll now stands at 483,178.

Leading scientists have repeatedly shown that even doubly vaccinated individuals are significantly less protected from the Omicron variant, which is increasingly becoming dominant over the Delta variant that caused Indias second wave. This has now been confirmed, tragically, in that Indias first Omicron-related death was of a vaccinated individual. In one study of 183 Omicron infections, health authorities found that 87 or nearly 50 percent of them were fully vaccinated.

Instead of citing this to stress that vaccines alone will not halt the pandemic and that lockdowns and strict public health measures are urgently necessary, Indian authorities have responded by announcing that the use of masks and surveillance is key to breaking the chain of transmission. However, basic measures like masking, even if fully implemented, are not enough to break the tidal wave of cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant.

In May, the Modi government said Indias entire adult population of 940 million would be fully vaccinated by the end of 2021. However, as of December 31, only 64 percent of Indias adult population was fully vaccinated and around 90 percent had received a first dose. Average monthly vaccinations have also been systematically falling in September, October and November as 8.1 million, 5.4 million and 5.7 inoculations, respectively.

India started vaccinating the 15-to-17 age group (120 million people, according to the 2011 census) only at beginning of January 2022, as the third wave of the pandemic loomed. Unlike many other countries in the world, such as in Europe, where adults are around 80 percent of the population, adults constitute only 63 percent of Indias total population. This means that even if adults were fully vaccinated, one-third of Indias massive 1.38 billion population would still be without protection provided by vaccines.

The consequences of Modis murderous policy are emerging. Scores of children below six yearswho are not yet included in the vaccination drivehave been struck by Covid over the last five days, often with breathing distress, severe weakness and high fever leading to hospitalization, the Times of India reported on January 6, adding: A substantial number of children below three years are among those affected.

Modi and the entire Indian ruling class like their international counterparts are aware of the disastrous consequences of their murderous herd immunity policy, which let COVID-19 rip through millions of unprotected people unchecked.

On Friday, India recorded the highest number of daily cases in over 200 days, as its daily COVID-19 cases exceeded the grim milestone of 100,000 (117,100), 28 percent higher than 90,928 the previous day, and nearly seven times higher than a week ago. However, Indian national health official Arti Ahuja admitted that in the absence of sufficient testing, the true level of infection spread in the community would not be revealed. On Friday, 302 people died of COVID-19 in India.

Mumbai, Indias financial capital with over 20 million population, recorded 20,181 cases Friday, the most since the pandemic began in 2020, and 33 percent more than Thursdays 15,666 cases. Likewise, Indias capital Delhi on Friday reported over 15,000 daily COVID-19 cases, the most since May 6. While Mumbai city officials said in a daily health bulletin that only 8 percent of those infected were hospitalized, the massive surge in the number of infected could mean that these 8 percent could swamp hospitals, as in earlier waves of the pandemic.

Already, hundreds of medical workers including doctors in Mumbai's biggest hospitals have been infected with COVID-19 in recent days, NDTV reported on January 6. Despite massive surges in cases, the state government said Thursday: There is not case for a lockdown. So far, it has enforced limited restrictions that include closing down schools and colleges till February 15.

Indian authorities repeated statements that Omicron is less severe than Delta testifies to the criminal ignorance and indifference of Modi and the entire ruling elite towards the lives of millions of Indians. With a smaller percentage of the population vaccinated, leaving hundreds of millions completely open to the highly transmissible Omicron variant, medical experts expect a surge in cases and in hospitalization rates in coming days.

Omicron will lead to a much higher number of cases in a shorter period, leading to a disintegration of our already overburdened healthcare system, Mahek Nankani, an Assistant Programme Manager at the Takshashila Institute (TI) and Dr. Harshit Kukreja, a Research Analyst with the TI warned in the Deccan Herald on December 30. They showed this would leave hospitals incapable of caring for other patients with non-communicable diseases, such as chronic diabetes.

The Indian political establishment, devoted to the profit interests of a tiny capitalist elite, have totally ignored this shocking aspect of the pandemic, which has already led to a massive humanitarian crisis. Following the footsteps of his counterparts worldwide, particularly in the United States, Brazil and Europe, Modi has not allocated the massive resources needed to upgrade Indias health infrastructure. Instead, he has continued diverting billions of dollars into the coffers of a tiny layer of Indian multi-billionaires.
On Friday, nearly one million more Americans tested positive for COVID-19, 2,000 lost their lives, and coronavirus hospitalizations reached their all-time high.

Across the US, emergency rooms are war zones. Doctors and nurses, working back-to-back shifts, are at the breaking point. They call families, one after another, telling them their loved ones have died. Hungry, dehydrated, sleep-deprived, they scramble to uphold their promise to use my power to help the sick.

Registered nurse Rachel Chamberlin, of Cornish, N.H., right, steps out of an isolation room where where Fred Rutherford recovers from COVID-19 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022 [Credit: AP Photo/Steven Senne]

Amid this heroic effort to save lives, another effort is underway: an offensive in the media and political establishment to deny the severity of the pandemic, desensitize the population to mass death, claim that Omicron is mild and insist that nothing can be done to stop it.

New York Times columnist David Leonhardt wrote on January 5, under the headline Omicron Is Milder, that Covid now appears to present less threat to most vaccinated elderly people than the annual flu does. He added that Covid increasingly resembles the kind of health risk that people accept every day.

In the Wall Street Journal, financial executive Rob Arnott unironically mused in a column published on January 2, Should I try to catch the Omicron variant of Covid to advance the cause of herd immunity?

The Biden administration, meanwhile, has given up any pretense that it is seeking to stop the spread of the pandemic. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has instructed workers to return to their jobs just five days after testing positive, guaranteeing the continual infection of the population.

Many states have already ended the reporting of daily cases, and the CDC has been discussing measures to end daily case reporting altogether.

In an attempt to legitimize and give pseudo-scientific credibility to this policy, former Obama and Biden adviser Ezekiel Emanuel, together with other former Biden administration health advisers, including Michael Osterholm and Celine Gounder, called Thursday for COVID-19 to become the new normal.

Emanuel organized the production of three opinion articles published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The statements of these officials were hailed, with front page coverage in the New York Times and Washington Post, and they led the COVID-19 segment on NBC Nightly News Thursday.

The lead essay, headlined A National Strategy for the New Normal of Life With COVID,written by Emanuel, Osterholm and Goundercriticizes the Biden administration, not for allowing hundreds of thousands of Americans to die, but for claiming that the pandemic could be ended in the first place.

Even with vaccines and immunity to SARS-CoV-2 from vaccination or prior infection, the pandemic will never be brought under control, the statement argues.

The solution, as NBC put it in its interview with Emanuel, means treating Covid like other respiratory viruses. Emanuel told NBC, We have to reorient our goal so we can get it to a manageable state and we can continue with our normal life while Covid is around, just like we do with flu.

In other words, just as governments do not conduct contact tracing or isolation of those infected with influenza, so too COVID-19 should be allowed to freely spread throughout the population.

The article argues that the number of people who die from COVID-19 should no longer even be counted: Policy makers should retire previous public health categorizations, including deaths from pneumonia and influenza or pneumonia, influenza, and COVID-19, and focus on a new category: the aggregate risk of all respiratory virus infections.

Rather than take measures to end the pandemic, the US political establishment is promoting the equivalent of an accounting trick, aimed at burying and concealing deaths.

This new normal is premised on the rejection of the Zero Covid policy that has enabled China, a country of 1.4 billion people, to have just 5,000 COVID-19 deaths. If China had a death rate similar to the US, 3.4 million of the countrys people would be dead.

The authors of the JAMA article write, The goal for the new normal with COVID-19 does not include eradication or elimination, e.g., the zero COVID strategy Consequently, a new normal with COVID in January 2022 is not living without COVID-19.

While presented as a criticism of the Biden administration, the position articulated in the JAMA articles is in fact that of the US government. Biden is campaigning relentlessly for the reopening of schools to in-person learning. The class interests behind this policy are proclaimed ever more openly. New York Mayor Eric Adams declared last week, Its time to open up and feed our ecosystem, our financial ecosystem.

The new normal of perpetual COVID-19 is, in practical terms, indistinguishable from the policy of herd immunity advocated by the Trump administration and expressed in the Great Barrington Declaration. The only difference is that the position of the former Biden administration officials dispenses with the myth that herd immunity would lead to the end of the pandemic.

All that is left is mass death in perpetuity, or, as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson put it, no more fucking lockdowns: let the bodies pile high.

Left unstated is the reason why saving potentially millions of lives through an effort to eliminate COVID-19, as China has successfully done, is ruled out.

The central involvement of Emanuel, the Jack Kevorkian of public health policy, helps explain the underlying rationale.

Emanuel has long promoted the idea that the growth of life expectancy and the provision of health care to the elderly are imposing intolerable costs on society and extending the duration of life far beyond what should be allowed and tolerated. In an infamous 2014 piece in the Atlantic, entitled Why I hope to die at 75, Emanuel argued that society will be better off if nature takes its course swiftly and promptly.

Emanuel has waged war on the sacred precepts of the medical profession: the Hippocratic oath, the pledge to do no harm and the belief in the fundamental duty to save lives and treat every human life as equally valuable. This oath, taken by every practitioner of medicine as a sworn duty, is an impediment to hospitals kicking the destitute ill and elderly to the curb. It must be done away with.

Condemning the thoroughness and meticulousness of the medical tradition, Emanuel identifies the problem of overutilization as being rooted in the Hippocratic oath, with its admonition to use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment as an imperative to do everything for the patient regardless of cost.

To those who argue that denying the elderly medical care discriminates against older people, and that Age-based allocation is ageism, Emanuel has a ready answer: Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination. This is because everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years.

If there is a stench of fascism around these statements, it is because the last society to declare war on the Hippocratic oath was Nazi Germany, where sections of the medical profession were integrated into the apparatus of state murder that killed tens of thousands of disabled people.

How does the Hippocratic oath square with an oath to the Fuhrer, asks a doctor in the German television series Charite at War, depicting the corrupting influence of the Nazi eugenics program.

The open promotion of mass infection comes at the very point where there is growing resistance in the working class. Thousands of teachers, from Chicago to New York and San Francisco, are taking a stand to defend their lives and the lives of their students and the population as a whole.

For years, the most predatory sections of the capitalist class have worked to systematically reduce the life expectancy of American workers. The pandemic, which in 2020 alone reduced life expectancy by two years, has proven to be manna from heaven for the capitalist class. It has no intention of ending it. It will continue killing, predominantly those above the age of retirement, together with the chronically ill and the disabled.

COVID-19 threatens to kill millions more people throughout the world unless it is eliminated and eradicated. And as terrible as the immediate impact of Omicron is, the continued spread of the virus creates the conditions for new variants, potentially combining the transmissibility of Omicron with the lethality of Delta, that will have even more devastating consequences.

The example of China shows that COVID-19 can, and must, be eradicated! Through the closure of schools and non-essential businesses, coupled with a massive government program to roll out widespread testing, high-quality masks, quarantining, contact tracing and isolation, the pandemic could be brought to an end and life could get back to normal in a matter of months.

The fight against the pandemic emerges ever more openly as a class questionthat is, a question of who controls society and how it is organized. The capitalist class has fought, is fighting and will continue to fight tooth and nail against a humane and rational response to the pandemic. It is the task of the working class, organized behind a socialist program, to fight to end the pandemic.
Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and first African-American movie star, died on January 6 at age 94 in Los Angeles.

Poitier was instrumental in changing the way black people were portrayed in American film. He pioneered leading roles in major Hollywood productions in the 1950s and 1960s and his characters exhibited dignity, intensity and determination, while he ended once and for all the film industrys relegation of African-American performers to stereotypical servants and entertainers.

As Poitier told Newsweek during a 1988 interview, I made films when the only other Black on the lot was the shoeshine boy. I was kind of the lone guy in town.

Poitier won the Academy Award for best actor in 1964 for Lilies of the Field (Ralph Nelson), in which he portrayed an itinerant handyman who encounters a group of German, Austrian and Hungarian nuns in the Arizona desert who believe he has been sent to them by God to help build a new chapel.

Prior to winning the Oscar, Poitier had been nominated for best actor for his co-starring role in Stanley Kramers The Defiant Ones (1958) along with Tony Curtis. Poitier and Curtis play escaped convicts, one black and one white, who are shackled together and must cooperate in order to survive.

Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis in The Defiant Ones (1958)

Poitier is also known in particular for Daniel Petries A Raisin in the Sun (1961), based on the Lorraine Hansberry play about an African-American working class family in Chicago; A Patch of Blue (Guy Green, 1965), about the friendship between an educated black man and an illiterate, blind white girl; Norman Jewisons In the Heat of the Night (1967), in which Poitier plays a Philadelphia detective investigating a murder in small-town Mississippi; and Kramers Guess Whos Coming to Dinner (1967), one of the first films to represent an interracial marriage. Band of Angels (1957), directed by Raoul Walsh, is a lesser acknowledged, but intriguing film set in the South prior to and during the Civil War.

In the early days of Poitiers career, when it was difficult to find suitable roles, the actor insisted that he be given an opportunity to play complex characters that depicted black men with refinement, education and accomplishment.

Poitiers rise in Hollywood corresponded with changes in society brought about by the civil rights movement and the struggle against Jim Crow segregation in the southern US. Some of his most successful films were made during the mass movement that brought about significant political and cultural changes in American life.

Diana Sands, Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier in A Raisin in the Sun (1961)

Along with other Hollywood figures such as Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Marlon Brando and Paul Newman, Poitier participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 at which Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech. Poitier also traveled to Neshoba County, Mississippi following the murder of civil rights workers Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner in June 1964.

Poitier was born on February 27, 1927 in Miami, Florida, the seventh child in a family from the Bahamas. He was born prematurely while his parents were visiting the US to sell tomatoes and produce. He started life in poverty on Cat Island and later Nassau in the Bahamas and, owing to his US citizenship, was able to move to Miami at age 15 to live with his brother.

The next year, Sidney moved to New York City when he learned to read while working as a dishwasher in the citys restaurant industry. He spent a year in the US army during World War II before being discharged by feigning mental illness.

Poitier began his acting career in 1945 when he landed a role with American Negro Theater in Harlem. He struggled in the theater because he could not sing (he was tone deaf) and he also spent a year working to rid himself of his Bahamian accent. His break came when he was cast in a leading role in a Broadway production of the classical Greek comedy Lysistrata. His work on Broadway led to contacts in Hollywood with 20th Century-Fox.

Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman in A Patch of Blue (1965)

Poitier was criticized at times for playing a flawless, idealized black man and even labeled an Uncle Tom for his Hollywood roles. Black playwright Clifford Mason, in a 1967 New York Times essay, Why Does White America Love Sidney Poitier?, argued that the films the actor appeared in were a schizophrenic flight from historical fact and that Poitier was a pawn for the white mans sense of whats wrong with the world.

The film industrys Cold War liberalism had its serious failings, but Masons type of attack was a right-wing criticism. His views would find sympathy among the present-day proponents of racialist identity politics. Despite the limitations of the industry within which Poitier worked, many of the characters he portrayed communicated messages about solidarity and the ability of human beings to overcome prejudice in the course of a common struggle against discrimination and oppression. To a considerable extent, Poitiers forceful personality and intelligence transcended many of the weaknesses of his material.

Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in In the Heat of the Night (1967)

The more interesting directors with whom he worked also included Joseph L. Mankiewicz (No Way Out, 1950), Zoltan Korda (Cry the Beloved Country, 1951), Richard Brooks (The Blackboard Jungle, 1955, and Something of Value, 1957), William Wellman (Good-bye, My Lady, 1956), Martin Ritt (Edge of the City, 1957, and Paris Blues, 1961), Otto Preminger (Porgy and Bess, 1959), Hubert Cornfield (Pressure Point, 1962), Sydney Pollack (The Slender Thread, 1965) and Gordon Douglas (They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, 1970). Poitier also directed eight feature films between 1972 and 1990.
Across the United States, the reopening of schools this week following winter break has been an unmitigated disaster. Despite the fact that daily new cases of COVID-19 have broken records throughout the past weeks as the highly transmissible Omicron variant rips through society, the entire political establishment has maintained the reckless reopening policy of reopening all schools and workplaces in order to maximize corporate profits.

Ms. Kaiser, a teacher from the Earth school, holds a sign in solidarity with other teachers who are speaking out on issues related to lack of COVID testing for students on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York [Credit: AP Photo/Brittainy Newman]

In response to this brutal herd immunity strategy, educators are leading a resurgence of the class struggle to stop the pandemic and save lives. Teachers staged walkouts this week in Chicago, Oakland, and San Francisco, to fight for a switch to fully remote learning in order to stop viral transmission. In Chicago, Democratic Party Mayor Lori Lightfoot has effectively locked teachers out of the classroom by prohibiting teachers from providing any kind of remote instruction to their students.

In the San Fransisco Bay Area, teachers in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), held mass wildcat sickouts this week. At least 500 teachers did not teach Friday, about 20 percent of the workforce, forcing the closure of 12 schools in the district. In San Francisco, almost 900 teachers and teaching assistants were absent, 20 percent of the workforce.

Teachers in Oakland are being joined by a growing number of studentsmore than 175 as of this writingwho are circulating a petition that demands an end to in-person learning under present conditions. The petition states in part:

OUSD students are not comfortable with going to school with the rising cases of COVID-19. There's a lot of concerns regarding safety measures and how to protect us from COVID-19, especially the highly contagious Omicron variant. We must go back to distance learning until the cases go down again. In order to ensure a safe learning environment, we demand you give us N95 masks and weekly PCR testing. If these demands are not met we will be striking by not attending school. We will be striking until we get what we need to be safe.

Educators and students are taking a courageous stand against the disaster unfolding across the country. On Friday, nationwide hospitalizations for COVID-19 surged to over 130,000 people, just 2,000 shy of the all-time high reached one year ago on January 6, 2021.

Schools are one of the most important ways the virus is spreading. Contact tracing data from the State of Illinois, for example, shows that 44.1 percent of all infections came from school settings, more than ten times any other type of location. In Los Angeles, the test positivity rate for teachers and students reached a record 13.5 percent, ten times the rate prior to winter break.

Colleges along the West Coast have also begun reporting mass COVID-19 outbreaks. Stanford University had 700 students and staff test positive for the virus in the last week alone. UC Berkeley, which saw a jump in its test positivity rate to 5 percent, reluctantly decided Friday night to allow for one to two weeks of digital instruction for some courses. This switch only took place amid growing anger among students, particularly a viral post by a member of the student government denouncing the plan to return to classrooms.

In New York City, Democratic Mayor Eric Adams refused to close schools Friday despite mass COVID-19 outbreaks and a major snow storm that normally would have caused a snow day. In defiance of the mayor and the Democratic Party establishment, a staggering 44.5 percent of school children did not go to school Friday. One New York City school worker, Melissa, wrote on Twitter, Theres schools that have no kitchen staff so the teachers are taking turns making lunch!

Expressing the widespread anger among students to the unsafe reopening of New York City schools, a Reddit post by a high school student was shared tens of thousands of times on social media. The student described a scene of total breakdown at their high school, writing:

First period, not enough healthy teachers to teach, students are crammed into an auditorium super spreader event, with multiple classes sitting next to each other on stage.

Second period, teacher is sick. They write, There was functionally no learning occurring within study hall, and health conditions were safer outside of the auditorium. It was well beyond max capacity.

Third period, first normal period. Students are given Covid tests, but the school has begun to run low and has to ration the tests.

The student then noted:

90% of the bathrooms were full of students swabbing their noses and taking their tests. I had one kid ask mewith his mask down, by the waywhether a faint line was positive: proceeding to show me his positive COVID test. I told him to go the nurse. One student tested positive IN THE AUDITORIUM, and a few students started screaming and ran away from him. There was now a lack of available seats given there was a COVID-positive student within the middle of the auditorium. Theyre now planning on having teachers give up their free periods to act as substitute teachers because the auditorium is simply not safe enough.

The World Socialist Web Site spoke with a teacher in San Francisco who participated in the sickout and wished to remain anonymous. They stated, We have no mandatory testing, and they have made it really difficult to get tested. Each school site has weekly recommended testing available once per week, so if you get sick with symptoms on a Tuesday and want to test but your school site tests on a Friday you have to travel to another school in a district after school and somehow get there before they close. Many educators use public transportation through the city as well, which makes this a huge issue.

The teacher described the inadequacy of in-class protection as well, commenting, Teachers dont have good masks, and students are able to eat in classrooms. We have a program called Breakfast in the Classroom, which is a great program that provides meals for students, but the kids eat their breakfast in class without a mask.

The teacher added, Here in San Francisco we have older buildings and small classrooms. Social distancing doesnt exist, and kids are often shoulder to shoulder. We have had a lot of teachers leave this year which has increased class sizes for everyone. Ventilation in our schools means to open a window.

Both in Oakland and in San Francisco, the respective teachers unions have vowed only to negotiate with the school districts for better masks and PPE. However, neither have called for a return to remote education as the virus rips through schools. The Oakland Education Association (OEA) has not even mentioned the teachers sickout action publicly, let alone voiced support for it.

Regardless of whatever watered-down measures result from such discussions, the pandemic is raging now and these measures will not hold back the tide of illness. Millions of infections will occur across the country in the next few days, with schools a hotbed of disease.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that there was now a record number of pediatric hospitalizations from COVID-19. What will be the result of letting every child in the US become infected with Omicron?

In the face of mass spread, the unions pretension that negotiating with school districts over two weeks for meager increases to PPE amounts to a solution to this crisis is despicable. Schools need to be shut now as part of emergency action taken by workers to end the pandemic.

Only through the independent initiative of educators, parents and students, united with the broader working class, will a movement develop that is capable of stopping the pandemic. In Chicago, Northern California, New York City, as well as Michigan, Texas, Los Angeles, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and a growing number of cities and states across the US, educators have formed rank-and-file committees to take up this struggle.

The San Francisco teacher noted that in response to their sickout, the district has already begun threatening teachers with termination and disciplinary action if their absence was not filed correctly. COVID-19 sick leave also expired December 31 in their district. The teacher described the pressures many teachers face in not wanting to use traditional sick leave, as educators now have to pay out of pocket for a substitute teacher.

The WSWS also spoke to a teacher in North Carolina. She stated, The situation is extremely tense. For immunocompromised teachers like me, its absolutely frightening. The risk before omicron was manageable with an effective vaccine. Studies show that breakthrough hospitalizations are primarily immunocompromised people. No, I likely wouldnt die (being vaxxed to the max), but omicron opens many serious health issues that could damage me irreparably.

I support the Chicago and California teachers because 1/4 of adults have high risk category health issues. Are we supposed to say forget you to these teachers, like me, who have years in our jobs, retirement in the line? We are teachers who have worked our whole lives, sacrificed for our students, spent thousands of our salaries on our students and now we are being toldyou dont matter.
Opposition to the education unions from teachers, parents and other workers is mounting. On social media they have registered disgust at the unions preventing a fight against the spread of COVID in schools. Many are calling for strike action and for schools to close until further safety measures are implemented.

Last January, the threat by tens of thousands of workers to utilise Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act to assert their right not to work in unsafe conditions forced the Johnson government into closing schools and imposing a lockdown.

The National Education Union (NEU) marked the anniversary, January 3, in a cynical 450-word Facebook statement, A day to be proud of.

The National Education Union's statement "A day to be proud of" (screenshot NEU/Facebook)

The NEU has worked to keep schools open throughout the pandemic. It now makes the lying claim that it organised the mobilisation of teachers and shutdown of schools last January, at the height of the pandemic.

It was only when it was clear that the opposition growing among educators and parents to horrifying COVID-19 death rates, which had taken the lives of at least 570 education workers, that the NEU said it would support any members who cited Section 44. It and other education unions did so only to legitimise their refusal to organise the strike action or walkouts being called for.

When the Conservative government tried to reopen primary schools on January 4, teachers stayed away, forcing the Tories, concerned that the action of educators could spearhead a broader movement of opposition, to announce the third national lockdown that day.

A year on, the NEUs statement does not even mention rising deaths or hospitalisation among children, claiming that the situation is very different now with the vaccine rollout while complaining that the government is not doing enough to prevent further disruption to education.

The union is in effect herding hundreds of thousands of its members into COVID infested schools with the only proviso that they report the CO2 monitor readings from their classrooms.

All the NEU proposed in its anniversary statement was that an online Zoom meeting be held Thursday evening, which it stipulated would only be open to union reps. This is because last January 3, the NEU held an open meeting that was attended by 400,000 of its members, reflecting the massive rebellion of school workers with many saying they would not attend unsafe schools the next day.

The NEU learned its lesson.

The main items on the closed meetings agenda were updates from Kevin Courtney and Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretaries of the NEU, on Covid-19 and the NEUs Value Education, Value Educators campaign on tackling workload and fighting for a pay rise. An update on COVID was tagged on as an afterthought.

The NEUs attempt to bask in the reflected glory of the January lockdown has provoked widespread anger. One NEU member said in response, That was a day to be proud of But now I am not proud. Now we are not doing anything to fight and keep our pupils and communities safe We should be refusing to go back until each class has a HEPA filter, masks on for everyone all the time. Not enough staff to open? Then nature is telling us we need to lockdown.

A fellow education worker said, Different this year! Say that to your member whose Christmas was ruined this year because she caught covid doing her job. Ive never been so down and Im going back tomorrow, covid negative but still suffering long term effects And the absence among staff we will have this week are already stacking up What are you doing? Right now?

Another said, Child safety out of the window yet again !!

I was also proud to be a member last year but this year it feels like primary schools and early years settings have been totally abandoned, added another.

One pointed out, But you have said nothing about merged classes. One staff member to up to 70 kids. Thats a precedent not be set. Here is one teacher who wont be doing that!

Another commented, but what are you doing this yearabsolutely bloody nothing.

Someone wrote, Thursday [the day of the Zoom meeting] is too late. You need to recommend Section 44 letters again now. Maybe less people are dying due to vaccinations but people are dying and its the biggest rise of deaths in children. Masks are not enough, filters in 2 months time are not enough. Schools need to be safe now before millions more children and teachers are infected where at least 1/10 of them will suffer Long Covid.

Squeezing lots if classes into the hall when several teachers catch covid at once is not educating, Its babysitting its much safer they be allowed to work independently at home. Remote learning for some will slow down the spread so teachers and children are not at such a high risk of getting infected especially as there is another new variant in the Country from Cameroon.

Responding to the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) who were promoting the joint statement of the six education unions backing the returns to schools, a service engineer supervisor responded, I wonder if these unions will ever do anything at all or even bother protecting their members at any point at all.

A NASUWT member said, Demanding stuff hasnt worked in the past. Why dont our unions take action to protect us?

Nikki Keech posted, I am extremely vulnerable immune suppressed teacherexpected in school on Tuesday. School refuse to let me work from home - no response from them or this union so have no clue what to do. Bloody terrified and extremely angry. Try taking some real action to support teachers - no wonder we are leaving the profession in droves!

Mellieha Colmer responded, Im in the same boat as you. I actually feel whats the point in being in a union when they don't look after their members... its all empty promises.

A posting from Solihull NASUWT read, the unions should be suggesting joint action.

On January 2, the NEU posted on social media, The Govt must act to reduce Covid disruption in our schools: buy air filters for every classroom, improve ventilation, make masks in classrooms a requirement and defer Ofsted inspections.

The posting effectively sanctioned children and staff being sent back into classrooms, now based on a promise of more ventilators at some unspecified future point. It was backed enthusiastically by former left Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who stated, I fully support the NEUnion call for urgent action to reduce Covid disruption, including through funding for improving ventilation.

Screenshot of Kevin Courtney speaking at a Zero Covid Coalition online meeting to oppose "education disruption"

Corbyn backed the NEUs statement, just weeks after voting in Parliament against compulsory vaccines for NHS staff, and a requirement for proof of vaccination or a negative test before entering pubs, clubs and restaurantssupporting the extreme right of the Tory party in claiming that this was an unpardonable infringement on individual liberties.

Corbyns endorsement of the NEU was in stark contrast to the hostile response of rank-and-file educators who denounced the unions apologia for the Johnson governments homicidal efforts to keep schools open.

Susan wrote on Twitter, I think you need to coordinate with other unions and call a national strike now this government will not act to protect peoples lives they have to be forced to.

Emma commented, Why have you left it until now? Also you know they wont do this, theyve had 2 years! same as they wont pay proper sick pay, end poverty, stop privatising our NHS... when will the unions stand up for us, our kids, workers.... ? its #ClassWar and they are killing us.

Another posted, Too little too late. Omicron will rip through schools

One comment read, Is this it ?!! Where are you for those members going into classes where on current stats there will be 2 or more positive kids.

Karen F said, Horrified teachers, children and families in primary schools are being told to just gamble with their health. Words arent enough, action is required.

Phil Bretherton responded, Weak union hence why I am not paying subscription this year. You dont support teachers.

Dr. Simon J Stewart, a lecturer at Staffordshire University, wrote, Teachers want @NEUnion to support them and all children. Youre running around the thread ducking and dodging this. 125 children are dead so far, and 77,000+ kids are suffering long covid

On Facebook, Daisy Jeanne said of the NEUs pathetic demands on the government, [I]t hasnt worked, because all they do is post on Facebook or write letters. Its no good just saying we think the government should do something urgently, Im not sure why I have paid union fees at all this past year.

Ben Williams wrote, The government do the bare minimum and the union pats them on the back. Is this what we have become? Were beginning to sound like [Labour leader Sir] Keir Starmer.

Hayley Wilson asked, What about primary schools, why are we constantly forgotten about. Ventilation is a serious issue in our classrooms, staff catching it, pupils catching it. No bubbles no safety measures in place anymore... we need our unions help... where are you??  Stop posting links and letters and actually do something to protect your members.

Kate Anne Jones wrote, What is the union doing to protect primary school staff? Dal Deschain replied, sweet fa

Christina Cowan commented, You should not be proud now because from what I can see you are doing nothing. Schools are dangerous and our children are being out in danger and no-one seems to care. The schools need to be closed except for vulnerable children or children of essential workers (and I mean essential!). These ridiculously high numbers need to be brought down now before thousands more potentially lose their lives unnecessarily.

Another NEU member responded, [I]m so bloody angry that we are constantly an afterthought. Unfortunately when I questioned my union and disagreed with them I was told maybe Im in the wrong job! Very helpful.

Inga Vaitkeviciene wrote, Unions should do better than that. Seems that they are pushing school staff and pupils to be put at risk.

NEU joint leader Courtney received another angry response after retweeting an article on a scientific study noting that ventilated air is important in combating COVID. One reply read, Every day you mince around not doing your job you leave teachers to catch it. They f***ing know about this. We all do. Now. Its your job to tell the government you demand they be put in schools or youll ballot for a strike. THATS YOUR F***ING JOB! get on with it.

Another wrote, Why havent we stopped the dangerous opening of schools? Why havent the union insisted on the classrooms being made safe? I feel very failed by the government and the unions. They need to close them to make them safe. 127 children have died and tens of thousands have long Covid.

Other responses to an NEU tweet of January 4 read, Please ballot for a strike. and Please NEU, demand better protection for your members, industrial action if workplaces are unsafe!

National Education Union joint general secretary Mary Bousted speaking at the Zoom meeting attended by 400,000 educators

A reply to a tweet the same day from joint leader Bousted challenged, What are you doing to protect your members in primary school? Not a word calling out the total lack of protection for the people who pay your wages and the unvaccinated children. Have you seen the increase in paediatric admissions to hospital? No challenge to [government education minister Nadhim] Zahawi at all.

The Educators Rank-and-File-Safety Committee (UK) has called an emergency meeting, Close All Schools To Stop the Spread of Omicron! for Tuesday, January 11 at 7 p.m. to discuss a fightback against the rampant spread of COVID-19 throughout schools. We urge all teachers, parents and students to register for this important event here.
Hundreds of thousands of people are being infected with the coronavirus every day in Spain, as the far more contagious Omicron variant fuels an unprecedented rise in cases. Daily cases have only fallen below 100,000 once since December 27, with 99,671 infections reported on December 28. On December 30, the highest ever single-day total of 161,688 was recorded. Up until this point, the largest one-day infection total in any previous wave of the pandemic had been 44,347.

People wearing face masks queue for a COVID-19 test at La Paz hospital in Madrid, Spain, Dec. 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

Currently, over 1.8 million inhabitants of Spain are sick with COVID-19, more than a seventh of the total cases recorded in the Spain since the start of the pandemic, and roughly 4 percent of the population.

Even this is likely just the tip of the iceberg, as Spains inadequate testing facilities have been unable to cope with the surge in infections. Test positivity rates have reached a staggering 33 percent nationwide, well above the World Health Organizations (WHO) threshold of 5 percentconsidered an indicator that the pandemic is under control. In some regions, such as Navarra, more than half of all tests conducted are returning positive results.

The Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government has responded to this unfolding public health catastrophe by threatening to stop recording infection data. According to RTVE, the Spanish Ministry of Health and the regional governments are drawing up plans to change the way that COVID-19 cases are recorded, so as to focus on hospitalizations and deaths, thereby downplaying the dangers of mass infection.

RTVE explained that a new system would be implemented which would make it unnecessary for regions to record data case by case, moving instead towards the health reporting system used for other diseases like flu. Experts from the health ministry reportedly explained that it was unsustainable to continue testing all suspected cases given the high incidence of the disease.

As of Friday, the incidence rate hit 2,722 per 100,000 in Spain, with some regions reporting rates of over 5,000 or 6,000 per 100,000.

The PSOE-Podemos government has also announced plans to scale back its contact-tracing program in light of the explosion of cases. Close contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases will only be identified by the governments track-and-trace service if they are in environments considered high risk, such as in care homes or health centers. Infected individuals will otherwise be responsible for tracking down their own contacts and informing them of the potential risk.

The PSOE-Podemos government has made clear that it plans to take no action to protect the health and lives of the Spanish people, fully embracing the fascistic policy of herd immunity. On Friday, PSOE Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told a meeting of the partys Federal Committee that the country is better prepared than a year ago to confront COVID-19 and insisted that we are going to have to learn to live with it like we do with many other viruses.

Admitting that his policy had no scientific basis, Sanchez then proceeded to double down on his governments vaccine-only strategy: While we are waiting for science to tell us if this variant is more or less harmful, what we do know is that vaccination protects us more against contagion and against the severe illness.

Sanchezs demand that the population learn to live with the virus is an open acknowledgement of what has long been the PSOE-Podemos administrations policy. The ruling class intends to let the virus run rampant throughout the entire population, no matter the cost in health and lives, so as not to infringe on the profits of big business and the banks.

For this reason, the Spanish government has insisted that all children return to in-person schooling on Monday, January 10, in order to allow parents to continue working in unsafe factories, offices and other workplaces to generate profits for the companies.

Next to no measures will be in place to ensure the safety of teachers, pupils and their families, other than that children and educators should wear masks and regularly wash their hands, and that classrooms should be well ventilated. These vague instructions will be completely ineffective under conditions in which the virus is circulating massively throughout the Spanish population.

In a statement on Tuesday, PSOE Education Minister Pilar Alegria lied about the danger of the virus, falsely claiming that children would not be at risk in schools. Our classrooms are safe, she stated. Choosing in-person [schooling] is the best option. It guarantees the right of education in conditions of equality and equity. Alegria said nothing of the right of children and their families to not be infected with a serious and potentially deadly disease.

On Friday, the Health Ministry then announced that school classrooms would no longer have to quarantine if COVID-19 cases are detected, unless there are at least five infections among their members, or at least 20 percent of the pupils.

This follows an earlier decision by the PSOE-Podemos government at the end of December to reduce quarantine time for the population as a whole from 10 days to seven for asymptomatic cases. A negative PCR test will not be required to end the quarantine period.

Meanwhile, hospitals are nearing collapse as the virus surges through health care staff and the population more broadly. Infections of health workers have roughly quadrupled in a month, up from 1,024 in the last week of November to 3,952 in the last week of December. This is nearly three times more than during the fifth wave in July and August, which peaked at 1,378 health care worker infections in a single week.

In the Basque Country, one of the worst hit regions so far, the Satse nursing union estimates that between 4 and 7 percent of health care workers are currently off sick with the coronavirus. The Basque Health Service (Osakidetza) has been forced to draw up lists of volunteers to cover shifts. Hospitalizations have increased by 76 percent since December 20 in this region, while ICU admissions have increased by 30 percent.

Health care workers are being forced to deal with skyrocketing hospitalizations, with 14,426 people in hospital as of January 7, more than at any point since mid-February last year, during Spains catastrophic third wave. This is an increase of roughly a third in a week. Over 2,000 people are currently in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) with COVID-19, the highest number since the peak of the fifth wave at the start of August. This number is also rapidly rising, increasing by around 13 percent over the last seven days.

The Spanish and international ruling classs prioritization of profits over lives is incompatible with a scientifically guided fight against the virus. Only a conscious mass movement of the Spanish, European and global working class directed against the bourgeoisie and its policies of mass infection can end the pandemic and save lives.
A mother tries to comfort her son refusing to get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

With Omicron cases growing, the pro-business policy response of Thailands military-backed regime is opening the door for a fourth, even larger wave of coronavirus in the country.

Thailand reported 5,775 new cases on Thursday, almost 1.5 times the previous day, and 7,526 cases on Friday, the highest number since early November and more than double the number on January 1. There has been a reported total of over 2.2 million infections and 21,750 coronavirus-related fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic.

Cases are reported in the majority of the eastern provinces as well as major cities and popular tourist destinations such as the capital Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya City. A total of 2,338 Omicron cases were recorded on Wednesday. In the last surge, a maximum of 32,418 daily cases was officially reached.

The first cases of Omicron entered through the quarantine-free test and go program that allows double-vaccinated, foreign arrivals to freely enter the country after presenting two negative PCR test results; one before departure and one upon arrival. The government is desperate to revive tourism, which is a major source of foreign currency and has virtually collapsed during the pandemic.

The probability of two false negatives from PCR tests, as has happened in the case of some arrivals into Thailand, was estimated at between 1 and 9 percent according to a study by the Journal of Virology. Approximately 350,000 travellers have used the test and go program since it began in November. A suspension of quarantine-free travel was belatedly imposed on December 22 and will continue until late January.

Despite health warnings about the dangers posed by positive Omicron cases, the government eased restrictions ahead of the New Year celebrations to appease sections of big business, which branded the reintroduction of restrictions a huge overreaction.

The government also downplayed the risks. Omicron is now clearly spreading rapidly but its not really severe, Dr Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences (DMS), said last weekan opinion not shared by the majority of the scientific community.

Instead of controlling the spread, the government is imposing the homicidal, unscientific program of living with the virus on workers and rural toilers. Its chief concern is to avoid lockdowns and their impact on an already fragile economy.

The countrys Health Ministry raised the COVID alert level from 3 to 4 on Thursdaya shift that merely discourages activities such as dining out, the consumption of alcohol in restaurants, leaving the house, using public transport and travelling abroad.

While state employees have been told to work from home for two weeks after New Years celebrations to reduce the risks of infection, schools and workplaces are to remain open.

Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that while the higher alert level will bring more limitations on activities the government will try to avoid a lockdown to the best of our ability, he said.

This was echoed by the mayor of Pattaya City, a popular tourist destination, who on Tuesday stridently opposed any lockdown, despite a rapid increase of cases since Christmas due to the Omicron variant.

[Omicron] is rapidly becoming a prominent strain in the Banglamung and Pattaya area, stated Chonburi Provincial health official Dr Wichai Tanasophon told Associated Press on Sunday. More than 80 percent of the Covid-19 Omicron variant infections were found out of recent samples.

We are already having issue,s due to the steeply rising number of patients, finding hospitals for them. Dr Wichai added.

Nationally, the government is urging the population to get double vaccinated and book for their booster shot after three months. Just 69.1 percent of the estimated 72 million people living in the country have received two doses, and only 10.9 percent have received booster shots.

The vaccine-only response, designed to avoid any curbs on corporate profits, has demonstrated itself internationally to be an abject failure. While the Thai government abdicates responsibility for bringing the pandemic under control, blame for the spread of Omicron is being imposed on individuals.

Large fines are being threatened on those who fail to report positive test results to public health officials (20,000 baht or $US595) or refuse to quarantine or get treatments (40,000 baht and 2 years jail). Those quarantining can apply for limited government assistance.

Sumanee Watcharasin, a spokeswoman for the countrys coronavirus taskforce, warned this week that if regular testing and mask wearing were not followed, cases would reach the tens of thousands in the next two weeks.

Last week, in response to growing concerns over the efficacy of cloth masks, Dr Supakit was cited by the Bangkok Post as claiming that all face masks were capable of shielding people from Omicron. Wearing them properly is even more important now, he said.

As has been reported by leading aerosol experts and presented on the WSWSs Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic, surgical and cloth masks are inadequate to deal with the airborne transmission of COVID.

Studies on surgical masks from 2020 have shown that less than 56 percent of virus particles are stopped during inhalation. Less than 42 percent of exhaled breath is filtered by the mask, placing those around the wearer at risk. Cloth masks are worse in that they have no electrostatic charge in order to trap the virus particles and essentially act as a sieve.

Along with the unscientific attitude to mask wearing, the government is still encouraging the disinfecting of surfaces, a largely token measure given that COVID-19s primary mode of transmission is through aerosols.

Authorities were due to deliberate yesterday on measures to slow the spread of infections, according to Permanent Secretary of Public Health Kiattiphum Wongrajit. The limited measures under consideration include shutting down high-risk areas and limiting large gatherings, a ban on alcohol sales in restaurants, working from home and limiting inter-provincial travel.

This morning, the Public Health Ministry announced another large jump in the daily case number to 9,508 and 14 more fatalities during the previous 24 hours.
New South Wales (NSW), the most populous state in Australia, is experiencing one of the fastest growing COVID Omicron outbreaks in the world, the result of a pro-business policy of fully re-opening and dismantling public health restrictions.

To divert attention from its own criminal responsibility for exposing people to death and disability from the virus, the NSW state government has said it is discussing plans to force unvaccinated COVID patients to pay public hospital costs, including for admission to intensive care units (ICUs).

Revealed in an interview on Sydney radio station 2GB last month, the proposal is under review by NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard. At present, all public hospital costs are covered for Australian citizens and some residents.

HeaIth Minister Brad Hazzard and Premier Dominic Perrottet [Screenshot: ABC News]

The costs of a public hospital admission would be completely unaffordable for many working people. In Australia, hospital ward beds cost around $1,000 per day, and ICU beds on average $4,375 per day. Hospitalised COVID patients are often very sick, requiring on average 2 to 4 weeks of care.

Unvaccinated patients would either be bankrupted by illness, or avoid coming to hospital until it was too late, increasing the risk of death.

Unvaccinated persons, currently less than 6 percent of adults in NSW, are being scapegoated for large outbreaks, with claims that they are taking up a disproportionate amount of healthcare resources.

Unvaccinated persons are certainly at much greater risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19, and therefore more likely to need hospital admission than their vaccinated counterparts. This, however, is not why public hospitals are being overwhelmed. That responsibility lies with the governments, whose live with the virus policies have guaranteed massive outbreaks and huge strains on unprepared and chronically underfunded healthcare systems.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, a right-wing proponent of living with the virus, was installed in October precisely to accelerate the opening up of the state and the abandonment of public health measures including contact-tracing, travel quarantines and social distancing measures. His predecessor Gladys Berejiklian had already forced schoolchildren to return to in-class learning, despite their vulnerability to COVID, and the lack of access to vaccinations for those aged under 12.

Having abandoned previous limited measures to suppress COVID infections, the government now declares it is the responsibility of individuals to stay safe and avoid infection. This is virtually impossible given the pressures to return to work and school with no support. Even getting tested is difficult, as PCR testing centres are overwhelmed, and less reliable rapid antigen tests are either unavailable or sold at price-gouging costs.

At the same time, not a cent more has been given to increase staffing or boost hospital infrastructure. Like his Liberal and Labor predecessors, Perrottet has continued to underfund the public health system, resulting in a hospital bed and staffing crisis, including the loss of dozens of ICU beds and thousands of nurses.

It is these criminal policies, which have already more than quadrupled hospitalisations since December 19, that the government is seeking to hide behind the mask of personal responsibilityin essence the lie that those contracting COVID have brought it upon themselves.

It is not the case that all unvaccinated persons are simply choosing not to get inoculated. Vaccine supplies have not been equitably distributed to poorer working class and rural areas, resulting in significant delays in accessing vaccination. There has been no scientific campaign to educate the public about vaccines. Aboriginal and non-English speaking immigrant communities have often been left unawares about the importance and availability of vaccines.

Furthermore, sections of the media and political establishment have been a sewer of anti-scientific propaganda, with federal parliamentarians like Craig Kelly and George Christensen able to spout anti-vax misinformation and promote bogus cures with impunity, even with support from the federal government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Since the emergence of the Omicron variant in southern Africa, Australian federal and state governments, including some health officials, have sought to downplay its severity and encourage complacency, even as doctors and scientists have issued stark warnings about the danger of a COVID surge.

Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said on November 29 that Omicron could be the greatest Christmas present if it turned out to be less fatal than the Delta mutation. This week Queensland state Chief Medical Officer Gerrard all but encouraged infections, telling a media conference: This virus ultimately needs to become endemic in the community.

Vaccination itself is not seen as a public health measure, but rather as a means to justify the unconscionable goal of letting COVID loose through the community. Vaccination, while necessary to save lives, is only one part of a scientifically guided program to eliminate COVID, along with quarantines, lockdowns, and income and social supports for workers and their families.

Bombarded with lies and misinformation, compounded by decades of attacks on science education and conceptions of social solidarity, it is unsurprising that a small layer of the population would be left confused and sympathetic to anti-vaccination propaganda.

The NSW governments proposal to impose hospital charges on the unvaccinated has drawn condemnation. Australian Medical Association (AMA) national president Omar Khorshid branded it unethical. He told the Guardian that its really not the right thing to do to limit access to healthcare based on peoples previous health choices if you follow that same logic, are you going to ask smokers to pay for their healthcare?

Nervous about a backlash, the Sydney Morning Herald published an editorial this week titled Forcing unvaccinated people to pay for hospital care is wrong. It stated: Of all the misguided and questionable ideas proffered by federal and state governments since the pandemic began, the latest from NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard must rank in the top tier It is an unnecessary and reckless proposal; the start of a path we must not go down.

The plan to deny hospital care will not be limited to unvaccinated COVID patients, but will be used as a precedent to further erode workers right to free healthcare, forcing them to accept greater costs. Such a denial of care could be expanded to those suffering from substance dependency or workplace injuries. The denial of care will primarily hit workers. Wealthy people, vaccinated or otherwise, will continue to get private hospital care.

It is not just the Perrottet and his NSW Liberal government that are championing these anti-working class measures.

In November, former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr unleashed a foul diatribe supporting the denial of care to the unvaccinated. He urged governments to follow Singapore and legislate no medical or hospital expenses to be reimbursed to people who are not vaccinated without medical justification and then contract Covid.

Like Australia, the government in Singapore ignored scientific and medical advice and dropped its COVID containment measures, leading to a rapid rise in Delta COVID cases and hospitalisations, despite high vaccination rates. Other countries have similarly scapegoated unvaccinated persons for COVID surges, including France which now requires unvaccinated adults to pay for PCR testing.

The inevitable logic of scapegoating individuals for the enormous strains on the public hospital system is to deny them health care and condemn them to their fate. Such an approach is a complete abdication of the elementary responsibility of society to protect human health and life. It stems from the determination of the capitalist classes internationally to protect the wealth and profits of the super-rich regardless of the cost in millions of lives.
The US Supreme Court Friday heard arguments on rules issued by the Biden administration mandating vaccinations for large employers and workers at health care facilities receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding. The rules are being challenged by Republican-led state governments, as well as a coalition of employer groups.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry talks to reporters outside the Supreme Court, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, in Washington. At left is deputy Louisiana Attorney General Bill Stiles [Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci]

The right-wing majority on the court seemed ready to accept claims by opponents of the rules that requiring the vaccination of workers against the deadly coronavirus will impose intolerable costs on employers and usurp the prerogatives of state governments. A number of Republican-controlled states have even passed laws banning vaccine mandates.

Scott A. Keller, an attorney representing a lobbying group opposed to the requirements, nakedly argued that businesses financial interests must be the determining factor in deciding whether to implement the public health measure, stating, This is going to cause a massive economic shift in the country, billions upon billions of non-recoverable costs.

Voicing the concerns within the ruling class over the ongoing labor shortage and any relative leverage it may grant to workers, he added that as soon as businesses have to put out their plans and this takes effect, workers will quit. That itself will be a permanent worker displacement that will ripple through the national economy.

The case before the court involves two separate rules issued in November by US government agencies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is requiring that employers with 100 or more workers mandate employees be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. A separate rule issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) stipulates that medical facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funds require vaccinations for certain categories of workers.

In previous rulings the Supreme Court has upheld vaccine mandates imposed by state governments in a variety of circumstances. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case using an expedited process, and a decision may come very soon. The justices are scheduled to reassemble Monday, the day the employer mandates take effect.

Republican state officials are asking the Supreme Court to impose a stay on the employer vaccine mandates. In December a panel of judges on the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals based in Cincinnati ruled by a vote of 2-1 in favor of the administration, lifting a hold placed on the OSHA regulations. In its ruling the judges stated that the administration had demonstrated the pervasive danger that COVID-19 poses to workersunvaccinated workers in particularin their workplaces.

Following the ruling the Biden administration announced that employers would have until January 10 to adopt policies compliant with the new OSHA rules. Weekly testing of unvaccinated employees must go into effect by February 9.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to reverse two lower court rulings that blocked implementation of the vaccine mandates for health care workers in 24 states, reasonably arguing the rules are necessary in the midst of a pandemic that has killed over 800,000 in the United States alone.

Backing the Republican challenge to the vaccine mandates are several Christian fundamentalist groups such as the American Family Association and business groups such as the National Federation of Independent Business and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

Several unions, including the United Auto Workers, have also opposed vaccine mandates on the supposed grounds of protecting employee privacy rights and upholding the sanctity of labor contracts. Given that the UAW has refused to take elementary steps to protect workerssuch as reporting the number and location of COVID cases, demanding full pay for those quarantining or isolating, or even tracking and reporting deaths due to COVID of its membersthe position of the UAW is entirely hypocritical, essentially a policy for the mass infection of workers.

In arguments before the courts Friday conservative justices focused their fire on the new OSHA vaccine regulations. This led some legal observers to speculate that the court may allow the CMS rules for medical facilities to go into effect but block the broader employer mandate.

The conservative majority on the court evinced a general contempt for medical science. For example, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that younger workers, who may not be as susceptible to severe illness, should not be subjected to the same rules as older workers. Right-wing Justice Neil Gorsuch chose to attend the hearing without even wearing a mask.

The conservative justices appeared hostile to supporting the authority of OSHA to impose new restrictions on employers, even under conditions of a catastrophic health emergency. The basic line of argument, entirely cynical, was that OSHA, despite its clear mandate to protect workers health and safety, did not have specific authority to require vaccinations.

However, OHSA issued the rules under provisions of a 1970 law that gives the agency power to impose emergency regulations if it can show workers are exposed to a grave danger, clearly the present situation.

Broad sections of the ruling class are opposing even the most elementary measures to control the virus, including vaccination. This reflects on the one hand intransigent opposition to regulations, no matter how necessary for public health and safety, that in any way restrict big business. There is also the more immediate fear that the enforcement of a vaccine and testing requirement may limit to some extent the supply of labor, threatening the flow of profits to Wall Street.

Last summer the Supreme Court voted 6-3, with all the conservative justices united against, to strike down an eviction moratorium imposed on public health grounds by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As far as the CMS rules for health care providers, the courts have established firm precedents that the government can impose rules on those organizations and institutions receiving federal funds. Even conservative justices appeared hostile to claims that the vaccine mandates in this instance represented a usurpation. Justice Kavanaugh, for example, noted that most medical providers strongly supported the regulations.

The Biden administration, for its part, has supported employer vaccine mandates as part of its failed vaccine-only strategy to combat the pandemic. Given the explosive spread of the Omicron variant, which has demonstrated its ability to at least partially evade vaccines, this policy has been exposed as bankrupt. Only 18 percent of the US population has received a third booster shot, which has been demonstrated to be necessary to provide substantial protection against Omicron.

The refusal of the Biden administration to advance any public health measures beyond vaccines to combat COVID-19 is nothing short of criminal. In practice the policy of the Democratic Party, as with the Republicans, is to let the virus run rampant, decimating older and immune-compromised sections of the population. In the midst of the worst surge of the pandemic to date, the Biden administration has insisted that all businesses and public schools remain open, no matter the level of sickness and death.

The decision to allow the virus to spread unchecked is dictated entirely by the concerns of the financial oligarchy, which fears that implementing the well-understood public health measures needed to eliminate the virus would place an intolerable strain on the vastly over-leveraged markets. However, the more the virus is allowed to spread, the more likely it is that new and more vaccine-resistant variant will continue to emerge, overrunning overstretched health care systems and spreading death.

The fight for the implementation of the public health measures needed to contain and eliminate COVID is a life-or-death question. It requires above all the development of a political movement of the working class aimed at breaking the grip of big business over all aspects of economic and social life.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as of January 7, 2022, inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 have reached 132,000. The highest peak in admissions occurred on January 14, 2021, when over 142,000 people were admitted for COVID-19. Intensive care units are presently operating at over 82 percent capacity nationwide, and one in five is at 95 percent capacity. More than a quarter of all patient admissions to these highly specialized treatment units are for COVID-19.

Respiratory therapist Frans Oudenaar replaces an oxygen tube for Linda Calderon, 71, in a COVID-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Hospital admits are climbing for every age category, but are highest are for those 60 years and older, whose admission numbers have doubled since Christmas Eve. This age group is the most prone to complications despite vaccination status.

Health officials indicate that admissions are expected to continue to surge. What differentiates recent hospitalizations from last winters is that the explosive upswing in admissions is placing such a tremendous strain on the national health infrastructure, operating with a much-reduced workforce. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 450,000 health care workers have quit during the pandemic.

In little over one month, the US has added 10 million more cases of COVID infection to its ledger, which will surpass 60 million this weekend. The number of active infections has ballooned to over 16.6 million, implying that an astounding one in 20 people in the US are currently positive on testing and considered infective. One in four tests in the US are positive for COVID-19 infection, indicating that there is a vast undertesting of the population.

Yesterday, more than three-quarters of a million people were confirmed infected. The seven-day average of daily infections, continuing its meteoric rise, has reached 610,173. The daily COVID-19 death toll is also steadily trending upwards. More than 2,140 people died from their infection, raising the cumulative death toll to 856,000, according to the Worldometer dashboard.

The present infection level has led to an unprecedented number of health care workers calling in sick or isolating due to exposure to the coronavirus. Many are being forced to work despite knowing they are infected, with the attendant risk of infecting their patients, leading to growing frustration and resentment.

Emergency first responders in Los Angeles and New York City are out by the hundreds. Staffing shortages are becoming dire at several major health systems in California, Florida, Texas and New York, creating massive gridlock and delays for patients, many of whom are waiting hours for their nurse or caregiver to reach their room.

As hospital administrators across the country shift gears to employ damage-control measures, elective surgeries are once more being postponed to redirect their limited workforce to the care of patients infected with COVID-19. However, the term elective only hides the reality that these procedures are still essential for the health of these patients. Their postponement can have significant ramifications for their well-being.

As Cynthia Cox, vice president at Kaiser Family Foundations, explained, such surgeries can still be crucial. During the pandemic, tens of thousands of people have needlessly died from non-COVID-19 causes because of these delays in care. Its often cancer surgeries, she noted to Reuters, or other kinds of care that still need to happen in a very timely manner for peoples safety and health.

In the face of the human catastrophe that is playing out in the corridors of emergency departments and hospitals, even the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Rochelle Walensky, had to concede Friday on NBC News Today Show, I dont believe weve seen the peak yet here in the United States.

Walensky, rather than acknowledging the bankruptcy of the White House and CDCs coordinated criminal and deadly policies to keep America open, has resorted to private meetings with prominent Democratic media consultant Mandy Grunwald to improve her communication skills, according to CNN. Even scientists at the CDC are growing frustrated over her handling of the pandemic, as she crafts guidance exclusively with a select circle of top advisers. In several news intervews she openly stated that the isolation guidelines really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate.

Clearly, the people in her statement refers to the CEOs and bankers who determine the pandemic response plan, as evidenced by the letter sent to Walensky from Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian on December 21, 2021, demanding that isolation periods be reduced from 10 days to five.

As one CDC scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN, Shes dispensing with this consultative process that weve always had in place that sort of allowed us to make sure that our science was good. The lack of engagement and consultation on that obviously contributed to a lot of the outrage.

In other words, Walensky is taking her marching orders from top Democratic Party advisers who have direct connections with the Biden administration and the financial elite, and is not being guided by the scientists and the science she claims to follow.

The deadly implications of the reckless guidelines she continues to advance have garnered the enmity of principled epidemiologists, public health experts and the working class in general.

On January 5, the CDC quietly published its forecast of COVID-19 deaths, without any media announcement to warn the public of the dangers posed by the supposedly not-so-severe Omicron. It expects that by the end of the month, COVID-19 deaths will likely increase from their current levels at around 9,000 to 10,000 per week to around 20,000 to 30,000 per week, or around 2,850 to 4,280 deaths per day.

This level of death will match last winters deadliest wave, refuting the lies spread by the media that Omicron is mild and nothing to worry about. On the contrary, the current iteration of the coronavirus has been able to emerge and cause massive symptomatic infection despite a population with a significant level of immunity. Omicron possesses a high degree of infectivity, making it a far more dangerous pathogen than any previous variant.

Rather than sounding a clarion call to warn the population of the dangers this level of infection will have, the CDC director and the Biden administration are doubling down on claims that Omicron is only a mild concern and no alarms need be raised.

Rejecting the Democrats homicidal approach to the pandemic, the working class must look after its own interests and demand an immediate lockdown and closure of all schools and non-essential businesses, with full compensation to workers and small business owners.

All necessary resources must be made available to health and emergency medical services to assist health systems with the tsunami of patients, which is making it impossible for health care workers to do their jobs safely. The lockdowns must be extended until control of the pandemic has been achieved and the elimination strategy can be fully implemented. Otherwise, the pandemic will continue to rage, with each wave bringing forth a potentially even more elusive and dangerous variant.
The World Socialist Web Site is publishing the text of a letter submitted by a Supplemental worker at the Stellantis Warren Truck plant north of Detroit. Supplemental workers are a category of contingent employees, lacking most of the rights of full time workers.

COVID is currently rampant at Warren Truck, as the Omicron variant spread widely through communities, schools and factories. In order to maintain production, management, with the collaboration of the United Auto Workers, has mandated 12-hour shifts for temporary workers, compounding an already intolerable situation. The worker has asked that their name be withheld to prevent possible management/UAW retaliation.

To send us your own story about conditions at your plant, email us today at autoworkers@wsws.org. All submissions will be kept anonymous.

Autoworkers leave the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Warren Truck Plant in Warren, Mich. [Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya]

I am a Supplemental (aka TPT) employee at Stellantis Warren Truck Assembly Plant located on Mound Road in Warren, Michigan. I have been a supplementary employee for almost a year. During this time, I have been on a mandatory 6-day/7-day work schedule, working 10 hours a day, averaging between 5070 hours per week. On January 3, 2022, Warren Trucks production schedule changed from running 2 shifts, each 10 hours in length, to 3 shifts each 8 hours in length. On January 4, 2022, at 5:01PM I was notified via email that I am being required to work a Mandatory 6-day, 12-hour shift effective Wednesday, January 5, 2022.

During the 12 hours of work, I am only allotted two 10-minute breaks and a 20-minute lunch period. At the risk of losing my job, I have attached a copy of the email from the Warren Truck Assembly Plant Business Resource team which outlines the new production schedule. Now that the plant is running 24 hours a day, I am constantly being forced to interact with more and more people that I normally do not see, therefore increasing the likelihood that I will be exposed to COVID-19.

Also, the company does not provide us any additional time to thoroughly disinfect our workstations. I am required to perform my job using the same tools as the operator on the previous shift, with again no time allotted to clean the tools or workstation. As of today, January 6, 2022, rumor has it that upwards of 500 of my union brothers and sisters are either ill or are quarantining due to being exposed to the COVID-19 virus. When I arrive at work, I am being forced to work in different stations multiple times per day, being forced to work with different people, which is increasing the probability that I too will come down with COVID-19.

During the past year I have put my health and my life in extreme danger for the better of the company. Every day before I leave for work, I am mandated to complete a COVID-19 self-screening questionnaire before I am authorized to enter the facility. If I do not complete the questionnaire, a follow-up email will be sent to me stating the importance of completing the survey. However, the company is not concerned whether I have COVID symptoms or am deathly ill, their only concern is for Audit purposes.

I am provided a thin surgical mask for my protection and to keep me safe while at work. One day I wore an N95 respirator to work (similar to what nurses are currently wearing to keep safe while treating covid patients) and I was told I could not enter the facility with that mask, and I must wear the company-issued mask. I followed orders as usual.

As I walk into the plant and head to my workstation, I walk over the same garbage on the floor that I have seen since before the December Holidays. When we get a very bad storm with heavy rainfall, the roof leaks an incredible amount of water; often times directly in my workstation. The mens bathrooms in some of the production areas have not had warm running water for months. Some would call the plant extremely filthy, but I assure you that is an understatement. I have contracted COVID-19 at least one time during my employment at Stellantis, and I am 99% positive I was infected by my coworkers. As a Supplemental employee if I do not show up to work, I do not get paid. The Union officials have stated that if an employee tests positive for COVID due to being exposed inside the plant that partial compensation will be paid to that employee.

However, as I am shuffled from job to job on a daily basis it would be very difficult for me to prove that I contracted the virus inside the plant. If my co-worker tests positive for COVID, I am not informed of the situation, and am not being told to self-quarantine. How ironic, I know.

Management and our Local 140 leadership refuse to inform employees of how bad it is inside the plant. It is just business as usual. It is very apparent to myself and my coworkers that this extreme abuse and neglect for the health and safety of the workers will not end unless something drastic happens that forces their arm into shut down. Even then, I am almost certain that Stellantis Upper Management will not shut down and cancel production without a fight.

During this past year supplemental employees were also forced to temporarily relocate to the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and the Mack Detroit Assembly Complex to reduce the impact of absenteeism. Both times the company did not provide more than a couple days notice and they clearly did not care about our health and well being, as they forced us to expose ourselves to new COVID super spreader environments all while Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CDC were strongly recommending that everyone needs to be social distancing and limiting in-person contact.

During this pandemic Stellantis has clearly forced many workers to their death bed and should be held liable for their neglect. A joke that never gets old inside the plant is that At Warren Truck we dont make sense, we make trucks.

In the fall of 2021, the company hired supplementary employees which were designated to work the upcoming third shift in January. During that time, my union brothers and sisters were forced to train the new employees, which meant doubling up on every station, stripping away our ability to social distance. The only true tool we have as human beings to fight the pandemic and keep ourselves safe is our ability to social distance. The company did not offer any additional incentives during the weeks long training period. I was required to work within arms reach of another employee all the while practicing social distancing.

The (UAW) Local 140 Union has been incredibly silent and have not helped or even attempted to help or look out for the interests of supplementary employees. In December 2021, while we were being forced to work mandatory 7-day schedules, our union president, Eric Graham, was on the beach in Jamaica taking photos and posting them to Facebook. Which isnt surprising since there are whispers going around the plant that International UAW has plans to promote Eric to the international level.

This actually makes me sick to my stomach. The only person that has advocated on the supplementary employees behalf is a Seniority employee in our paint shop who has started a petition demanding a reasonable limit to the overtime hours and days that can be scheduled and in advance. The petition also recognizes that everything Stellantis is doing to its employees may in fact comply with the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Ask any union official and they will say that the contract is the contract and theres nothing anybody can do to put an end to this madness.

On page 213 of the Union Contract, one would find the MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) per the Supplemental Agreement that was agreed upon by the International UAW and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. All parties agreed that the MOU shall govern the employment of such Supplemental Employees. The very first paragraph clearly states that Supplemental Employees are not to be employed to avoid hiring to fill permanent positions.

This agreement is supposed to be administered by the National Attendance Council (NAC) which consists of two (2) members of the International Union and two (2) members of the company. They are supposed to have quarterly meetings, where the NAC would monitor the use of Supplemental Employees at each plant. My understanding of this Memorandum is that the plant can only have so many supplemental employees per the population of full-time employees.

It is pretty clear that the number of Supplemental Employees working at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant far exceeds the allowable amount. (Rumor has it that Stellantis is refusing to transition supplementary employees to full time employees due to the issues with the global supply chains, cannot be confirmed because the Local 140 Union will not provide these figures to the union members.)

One would think that during a pandemic where supplemental employees are putting their lives on the line, Union leadership and management would be fighting to provide the workers with better health coverage and an increase in wages so they no longer need to struggle to make ends meet. I never imagined that a McDonalds Worker or an Amazon Worker would be offered better incentives than an employee of the worlds third-largest automaker. I implore Upper Stellantis Management, the International Union, and the Local 140 Union to step up and do the right thing. I have attached a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding for your viewing.

The UAW has lost its status as being a strong union because of all the corruption at the international level and the actions of our local union leaders. This neglectful behavior of numerous employers has been going on across the country and workers in all different industries have said enough is enough and have voted to Strike. They are standing together as all unions should. Maybe its time we autoworkers take a page out of John Deeres UAW playbook and form our own Rank and File committee.

Currently, the UAW workers have a no-strike clause. The only way around this clause is to cite and reference safety issues inside the plant. Well, if 500 plus and counting employees are out of work at Warren Truck due to the lack of health and safety protocols currently implemented inside the plant doesnt warrant a potential strike vote, nothing will and Stellantis will run us to the grave.

Thank you for listening to my rant. I have to go to sleep now as I have another 12 hour shift ahead of me.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)- With the Covid-19 infection rate rising across the country, many want to keep a check on their infection status. With that want, the demand for Covid tests has risen.

Enter at-home Covid-19 testing kits. These tests are similar to ones available at testing sites. They include a swab and instructions for swabbing your nose. Results from these tests are available anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.

Graham McKeen is an assistant director of public and environmental health at Indiana University. He is supportive of these at-home tests.

"I think we've shoulda been doing that a year and a half ago," he said of testing before gathering. "We should still be doing this and continue to do this."

McKeen said these tests are accurate, but he does warn of their sensitivity compared to PCR tests.

"They are a little less sensitive than a PCR test," he said. "A PCR test may be able to detect the virus sooner than an at-home test."

Graham McKeen "I think we've shoulda been doing that a year and a half ago."

Like most other things, the omicron variant has changed the testing procedure. McKeen said these tests are also less sensitive to the newest variant. He recommends to keep checking your infection status if you have symptoms.

"If you do have symptoms now," McKeen said. "And you take an at-home test and that test is negative. You might want to wait a couple of days, continue to isolate, and take it again just to make sure."

McKeen believes demand increased for these products during the holidays because many wanted to check their infection status before attending holiday gatherings.

These at-home test kits can be found in the Wabash Valley. Of the ten local pharmacies News10 contacted, here are the five with a supply now:

Walgreens on S US Highway 41

Walgreens on Lafayette Avenue

CVS Pharmacy on Maple Avenue

JR Pharmacy at Baesler's Market

JR Pharmacy on Poplar Street

If you can get your hands on one, McKeen said it's one action people can help slow the spread and adapt to the quick changes the virus is causing.

"We all just need to be nimble," he said. "And kinda just be ready for a disruptive few weeks here."
Looking at 2021, it turns out it was actually a record-breaking year, as the US economy added jobs every single month, not bad for what felt like a sluggish year, and pictured, people wait in line to enter the hiring fair in Los Angeles, California, on 9 September 2021.
Novak Djokovic was granted a vaccine exemption to enter Australia because he contracted Covid-19 last month, his lawyers have claimed.

In court documents published on Saturday, it is stated that the Serbian recorded a positive test on December 16, and has not had a fever or respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 72 hours.

Djokovic has been detained at an immigration facility in Melbourne since Thursday morning after his visa was cancelled following scrutiny of the medical exemption he had secured to travel to the first tennis major of the year.

According to his legal team, Djokovic was also provided with a letter from the Chief Medical Officer of Tennis Australia recording he had a medical exemption from Covid vaccination.

It is claimed that the exemption certificate was provided by an Independent Expert Medical Review panel commissioned by Tennis Australia, and that the decision of that panel had been reviewed and endorsed by an independent Medical Exemptions Review Panel of the Victorian State Government.

Djokovics lawyers added that he was granted an Australian Travel Declaration because he was told by the authorities that [he met] the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival into Australia.

Djokovic, a nine-time Australian Open winner, must wait for a hearing on Monday to discover his fate.

On Friday, it emerged that two other people connected to the tournament have joined Djokovic in being instructed to leave the country by the Australian Border Force.

Protesters have gathered outside the Park Hotel in Melbourne in support of Djokovic (AP Photo/Hamish Blair)

One of the individuals is Czech doubles specialist Renata Voracova, who played in a warm-up tournament in Melbourne this week but has now opted to leave Australia.

Djokovic, 34, is under instruction to stay at Melbournes Park Hotel, which is used to house asylum seekers and refugees, before Mondays hearing.

He broke his silence on Instagram, saying: Thank you to people around the world for your continuous support. I can feel it and it is greatly appreciated.

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His wife Jelena also took to social media to express her gratitude to the players fans for their backing.

The only law that we should all respect across every single border is Love and respect for another human being. Love and forgiveness is never a mistake but a powerful force.  Jelena Djokovic (@jelenadjokovic) January 7, 2022

In Instagram and Twitter posts, Jelena Djokovic wrote: Thank you dear people, all around the world for using your voice to send love to my husband.

I am taking a deep breath to calm down and find gratitude (and understanding) in this moment for all that is happening.

The only law that we should all respect across every single border is Love and respect for another human being.

Love and forgiveness is never a mistake but a powerful force. Wishing you all well!

Look I definitely believe in taking action, I got vaccinated because of others and for my mums health, but how we are handling Novaks situation is bad, really bad. Like these memes, headlines, this is one of our great champions but at the end of the day, he is human. Do better.  Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 7, 2022

Australias Nick Kyrgios, who has been a fierce critic of Djokovic on many matters, weighed in on Twitter to call for his country to do better in its treatment of the 20-time major champion.

The world number 93 wrote: Look I definitely believe in taking action, I got vaccinated because of others and for my mums health, but how we are handling Novaks situation is bad, really bad.

Like these memes, headlines, this is one of our great champions but at the end of the day, he is human. Do better.

Djokovics father claimed the world number one has been made a scapegoat and crucified in the row.
Top U.S. officials will head into talks with Russian counterparts Monday willing to discuss the placement of missiles in Ukraine and the scope of regional military exercises, two administration officials said Saturday.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will join Sergei Ryabkov, Russias deputy foreign minister, in Geneva Monday for bilateral talks over the standoff in Ukraine. Russia has roughly 100,000 troops stationed along the borders of the Eastern European country, leading the U.S. and its allies to seek a diplomatic resolution before a potential invasion.

The U.S. is prepared to discuss two separate issues, say administration officials. The first concerns Russian President Vladimir Putins fear that the U.S. will place missiles in Ukraine. President Joe Biden told Putin that America has no intention of doing that, so this is one area where we may be able to reach an understanding if Russia is willing to make a reciprocal commitment," a senior administration official told reporters Saturday.

The second track will cover military exercises, which have contributed to a dialing up of tensions between Moscow and Washington. Russia has grown the size and intensity of its drills that it runs near NATO territory. Meanwhile, the Kremlin continuously complains about the increased tempo of NATO exercises in the Baltic region which often involve U.S. armored units and mobile artillery. These exercises occasionally include non-NATO allies like Sweden and Finland, which have drawn closer to the alliance in recent years. Both Russia and the U.S. have also increased the numbers of flights of nuclear-capable bombers along either side of Ukraine border.

Bidens team therefore believes theres room for negotiations over reciprocal restrictions on ground-based exercises and those featuring strategic bombers.

Administration officials made clear to POLITICO and others that more items will be up for discussion. But its too early to know if the Russians will negotiate in good faith and theres little to no expectation of a concrete agreement from the Geneva session or subsequent talks alongside NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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What [the Russians] say behind closed doors are going to be much more important in determining whether there is a constructive path, the senior administration official told reporters.

The Washington Post first reported the Biden administrations negotiation positions.

The issue of missiles in Ukraine will be a significant part of the talks, as Moscow has long complained over U.S. missiles in Eastern Europe. There is an Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Romania, and another being built in Poland, which are designed to take down Iranian ballistic missiles.

Putin has long said the sites could be used to launch offensive missiles into Russia, though the systems are defensive in nature.

The bilateral talks between the U.S. and Russia have led to some concern the U.S. team might consider unilaterally trading security guarantees and military capabilities, though one diplomat from a NATO country told POLITICO that allies have been assured by Washington that rolling back the alliances posture isnt on the table.

Nobody's talking about pulling out NATO troops from their current locations. So in that sense, we are not that worried, the diplomat said.

In the call with reporters, the administration official tried to tamp down concern elsewhere within the NATO alliance. "Nothing will be committed to or agreed to that is not done in full consultation, with full participation of any country or any of our allies whose security interests are implicated" they said.


BEIJING (AP)  China lashed out at the United States on Thursday over its support for the European nation of Lithuania in its feud with Beijing over relations with Taiwan.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Washington was using the Baltic state to use Taiwan to contain China.

The U.S. side has defended Lithuanias erroneous act of creating one China, one Taiwan,' and attempted to put together a small clique condoning the Taiwan independence forces," Wang said at a daily briefing.

His remarks came after the top U.S. and German diplomats on Wednesday said Chinese pressure against Lithuania was unwarranted.

Lithuania broke with diplomatic custom last year by letting the Taiwanese office in Vilnius bear the name Taiwan, instead of Chinese Taipei, which most other countries use to avoid offending Beijing.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory with no right to diplomatic recognition, and Lithuanias move infuriated Beijing, which withdrew its ambassador to Vilnius and expelled the Lithuanian ambassador to Beijing. Lithuania has since closed its embassy in Beijing.

Constant Chinese pressure has reduced the number of Taiwan's formal diplomatic allies to just 14, although it has robust informal relations with the U.S., Germany and most other major nations.

Lithuania, a country of 2.8 million people, is a member of the European Union and NATO and a close U.S. ally.

Wang also blasted Taiwans move to create a $200 million investment fund for Lithuania to offset Chinas economic reprisals as dollar diplomacy, adding that soliciting foreign support to Taiwan independence will only lead to a dead end."

Taiwan's office, a de facto embassy, opened in November, and Lithuania is planning to open its own trade office in Taiwan later this year.

Taiwan said it is ready to help Lithuania in resupplying trade, with the island saying goods are stopped from entering China.

There are more than 120 sea containers  at least 1.5 million euro worth  blocked by Beijing. Were ready to take all of those and help Lithuanian companies, Huang said.

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In his remarks after a meeting with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, We have immediate concern about the government of Chinas attempts to bully Lithuania."

Blinken said China has been pushing European and American companies to stop building products with components made in Lithuania or risk losing access to the Chinese market.

Baerbock said we as Europeans stand in solidarity at Lithuanias side.

China's Foreign Ministry has not directly confirmed its trade ban on Lithuania or other forms of retaliation, but said that Vilnius had crossed a red line."

China's ruling Communist Party has vast powers to pressure Chinese companies that don't hew to the government's political and diplomatic agenda.
Dr. Mark Shelton, chief physician officer for HSHS, emphasizes that vaccines are the most effective means of preventing hospitalization and death.

GREEN BAY - A record 303 patients  80% of whom are unvaccinated  have been admitted for COVID-19 at 15 HSHS hospitals across Wisconsin and Illinois, the health care provider announced Friday.

Two hospitals within the Hospital Sisters of Health System hit record levels of admitting COVID-19 patients as its other 13 hospitals brace for their highest numbers as cases continue to skyrocket.

"The timing of this could not have been worse because it follows two long holidays, lots of gatherings," said Dr. Mark Shelton, chief physician officer for HSHS, during a news conference on Friday. "And it's winter, people are staying indoors, closer to each other. The timing is terrible."

More: Record number of COVID-19 cases continues as hospitalizations match November 2020 levels

More: HSHS limits hospital visitations in Green Bay, Sheboygan, Oconto Falls as COVID cases rise

More: Green Bay doctor: Patients with and without COVID are waiting days for proper care. Do the right thing.

The total of 303 patients tops the previous record of 297, set in November 2020, before COVID-19 vaccines were readily available. In northeastern Wisconsin, HSHS has hospitals in Green Bay, Oconto Falls and Sheboygan.

This information and more was presented on Friday at a virtual emergency meeting where experts like Shelton delivered the latest on patient loads that continue to slam health care systems across the state.

The spike in COVID-19 patients is forcing hospitals to prioritize care for the sickest patients and postpone elective procedures for some patients. Also concerning are the death rates of non-COVID diseases, which were 16% higher in 2020, a sign that the load on hospitals is affecting the quality of care across all medical units.

Ken Nelson, chief executive nurse for HSHS Hospitals in Wisconsin, says the data is loud and clear. The majority of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization, intensive care and ventilator care are unvaccinated.

As of Friday, 64 people were in intensive care units at 15 HSHS hospitals for COVID-19. Of that number, 51 people, or 80% of patients, are unvaccinated, meaning they have not had either one Johnson & Johnson shot or two doses of Pfizer or Moderna. Additionally, 32 patients are on ventilators and of that number, 27, or about 84%, are unvaccinated.

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Shelton emphasized that while emergency departments across the hospital system are stretched thin, anybody facing a health emergency should go to the hospital right away.

"If you or one of your loved ones is facing a health emergency, whether it's chest pain, which might be a heart attack, or a stroke or uncontrollable blood pressure or bleeding or other issues, go ahead and come to the emergency department," Shelton said. "Don't put off urgent kinds of situations like that even though we're in the pandemic."

He warned, however, that people should not come to the emergency room to get a COVID-19 test. It's a sentiment shared by the state Department of Health Services, which encourages people to go to a community testing center.

Wisconsin has averaged 8,297 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 per day, according to Ken Nelson, chief nursing officer for HSHS in Wisconsin, with 26.3% positivity rates and an average of 32 deaths a day.

On Friday, the seven-day average of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in Brown County was 466, the highest during the pandemic, for a 28% positivity rate, according to state Department of Health Services data. The three highest seven-day averages were set Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The previous record for the seven-day average of confirmed cases was 273, set Nov. 13, 2020.

"Those are daunting numbers, but they're more than numbers. These are people. These are our loved ones, our families, the folks that we see going about our daily lives," Nelson said.

Still, those numbers may not fully reflect the spread of the virus, Shelton said. Across the nation, at-home tests have flown off the shelves with increasing speed. The results of those tests often aren't reported, and that isn't helping the situation, Shelton said.

"The truth is the actual number of cases is even worse than (what we know) because public health doesn't know about some of the home test positive folks. And so actually in the communities, the numbers of positive cases is higher than we can even keep track of," Shelton said.

Nelson told members of the media that the six HSHS hospitals in Wisconsin are at or near capacity "not only due to COVID-19 but to other conditions that are requiring hospital care."

HSHS held an emergency meeting on Friday to address the record-high case load of COVID-19 patients in their 15 hospitals.

Unvaccinated patients make up a significant majority of COVID-19 patients and are spending more time being treated in hospitals than their vaccinated counterparts, according to Nelson, who said the data are "loud and clear."

"Please, significantly reduce your chance of hospitalization. Get vaccinated, get boosted if you're eligible. Wear a mask when you're around others not within your household, especially when you're in public areas," Nelson said. "Social distance as much as you can."

"Our nurses are physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted," said Allison Paul, interim CEO and chief nursing officer at HSHS St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Ill. "We're doing everything we can to support them here, but we need your help. Our nurses have experienced genuine trauma, from which they're trying to heal."

What you need to know

Duration of hospitalization for COVID-19 is straining HSHS hospitals. Unvaccinated patients require care at three times the length of vaccinated patients, averaging 15 days. By contrast, vaccinated patients, on average, require five days of care.

Since the pandemic hit the nation in 2020, death rates for patients suffering from cardiac and oncologic diseases are 16% higher, a result, according to Shelton, of hospitals prioritizing care for COVID-19 patients. Shelton said he hopes that, by triaging care and serving the sickest COVID-19 patients while encouraging everyone to receive vaccines and boosters, hospitals can continue focusing on cardiac issues, delivering newborns and working with trauma patients.

Despite record high hospitalizations, Shelton warns that the surge in COVID-19 cases still has not peaked. Shelton predicts that the peak will reach its apex within two weeks' time, citing traveling and gathering from the holidays.

All 15 HSHS hospitals are at or near record levels of COVID-19 patients.

Staff have to cut down on some of the elective procedures but will treat each on a case-by-case basis. Shelton said this is the only way they'll be able to manage staff-to-patient ratios. Fortunately, most elective procedures are done at ambulatory surgery centers and not specifically at hospitals.

Vaccines and boosters significantly prevent hospitalization, both in terms of duration of stay and severity. Paul, from HSHS St. John's Hospital in Springfield, urges everyone to get vaccines and boosters: "If you can get vaccinated, you save a life. It may be your own or it may be someone else's, but someone will be saved."

HSHS has 15 hospitals in two states  Illinois (Breese, Decatur, Effingham, Greenville, Highland, Litchfield, OFallon, Shelbyville and Springfield) and Wisconsin (Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Oconto Falls, Sheboygan, and two in Green Bay).

Natalie Eilbert is a government watchdog reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Record high COVID numbers hit HSHS hospitals in Wisconsin, Illinois
There's a growing global potato shortage - a real problem for a planet addicted to french fries and chips.

A number of popular items, including marmite and cream cheese, have faced scarcities amid supply chain disruptions wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and extreme weather. Potatoes are the latest to join the list, becoming unevenly available in some countries and fast-food chains because of a confluence of factors.

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In Japan, McDonald's locations stopped offering large and medium-size french fry orders late last month, after pandemic-related supply chain issues and floods in the Port of Vancouver delayed potato shipments.

Days later, South Africa's leading makers of potato chips warned that potatoes were in disturbingly short supply after a bad frost and excessive rains led to low local yields, on top of global sourcing shortages.

In Kenya this month, Kentucky Fried Chicken locations struck french fries, known locally as chips, from menus, as virus-related shipping delays held up containers full of potatoes for more than a month.

"You love our chips a little too much, and we've run out," KFC Kenya tweeted on Jan. 3. "Sorry!"

In the meantime, the chain offered customers the chance to swap in other menu items - chicken, buns, soda, coleslaw and maize-based ugali - in place of fries in combo meals.

Other Kenyan fast-food restaurants were able to offer the goods.

"We have enough fries for everyone," Kenya's Burger King wrote in a Jan. 4 Instagram post.

Beyond the inconvenience, the shortage attracted some anger among Kenyans over KFC's reliance on imported instead of local potatoes, which are in their harvest season.

KFC's chief executive for East Africa, Jacques Theunissen, told Kenya's Business Daily that it could not easily switch to Kenyan potatoes because of global quality standards.

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"All suppliers need to go through the global QA [quality assurance] approval process, and we cannot bypass that even if we run out to ensure that our food is safe for consumption by our customers," he said.

Some called for a KFC boycott on social media and asked why the franchise had not sought approval for local suppliers from the start.

National Potato Council of Kenya chief executive Wachira Kaguongo told local media that the country's farmers produce 62 varieties, and "with the proper arrangement, proper planning" they could supply KFC.

Pandemic or no, potato shortages crop up from time to time because of bad weather, blights or labor disputes.

China, Russia, India and the United States are the world's top potato producers. But last year, U.S. farmers had to destroy a glut of millions of potatoes after lockdowns and stay-at-home orders led to a steep decline in demand, including from restaurants. The U.S. potato crop declined by 2% in 2021, according to a November report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Japan is the United States' largest oversees market for potatoes, according to the USDA. Japan has more than 3,000 McDonald's franchises, and relies on potatoes grown in the United States and sent by ship from North America.

McDonald's in Japan said it was considering flying in potatoes to meet demand until the backup in Vancouver was resolved. But after heavy snow in early January further delayed shipments, the company announced that it would be sticking with its small-order maximum for at least another month.

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CHICAGO  Out of a small generator-powered shack on the city's north side, a man periodically emerges to hand COVID-19 testing kits to people waiting in cars or shivering in the parking lot.

As he opens the door, piles of plastic bags, apparently grouped by test type, can be seen in crates on the ground. He encourages test-takers to scan a QR code with their phones, fill out an online form with identifying information and write a digitally-generated string of numbers on a paper sheet inside the plastic test kit bag.

Test-takers swab their noses and hand over the bags, free of charge. Some say they receive results many days later than promised  if they hear back at all.

As Americans nationwide continue to scramble for access to quick, reliable COVID-19 tests amid a national shortage, state and local authorities are warning residents to be on the lookout for fraudulent pop-up sites trying to scam people out of money and personal information. Some regretful test-takers spoke to USA TODAY about a particular string of testing centers: the so-called "Center for COVID Control."

The Center for COVID Control operates more than 300 locations across at least 29 states, according to the company's website. The locations pop up on Google maps searches with minimal information about the testing site beyond location and hours. The website claims the company is "partnered with a CDC approved & licensed laboratory" but does not specify which lab.

A Twitter account linking to the website has no followers and was created in March of last year. "We also offer rapid test for $100," the Twitter bio says.

An Instagram account linked from the website goes by the handle "freecovidtest" and first began posting in December, 2020. Multiple users have commented on posts to the account, calling the testing site a "scam" and "fake."

Minneapolis resident Christina Weber, 31, a full-time server, said she Googled "free COVID testing near me" and saw a Center for COVID Control site pop up on Google Maps. When she drove down to the site to get a test at the end of December, the site was located a block away from the address listed online.

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A "Center for COVID Control" testing site can be seen on Chicago's North Side on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022.

"It was just a pop-up. There was one man running the whole thing, and he was in his scrubs," Weber said Friday. "The area where you waited was the same area where people were testing, and the chairs werent spaced out. And some of the guests werent wearing masks."

Weber said a man stormed into the site while she was there and started yelling that he hadnt gotten his results. She said she was instructed to self-administer a test and drop the plastic bag into a tray overflowing with about 50 other bags. She left the site feeling uneasy and decided to get a second test at another location.

Finding it hard to get tested for COVID?: Wondering whos to blame? Weve got answers

After she didn't hear back for several days, Weber said she began posting complaints on the site's social media pages, which she believes prompted the testing site to email her results, which were sent from "results@dcltesting.com." While the result from the Center for COVID Control was negative, the result she received from the second test that day was positive, Weber said.

"I felt like they just sent the negative results," Weber said. "I got upset and worried thinking theyre gonna kill somebody if they keep sending out these false negatives."

Weber said she reported the testing site to local officials and was later contacted by an investigator for the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, who informed her that she was not the first to report issues with the testing site. The office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY request for comment.

A "Center for COVID Control" testing site can be seen on Chicago's North Side on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022.

USA TODAY attempted to contact the Center for COVID Control via the main phone line listed on its website over the course of three days and was given over an hour wait each time. USA TODAY also called an additional phone line listed for the company in public records but was unable to leave a voicemail.

The manager of the Center for COVID Control is Aleya Siyaj of Rolling Meadows, Illinois, according to the Florida and Illinois Secretaries of State. In Florida, the companys registered agent is Fawzia Safdari of Davie, Florida. Siyaj and Safdari did not respond to USA TODAY voicemails or email request for comment.

The company's principal and mailing address is the same Rolling Meadows address, a one-story commercial office building about 15 miles northwest of O'Hare International Airport.

A Doctors Clinical Laboratory at the same Rolling Meadows address is registered with the FDA as an independent lab. A phone number listed on one website for the lab directs callers to a recorded message for the Center for COVID Control.

A second website lists another number for the lab. After waiting more than an hour on the phone to reach a lab representative Saturday, the person who answered the phone told a USA TODAY reporter they had the "wrong number" and promptly hung up. The lab did not respond to a request for comment via email.

Scores of Center for COVID Control locations are in the Chicago area, according to the website. Dozens more are reportedly in Florida and Texas. The company registered in Illinois, Florida and Washington at the end of 2021, according to records from the respective Secretaries of State.

Florida's attorney general issued a statement Thursday warning about new and re-emerging COVID-19 test scams. The statement, which did not name the Center for COVID Control, cited "recent reports of suspicious COVID-19 testing sites popping up in Illinois" that "appear legitimate but are designed to steal personal information from unsuspecting test seekers."

Asked about the company's testing sites in Florida, Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration did not immediately respond to request for comment. The Florida Department of Health, speaking generally, said "Floridians are urged to be on the lookout for fraudulent COVID-19 products and practices, especially as it pertains to testing."

Washington State has received two complaints about the company, according to the Washington State Attorney Generals Office. People in Chicago and the Chicago suburbs, Houston, Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Rochester, New York, told USA TODAY they experienced issues with the sites. One said his 3-year-old son never received his test results.

Maha Ibrahim, 26, a home baker in Michigan, said she was "so upset" by her experience with the testing site that she immediately took to the internet to research the company further. Ibrahim said she and her husband, who have a young child, Googled "COVID testing center near me" at the end of December when her husband came down with a fever.

"I didnt even think about it. I was like, this place is close and accepting people, so lets go," she said.

Ibrahim said she and her husband arrived at a pop-up business along a strip mall to find a line out the door. Ibrahim said her husband provided his insurance information.

At the site, her husband received a positive rapid test, Ibrahim said. But later that same night, the testing center sent an email informing him the rapid was negative, Ibrahim said. Her husband's PCR test results came back more than a week later as "inconclusive." USA TODAY reviewed both emails.

"We were really confused," Ibrahim said. "We literally got three different responses."

Ibrahim said she took to social media to warn people about the testing sites and submitted a complaint to the alerted the Office of Inspector General U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The office did not immediately respond to a USA TODAY request for comment.

Ibrahim wasn't the only one who tried to warn others about the sites. Zach Zerom, 27, who works in retail grocery in Rochester, said he yelled out of his car door to prevent a man and his two children from entering one of the pop-up sites.

Zerom said he searched for nearby COVID-19 tests and drove down to the Center for COVID Control site, where he found a pop-up with handwritten signs posted on the outside and two card tables and a chair inside. Zerom said he waited more than half an hour for a test before reading over reviews of the site online.

"The whole operation just seemed real shady," he said. "I ended up not even taking the test because I realized this isnt a reputable place."

Zerom said he felt a "duty" to inform people, so he also began posting on the Center for COVID Control social media pages.

"I felt like I needed to tell people that this wasnt what we thought it was," he said. "I know people are real desperate. I wanted to take my mom to get tested as well."

COVID-19 updates: Supreme Court considers Biden vaccine mandates

In an address to the nation at the end of December, President Joe Biden encouraged Americans to search for COVID-19 testing options on Google.

"Just enter 'COVID test near me' in the Google search bar and you can find a number of different locations nearby where you can get tested," Biden said.

Zerom said he encourages Americans to be more cautious in selecting a testing site online.

"Biden said to just simply Google tests near you. But that led me to what I experienced. And its not that simple," Zerom said. "I dont think every test center is created equal."

In a press conference Monday, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, urged caution for residents getting tested at pop-up sites. The Illinois Department of Health maintains a list of bonafide community testing sites, Ezike said. The Center for COVID Control is not on that list.

"There unfortunately are those who are taking advantage of these crazy times to try to scam people," she said.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said some testing sites are returning test results after long delays or not at all. Pritzker said his office relayed the issue to the Illinois attorney general's office for further investigation. Asked if the Center for COVID Control was part of that investigation, the Illinois attorney general's office did not immediately respond.

At least two people complained about the Center for COVID Control testing sites to the Oregon Department of Justice, spokesperson Kristina Edmunson said. The complaints reviewed by USA TODAY ring similar to Weber's account.

"I have not received results and have grown concerned that I fell victim to a scam," one person said. "The test site also felt very fishy, when I arrived it was just a tent with a couple people standing around a convenience store parking lot, and I was given the test kit to perform on myself in my car."

Another person alleged the site billed their insurance for a test, which was labeled as having expired in June of 2021.

"This is very concerning to me as a pandemic-conscientious citizen. I got tested because I had respiratory symptoms that could be Covid or could be an unusual burst of allergies," the complaint said. "The expired rapid test came up Negative, but was I REALLY definitely Negative?"

The Oregon Department of Justice does not have an open investigation, Edmunson said.

The Texas Department of State Health Services had "not heard" of the company, spokesperson Douglas Loveday said.

In Brazos County, Texas, a local police officer noticed two testing sites operated by the Center for COVID Control pop up last week, Brazos County Health District spokesperson Mary Parrish told USA TODAY.

"They do not have any agreement with the Texas Department of State Health Services, and they have not been reporting their cases to us," Parrish said. "The reason thats concerning is because not only do we not get cases reported to us, but it goes against the governors executive order."

Parrish said county health district officials have struggled to contact representatives of the testing sites.

"One of our managers spent over three and a half hours yesterday on hold trying to speak with someone from COVID Control. Even then, he was kind of given the run-around," Parrish said.

The district official contacted the Center for COVID Control through the main phone line and was transferred to a manager identified only as "Ash," Parrish said.

Parrish said the manager informed the district the company was "working with their IT department to put plans in place to get on board with the state and secure data safely."

As of Friday afternoon, the company had not made testing results available to the health district, Parrish said.

"The next steps for us really is just going to be keeping a watchful eye on them. We dont have the authority to close them down. Really all we can do is watch and wait see what happens. This is not an approach we like to take in the field of public health," Parrish said.

In Houston, some volunteers with a nonprofit helping deliver food to the elderly received tests at the site, Matthew Marchetti, founder of CrowdSource Rescue, said. The volunteers received email results from the Doctors Clinical Laboratory with identical QR codes, according to the emails reviewed by USA TODAY.

Marchett, who is a developer, said he looked into the websites code for the link and found it was "hardcoded," meaning the link was not providing unique information to each user.

Asked about the company, the FDA said: "The FDA regulates and reviews COVID-19 diagnostics. Companies providing testing services are not within the FDAs purview."

A test given to a USA TODAY reporter at a Chicago location Sunday  in red transparent vial  was taped with the label "SNT Biotech." According to the company's website, SNT Biotech is "a DBA of Saris and Things, Inc." Saris and Things is a Plainfield, Illinois, company that sells saris, lehengas, anarkalis and sherwanis, according to the website.

Shital Daftari, founder and owner of Saris and Things and SNT Biotech, said her company sources swabs, tubes and masks and other supplies from the U.S., Finland and elsewhere and sells to labs and testing sites in the Chicago area. She said the Center for COVID Control "bought a few supplies from us in the past." Daftari said her company is not a lab and does not process the tests.

Have you experienced issues with the Center for COVID Control? Contact reporter Grace Hauck at ghauck@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Center for COVID Control testing? Americans describe long waits
* Ex-security chief Massimov suspected of treason

* Heavy police and army presence on the streets

* U.S. voices suspicion on Russian intervention (Adds detail on reopening of businesses in Almaty)

By Mariya Gordeyeva and Tamara Vaal

ALMATY, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's former intelligence chief has been arrested on suspicion of treason, the state security agency said on Saturday, as the former Soviet republic cracks down on a wave of unrest and starts to assign blame.

The detention of Karim Massimov was announced by the National Security Committee which he headed until he was fired by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Wednesday after violent protests swept across the Central Asian nation.

Tokayev's office said he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the situation was stabilising.

"At the same time, hotbeds of terrorist attacks persist. Therefore, the fight against terrorism will continue with full determination," it quoted him as saying.

The Kremlin said Putin backed Tokayev's idea to convene a video call of leaders from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), under whose umbrella Russia and four other former Soviet republics have sent troops into Kazakhstan to help restore order. It was not clear when this would take place.

Dozens of people have been killed, thousands have been detained and public buildings across Kazakhstan have been torched over the past week in the worst violence https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/stability-turmoil-whats-going-kazakhstan-2022-01-06 experienced in the oil and uranium producer since it became independent in the early 1990s as the Soviet Union collapsed.

Tokayev has ordered his troops to shoot to kill https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kazakh-president-says-constitutional-order-has-mostly-been-restored-2022-01-07 to end what he has called attacks by bandits and terrorists.

He said on Friday the state had "slept through" instigators' preparations to launch attacks on the biggest city, Almaty, and across the country. Massimov's arrest indicated moves were under way against those deemed responsible.

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Apart from heading the intelligence agency that replaced the Soviet-era KGB, Massimov was twice prime minister and worked closely with former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country's ruler for three decades until he turned over the presidency to Tokayev in 2019.

There were no details of the treason allegations. The security service said other officials were also detained, but did not name them.

On Friday, a pro-government politician said on television he had information that the security forces had been ordered to abandon Almaty airport so protesters could take it over. He said they had left a security building in the city undefended, enabling people to seize weapons.

It was not immediately possible to verify this account. The airport remains closed but is now under the control of Kazakh security personnel and Russian troops, according to Russia's defence ministry.

SPORADIC GUNSHOTS

The demonstrations began as a response to a fuel price hike but swelled into a broad movement against Tokayev's Russian-backed government and 81-year-old Nazarbayev.

Tokayev removed Nazarbayev on Wednesday as head of the country's Security Council, a role in which he had continued to wield significant influence. Interfax news agency reported on Saturday that the council's deputy head had also been fired.

In Almaty, where security forces have reclaimed control of the streets since Friday, a Reuters reporter said occasional gunshots were heard on Saturday.

Some businesses began to reopen in the city as people ventured out to buy supplies, and queues formed at petrol stations.

Security forces patrolled the streets and set up checkpoints. The deputy mayor was quoted by Russia's RIA news agency as saying operations to purge the city of "terrorists and bandit groups" were still under way and citizens were advised to stay at home.

Zhumadin Patov, the deputy head of a public market in Almaty, said the checkpoints and petrol station closures had complicated food distribution in the city of about 2 million people.

"There is enough food in warehouses, but it cannot be delivered because of the checkpoints and lack of fuel," he said.

In the capital Nur-Sultan, Reuters filmed police stopping drivers at a checkpoint with armed soldiers nearby.

The interior ministry said more than 4,400 people had been detained since the start of the unrest. Tokayev announced a national day of mourning for Monday to commemorate those killed.

Access to the internet, which was been largely shut down in Kazakhstan for days, was still heavily disrupted on Saturday.

The deployment of the Russia-led CSTO military alliance at Tokayev's invitation comes at a time of high tension in East-West relations as Russia and the United States prepare for talks next week on the Ukraine crisis.

Moscow has deployed large numbers of troops near its border with Ukraine but denies U.S. suggestions it is planning an invasion, saying it wants guarantees that NATO will halt its eastward expansion.

Washington has challenged the justification for sending Russian troops to Kazakhstan and questioned whether what has been billed as a mission of days or weeks could turn into a much longer presence.

"One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

Russia's foreign ministry called the remark offensive and said Blinken should reflect on the U.S. track record of military interventions in countries such as Vietnam and Iraq. (Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov and Mariya Gordeyeva in Almaty and Tamara Vaal in Nur-Sultan; Additional reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber in Moscow; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Pravin Char, Timothy Heritage and Helen Popper)
J.J. Watt is set for a comeback this season.

The Arizona Cardinals announced Friday their veteran All-Pro defensive end has been designated to return from the Reserve/Injured list.

Watt wasn't on the practice field at Cardinals headquarters on Friday morning, but he can start practicing and the team can activate him to its 53-man roster at any time during the next 21 days or at the conclusion of the three-week period.

Watt was placed on the IR Nov. 6 after he suffered a shoulder injury in Arizona's home win over his former team, the Houston Texans, on Oct. 24. The original time frame for his rehab and recovery was four to six months.

Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters on Friday that Watt won't play in their final regular season game, at home against the Seattle Seahawks (6-10) this Sunday. Therefore, he will be ready for the playoffs and designating him for return is procedural.

"He's done all that he can do in the training facility, in the weight room and then some," Kingsbury said. "He's attacked that rehab just like you assumed he would. Nobody's ever seen anybody go at it quite like he has over the last couple months. It's been awe-inspiring to watch him every day."

Watt totaled 16 tackles, including five for loss, and one forced fumble during the Cardinals' undefeated 7-0 run this year before he was injured.

Since he's been sidelined for their past nine games, Watt has been frequently seen at Cardinals' open media portions of their practices doing individual drills to rehabilitate himself, including Thursday.

"It's big time to have that type of player come back and be around your guys, and everybody in this building has the utmost respect for what he's accomplished and how he works and what he's about," Kingsbury said. "It's great to have him and guys definitely perk up anytime he's around."

Even if Watt is only able to play a few snaps when he is ready, Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson said that would be huge.

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"He's a leader for us. Just having a guy like that getting pressure on the QB, it's always a big help," Thompson said.

Watt is among a group of Cardinals not expected to play Sunday with the NFC West title still on the line going into the regular season finale. Kingsbury said running back Chase Edmonds (ribs/toe injuries) is out and the team hopes to get him back next week. Defensive end Jordan Phillips (knee) also did not practice and is also out but could return for the playoffs.

Wide receiver Rondale Moore and cornerback Marco Wilson will miss Sunday's game, Kingsbury said. Moore, Wilson and Edmonds did not participate in the part of Cardinals practice open to media on Friday.

Running back James Conner participated in practice, but the Cardinals could turn to other healthy running backs and limit Conner's workload on Sunday.

Cardinals Zach Allen (ankle) returned to Thurs practice, and did individual drills with fellow DE J.J. Watt (shoulder, on IR) during open media portion.



CB Marco Wilson (shoulder) was back, DT Jordan Phillips (knee) was sidelined.



RB Chase Edmonds (ribs/toe) was out again. pic.twitter.com/AMu9MdmGRj  DANA (@iam_DanaScott) January 6, 2022

Humble Hudson

Cardinals center Rodney Hudson was asked about being talked about as an unsung hero on the team, for how much he means to the offensive line and offense as a whole.

"I just try to show up and try to do the best I can, you know, ne accountable, be a good teammate and be there to help out on Sundays," Hudson said.

Oct 3, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner (6) celebrates with center Rodney Hudson (61) after scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Rams 37-20.

Hudson said in helping quarterback Kyler Murray have confidence in him, he prepares as best he can and trusts what he sees on the field in games, then goes out and tries to execute to the best of his abilities.

Seeking a Seattle sweep

Thompson said a win over Seattle this week, which would be a sweep of the two games this season, would be meaningful for the Cardinals.

"A lot of teams in the NFC think that we're kind of like the low-level team I guess you could say. A lot of teams, I feel, don't have a lot of respect for us," Thompson said. "If we went out and beat them (the Seahawks) in every single game this year, I feel like that would be real big for us, just respect-wise."

Have tips for us? Reach the reporter at dana.scott@azcentral.com or at 480-486-4721. Follow his Twitter @iam_DanaScott.

Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals' J.J. Watt designated to return from injured reserve
LAS VEGAS  President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats on Saturday remembered Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a giant in American politics, who through grit, plain-spokenness and pragmatism got big things done.

Reid, a lion of the Senate for three decades, died late last month at the age of 82 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. For two and a half hours at the Smith Center in Las Vegas, friends and family honored a man who rose from humble beginnings in Searchlight, Nevada, to become one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington.

People in Nevada, you lost a beloved son, but his spirits always going to burn as bright as the desert sun, Biden said at Reid's memorial service. To the nation  we lost a giant American, plain-spoken, honorable, decent, brave, an unyielding man. May this be his legacy."

'Tough-as-nails strong': Tributes pour in for Harry Reid, former U.S. senator, after his death

More: Former US Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, former Democratic majority leader, dies at 82

Reid, a onetime accomplished amateur boxer, was the longest-serving senator in Nevada's history and presided over the upper chamber as majority leader from 2007 to 2015. He gained a reputation for soft-spoken ruthlessness as he clawed his way from Nevadas lieutenant governors office to the pinnacle of the U.S. Senate.

Biden, a former Senate colleague of Reid for 22 years, said "you wanted Harry in your corner, crediting his leadership with pushing through some of the Obama administrations greatest achievements while Biden was vice president: helping to rein in Wall Street, preserve Social Security and pass environmental protections for Nevada.

The thing about Harry  he never gave up, Biden said. Let there be no doubt. Harry Reid will be considered one of the greatest Senate Majority leaders in history."

More: Remembering the life of former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

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President Joe Biden speaks during a memorial service for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the Smith Center in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ORG XMIT: NVSW449

Eulogizing Reid, Obama called his friend a man of old-school virtues  a rare politician who lacked pretentiousness, operated with abiding loyalty and a pragmatist who knew how to get things done.

Obama served as president while Reid was Senate majority leader.

"You wanted Harry in the foxhole with you," Obama said, adding that he will never be able to repay Reid for sticking with him even as some Democrats did not amid declining poll numbers.

If not for Reid, Obama said he would not have been able to pass the federal stimulus bill after the Great Recession, Wall Street reform, the Affordable Care Act and other legislation.

In a battle between perfection and progress, he always chose progress, Obama said. He didn't shy away from bare-knuckle politics, but what is true is that I never heard Harry speak of politics as if it was some unbending battle between good and evil.

Reid, stooped and bespectacled, was a pro-gun, pro-life Democrat and a devout Mormon. He lost his first bid for Senate in 1974, then a race for mayor of Las Vegas one year later. He became chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission and later a congressman before winning his first Senate race in 1986.

Although Reid was best known as a fierce fighter, Obama said Reid's true uniqueness was being a pragmatist at time when Americans from across the political spectrum apply purity tests to our politicians.

He didn't believe in highfalutin theories or rigid ideologies. He thought most people make decisions based on their life experience, based on immediate needs and their families.

Former US President Barack Obama speaks during a memorial service for the late US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also spoke at Reid's funeral. Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers, a rock band formed in Las Vegas, performed "Be still" and "Home means Nevada," the state's anthem. Singer Carole King performed "In the Name of Love."

Schumer, D-N.Y., who considered Reid a mentor in the Senate, said beneath Harry's soft-spoken nature was a truly honest and original character.

"Harry, in short, is one of the most incredible individuals I've ever met," Schumer said, "the sort of person you come across only a handful of times in your entire life. He was tough as nails, a fighter to his core, but also one of the most compassionate individuals you could ever imagine.

Reid is survived by his wife of 62 years, Landra Reid. Each of the couple's five children spoke at the service, giving emotional tributes about a politician they knew as "Poppy."

He was pulled in so many different directions, but when he was home, he was just 'Poppy,'" said Lana Reid Barringer, Reid's only daughter. "He didn't want to talk about work. He wanted to talk about us.

Nobody loved me the way my dad loved me. He was a wonderful father who loved me unconditionally, and he always made my mom, me and my brothers his priority. I will miss him greatly. I will love him forever. And I'm grateful that families are forever.

Reid's body will be transported to Washington where he will lie in state at the Capitol on Jan. 12.

Earlier: Live updates from the service

Biden: We lost a giant American

President Joe Biden said Reid will go down as one of the greatest Senate majority leaders in U.S. history, praising his ability to listen, his decency and a track record of Democratic policies passed with his leadership.

People in Nevada, you lost a beloved son but his spirits always going to burn as bright as the desert sun, Biden said. To the nation  we lost a giant American, plain spoken, honorable, decent, brave, unyielding man. May this be his legacy.

Call on each of us to be our best, to speak truth from the heart, to take up the remains of Harry Reids good fight for the America we all love. What a gift.

Biden said Reids story shows theres nothing ordinary about America, comparing Reid's humble upbringing in Nevada to Biden's own in Delaware. Ordinary Americans can do anything given half a chance. We the people  pretty damn extraordinary.

Biden, a former Senate colleague of Reid, said you wanted Harry in your corner, crediting his leadership with pushing through some of the Obama administrations greatest achievements: helping rein in Wall Street, preserve Social Security during the George W. Bush years and pass environmental protections for Nevada.

The thing about Harry  he never gave up, Biden said. Let there be no doubt. Harry Reid will be considered one of the greatest Senate Majority leaders in United States history.

Biden said Reid should be remembered most of all for how he approached politics.

Like every great leader, he led the Democratic Caucus not just by speaking, but by listening, Biden said. For Harry, it wasn't about power for the sake of power. It was about using power to do right by people. That's why you wanted him to be in your corner.

The service was capped by Brandon Flowers of The Killers singing Home Means Nevada, the states anthem.

 Joey Garrison

Obama on Reid: He always chose progress

Former President Barack Obama remembered Reid as a man of old-school virtues  a rare politician who lacked pretentiousness, operated with abiding loyalty and a pragmatist who knew how to get things done.

In a battle between perfection and progress, he always chose progress, Obama said in eulogizing Reid. He didn't shy away from bare-knuckle politics, but what is true is that I never heard Harry speak of politics as if it was some unbending battle between good and evil.

Obama served as president while Reid was Senate majority leader. He said Reid was among Democrats convinced that Obama could be elected as the first African-American president.

You wanted Harry in the foxhole with you, Obama said, adding that Reids willingness to stick by his side even amid dipping poll numbers  when some Democrats thought it might be prudent to maintain a healthy distance from me  was a debt he couldnt repay.

Although Reid was best known as a fighter, Obama said Reid was a pragmatist at time when many Americans apply purity tests to our politicians.

He didn't believe in highfalutin theories or rigid ideologies. He thought most people make decisions based on their life experience, based on immediate needs and their families.

If not for Reid, Obama said he would not have been able to pass the federal stimulus bill after the Great Recession, Wall Street reform or the Affordable Care Act

The whole point of wielding power was to actually get things done on behalf of those you represent, Obama said of Reids political philosophy. During his time as leader that is exactly what he did. He got things done.

 Joey Garrison

He was beloved, Pelosi says of Reids most enduring legacy

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remembered Reids modesty, dry sense of humor and as a rare politician beloved by members of both political parties.

For all his great legislative achievements, his most enduring public legacy will be that he was beloved, Pelosi said. A word not often used to describe political leaders."

She said Reid always made sure his home state of Nevada was getting served.

He did everything he could to ensure that his voices were heard, either protecting the state's natural environment or its political environment, especially its coveted role in the presidential selection process, Pelosi said.

She also joked about Reids bluntness, saying she probably got hung up on the phone by him more than anyone else in Washington.

Two or three times a day for 12 years, Pelosi said, drawing laughter. That is official working days  sometimes Saturday and Sunday."

After Pelosi spoke, musical artist Carole King performed In the Name of Love.

 Joey Garrison

Schumer: Reid was tough as nails but compassionate

Senate Majority Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who considered Reid a mentor in the Senate, said beneath Harry's soft-spoken nature was a truly honest and original character.

He was one of a kind, Schumer said. All of us being here is proof of the wide and deep impact that Harry had."

Harry, in short, is one of the most incredible individuals I've ever met, the sort of person you come across only a handful of times in your entire life. He was tough as nails, a fighter to his core, but also one of the most compassionate individuals, you could ever imagine.

Schumer said he got to know Reid in 1999, shortly after winning his Senate seat for the first time. He laughed about Reid telling him that he needed to buy some better shoes to earn leadership.

He cared about you with every fiber. Sometimes you can even say cared a little too much.

He recalled in 2006, when Sen. Claire McCaskills victory in Missouri gave Democrats control of the Senate. Reid and Schumer watched election returns with each other.

I kid you not, Harry went up to the TV screen and smacked his lips on hers, Schumer said, laughing. His lips remain attached on the TV for a full 10 seconds.

 Joey Garrison

Reid brought devotion and steadfastness to everything, son says

Leif Reid, one of Harry Reids five children who spoke at the service, said the best way to describe Reid is devotion and steadfastness in everything he did.

People know his story. He lived the American dream from Searchlight to Washington, he said.

Leif Reid added: But the reality was he was a man who simply chose to do his best every day, to do his duty, to take care of his stewardship. Part of that work was to be our father. Part of that work was to be my mother's soulmate. Part of that work was to be your senator.

 Joey Garrison

Proud of the name Harry Reid

Josh Reid, another of Reids five children, said his father always told his kids how much he loved them.

He would often tell me when I had my own kids that you can never tell your family that you love them too much, Josh Reid said.

Josh Reid said his sons wife gave birth to a child on Friday. The name they chose: Harry Reid.

I hope as the years go by, that little boy will look at his grandfather in the same way I looked at my dad. I'm proud of the name Harry Reid.

Brandon Flowers of the rock band The Killers then performed the song Be Still.

Leif Reid, one of Reids sons, said it was his fathers final song request before his death.

 Joey Garrison

More: With Western grit, Sen. Harry Reid left lasting mark on Nevada, nation

When he was home, he was just Poppy

Lana Reid Barringer, Reids daughter, remembered her father as a family man who always found time for his children and grandchildren no matter what was going on in Washington.

He was pulled in so many different directions, but when he was home, he was just Poppy. He didn't want to talk about work. He wanted to talk about us, she said.

Reid Barringer said her father made people laugh no matter the setting. She said he frequently took his children to get ice cream, and always let them pick the flavor, and recalled the time he took her to see The Osmonds.

About 20 years ago, Reid and his wife, Landra Gould Reid, temporarily moved into Lanas home as they were downsizing houses. The senator and his wife were forced to share his childrens old trundle bed.

Before his security detail picked him up to take him to the Capitol, I bet he was the only senator who had to navigate Legos and PlayMobil, Reid Barringer said.

She concluded: Nobody loved me the way my dad loved me. He was a wonderful father who loved me unconditionally, and he always made my mom, me and my brothers his priority. I will miss him greatly. I will love him forever. And I'm grateful that families are forever.

 Joey Garrison

Friends, protesters, supporters gather before the service

Sen. Harry Reids memorial service drew presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, those who knew the former Senate majority leader and a smattering of Trump supporters who hate Democrats and vaccine mandates.

Hannah Brown, 82, of Las Vegas came to pay respects to the man she went to kindergarten with who remained a lifelong friend.

I grew up with him and worked with his campaigns many, many times, she said with tears in her eyes. What people dont know is if he was your friend, he was your friend.

Brown, a civil rights activist, recalled that Reid spoke in October at the dedication of an elementary school renamed after her.

He called me his forever friend, she said as she showed a reporter a picture of Reid embracing her.

Others were less than thrilled to have the Democratic luminaries in their city.

About a dozen people outside the Smith Center for the Performing Arts waved flags supporting former President Donald Trump and held anti-Biden signs. They shouted vulgar messages against the current president and other messages that had little to do with Reid.

Lorena Cardenas, 42, of Las Vegas was the only one among them willing to discuss their anger.

Democrats have suppressed freedom, she said. Cardenas blamed Biden for rushing vaccines for children that she thinks  contrary to medical experts  will harm their health.

This is about Democrats more broadly but Harry Reid facilitated Bidens win so that was a slap to our face, she said.

 Ronald J. Hansen, The Arizona Republic

People watch as the flag-draped casket of former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid arrives a memorial service at the Smith Center in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022.

Ultimate champion of the little guy

Pallbearers brought Reids casket, draped in an American flag, to the front of the room as the service got underway.

We are here today to give gratitude for the man from Searchlight, Nevada. Shaped by a humble upbringing, Harry Reid rose to the become the ultimate champion of the little guy, said Marcus Faust, a friend of Reid, kicking off the services.

Among those speaking are President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Carole King will perform the song, In the name of Love.

 Joey Garrison

Biden, mourners arrive for service

A string trio played the hymn Lord of the Dance followed by Amazing Grace as friends and family arrived for services of the late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at the Smith Center in Las Vegas.

The strings played beneath a screen that displayed tweets paying tribute to Reid as a masked crowd began to fill into the seats.

President Joe Biden, traveling via motorcade, arrived at 1:45 p.m. EST. Services are expected to begin at 2 p.m. EST.

 Joey Garrison

Contributing: James DeHaven, Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden, Obama honor former Sen. Harry Reid at Las Vegas memorial
Tigert Hall on the University of Florida campus

A lawsuit challenging the University of Floridas conflict of interest policy as unconstitutional made it through the first round of questions Friday from a federal judge who denied the universitys request to have the case thrown out.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker spent more than two hours quizzing the attorneys for both the university and the faculty, who filed a request for injunctive relief after they were denied permission to testify in cases challenging state laws. The hearing will resume next week.

More coverage: How a Florida university system 'stacked' with mega-donors became 'blatantly political'

UFs lawyers argued that the request for an injunction is moot since the policy has been modified to establish a presumption that requests to participate in trials as expert witnesses or submit friends of the courts brief.

We continue to maintain that the lawsuit is moot, and that the plaintiffs lack standing, said Christopher Bartolomucci, a Washington D.C. lawyer representing UF President Kent Fuchs, Provost Joe Glover and the university board of trustees.

They still have to prove as plaintiffs actual and imminent irreparable injury, he said, adding that the only real injury to faculty is being denied permission to testify or conduct some other outside activity if it conflicts with their jobs as UF faculty.

UF lawsuit continues: Federal judge refuses to toss University of Florida professors First Amendment lawsuit

More: Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz 'troubled' by reports over UF's academic freedom policies

More: University of Florida opens investigation after report claims pressure against COVID-19 research

Sharon Wright Austin, Ph.D., is a professor of political science at the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

David A. O'Neil, a Washington D.C. lawyer representing the six faculty suing to stop the university from implementing the policy, said the injunction is needed because the university still retains broad discretion to deny requests deemed to conflict with university interests. The changes to policy merely codifies what it has already been doing, he said.

Story continues

UF has faculty who are leading experts who want to speak on issues existential to our nations fundamental issues. The First Amendment gives them that right, and defendants want to interfere with that, ONeil said.

The university wants to silence those viewpoints "because they fear that the opinions will anger the States political leaders," he added. "What is perhaps most alarming, is that the University believes it is perfectly entitled to suppress faculty speech in this way.

Daniel A. Smith, Professor & Chair, Department of Political Science, University of Florida

"The University is wrong, and it must be stopped, not only because it is chilling the speech of its own faculty, but also because, if this is allowed to continue, it will pave the way for similar intrusions on free expression at other top research universities."

Walker agreed that it appears the university is only going to allow such activities under limited circumstances "unless it's a hot potato."

Expert testimony denial brings public outcry, investigation

Three political science professors  Sharon Austin, Daniel Smith and Michael McDonald  filed the suit after they were denied permission to provide expert testimony in a case challenging new state election laws that place restrictions on voting by mail, among other things.

Administrators denied them permission, saying their actions were adverse to the universitys interests because they went against the executive branch of state government.

Academic freedom: University of Florida president responds as objections mount over academic freedom, political meddling

The controversy placed the states flagship university, which just achieved top five status among all public universities, in an unwelcome critical spotlight and sparked an investigation by the universitys accreditation board.

Facing a huge public outcry and an investigation by the universitys accreditation organization, UF administrators reversed track and allowed the faculty to testify after all, and made some minor amendments to the conflict of interest policy.

Two law professors later joined the suit after they were told they needed permission to file friend of the court briefs in a case challenging another state law requiring felons to pay all their court fees and fines before they could apply to have their voting rights restored.

And a medical professor who was denied permission to testify on the governors COVID-19 policies joined the suit.

Their claim is that the universitys success and status as a top five public university is tied to maintaining a favorable status with the governor and Legislature to continue to get the funding needed to hire top faculty and build state of the art facilities.

O'Neil said it was clear from statements made by Fuchs and UF Board of Trustees Chairman Mori Hosseini that faculty conduct offensive to the governor and Legislature wouldn't be tolerated.

Maybe its just a coinkydink, but suddenly the rules have changed and they are not allowed to give expert testimony, Walker said.

"This has never been an issue on people testifying about pesticide, salt water intrusion, development of oyster beds in Apalachicola Bay or the thousands of times professors have offered expert testimony."

Jeffrey Schweers is a capital bureau reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida. Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.

Subscribe today using the link at the top of the page and never miss a story.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Federal judge hears arguments in UF academic freedom case
Jan. 7Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham released an $8.4 billion spending proposal for the upcoming fiscal year with an emphasis on boosting public education funding and programs and bolstering public safety efforts.

The proposal was unveiled just minutes before the Legislative Finance Committee pitched its own plan  an $8.46 billion budget  at a news conference in the Capitol. That proposal also funnels extra money into the public education and public safety sectors.

Both budgets, which will come under scrutiny when the Legislature convenes later this month for a 30-day session, involve a roughly $1 billion increase in spending over the current year. They are reflections of a recent rosy prediction of $1.6 billion in new state revenues, which does not include still unused federal dollars  more than $600 million  from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Both proposals maintain healthy reserve funds  36.4 percent in the governor's budget; 30 percent in the Legislative Finance Committee's.

"These are investments that take us beyond the status quo, beyond decades of unnecessary austerity," Lujan Grisham said in a news release issued Thursday morning. "These are investments that carry our state and its people into a future that lifts up every New Mexican."

Meanwhile, Rep. Patti Lundstrom, D-Gallup, chairwoman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, which helps spearhead the budget process for legislators, said a budget of this size is "unheard of" in New Mexico. She said based on the continued flourish of gas and oil revenues, "we feel we got it just right."

It's typical for both the executive and legislative branches to propose budgets for the coming years, though rarely do they do so on the same day. Once the session begins Jan. 18, both will negotiate to come up with a final document. Lundstrom noted the total spending allocations for the budgets is "close."

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Improving the state's public education system has remained the focus of both the governor and lawmakers, particularly in light of the historic Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit, in which a coalition of parents, students, educators and lawmakers charged the state was not doing enough to provide resources for impoverished students, English-language learners and other children.

District Judge Sarah Singleton in 2018 ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, telling state leaders to enact plans and programs to help those students.

Though she did not attach a price tag to her ruling, Singleton's message was clear, and state leaders have been funneling more money into public education  though not enough to satisfy some of the plaintiffs. Both proposals commit about $3.8 billion to public schools and recommend a 7 percent salary increase for teachers.

The Legislative Finance Committee proposal includes $180 million targeted at programs to address the Yazzie/Martinez case, such as extended learning hours in schools and other programs.

Both budgets also target public safety.

The governor's proposal calls for $100 million to hire 1,000 more police officers around the state and requests a 20 percent increase in current pay standards for state police officers.

The Legislative Finance Committee budget proposes $4.7 million for additional state police officer pay and close to $785,000 in compensation increases for other key public safety positions.

Other priorities for both budget proposals are increasing broadband access, investing more in Medicaid programs and increasing state employee salaries. The governor's budget also includes $6.5 million for the new Cannabis Control Division, with much of that funding going to hiring 35 new staff members to begin overseeing the state's fledgling legalized marijuana industry.

Though the governor did not hold a news conference to discuss her budget, lawmakers who attended the Legislative Finance Committee event praised that panel's proposal. Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he thought that budget takes a "cautious approach."

"Revenues are great," he said. "We think we're spending wisely."
Jan. 7If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault's 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.

A South Carolina man was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for interstate stalking after he drove a woman from South Carolina to Maine two-and-a-half years ago and threatened and assaulted her, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Dustin Beach, 27, of Green Pond, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to the charge last June in U.S. District Court in Portland. In exchange for his guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped two counts of kidnapping and one count of witness tampering, according to court documents.

As part of the agreement, U.S. District George Singal imposed the maximum sentence allowed for the crime.

Beach drove a woman in his truck from South Carolina to Maine in July 2019, according to court documents. During the drive, Beach threatened the victim and assaulted her with his hands and other objects, including a hammer, a metal chain and the truck's ripped-out center console. He also used a knife to cut her arms and legs.

At a rest stop in Maryland, the victim tried to get bystanders to call 911 for her so she could get help, but they refused to assist her, court documents said.

In sentencing Beach, Singal called the South Carolina man's conduct "sadistic" and found him to be "a danger to society," the U.S. attorney's office said.

In addition to prison time, Singal sentenced Beach to three years of supervised release.

Beach had been held without bail since his arrest in July 2019. That time will be credited to his sentence.

U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee praised the work of law enforcement in response to a "vicious crime."

"I hope the example of this prosecution and the significant sentence imposed by the court sends a clear message that such violence will not be tolerated in the district of Maine," she said.
CHIPPEWA FALLS - Kathy Bernier had been a star of her hometown Republican Party.

It launched her into public office in 1998 and sustained her there for 23 years.

That is, until last month.

There was Michael Gableman, the former state Supreme Court justice who is running a taxpayer-funded partisan review of the 2020 election, speaking at a meeting of her Chippewa County Republican Party, belittling her view that there no widespread fraud. A view based on a more than a decade as a local elections official.

She said she was going to bring her questions and her concealed carry permit, said Gableman, noting Bernier was not present. If you're an elected official and you're so afraid of your constituents that you think you have to bring a firearm to see them, you should take a long hard look at what you've been doing. And then, frankly, resign."

The crowd  her crowd  applauded.

Bernier, 65, is not resigning, but on Friday said she would not seek a new term in November.

You know, I don't want to overstay my welcome, she said in an interview. I don't want to get old and pass away in the Senate, you know. I want to have impact.

Despite her tenure as a solid member of a political tribe, she has been unafraid to step beyond it to speak her mind.

Starting out as the Chippewa County clerk in 1999, Bernier administered elections there until being elected to the Assembly in 2010 and the Senate in 2018.

Now, despite consistently voting with Republicans in the state Legislature, and being known as one of the more conservative members of the caucus, Bernier has become an example of what happens to those who oppose what is now a feature of their platform: that the 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud.

While shes certainly no fan of President Joe Biden  That guy doesnt know whats what  Bernier believes he was legitimately elected.

As a former clerk, she knows what administrative irregularities are routine. She has also reviewed the results of two examinations of the election, including one by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which found that no widespread fraud occurred.

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We need to stop putting a shadow over our elected officials, especially our presidents, that were duly elected, she said.

In mid-December, before Gableman's visit to Chippewa Falls, Bernier had admonished him and called for him to wrap up his quest. Her goal, she says, is to move on from 2020 and strategize on how to elect Republicans in the future.

Even if its not her.

Moving on

Bernier has a year left in her term and while she cant say she hates the Senate, she doesnt love it, either.

There is just no team atmosphere there," she told the Journal Sentinel. "At all. But what I can say is when you are one of 17 or one of 19, you can have a bigger impact.

She has used her voice to advocate for bipartisan measures, including a medical marijuana bill, and worked with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers staff to get more mental health beds in the last budget.

She has also championed an array of more conservative causes, including pushing for a Convention of the States so Wisconsin could ratify its own amendments to the U.S. Constitution, an attempt to circumvent the power of the federal government.

Despite the flak shes faced recently from other Republicans, she emphasizes that she still very much is one.

I am sure in the heck not a Democrat. I'm conservative, with conservative principles, she said.

Having good relationships with people from all walks of life, she says, is important to her.

Her boyfriend, Tom Fliehr, who Bernier says claims to be independent, but is really a Democrat is one such relationship. They dont talk politics too much  his niece even ran against Bernier in Berniers first legislative reelection bid.

He always claims to be independent. But he has never said anything nice about a Republican other than me, she said. He'll defend me to the hilt.

The pair have been together for 15 years and plan to travel more and escape Wisconsin winters for a few months each year once Bernier retires.

'This has to stop. It is harming our country'

Berniers route to the Chippewa County clerks office and then the state Legislature was spurred by what she called a troubled marriage that made her feel small and worthless. With three children, she had been waitressing since she was 18 and often worked a second job, too.

I was looking for a good paying job in order to get out of my marriage, she said. That was a very emotional time for me. I guess I was very depressed. And so I just was really at a loss of what to do with my life.

She first landed a job with Chippewa Countys Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program, which provides healthy food and support for low-income families. After a few years with the county, she realized she wanted to run for county clerk, believing she could do the job more efficiently.

But with only a high school diploma, she didnt feel qualified. She enrolled in technical school and later, at 37, enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire to pursue her bachelors degree.

How dare you? she recalled her husband saying at the time. Youre stealing from the children if you go to college. Theyre the ones that need to go to college.

She continued anyway, graduating in May 1998 with a degree in political science and public relations. College is what made her a Republican, she said. She went in not knowing exactly what she believed about policy, having voted for Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Ross Perot.

Growing up, her family never discussed politics, she said. Until she ran for office as a Republican.

That brought out the political efficacy in my sisters, primarily," she said. "They would challenge me whenever possible, between Democrats and Republicans, which kind of hurt me in a way because it's like we never talk politics. I didn't know what party anybody was.

When Act 10, a marquee Republican victory that curtailed collective bargaining powers for most public workers, passed in 2011, Bernier was serving in the Assembly.

The polarization and political vitriol of the moment, which prompted massive protests at the state Capitol for months, also strained her relationship with her family. Her sisters didnt speak to her for years, she said.

She said speaking out at a legislative panel last month against the notion that Donald Trump is the rightful winner of the 2020 election, while telling Gableman to '"wrap it up," was never meant to engender cheers from Democrats, nor the approval of her family.

I try to speak the truth whenever possible. And that's all I was doing is trying to reunite us into accepting the election results and moving forward, she said. And if that ends up on Rachel Maddow, and that now makes my sisters proud of me, I don't accept the compliment.

Former and current colleagues agree Bernier has been consistent in telling it like she sees it.

"She had a reputation of being a pretty diligent worker and was not afraid to speak her mind," said Adam Jarchow, a former Assembly Republican who is running for Attorney General this year. "People in the caucus I think appreciated that about her."

Democratic Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, acknowledged she doesn't know Bernier well, but said she deserves "a lot of credit for being willing to speak out against these attempts to demonize election workers and undermine peoples confidence in our election systems."

Bernier decries what she says is an increasingly entrenched refusal in both political parties to acknowledge facts that are contrary to their agenda.

Democratic claims after the 2016 election that Donald Trump was not a legitimate president because of alleged collusion with the Russians harmed the electoral process, too, she said, and helped set the table for how Republicans are responding now.

This has to stop. It is harming our country, she said. We need to stop putting a shadow over our elected officials, especially our presidents  I suspect three years from now, we're gonna have the same accusations over again, because nobody trusts the election results. And that's not right.

Over the last year she has spoken to local conservative groups, held an election training session in the Legislature and met with state Republican leaders, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and former Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, asking them for help in turning the ship to focus more future elections instead of the last one.

Her attempts to get her party to move on have been unsuccessful.

I've tried my best to explain the process that you can't just have a bunch of random ballots in random envelopes show up, she said, recalling a presentation she gave last year to the Chippewa Valley Patriots, a local conservative group. They just stand up and yell at me and say, I don't believe you. What do you do with that?

Elections are far more secure now than when she served as a county clerk. Back then, she said, there were not specific procedures and no centralized voter registration list in many municipalities. Many times, she said people would vote and the poll worker would just write their name in the local pollbook.

Though she generally doesnt like what Congress does, she said the 2002 Help America Vote Act was a game changer, setting the foundation for more standard practices and recounts that largely prevent the ballot tampering Republicans allege occurred in 2020.

'Human beings ... not political beings'

Reflecting on how she has cultivated confidence in herself, especially in a political atmosphere that has grown more bitter, she says time has helped her trust herself.

There was never a light switch moment, but when something happens or you look back and it all turned out the way you intuitively knew it would, it does give you a little more confidence, that you are intelligent.

The recognition too that not every person is all bad has also been key.

Even my ex-husband's not all bad," she said. "We get along great now.

Even with her hometown Republican Party ready for her to go, on a recent morning a steady stream of folks said hello and waved as Bernier sipped coffee at the 4:30 AM Coffee House in downtown Chippewa Falls.

She's blessed, she says to live in the area.

"You probably noticed a lot of people in here know me, very nice people. I don't know if they vote Democrat or Republican, I don't care. And that's what people need to get back to, is just recognize each other for fellow human beings, and not political beings."

Katelyn Ferral is an investigative reporter for the Journal Sentinel. Email her at kferral@gannett.com.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republican Sen. Kathy Bernier is ready to move on, wishes her party was, too
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Serbia may soon decide to annul all contracts related to mining group Rio Tinto's $2.4 billion lithium project in the country, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Saturday, as green groups blocked roads across Serbia protesting against the plan.

Rio Tinto wants to develop the mine near Loznica in the western Jadar valley, but the local municipality has already scrapped a plan https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/rio-tinto-pause-lithium-mine-serbia-after-protests-report-2021-12-23 to allocate land for it.

The development is part of Serbia's efforts to bring in investment and boost economic growth. But environmentalists have staged protests and blocked roads to press authorities to end the project, which they say would cause irreparable damage to the area.

Rio has said any development would meet domestic and European Union environmental standards.

The protests have caused a political headache for the ruling coalition loyal to President Aleksandar Vucic ahead of April elections.

"We have neither brought them (Rio Tinto) in, nor have we made promises, nor have we done anything that the people did not know about," Brnabic told television channel Pink, saying the government was close to accepting all requests from environmentalists.

"We have worked in a transparent way, we have listened to the people," Brnabic said, adding the government needed to see how much it would have to pay out if the deal is annulled.

Brnabic also said the government wanted to win agreement for any decision from President Aleksandar Vucic, who she said was against the fulfilling of "requests by foreign services and agencies".

Vucic has repeatedly said that opening the mine would dependon the outcome of an environmental study and a referendum.

The protesters who blocked roads including in the capital Belgrade want the government to ban the extraction of lithium not only by Rio Tinto but any other company.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by David Holmes)
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The New Year's Day announcement by Axios that it was going to save local journalism was surprising, to say the least.

Axios, a Virginia-based media startup formed in 2017, last year began producing emailed local-news newsletters in about a dozen cities. Its now expanding from 14 to 39 cities by midyear.

This comes as newspapers are embracing newsletters to deliver alerts, digests and other material to subscribers. It's proven to be a successful way for papers to build audiences and it gives subscribers additional options to receive the news.

It also coincides with a renaissance of self-publishing on newsletter platforms with options to sell subscriptions. Some big-name journalists are going solo there or building niche publications of their own.

Then there are a handful of companies producing email newsletters that mostly aggregate news, copying the essence from other sources, and presenting it like a daily briefing.

Aggregators do this with around two reporters per city and are targeting urban areas, such as Seattle and Philadelphia.

Because aggregators produce scant original reporting and they're coming to markets that already have multiple news outlets, they are not addressing the local journalism crisis.

Axios Publisher Nicholas Johnston told me this is just the start, and local teams may grow and expand into smaller communities if the model succeeds.

"I'm hiring local journalists, why is that a knock on us?" he said in an interview that guaranteed I won't be working for Axios.

The main Axios newsroom employs 150 and local newsletters employ 40 but should add dozens more this year. As with Axios' national news site, newsletters emphasize brevity, aiming to be around 900 words. That's about the length of a newspaper column like this one.

Tim Franklin, senior associate dean at Northwestern University's Medill journalism school, is positive about newsletter opportunities. He told me the arrival of newcomers like Axios Local "sort of validates the newsletter strategy writ large."

"Among the lingering questions are, will these newsletters have a depth of local news and information that is satisfying to readers in these markets?" he said.

Competition and innovation are good. But I'm concerned that aggregators extend several bigger trends that decimated local journalism in recent years.

Newspaper newsrooms, which produce the most original reporting, are down about 60% or 40,000 jobs since 2008, and thousands of communities now have zero local news sources.

One factor in the decline is that people were conditioned to think of news as being free online.

This is slowly being changed, but aggregators go the opposite direction, by telling people they can get all the local news they need for free.

Newspapers are partly to blame for the situation. The industry fell for the hype and the con that fortunes could be made online by giving away premium content and getting traffic in return.

A decade after papers began charging for online access, the industry is still trying to get fairly compensated for its work as the biggest aggregators, Google and Facebook, dominate online advertising.

News must undergo an evolution similar to what happened with the music industry, after online disruption created expectations of free music. After a combination of regulatory, technical and behavioral changes, people are now accustomed to paying for music, mostly via subscription.

Some regulators see this evolution as key to saving journalism and democracy. Australia and some European countries are now forcing digital giants to pay for news content shared via their platforms.

Australias groundbreaking legislation drew in part on research that found people often dont click through headlines and snippets compiled by aggregators, so publishers lose out.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell noted this in a 2020 report on the journalism crisis.

Platforms "take local news content under the 'fair use' doctrine of copyright law, arguing that the reuse of local news headlines, story snippets, and images is a 'fair use' of the copyrighted work," it said. "But the application of fair use in this context, by allowing platforms to take significant and key substance from local news without proper compensation, has made fair use an economic weapon for the online platforms."

Franklin concurred. "There's not going to be a new harvest of digital ad revenue from Axios or any other player sending traffic," he told me.

Perhaps aggregators targeting audiences and advertisers that newspapers need to survive should also pay for news content they use.

Yes, newspapers aggregate content from wire services but they pay for them. I also produce a newsletter that comments on and links to others' coverage of the journalism crisis, but I'm not competing with anyone by relying mostly on their work.

I've been following the Axios Local edition for Columbus, Ohio. On Monday, virtually every leading item was reported by another local media outlet or taken from a news release.

Local journalism is also suffering from national consolidation and extractive investors.

Half the remaining daily papers are now owned by a handful of Wall Street firms. They run shoestring local operations  ghost newspapers, with just a few reporters stretched far too thin to provide adequate coverage  while building a network of local sites they can pitch to national advertisers.

The Seattle Times has around 170 people in its newsroom and it's still hard pressed to cover a Puget Sound region with 4 million residents.

"Everyone needs  and deserves  high-quality reporting to understand the changes unfolding fast where they live," Axios said in its announcement.

That part is absolutely true.

I appreciate the hard work of the two reporters per city producing these newsletters and I'm glad they're employed, but this isn't watering America's news desert.
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Every summer, students flood offices as unpaid interns, soaking up knowledge and seeking positive references as they take lunch orders and organize storage closets. But this reliance on unpaid work leaves behind students who cant afford to work for free. Between temporarily relocating to another city, buying and maintaining office-appropriate attire, and paying for everyday costs, it can cost thousands of dollars to add a few lines to your resume.

According to Carlos Mark Vera, co-founder and executive director of Pay Our Interns, a nonprofit fighting to end unpaid internships across the country in all sectors, unpaid internships disproportionately harm specific populations. Women work for no pay more often than men, and compared to white interns, Black and Latino interns take on debt more often during their internships. It really does create this glass ceiling for people of color, Vera says.

Vera, who is still paying off the credit card debt he amassed when interning at the White House seven years ago, was inspired to launch Pay Our Interns after a conversation with a younger college student who was skipping buying groceries to afford dry cleaning for his internship clothes. I think this whole grind/hustle mentality is so ingrained, that you have to pay your dues, Vera says. Its daring to imagine how things could be.

Sadly, unpaid internships are still the norm. Perhaps the Great Resignation will inspire employers to pay interns for their labor, as they should. But until then, if an unpaid internship would help you gain experience, here are some ways to soften the financial burden and limit how much you put on your credit card to get by.

Know your rights

The U.S. Department of Labor has guidelines on what constitutes a legal unpaid internship  your work cant displace that of a paid employee, for example. If you suspect your internship is in violation, you can file a complaint to the Department of Labor or your state labor agency. You may be entitled to back pay.

Seek scholarships and specialty programs

Many universities offer scholarships specifically for unpaid internships, depending on your school and major. You need to apply and funding isnt guaranteed, but the effort can pay off.

You can also find paid opportunities through specialty programs created by nonprofits and professional organizations. For example, Black and Latino aspiring financial planners can apply through the BLX Internship Program to be placed in a paid internship at a fee-only financial planning firm. According to Luis F. Rosa, a certified financial planner and co-founder of the BLX Internship Program, they placed 38 applicants into internships last year, and of those, 20 got job offers.

Fund unpaid work with paid work

I would combine an internship with other side gigs or part-time jobs, says Mark Reyes, a certified financial planner at Albert, a financial wellness app. Depending on the internship time commitment, you may be able to balance more than one job at once. However, he cautions that this can quickly lead to burnout.

Vera felt the pressure as a student working part-time while interning 20 to 30 hours per week. Sometimes I was fighting not to fall asleep while doing the internship, he says.

School plus two jobs is a lot to handle. To ease the burden, you can work for pay during the school year and save that money to cover the cost of a summer internship. Or limit unpaid work to a part-time schedule so you can also have time for paid work.

Gain internship experience within paid jobs

If you need the earnings from your paid job to fund tuition, living expenses and other costs, it can be difficult to earmark some of that money toward supporting yourself during an unpaid internship. But your paid job might already provide the chance to learn beyond your actual role.

Rosa couldnt afford unpaid internships as a student because he contributed financially to his family. He found he was able to create internships within some of his paid jobs, like when he did office work at a law firm and asked to also spend some time learning about the industry.

Embrace remote opportunities

The pandemic transformed many office jobs into fully remote positions, and thats a benefit for interns who cant afford to spend a summer in an expensive major city. With a remote internship, youll avoid paying for relocation, commuting costs and work clothes. Plus, having remote work experience on your resume will strengthen your candidacy for a virtual position in the future.

Use student loans instead of credit cards

You can use funds from your student loan for living expenses if youre doing an unpaid internship for college credit. Its still debt, but student loans charge lower interest rates than credit cards.

People have misconceptions that all debt is bad, but student loans are there to add value to your life, Reyes says. It takes discipline and its not for everyone. Its not free money, but its cheaper debt than credit cards.

___
New Delhi: Fair trade regulator CCI on Friday ordered a probe against Google for its alleged abuse of dominant position. "In a well-functioning democracy, the critical role played by news media cannot be undermined, and it needs to be ensured that digital gatekeeper firms do not abuse their dominant position to harm the competitive process of determining a fair distribution of revenue amongst all stakeholders," CCI said.

It added that the Commission is of prima facie view that Google has violated provisions of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002 which pertains to abuse of dominant position.

The order came on a complaint filed by the Digital News Publishers Association, which is a private company that promotes and secures interest of digital news publishers.

It had filed complaint against Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google India Private Ltd and Google Ireland Ltd.

The association said that the majority of the traffic on news websites comes from online search engines and Google is claimed to be the most dominant search engine.

It said that more than 50 per cent of the total traffic on the news websites is routed through Google and being the dominant player, Google, by way of its algorithms, determines which news website gets discovered via search.

Besides, Google is the major stakeholder in the digital advertising space and it unilaterally decides the amount to be paid to the publishers for the content created by them, as well as the terms on which the aforesaid amounts have to be paid.

It further said that the members of the association have to suffer a loss of advertising revenues and the inability to bargain a fair share in the value chain of news dissemination, despite working and generating credible news.

It said that there is lack of transparency in online digital advertising intermediation services, which makes it difficult for publishers to audit and verify the ad revenue generated on their websites.

"No doubt, Google, being the gateway, generates substantial traffic for news publishers, but at the same time, the bargaining power imbalance and denial of fair share in the advertising revenue, as alleged by the Informant, merit detailed investigation," the Commission said.

As per the regulator, it needs to be examined if Google imposes any discriminatory condition or price on various news publishers.

Google has unilaterally decided not to pay the publishers of news for the snippets used by them in search engine results.

It needs to be examined whether the use of news snippets by Google is a result of bargaining power imbalance between Google on the one hand and news publishers on the other, and whether it affects the referral traffic to news publisher websites, and thus, their monetization abilities.

In France and Australia, Google has been asked to enter into good faith negotiation with news publishers for paid licensing of content to address the bargaining power imbalance between the two and the resultant imposition of unfair conditions by Google, CCI noted.

The regulator has directed its investigation arm, the director-general (DG), to cause an investigation into the matter and submit the investigation report within 60 days. Also Read: CES 2022: BMW, Adobe, other brands give a peek into futuristic technologies, products

It added that "nothing stated in this order shall be tantamount to a final expression of opinion on the merits of the case, and the DG shall conduct the investigation without being swayed in any manner whatsoever by the observations made herein." Also Read: Budget 2022: What is Halwa ceremony and what is its significance?
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present her fourth budget on February 1. With a few days left, discussions of what could be announced with Budget 2022 have become the talk of the town.

Last year, the finance minister had launched several schemes and policies to make the lives of the common man simple while pushing the growth agenda forward. From Self-Reliant Healthy India Scheme to Vehicle Scraping Policy, there were several announcements for the common man.

With the coming budget too, the finance minister is expected to make announcements to speed up the economic recovery. Sitharaman could also make decisions to promote entrepreneurship in the country, according to a report by Zee Business.

Moreover, in the last budget, the government is expected to fix the tax exemption for taxpayers or if there would be a change in the tax structure for the next financial year - (FY 2020-23).

In the last budget, the government had made no changes to the tax regime, meaning that no significant relief was announced for the taxpayers. The upcoming budget, however, could be different for the common man.

However, the last budget announced a major relief for senior citizens. According to the new rule, taxpayers more than 75 years old and have income from pension and deposits can file for an exemption from an income tax return.

In the upcoming budget, the government could also make new announcements to improve the education and healthcare infrastructure of the country. These decisions could help the children have a better life in India.

Moreover, the announcements related to infrastructures such as new highways, railways, airways, and waterways will make the lives of the common man more convenient than ever. Also Read: OnePlus 10 Pro launch next week: Heres everything you need to know

Some of such schemes launched with the last years budget were Mega Investment Textile Park Scheme, National Hydrogen Energy Mission, PM Self-Reliant Swasth Bharat Yojana of 64180 crores for Health Infra, 35,000 thousand crores were announced for COVID-19 Vaccinations. Also Read: PAN Card Holders Alert! Do THIS or else face a fine of Rs 1,000: Details here

As a result, it's critical for a PAN card holder to seed their PAN with their Aadhaar card number in order to avoid any penalties for missing the PAN Aadhaar connection deadline.

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#mute
New Delhi: Superstar R Madhavan who recently impressed fans in the Netflix series 'Decoupled' has been quite active on Twitter lately, replying to fans praising the show. On Saturday, one of his fans tweeted that they wanted to call the actor 'daddy' which caught the actor's attention.

The fan had written, "this close to calling this man daddy"

Madhavan replied to the tweet and said, "Try Uncle kid. Dont want your dad to get offended," with a couple of laughing emojis.

The fan had replied to Madhavan's reply to another fan who asked if the actor has a permanent hairstylist at home.

The actor wrote, "Habhabha no bro. I am at a shoot thats why its set. . Most times I hate setting my hair. My friends and family are fed up with the scruffy look. I just dont care.. I am glad I have hair."

In December last year, R Madhavan said he was planning to relocate to Dubai with his wife Sarita and son Vedaant.

The 3 Idiots actor revealed that he did so to help his 16 years old son Vedaant, who is a swimmer, to better prepare for Olympics 2026, as most large-sized pools are shut down in Mumbai due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases after the emergence of Omicron variant.

On the work front, Madhavan is grabbing headlines for his performance in the recently released Netflix series Decoupled. His ambitious directorial project Rocketry will also release in cinema halls this year.
New Delhi: Amid surging COVID-19 cases, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority will meet on Monday to discuss further restrictions, including 'total curfew', under the Graded Response Action plan, officials said on Friday.

With the rise in the number of coronavirus cases and its variant Omicron, a weekend curfew was imposed in Delhi from 10 pm on Friday till 5 am on Monday.

Delhi on Friday recorded 17,335 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day rise since May 8, and nine deaths, while the positivity rate mounted to 17.73 per cent, according to data shared by the health department.

Delhi Health Bulletin - 7th January 2022 #delhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/B4x4YzWVGJ  CMO Delhi (@CMODelhi) January 7, 2022

This is a significant rise from Thursday when the city recorded 15,097 new cases at a positivity rate of 15.34 per cent.

On Wednesday and Tuesday, 10,665 and 5,481 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 11.88 per cent and 8.37 per cent, respectively, according to official figures.

"The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting has been scheduled on Monday at noon in view of the rising COVID-19 cases. Further restrictions could be decided as the cases are fast rising," official sources said.

The agenda of the meeting include a review of the COVID-19 situation and preparation in the wake of rising Omicron cases in Delhi, a discussion on the implementation of GRAP (Level 4 Red), and review of vaccination programme.

"Discussion on implementation of Graded Response Action Plan (Level 4 Red Alert) as positivity of Covid has crossed 15.34 per cent," stated the notice listing agenda of the meeting.

The Red Alert is the topmost level of restrictions, including total curfew, closure of all non-essential shops, Metro trains, government offices, except those dealing with essential services, under the four-stage Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) approved by DDMA.

It was also discussed in the previous meeting of DDMA, but the authorities decided to impose a weekend curfew instead.

Under GRAP, Red Alert is sounded when Covid positivity crosses 5 per cent and stays so for two consecutive days.

Currently, in view of the heavy crowd at bus stands and metro stations, the DDMA has allowed 100 per cent seating capacity in the buses and Metro trains. Standing passengers, however, are not allowed.

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Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said if his party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, laptops will be distributed among the youth and students in the state.

This comes days after Yadav promised 300 units of free electricity to households if his party won the assembly elections.

The SP chief also took strong objection to the BJP media cell posting his picture on social media with the claim that the Kanpur perfume trader who was recently raided by the income tax department was present alongside Yadav during a tour of France.

Yadav said the legal cell of his party will lodge an FIR against the BJP IT cell in-charge for indulging in "false propaganda".

"The party has already promised 300 units and free electricity for irrigation purposes. The party resolves to provide best quality laptops to the youth and students on coming to power," Yadav told news persons here.

"We had distributed lakhs of laptops last time, and the recipients are still benefiting from them in moving ahead and making arrangements for their employment," he said.

The Yogi Adityanath government of the state is also distributing smartphones and tablets to the youth.

With state elections right around the corner, political parties are coming out with a slew of promises to attract voters.

"They have shared my picture of France saying that the ittar (perfume) trader arrested in Kanpur is standing along with me. The legal cell of the SP will definitely lodge an FIR against him," Yadav said, also showing the picture in the press conference.

"The in-charge of the BJP IT cell is spreading lies for money by taking support from the government of India and the Uttar Pradesh government. I will ask my digital team to also use his picture and tell the people that he is the biggest liar," Yadav alleged.

In a joint raid by Income Tax and the GST Intelligence wing, Rs 177 crore cash and a large quantity of gold and silver were recovered from the home of perfume trader Piyush Jain in Kanpur and also from his house and factory in Kannauj. The trader was subsequently arrested.

The saffron party had alleged that Jain has links with the SP. Akhilesh Yadav, however, has vehemently denied it.

On whether on coming to power, his party would do anything for students from poor families who want to study abroad, Yadav said the SP would create a fund for the purpose.

He also appealed to the Election Commission that if it decides to hold virtual rallies for Uttar Pradesh polls, some amount of funds should be given to political parties which do not have the resources to match the BJP.

Yadav added that he is not in favour of online voting.

The SP president said that he would also urge the Election Commission to keep an eye on speeches by BJP leaders spreading hatred.



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New Delhi: Elections to be held for 403 assembly seats in UP, 117 in Punjab, 70 in Uttarakhand 60 in Manipur and 40 in Goa, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra announced on Saturday (December 8). Around 24.9 lakh first-time electors are registered in the five states - Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand. "We aim to conduct Covid-safe elections in five states with maximum voter participation with extensive preparations," the Election Commission said.

The Chief Election Commissioner said that the assembly elections in all five states will be completed in total seven phases and will be held between February 10 and March 7. He added that the result will come out on March 10. Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa to vote on February 14 in one phase and Manipur to vote on February 27 and March 3. UP will vote in 7 phases on these dates: Feburary 10, 14, 20, 23, 27; March 3 and 7.

Here are some key announcements made by the Chief Election Commissioner:

- Senior citizens above 80 years of age, persons with disabilities & COVID19 patients can vote by postal ballot

- More than 18 crore voters, including over 8.5 crore women, will be eligible to vote in five state assembly polls

- All polling stations will be equipped with Covid-mitigation facilities including sanitisers and masks; Number of booths increased.

- At least one polling booth in each Assembly constituency will be exclusively managed by women personnel to encourage women voters.

- Candidates contesting polls will be given an option for online nomination

- Comprehensive plan of action in place to ensure inducement-free elections in all five states.

- Any violation of model code of conduct, coming into effect with announcement of election schedule, will be strictly dealt with

- Polling stations identified where voting percentage was lower than earlier years or below average to take corrective measures

-All personnel on election duty will be doubly-vaccinated and also eligible for precautionary third dose to ensure Covid-safe polls

- Opinion of health experts taken to ensure Covid-safe elections; Polling time in all five states to be increased by one hour

- Political parties and candidates advised to conduct their election campaign in digital or virtual modes as much as possible

(With Agency inputs)

To check the complete list of election schedule, click here.

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New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce the dates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur at 3.30 pm today (Saturday, January 8). While the BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), TMC, Samajwadi Party, among others, will be looking to make their mark in the polls, COVID-19 will be a dominant point of debate, even during polls.

Besides the poll schedule, Covid-19 protocols will also be announced amid the rising number of cases across India. Last week, the poll body held a meeting with the Health Ministry to discuss the current Covid situation in the five states. The Health Ministry had submitted a report on the resurgence and the status of vaccination coverage across the nation.

Several political parties have already announced cancellation of political rallies and are focusing more on digital campaigns in the wake of the unabated surge.

Of the five states voting in the next few months, the BJP rules four and the Congress one - Punjab. Here's a look at the five states going to polls in 2022:

Uttar Pradesh:

Current CM: Yogi Adityanath, BJP

The Assembly Election in Uttar Pradesh remains one of the most awaited political battles of 2022. The results in UP has a strong impact on the Lok Sabha polls, which makes this battle even more keenly fought. In 2017, the polls in Uttar Pradesh were held between February and March in seven phases. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the election by an overwhelming three-quarters majority of 325 seats, this despite not projecting a chief ministerial candidate before the election. Once elected to power, Yogi Adityanath was eventually appointed as the Chief Minister of the state.

Punjab:

Current CM: Charanjit Singh Channi, Congress

Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting, chaired by President Sonia Gandhi is underway to finalize the first list of candidates for Punjab assembly, said a source to ANI. According to the source, a list of more than 60 names for 117 assembly has already been prepared by the screening committee after several rounds of meetings.

The 2022 polls will elect the 117 members of the 16th Assembly of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. The term of the current assembly elected in 2017 will expire on 27 March 2022 unless dissolved sooner.

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.

Goa

Current CM: Pramod Sawant, BJP

The tenure of Goa Legislative Assembly will be ending on March 15, 2022. In 2017, assembly elections were held in February and after the election, Bharatiya Janata Party formed the state government, with Manohar Parrikar becoming Chief Minister. But CM Parrikar had pancreatic cancer and passed away in March 2019. Pramod Sawant is the current CM of Goa.

Uttarakhand

Current CM: Pushkar Singh Dhami , BJP

In the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly election, the Harish Rawat-led Congress government lost out to BJP which registered a massive win. BJP won 57 seats in the 70-member House, while the Congress managed only 11 seats. Trivendra Singh Rawat was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state. But on March 9, 2021, he stepped down, following a decision taken by the BJP top brass. He was followed by Lok Sabha MP Tirath Singh Rawat. But his stint was short-lived as he had six months, till September 10, to become a member of the Uttarakhand Assembly in order to continue in the post. But due to Covid-19 situation, the Election Commission was unlikely to conduct a by-election. He was replaced by the current CM, Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Manipur

Current CM: N. Biren Singh, BJP

The tenure of the Manipur Legislative Assembly will end on March 19 this year. The ruling BJP-led NDA will be looking to repeat its feat, while the Congress, which is in the opposition, will be looking for a different result.

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New Delhi: The Congress Party has once again picked up on the BJP for sidelining and not recognising veteran leader LK Advani and said that the ruling party must honour its own senior leaders instead of veteran Congress leaders ahead of Goa Assembly elections with dubious "life-long" cabinet status.

The statements were made by Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar after the BJP-led state government conferred former Chief Minister and sitting Congress MLA, Pratapsingh Rane with "life-long" cabinet status.

Congress leader Rane, 82, however, has not yet accepted or denied the honour offered by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

"There is a senior leader in our country. A big leader whom everyone respects -- L.K. Advani, perhaps the BJP has forgotten him. We want to remind the Advani, who built the BJP, has been pushed to a corner. You do not respect your leaders, but you want to respect our leaders?" Chodankar said in a media briefing on Friday.

The controversial decision by the BJP-led coalition government has been taken ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the BJP side of the story is that the honour has been offered in view of the fact that Rane has completed 50 years as an MLA from the Poriem Assembly constituency without losing a single Assembly election.

However, the Goa Congress President believes that the BJP conferred the honorary status on Pratap Singh Rane because the ruling party is likely to lose the Poriem Assembly seat, if the veteran leader chooses to contest it in the upcoming elections.

"They (BJP) are afraid because if Pratapsingh Rane contests, then he will win and BJP will lose one seat. They are afraid of losing even one seat. They are afraid of the Congress. They did this out of fear," Chodankar said.

The opposition party even compared the move as an a trick of offering chocolate to a small kid.

"It is like offering chocolate to a small child. They think Pratap Singh Rane is a small boy. He will not fall for such tricks. He has seen it all. If Pramod Sawant wanted he should have said he (Rane) would be made CM, why did he not say that?" he added.

Pratap Singh Rane`s son, Vishwajit is currently the Health Minister in the BJP-led coalition government.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: The schedule for the polls in Uttar Pradesh has been released by the Election Commission on Saturday (January 8, 2022).

"We aim to conduct COVID-safe elections in five states with maximum voter participation with extensive preparations," Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said as coronavirus cases rise across the country.

The poll body announced that the 2022 UP Assembly polls will be held in seven phases between February 10 and March 7.

The first phase for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will take place on February 10, followed by the second phase on February 14. The third phase will be held on February 20, the fourth on February 23, the fifth on February 27, the sixth phase on March 3 and the seventh phase on March 7.

The result for the UP Assembly polls will come out on March 10.

This is noteworthy that the term of the current Uttar Pradesh assembly is ending in May.

Currently, the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier in 2017, the polls in Uttar Pradesh were held between February and March in seven phases.

The BJP-led alliance had won the election by an overwhelming three-quarters majority of 325 seats.

As many as 8,64,76,470 eligible voters had cast their votes across 1,47,164 poll stations.

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New Delhi: The investigation in the 'Bulli Bai' application case has so far suggested that the intention of the mastermind was to get publicity and make an identity of his own, the Delhi Police said on Friday.

The probe has so far not revealed anyone else's involvement in motivating Niraj Bishnoi (21) into doing such activities and his action can be attributed to the type of social media content he consumed, it said.

Police officials said there is a possibility about his alleged involvement in the earlier 'Sulli Deals' case and that they are investigating the matter.

"There is a possibility that his network is linked to Sulli Deals. The devices used by him are being scanned. Through him, we might also reach the culprits of Sulli Deals," they said.

Interestingly, in a case registered in the southwest district where a woman journalist had registered a complaint, Bishnoi had allegedly posed as a media person and tried to mislead the investigation by the cyber cell unit, police said.

"During the Sulli Deal probe, he tried to mislead our team by calling them on WhatsApp by impersonating himself as a media person. He also tried to extract information about the developments in the probe. We found this through his phone records," the police official said.

Bishnoi, the creator of the Bulli Bai application, had earlier also created an account on Twitter making lewd remarks on the picture of a complainant and even tweeted about the auction of the person, police said on Friday.

One of such accounts came into light when the Sulli Deals case was under investigation. Through this handle, he had tried to plant some information regarding the possible propagator/originator of the Sulli Deals app, they said.

With the arrest of the engineering student, the Delhi Police had said it has solved the case related to hundreds of Muslim women being listed for "auction" on the Bulli Bai app on the Github platform.

During interrogation, it was found that Bishnoi had earlier created various Twitter handles with the initial name of 'giyu' which is a gaming character. The handles have been identified as @giyu2002, @giyu007, @giyuu84, @giyu94 and @giyu44, a senior police officer said.

"The account @giyu2002 has been found associated with an FIR registered at the Kishangarh Police Station in southwest Delhi. In this case, from this Twitter account, he had made lewd remarks on the picture of a complainant and even tweeted about the auction of the same," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber) K P S Malhotra said.

The account @giyu44 was created by the accused on January 3, 2022, with specific agenda to demean the arrests by Mumbai Police in the Bulli Bai app case and to throw an open challenge to law enforcement agencies to nab him. Bishnoi had also tried to show his identity from Nepal, police said.

"The account @giyu007 came into light when the Sulli Deal case was under investigation. Through this handle, he had tried to plant some information regarding the possible propagator/originator of Sulli Deals app," police said.

During this time, Bishnoi also created a fake profile of a girl and tried to communicate to the investigating agency as a news reporter. Further, he came in contact with various news reporters and tried to plant his misinformation with his nefarious goals, the DCP said.

The father of the accused runs a ration shop and the accused has two elder sisters, police said.

Further investigation is underway, he said.

Bishnoi, a resident of Jorhat who studies computer science engineering in Bhopal, was the fourth person to be arrested for their alleged involvement in the case. The other three, nabbed by Mumbai Police, include a 19-year-old woman from Uttarakhand, also alleged to be a prime accused in the case.

The Bulli Bai app was developed in November last year and updated in December. Bishnoi was also keenly monitoring social media.

Bishnoi disclosed during his interrogation that he created the "Bulli Bai" app on Github as well as the @bullibai_Twitter handle and others too, police said. The Twitter account was created on December 31.

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New Delhi: The registration for `precaution dose` of COVID-19 vaccine for healthcare, frontline workers and senior citizens above 60 is now live on the Co-WIN platform, said Vikas Sheel, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission on Saturday.

"The feature for online appointments for `precaution dose` for healthcare/frontline workers and senior citizens (60+) is now live on Co-WIN," he said in a tweet.

As announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, the administration of the precautionary third dose for the vulnerable categories is to commence from January 10. Union Health Ministry had earlier said that the senior citizens with co-morbidities will not be required to produce a doctor`s certificate or prescription at the time of administration of precaution dose.

India achieved a milestone in its COVID-19 vaccination drive as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 150 crore mark on Friday.

So far, 90 per cent of our adult population was vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine dose. With the administration of more than 90 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India`s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 150.61 crores till 7 am on Saturday.

According to the Union Ministry of health release, India executed 90,59,360 doses in the past 24 hours.


New Delhi: Delhi Congress unit has called for an all-party meeting to discuss the COVID-19 situation prevailing in the national capital and slammed Arvind Kejriwal for not announcing a financial package for Delhiites rather engaged in addressing election meetings in Punjab, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and making hollow promises.

Addressing the media persons on Saturday (January 8), Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary said, "We have called for an all-party meeting amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. We wish to hold an all-party meeting in view of the sharp rise in the infections, particularly in the presence of fast-transmissible Omicron variant."

The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief slammed Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal by alleging that the latter declared a weekend curfew in haste without thinking about the repercussions.

"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did not listen to anyone. He declared a weekend curfew in a haste. With this call, he has put people in difficulty. He should have thought about what purpose this limited curfew would serve. By allowing odd-even closure of shops during week days, he only added to the problems as rush in shops, which could have been avoided, been allowed to open on all days," he said.

Chaudhary said that Kejriwal is busy addressing election meetings in Punjab, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and making hollow promises.

"Weekend lockdown will also impact the livelihood of daily wage earners, housemaids, labourers and other sections of poor people. Arvind Kejriwal`s government has not announced any financial package or relief for them. Delhi Congress had repeatedly demanded relief packages, but CM Kejriwal does not have time for Delhi. He was busy addressing election meetings in Punjab, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and making hollow promises," he said.

"It was shocking to know that CM Kejriwal has not learnt any lessons from previous COVID-19 posed devastations. Despite knowing that a third wave of the pandemic in the country was round the corner, he made false assurances to the people that there was no reason to panic. The common people are facing the brunt of Kejriwal`s indiscretion and incompetence," he said.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday (January 8) announced poll dates for five states with Uttar Pradesh going for a seven-phase election from Feb 10, Manipur to go for a two-phase election from Feb 27 and Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand to face elections on February 14. The counting of votes in all states will take place on March 10.

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New Delhi: The schedule for the Goa Assembly Elections 2022 has been released by the Election Commission of India on Saturday. The state will go to the polls from February 14. According to the announcement, all the 40 constituencies of the state will go to voting in a single phase.

The last date of filing the nominations for the Goa assembly polls is February 28 and the counting of votes will be March 10.

The Election Commission Chief Sushil Chandra also announced that the completion of scrutiny of nomination will be held on Jan 29 while withdrawal of candidature is scheduled to be on Jan 31.

He further added that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will come into effect immediately from the announcement of the schedules.

Assembly elections in all five states will be completed in total seven phases and Goa will go into polling in the second phase.

The Goa Legislative Assembly is currently being led by the Bharatiya Janata Partys Pramod Sawant in coalition 3 Goa Forward Party MLAs, 3 Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLAs, and 3 Independents MLAs while the Congress sits in opposition.

In 2017, BJPs Manohar Parrikar led the party to a sweeping 21-seats majority win in Goa after which the leader was elected as the chief minister.

Apart from the ruling BJP and independent candidates, the other contenders for Goas ruling post the Indian National Congress (INC), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Goa Vikas Party (GVP), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Save Goa Front (SGF), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) and the Goa Suraksha Manch.

In the 2022 Goa Assembly Elections, BJP will again present Pramod Sawant as its Chief Ministerial candidate while Mamata Banerjees TMC will fight the elections in collaboration with MGP.

As per Election Commission, a total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in this election out of which 8.55 crore are women electors. Notably, 24.9 lakh first-time electors are registered in the 5 States.

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Washington: India will witness a peak in the number of COVID-19 cases by next month with the expectation of reporting five lakh cases per day, a US-based health expert said, adding that however "the severity of the variant will be less this time in the country than Delta variant."

Dr Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and Chair of the Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington said, "You are entering the Omicron wave, as many countries around the world are, and we expect that there will be more cases per day at the peak than you had in April last year for the Delta wave, but Omicron is much less severe."

"So, while you will have many cases and set records probably for cases. It should be less of an impact on the severity of the disease. We currently have in the models that we will release later, we expect about five lakh cases at the peak, which should come in during the next month," he added.

As many experts in India say that the country has hybrid immunity due to which Omicron will be less effective, Dr Murray said, "What we know from a place like South Africa where there was a tremendous amount of prior infection, both Delta as well as Beta. Vaccination doses provide considerable protection for severe disease, from hospitalisation and death, which is why we think there will be many Omicron cases in India, but much less hospitalization and death than you had in the Delta wave."

Speaking about the number of hospitalizations and severity due to the variant, he said, "We expect that 85.2 per cent of infections will have no symptoms. They will be asymptomatic, but amongst the cases, we still expect quite a number of them to end up in hospitals and in terms of death, cases will be much reduced. So we expect that the peak of hospital admissions in India will be about a quarter of what you had for the Delta wave, and deaths should be less of what you saw for Delta."

According to some experts, further spread of Omicron may lead to other mutations. Talking about it Dr Murray said, "The thing about mutations is that they`re random. So, the more transmission there is, the more potential there is for mutations to occur. But in the setting of this rapid transmission of Omicron, it`s going to be very difficult in the next month or two for a new variant to meet Omicron because it`s so transmissible."

Dr Christopher Murray further spoke over the new variant with multiple mutations in France.

"There are mutations all the time, and you can identify variants with many mutations but the thing that we look for, is that within, you know, 30 to 45 days after a new mutation appears, has it spread as it spread like Omicron, so far, that mutation has been around for quite some time in France. And it has not spread so we are not currently learned about that mutation."

"Omicron is 90 to 95 per cent, less severe, but there is still a segment of individuals, particularly older individuals who will get sick. So, there will be an increase. It`s just a much smaller increase in hospitalizations," he said.

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New Delhi: Most places in Kashmir witnessed heavy snowfall on Saturday morning as authorities issued an alert for avalanche-prone areas of it. The Met department had predicted that the intensity of Snowfall and rainfall in parts of Jammu and Kashmir are likely to increase today.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that intensity of the ongoing snowfall at Jammu and Kashmir`s Gulmarg, Pahalgam and light rain at scattered places is expected to increase "as the day progresses" and on Saturday resulting in heavy rain/snow in the Union Territory.

In an interview with ANI, Mohammad Nazim, a resident, who is enjoying snowfall, said this is truly amazing. The snowfall is the beauty of Kashmir.

"It is amazing, snowfall is the beauty of Kashmir and I am enjoying this," Nazim said. Another resident Ishfaq said, when it comes to snowfall, it is very good for Kashmir. It not only attacks tourism but also helps in economic activity.

"Snowfall in Kashmir attacks tourism, people like to visit in the place during snowfall," he said.

(Photo by Feroz Ahmad)

IMD issues red alert for Kashmir

Earlier, on Friday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had changed its alert from "orange" to "red" for Kashmir saying that the area will witness heavy to very heavy snowfall with possibility of avalanches in vulnerable areas.

A statement issued by the IMD office said, "Weather warming for J&K for January 7: Currently it is snowing at most places of Kashmir and hilly areas of Jammu and rain at a few places of Jammu region. Expect further increase in rain/snow intensity as the day progresses with main intensity of heavy to very heavy rain/Snow during 7th (night) and 8th. Gradual improvement from 9th morning onwards in J&K."

(Photo by Ashraf Wani)

Flight Operations Delayed At Srinagar Airport

Due to heavy snowfall in the area, all operations at the Srinagar Airport have been delayed. Srinagar Airport issued the notification on Saturday stating that all flights and services were delayed as continued snowfall has reduced the visibility at the airport.

The continued snowfall has reduced the visibility at the airport. The snowfall is likely to continue till 11 am. All operations shall be delayed, Srinagar Airport said.

(Photo by Feroz Ahmad)

Landslides block Jammu-Srinagar national highway

Landslides triggered by incessant rain blocked the Jammu-Srinagar highway, leaving at least 3,000 vehicles stranded. As per IANS reports, the traffic officials said over 1,000 vehicles were cleared from Srinagar to Jammu on Friday after which landslides and shooting stones at multiple places in Ramban district again blocked the highway.

"It is heavily raining in Udhampur and Ramban districts along the Jammu-Srinagar highway. For the safety of the travellers, no traffic is being allowed this time. All vehicles stranded on the highway are parked at safe places," a department official said.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Saturday (January 8) announced the schedule for Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections that will take place for all the 403 constituencies in seven phases this time, starting from February 10 to March 7.

Noida and Ghaziabad, two of Uttar Pradeshs most significant cities will go to the polls in the first phase on February 10.

Notably, Noida, which falls under Gautam Buddha Nagar with assembly constituency, has added over 3 lakh more voters this time as compared to the last Assembly Elections in 2017, as per media reports.

In 2017, Noida seat was won by Pankaj Singh of Bharatiya Janata Party who defeated Sunil Choudhary of Samajwadi Party with a margin of 104016 votes.

Similarly, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Dr Mahesh Sharma won from Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha (MP) Seat with the margin of 336922 votes by defeating Satveer of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party.

Ghaziabad on the other hand, added over 2.9 lakh voters this time as compared to the last assembly elections.

According to the media reports, Ghaziabad district has 2,899,484 voters (including Dhaulana).

Ghaziabad district comprises five assembly segments of Loni, Muradnagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Modinagar as well as part of the Dhaulana assembly constituency, which is under the Hapur district.

About the elections, the first phase for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will take place on February 10, followed by the second phase on February 14. The third phase will be held on February 20, the fourth on February 23, the fifth on February 27, the sixth phase on March 3 and the seventh phase on March 7.

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Lucknow: Following the announcement of the Assembly poll dates in five states, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into immediate effect and several cities in Uttar Pradesh were quick in implementing it as they removed the hoardings and posters of political parties.

Lucknow Municipal Corporation was seen removing hoardings installed by political parties soon after the announcement of Assembly election dates by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Among other guidelines, the MCC bars the political parties from announcing policy decisions. "Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into effect immediately from announcement of the schedules. Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for ensuring the effective implementation of the MCC guidelines. Any violation of these guidelines will be strictly dealt with", said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sushil Chandra.

To conduct free and fair elections, the MCC lists that hoardings with achievements of the government will not be put up and have to be removed. It also prohibits political parties from advertising in print, electronic and other media containing achievements of the government.Varanasi was quick in implementing the MCC as posters of political parties were removed quickly. Noida and Aligarh followed the suit.

Swetabh Pandey, Circle officer Civil Line-Aligarh, said, "With regard to implementation of Aachar Sanhita (MCC), in the next 24 hours, all banners, posters and wall printing will be removed in the district. The work is been done by officials of Municipal Corporation with the help of police personnel."

Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7 to elect a 403-member legislative assembly. The seven-phase election in the state will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7.

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Lucknow: With the announcement of the schedule for the upcoming assembly elections in five states, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday (January 8) exuded confidence in winning the elections and said that people in Uttar Pradesh are set to bid farewell to the BJP government.

He further said that the poll rules will be followed by his party but the Election Commission will have to ensure that the ruling party also follows these guidelines too. "People in Uttar Pradesh are set to bid farewell to the BJP government. These dates will mark a huge change in the state. Rules will be followed by Samajwadi Party, but the Election Commission should make sure the ruling party follows these guidelines," said SP chief.

He further said that the public has got a chance to take a decision by March 10. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, he promised to provide free laptops to the youths of the state if elected to power. "It will be the second promise after the first promise of free 300 units power to all domestic consumers and free power to farmers for irrigation. As the SP government did in its previous tenure, if the party forms the government in 2022, then it will again provide laptops to youth and students for higher studies. Earlier we had given lakhs of laptops which led many of the beneficiaries to get self-employed," he said.

Yadav also said his party's legal cell will file an FIR against a BJP IT cell member who sits in Delhi who posted his photograph and claimed that the perfumer recently raided by tax authorities in Kanpur was standing with him. He further said that strict action will be taken against the people of the BJP IT cell "who are spreading false propaganda against us" if the Samajwadi party is elected to power in the state.

"BJP is doing false propaganda against the SP. We will file FIR now, and act against the person when we will form the government. Because if anyone says anything against me, no action is taken but if anyone says anything against BJP leader, then immediate action is taken."

Taking to Twitter he said that the inquilab (revolution) will happen on March 10 and the state will change."Inquilab (revolution) will happen on March 10. Uttar Pradesh will change," Yadav said.

The ECI on Saturday announced the schedule for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand. 403 Assembly seats are slated to go to polls in Uttar Pradesh, 70 seats are up for grabs in Uttarakhand, 117 seats in Punjab, 40 seats in Goa and 60 seats in Manipur.Uttar Pradesh will go to the assembly polls in 7 phases from February 10 to March 7, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will vote on February 14 and Manipur will vote on February 27 and March 3.The poll panel said the counting of votes will take place on March 10.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.

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Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday welcomed the announcement of poll dates in the state and said the BJP will return to power with an "overwhelming majority".

The Election Commission has announced seven-phase voting in Uttar Pradesh starting February 10. Counting of votes will take place in March, along with four other poll-bound states.

"We welcome the festival of democracy. With the blessings of the people and on the basis of the double engine government's achievements, the BJP will form its government with an overwhelming majority," Adityanath tweeted in Hindi.

The state will go to polls on February 10, February 14, February 20, February 23, February 27, March 3 and March 7.

Counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh, along with Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, will take place on March 10.

The BJP has already announced Adityanath as its chief ministerial face in the politically crucial state.

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New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Saturday announced the polling schedule for the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections 2022. As per the announcement, the Uttarakhand Assembly Elections for 70 constituencies of the hill state will take place on February 14 in a single phase.

Additionally, the counting of the poll-bound constituencies will be March 10.

The Election Commission Chief Sushil Chandra also announced that the last date for filing the nominations will be on January 28. The completion of scrutiny of nomination will be held on Jan 29.

He further added that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) will come into effect immediately from the announcement of the schedules.

At present, the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha is being led by Bharatiya Janata Partys Pushkar Singh Dhami, who succeeded BJPs Trivendra Singh Rawat as the chief minister of the state in July 2021 after a high voltage political drama.

The saffron camp will enter into the polls with Dhami as its Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2022 elections as well.

Meanwhile, Congress is likely to push Harish Rawat as its CM candidate after he hinted at his dissatisfaction with the state party leadership and met the big bananas of the national party earlier in December.

The Aam Admi Party is also seen in action after party president Arvind Kejriwal during a rally announce Rs 1 crore compensation for the kin of all martyred soldiers from Uttarakhand. AAP is banking on Ajay Kotiyal for its CM face.

The elections to the Uttarakhand Assembly were last held in 2017. At the time, the ruling Congress suffered a huge setback after the BJP claimed a sweeping victory in the polls by securing 57 of the 70 seats.

Congress won only 11 seats in the hill state while 2 seats were won by Independent candidates.

Mayawatis BSP and Akhilesh Yadavs Samajwadi Party failed to secure even a single seat in the 2017 Assembly polls.

However, the commission has also announced the schedule of four states, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab and Manipur, which will go to polls this year.

As per Election Commission, a total of 18.34 crore electors including service voters will take part in this election out of which 8.55 crore are women electors. Notably, 24.9 lakh first-time electors are registered in the 5 States.

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New Delhi: Amid rising COVID-19 cases, the Delhi government has imposed a 55-hour-long weekend curfew, that started from 10 pm yesterday and will be in place till 5 am on Monday, to contain the rapid resurgence of the coronavirus.

In a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting, held earlier this week, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said, Covid-19 cases are on a rise in Delhi and the rest of the country. However, it is a relief that the Omicron variant here is showing similar trends to that of the world. It shows mild symptoms that are curable at home isolation. But we still need to take necessary precautions to curb the infection.

Heres list of people who will be exempted from the weekend curfew in the national capital:

a) People involved in essential and emergency services shall be allowed on production of valid identity card during night and weekend curfew.

b) Officers and officials of the Government of India, its autonomous or subordinate offices and PSUs on the production of valid identity card and according to the restrictions imposed by the Union government.

c) All judicial officers, staff members and judges of all courts of Delhi as well as advocates, legal counsels, connected with the case hearing on the production of valid identity card, service ID card, photo entry passes and permission letters issued by the court administration.

d) Officers and officials in the offices of diplomats of various countries as well as persons holding any constitutional post on the production of valid identity card.

e) All private medical personnel such as doctors, nursing staff, paramedics and other hospital services such as hospitals, diagnostic centres, testing laboratories, clinics, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, medical oxygen suppliers and other medical and health services on production of valid ID card.

ALSO READ | Weekend curfew in Delhi: Do you need an e-pass to travel? Know here

e) Pregnant women and patients for getting medical and health services, along with an attendant, on the production of valid identity card and doctors prescription

f) A valid identification card is required when getting a COVID-19 test or vaccination.

g) Individuals coming from or going to airports, railway stations, inter-state bus terminuses allowed to travel on the production of a valid ticket.

ALSO READ | After weekend curfew, more curbs in Delhi to check COVID-19 spread? DDMA to decide on Monday

h) Electronic and print media on production of valid identity card.

i) On presenting a valid admit card, individuals or students will be permitted to appear in examinations. The examination staff must produce a valid ID or examination duty order in order to travel.

j) Movement of the individual for marriage related-gatherings up to 20 persons on production of soft or hard copy of marriage card

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New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday (January 7, 2022) filed a chargesheet against six Uttar Pradesh policemen over the death of Kanpur businessman Manish Gupta at a hotel in Gorakhpur and invoked criminal conspiracy and murder charges against them.

In its chargesheet filed before a Special Judicial Magistrate court in Lucknow, the CBI has slapped Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence) among others read with IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) on the six policemen including the then SHO/Inspector Jagat Narayan Singh, three Sub-Inspectors Akshay Mishra, Vijay Yadav and Rahul Dubey and Head Constable Kamlesh Yadav and a Constable Prashant Kumar.

The policemen from Ramgarh Tal police station in Gorakhpur had allegedly barged into Gupta's hotel room at the midnight on September 27 last year and assaulted him, leading to his death.

"It was alleged that Manish Gupta checked in a room of Hotel at Gorakhpur on September 27, falling under the jurisdiction of Ramgarh Tal Police Station. It was further alleged that in the intervening night of September 27/28 at about 12:00 AM, the SHO along with two Sub-Inspectors and three other police personnel entered into the room of said hotel and started misbehaving with Manish Gupta. It was also alleged that on the protest of Gupta, they started beating him, resulting in grievous injuries to him. Manish Gupta died on the spot," the CBI said.

CBI, notably, had registered a case on November 2 at the request of the Uttar Pradesh Government and further notification from the Centre.

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In a one-off incident, a JS-41 registered ZS-NRJ propeller aircraft that has been in service for 26 years suffered major damage after a bird strike. The blade of the plane's propeller broke on bird strike and entered the cabin where no one was sitting and no harm was done.

While it appears there were wood splinters scattered across the cabin as a result of the blade detachment, the propellers on this particular aircraft are not just made of wood. Germany has been producing natural composite blades since 1928 for the aircrafts, called MT-Propeller.

With 29 seats in all-economy configuration (solos on left, twins on right), this plane has an all-economy layout.

Read also: Concern over environment as near-empty flights cross Europe to secure landing slots

As compared with other materials, natural composite from MT offers better vibration damping and greater ground clearance. In 2011, SACAA awarded the JS-41 an STC for MT-propellers.

A SA Airlink Jetstream JS-41, reg ZS-NRJ performing a charter flight from Johannesburg to Venetia Mine (SA), was on approach to when a bird impacted the right hand propeller causing one of the blades to separate and penetrate the cabin. The aircraft continued for a safe landing. pic.twitter.com/cMkb2pJKES  Fabricio Darosci Jr (@fabdjr) January 4, 2022

In response to the incident, Airlink issued the following statement:

Yesterday an Airlink Jetstream 41 aircraft operating a private charter flight struck a large bird upon landing at Venetia airfield. None of the passengers or crew were injured although the aircraft sustained substantial damage. In compliance with aviation protocols and regulations, the occurrence was reported to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) which will conduct an investigation. The aircraft remains at Venetia airfield pending the SACAAs inspection and a full damage assessment.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 is likely to recall the fateful incident, when a fan blade from a turbine caused serious damage to the Boeing 737 which ultimately resulted in a passenger's death. Although Airlink's story ended happily, it could have been much worse.

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New Delhi: Actress Jacqueline Fernandez has issued a statement on Saturday (January 8) on social media asking her media friends to not share pictures of a nature that might intrude on her private life.

She shared a post with a lengthy note in it without any caption.

This Instagram post came after a picture of Jacqueline with conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar in a private moment was circulated on social media.

She wrote, "The country and its people have always given me tremendous love and respect. This includes my friends from the media, from whom I have learnt a lot. I'm currently going through a rough patch but I'm sure that my friends and fans will see me through it. It is with this trust that I would request my media friends to not circulate images of a nature that intrude my privacy and personal space. You would not do this to your own loved ones, am sure you would not do this to me either. Hoping that justice and good sense prevails. Thank you."

Check out her post:

Actress Jacqueline Fernandez has been under the Enforcement Directorate's radar since last year for her alleged to conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar who is accused in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case.

In November last year, her romantic pics with Sukesh emerged online, which led to a lot of rumours and speculations. ED's chargesheet also revealed that she had received expensive gifts from Sukesh.

According to an ANI report, Jacqueline Fernandez stated she received gifts viz three designer bags from Gucci, Chanel, two Gucci outfits for gym wear, a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes, two pairs of diamond earrings and a bracelet of multicoloured stones and two Hermes bracelets. She also received a Mini Cooper, which she returned.

On the work front, Jacqueline will next be seen in 'Ram Setu' with Akshay Kumar and Nushrrat Bharuccha.

Her upcoming films also include 'Kick 2' and 'Cirkus'.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on January 1, released the 10th instalment under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Yojana directly in the bank accounts of crores of farmers.

As part of the 10th instalment, more than 10 crore farmers are expected to receive Rs 2000 in their bank accounts. However, a few farmers have complained that they havent received the instalment yet.

If you are a farmer eligible under the PM Kisan and havent received the 10th instalment, you may not need to worry as there are many options via which you can check the status and register your complaint.

For the unversed, the Central government provides Rs 6000 annually in the bank accounts of farmers. The sum is transferred into the bank accounts of eligible farmers in three different instalments of Rs 2000 each.

Farmers can easily check the status of the 10th PM Kisan instalment on the official website. If the status shows Coming Soon, it means that the promised sum under 10th PM Kisan instalment will be credited into your bank account.

Here's how to check your name and status in PM Kisan Beneficiary List

Step 1: Go to the official website of PM Kisan Yojana - pmkisan.gov.in.

Step 2: Go to Farmers Corner section.

Step 3: In the Farmers Corner section, click on the option of Beneficiaries List.

Step 4: Select the State, District, Sub District, Block and Village.

Step 5. Click on the Get Report option.

Step 6: On the new screen, you will get to see the complete list of beneficiaries. You can check your name in the list. Also Read: Vijay Kedia invests in THIS Dolly Khanna portfolio stock; have you invested?

Meanwhile, the government has also issued several helpline numbers to hear and resolve the complaints of farmers eligible under the PM Kisan Yojana. Also Read: WhatsApp new update: iOS app to show profile pictures in notifications

1. PM Kisan Helpline Number:155261

2. PM Kisan another helpline: 0120-6025109

3. PM Kisan Landline Numbers: 01123381092, 23382401

4. PM Kisan Toll Free Number: 18001155266

5. PM Kisan's new helpline: 011-24300606

6. E-mail ID: pmkisan-ict@gov.in

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New Delhi: There is excellent news for PM Kisan Samman Nidhi's beneficiaries. Farmers can receive Rs 3,000 per month under this scheme without having to provide any paperwork. Farmers have been receiving three installments of Rs 2000 each, totaling Rs 6000 per year, under the PM Kisan Yojana. However, under this scheme, you might now receive Rs 36,000 each year.

Farmers receive a monthly pension under the PM Kisan Mandhan Yojana (PM Kisan Mandhan Yojana Benefits). Farmers who reach the age of 60 are granted Rs 3,000 per month, or Rs 36,000 per year, under this scheme. Actually, the Modi administration provides this sum to farmers as financial assistance. Now you can earn a guaranteed pension by putting a small amount of money into this scheme.

You will need some documents to take advantage of this central government-run scheme. Aadhaar card, bank account information, and so on. However, if you are using PM Kisan, you will not need to provide any more documents. Farmers aged 18 to 40 can participate in this programme. The investment amount has been set based on the age of the person.

Who will get the benefit of this scheme?

1. Any farmer between the ages of 18 and 40 can profit from this programme.

2. A maximum of 2 hectares of cultivable land should be available for this.

3. Farmers with a minimum age of 20 years and a maximum age of 40 years will be required to invest Rs 55 to Rs 200 every month, depending on their age.

4. Farmers who join at the age of 18 would be required to pay a Rs 55 monthly fee.

5. If a farmer is 30 years old, he will be required to deposit Rs 110.

6. If you join at the age of 40, you must make a monthly deposit of Rs 200.

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New Delhi: Consumer electronics brand TCL has unveiled a couple of new smart glasses called TCL NxtWear Air and TCL Leiniao Air at CES 2022. TCL NxtWear Air glasses are equipped with a built-in stereo speaker that can be connected to Bluetooth or wired headphones and are also equipped with two magnetic interchangeable plates, which can be attached to the front of the frame to change the style of glasses.

"With dual 1080p Micro OLED displays, the TCL NxtWear Air delivers ample detail, punchy, rich and vibrant colors, as well as deep shadows and inky blacks. It also creates an expansive, immersive viewing environment, which is the equivalent of watching a 140-inch screen, 4 metres away - similar to being in a movie theatre," the company said in a statement.

NxtWear Air will be available worldwide in the first quarter of 2022 but TCL has not revealed the prices yet.

The TCL Leiniao Air is the industry`s first binocular full-color MicroLED holographic optical waveguide AR glasses.

These are meant to work more as a heads-up display, showing relevant fitness data while exercising, a weather forecast and so on. Also Read: WhatsApp new update: iOS app to show profile pictures in notifications

In the future, this pair of glasses will be launched with more new functions including information prompts, photo sharing, smart connection controls, multi-screen presentation, interoperability with automobiles, and other functions. Also Read: PM Kisan Yojana: 10th instalment still not credited to bank account? Check what to do next
New Delhi: In a serious ransomware attack, hackers have hit an education technology company, Finalsite, shutting down thousands of school websites and nearly 5,000 alone in the US.

Finalsite provides school districts with website design, hosting and content management solutions.

In a statement, the company said that they continue to restore more websites and core functionality every hour.

"We remain committed to restoration, as quickly and safely as possible. Our team is actively monitoring performance and security across our infrastructure, and we will continue to work through the night and weekend until every site is back online," the company said on Friday.

Earlier this week, at least 8,000 schools globally, hosted by Finalsite, discovered that they were no longer accessible or displayed errors.

"Our team identified the presence of ransomware on certain systems in our environment," the company said.

"We immediately took steps to secure our systems and to contain the activity. We quickly launched an investigation into the event with the assistance of third-party forensic specialists, and began proactively taking certain systems offline," it added.

A company spokesperson told TechCrunch that 5,000 of its total 8,000 global customers -- including school districts in Kansas City, Illinois and Missouri -- are affected by the incident.

One Reddit user said the incident also prevented some schools from sending email notifications about school closures due to Covid-19 outbreaks. Also Read: Facebooks parent Meta opens Privacy Centre to educate users on data security

"Our team continues to make progress restoring functionality to websites," said the company. Also Read: Bank Holiday: Banks to remain shut for 5 days next week; check important dates

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New Delhi: WhatsApp, a Meta-owned instant-messaging service, debuted a slew of new features and enhancements in 2021. Users are now anticipating its next additions. WhatsApp is working on a number of new features to improve the chatting experience for its customers.

Some of these new features are already being tested in the app's beta version, while others are still in the works. WhatsApp feature tracker WABetaInfo claimed a few days ago that the app is working on a new feature that will display a sender's profile pic in the notification when an iOS user receives a message.

Users may anticipate the new WhatsApp features to improve their texting experience.

WhatsApp upcoming features 2022

1. Display profile photo in notifications

When a user receives a new message from friends or a group, the instant-messaging software is said to be working on a new feature that will display the user's profile picture in iOS system alerts.

2. Hide your last seen from specific contacts

WhatsApp is also experimenting with a much-needed feature that will allow users to hide their 'last seen' status from certain contacts exclusively. Let us inform you that WhatsApp already offers a feature that allows you to hide a user's last seen from their contacts. However, one drawback of this function is that users are unable to view their contacts' 'last seen' status.

Users can hide their last seen details from certain contacts they don't want to see, while still being able to check the 'last seen' status of everyone else in their contacts, thanks to the new last seen functionality. According to reports, the feature is already accessible in the app's test version and will be launched soon.

3. No time limit for deleting sent messages

Users can currently remove messages up to 4,096 seconds (68 minutes and 16 seconds) after they have been sent on WhatsApp. However, current rumours claim that the meta-owned app is testing a new feature in a beta version that will permanently eliminate this restriction.

Users will be able to delete sent messages from any point in the past using the new capability. There is currently no timeline on when this feature will be released.

4. WhatsApp Community feature

WhatsApp is rumoured to be developing a new community feature akin to Discord groups and channels. This is not to be confused with WhatsApp's existing groups feature. With this new functionality, group admins will have more control over the app's various features. Admins can create up to ten groups inside a community and send messages to all of them at once. The community chats will be encrypted from beginning to end. It's possible that the functionality will be implemented soon.

5. WhatsApp logout

WhatsApp is developing a new option called logout to replace the 'Delete Account' button, according to WaBetaInfo. Users will be able to log out of their WhatsApp accounts from their devices, much like they can on Facebook and other social networking apps. Users may be able to access their accounts on numerous devices at the same time with the new logout option.

The feature was just discovered in WhatsApp's new beta version. The WhatsApp logout functionality is expected to be handed out to both iOS and Android users in the near future.

6. Instagram Reels on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is developing a new feature that will allow users to view Instagram Reels straight from the chat app. According to reports, this is part of WhatsApp's ambition to integrate with other Facebook-owned apps.

7. Read later

WhatsApp may soon improve the Archived Chats function so that you may read them later. Users will not receive notifications for messages received from a chat once it has been placed to the read later area. The feature will also include a 'vacation mode,' which will ensure that'read later' chats behave similarly to archived chats in the current stable version. An edit button allows users to customise settings. WhatsApp users can unarchive numerous conversations at the same time.

8. WhatsApp Insurance

In India, WhatsApp users will soon be able to purchase insurance using the app. Through partnerships with regulated financial services companies, the instant-messaging app plans to offer out health insurance and micro-pension products on its messaging platform in India. WhatsApp will initially use its platform to market SBI General sachet-health insurance and HDFC Pension products.

9. Message reactions

Like Instagram and Facebook, WhatsApp users will soon be able to respond to messages using photographs. WABetaInfo is said to have spotted a sneak peek of the functionality. The feature, dubbed meesage reaction, will allow users to respond to a message using a total of six emojis.

Users can access Message reactions in both individual and group chat threads. Users can also use the 'Reaction Alerts' option to enable or disable message reaction notifications.

10. Edit receipts while sharing media

Before sharing material on WhatsApp, users will soon be able to choose new receivers.

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New Delhi: There's never a dull moment in Bigg Boss 15 and the latest promo of the Salman Khan-hosted show is proof of that. Abhijit Bichukale, in the latest promo, told Salman Khan that he wants to leave the show and said, "Bhadd mein gaya apna show".

He stormed off from the living room and asked Bigg Boss to open the doors so he could leave. Before that, Salman was seen telling him off for speaking inappropriately and even threatened to beat him up if he continued such behaviour.

He told Abhijit that get him out of the house by pulling his hair. This irked Abhjit and he said he didn't want to be a part of the show.

Take a look at the promo:

In the previous episode of Bigg Boss 15, Abhijit Bichukle was seen picking Shamita Shetty as the 'kamzor' person in the house. In response, Shamita defended herself that she has a medical issue but still is doing all tasks in the house and participating in the competition.

Tejasswi was upset as Karan Kundrra supported Shamita and told him that she doesn't want to talk to him now.

Meanwhile, Devoleena got emotional as she talked about putting her mother into mental asylum since she had mental health issues.
New Delhi: The Indian Armed Forces possess not only incredible combat skills but also stunning moves when comes to their specific dance that symbolizes their strength and courage. One such dance performed by soldiers of the Indian Army is the 'Khukuri Dance'.

Khukuri is a small knife that symbolizes victory and Khukuri dance not only symbolizes courage but also demands courage.

Troops of the Indian Army performed 'Khukuri Dance' in the snow-clad ranges of the Tangdhar sector in the Kupwara district of north Kashmir. In the video brave soldiers seamlessly handle the Khukri while following the beats and moving their feet elegantly on snow. Watch:

#WATCH Troops of the Indian Army performed 'Khukuri Dance' in the snow-clad ranges of the Tangdhar sector in the Kupwara district of north Kashmir. Video source: Indian Army pic.twitter.com/9Rp3V1xNUB  ANI (@ANI) January 8, 2022

Indian soldiers are loved by their countrymen and it is no wonder that the video has already garnered over 56k likes and hundreds of comments expressing their love for the Indian armed forces.
New Delhi: On the occasion of the 80th birthday of Stephen Hawking, Google on Saturday (January 8, 2022) paid a tribute to the theoretical physicist with a special doodle.

"Today's video Doodle celebrates one of historys most influential scientific minds, English cosmologist, author, and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking," Google said.

"From colliding black holes to the Big Bang, his theories on the origins and mechanics of the universe revolutionized modern physics while his best-selling books made the field widely accessible to millions of readers worldwide," the tech giant added.

In the Doodle, the voice of Stephen Hawking was also generated and used.

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet, also shared the 2:31-minute-long clip on Twitter.

WATCH:

Stephen Hawking had a huge influence on so many of us, really excited to celebrate him in a special animated #GoogleDoodle today on what would have been his 80th birthday. Grateful to the Hawking family for sharing insights into his humor, life and legacy. https://t.co/pSEAeEmALQ pic.twitter.com/lpcXXpa4KO  Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) January 8, 2022

Stephen William Hawking was born on this day in 1942 in Oxford, England. He, notably, was fascinated by how the universe functioned from a young age. His curiosity and intellect had also earned him the nickname 'Einstein'.

Hawking, however, was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease at 21, following which, he decided to dedicate himself to physics, math, and cosmology.

In 1965, he defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Cambridge, "Properties of Expanding Universes", which presented the revolutionary theory that space and time originated from a singularity, a point both infinitely small and dense, best known today as the key characteristic of black holes.

This is noteworthy that Stephen Hawking's obsession with black holes had led to his 1974 discovery that particles could escape black holes.

In 1979, his groundbreaking work on black holes had prompted the University of Cambridge to appoint Hawking as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position held by Isaac Newton in 1669.

Hawking achieved international renown after the publication of "A Brief History of Time" in 1988.

The scientist died in March 2018 at age 76.

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Xi sends verbal message to Kazakh president

Xinhua) 09:07, January 08, 2022

A police officer stands guard in front of the city hall in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Jan. 5, 2022. (Photo by Kalizhan Ospanov/Xinhua)

China, Xi said, firmly opposes any force undermining Kazakhstan's stability, threatening the country's security, and sabotaging the peaceful life of the Kazakh people.

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sent a verbal message to Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev over the recent large-scale riots in Kazakhstan.

Noting that the riots have caused heavy casualties and property losses, Xi expressed his sincere sympathies to President Tokayev in the message.

He said President Tokayev has taken decisive and effective actions at a critical moment, quickly calming the situation, which has shown his sense of responsibility as a statesman, and demonstrated a highly responsible attitude to the country and the people.

China, Xi said, firmly opposes any force undermining Kazakhstan's stability, threatening the country's security, and sabotaging the peaceful life of the Kazakh people.

Military personnel patrol in front of the presidential palace in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, Jan. 6, 2022. (Photo by Kalizhan Ospanov/Xinhua)

Furthermore, China strongly rejects any attempt by external forces to provoke unrest and instigate "color revolutions" in Kazakhstan, as well as any attempt to harm the friendship between China and Kazakhstan and disrupt the two countries' cooperation, Xi added.

Xi said that China, as a fraternal neighbor and permanent comprehensive strategic partner of Kazakhstan, is ready to provide necessary support to help it overcome the difficulties.

No matter what risks and challenges get in the way, China will always remain as a trustworthy friend and reliable partner of Kazakhstan, and the Chinese people will forever stand with the Kazakh people, Xi added.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
China's lunar rover travels over 1,000 meters on far side of moon

Xinhua) 09:16, January 08, 2022

Photo taken by the rover Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2) on Jan. 11, 2019 shows the lander of the Chang'e-4 probe. (Xinhua/China National Space Administration)

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Yutu-2, the lander and rover of the Chang'e-4 probe, has traveled 1,003.9 meters on the far side of the moon, as of midnight on Thursday, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration on Friday.

Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, captured an obscure but intriguing image about 80 meters from its location during the mission's 36th lunar day.

Something cubic loomed on the horizon to the north, sitting next to a young impact crater, said the rover's log. The image sparked heated debates on social media platforms.

When Yutu-2 finally reached about 10 meters away from the mysterious object, the panorama camera on the rover took colored pictures of the object.

According to the pictures, researchers identified that the object might be a rock. Very coincidentally, it looks like a jade rabbit.

The Chang'e-4 probe, launched on Dec. 8, 2018, made the first-ever soft landing on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, 2019.

A lunar day is equal to 14 days on Earth, and a lunar night is the same length. Yutu-2 is currently in the mission's 38th lunar day and is in good condition.

It is expected to take a close look at the rock, and detect the large impact crater behind the rock during the next lunar day, the center said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
China urges relevant countries not to disrupt regional peace, stability

Xinhua) 09:17, January 08, 2022

(Source: Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese foreign ministry on Friday urged relevant countries to be contributors to regional peace, stability and development, instead of being trouble makers that spread lies and erect obstacles.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing after the foreign and defence ministers of the United States and Japan met and vowed to work together to respond to so-called "destabilizing activities" by China.

Responding to the "two-plus-two" virtual meeting, as well as talks between Japan and Australia, Wang said China has expressed strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to the gross interference by the United States, Japan and Australia in China's internal affairs and the fabrication of disinformation to discredit China, and has lodged solemn representations with relevant countries.

To maintain peace, stability and development in East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region requires upholding true multilateralism, respecting the open and inclusive regional cooperation framework formed over the years, and taking the road of solidarity, dialogue and cooperation, said the spokesperson.

The United States, Japan and Australia talk about freedom, openness and inclusiveness, while in reality, they are forming a clique against other countries, flexing their muscles and making military threats, which runs counter to the trend of peace and development in the region and contradicts their claim of opposing intimidation and coercion, Wang said.

What those countries should do most now is to earnestly fulfill their due international responsibilities, Wang said, urging them to stop the U.S.-Britain-Australian nuclear submarine cooperation program and stop advancing the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

They should also stop denying and whitewashing the history of militarist aggression and seeking to become a military power by hyping up the surrounding situation, and stop stoking division and confrontation among countries in the region, he added.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
China's economic outlook: What to watch in 2022

Xinhua) 09:17, January 08, 2022

File photo shows the morning view of the Lujiazui area in Pudong, east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Ren Long)

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- For China, the year 2021 has been a milestone and a fresh start. Upon completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the world's second-largest economy embarked on a new journey to build itself into a modern socialist country.

It has also been a bumpy ride. Faced with unexpected challenges and uncertainties, the country secured a stable recovery and progressed in high-quality development.

Now with the new year dawning, will China sustain its post-pandemic rebound into 2022? What are the economic priorities this year? How will China navigate its journey toward socialist modernization? Here are some key trends to watch.

PRIORITIZING STABILITY

Stability will be a priority for the Chinese economy in 2022. At the tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference last month, Chinese leaders stressed that economic work in 2022 should prioritize stability while pursuing progress.

While cautioning that China's economic development is facing pressure from demand contraction, supply shocks and weakening expectations, the meeting also highlighted the country's strong economic resilience and unchanged fundamentals underpinning long-term growth.

Han Wenxiu, a senior official with the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said despite increasing difficulties, China has ample favorable conditions for its economic growth, with strong resilience, a complete industrial chain, rich human resources, convenient infrastructure and a huge domestic market.

The macro policies in 2022 will be sound and effective, which means maintaining their continuity, stability and sustainability while improving their precision and operability, said Han.

According to the World Bank's prediction, China's real GDP growth will reach 8 percent in 2021 and moderate mildly to a still-solid 5.1 percent in 2022, and that its "momentum is expected to pick up, aided by a more supportive fiscal stance."

MARKET VITALITY

"If comparing social and economic development to a towering tree, then supporting market entities is to improve the soil underneath," said Gao Peiyong, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In 2022, while paying closer attention to market entities' performance and needs, Chinese market regulators have pledged to improve policy accuracy and effectiveness to help market entities cope with pressure and better support their sound development.

Han Dongcheng, a young entrepreneur in east China's Anhui Province, said his company saved millions of yuan in rent last year thanks to local government policies to alleviate the corporate burden.

"Besides lower rent, we've also enjoyed tax reduction for high-tech companies, therefore we can put more funds into research and development," said Han, who started a company on aerial imaging technology with his schoolmate in 2016.

The newly added tax and fee cuts were expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan (about 156.88 billion U.S. dollars) last year, official data showed. The tax and fee cut measures that expired by 2021 will be extended this year to support small businesses.

The country will also step up efforts to create a fair, transparent and stable institutional environment for all market entities, Zhang Gong, head of the State Administration for Market Regulation, told Xinhua.

DECARBONIZATION PUSH

The year 2021 is regarded as "Year One" for China to move toward carbon neutrality, which witnessed the release of a top-level design document for peaking carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality and an action plan for peaking carbon emissions before 2030.

Under the guidance, new institutional innovations and policy tools to support the decarbonization push, including a national carbon market that started trading last July, are expected to play a more prominent role in 2022.

A research report by Morgan Stanley last year said that it expected stronger policy support for green investments in China from 2022 -- such as renewables, smart grid, power storage equipment and manufacturing equipment upgrades.

The green push is expected to inject new impetus into the Chinese economy. The investment bank forecast a recovery in infrastructure driven by green investment, saying it expects infrastructure investment growth to rebound to 4 percent in 2022.

The wider use of carbon pricing, along with power sector reforms and the development of a wider set of green financing instruments, would help accelerate China's low carbon transition while encouraging green innovation, thereby boosting medium-term growth prospects, the World Bank has pointed out.

STEADFAST IN OPENING-UP

On the first day of 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, the world's largest free trade deal to date, came into force.

The landmark event has not only sent a firm signal to support free trade and uphold the multilateral trading system but also marked a strong start for China in the new year in pursuing wider opening-up.

To further open up the economy, in late December, China shortened two negative lists for foreign investment for the fifth straight year to ease their market access.

China has also vowed to expand high-quality and institutional opening-up, grant foreign-funded enterprises national treatment, attract more investment from multinational companies and facilitate the early implementation of major foreign-invested projects in 2022, according to the Central Economic Work Conference.

Bucking a sharp drop in global cross-border investment, foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, surged 15.9 percent year on year to 157.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of last year, outnumbering the amount for the whole year of 2020.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
The Recount

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) sounded off during a press conference about Trevor Noahs jabs at him and the state of Florida during the White House Correspondents dinner on Saturday. The Florida governor and possible 2024 presidential candidate who did not attend the dinner said he never would have and had no interest in it. During his monologue, Noah roasted politicians from both parties.
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The case against an Akron man facing multiple felony drug charges resulting from a traffic stop by a Guernsey County sheriff's deputy has been bound over to the Guernsey County Common Pleas Court.

Lee S. Gray Jr., 29, faces single counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs and aggravated possession of drugs, first-degree felonies, as well as one count of possession of a fentanyl-related compound, a second-degree felony.

During a recent preliminary hearing, Cambridge Municipal Court Judge John Mark Nicholson found probable cause that the crimes were committed on Dec. 8 in the city and Gray committed the alleged offenses.

The case was then bound over to the common pleas court based on Nicholson's ruling on Monday.

Bond for Gray was set at $100,000 with no 10% allowed and a personal recognizance bond with special conditions.

The surety bond, posted by Turoczy Bail Bonds on Dec. 15 two days after the case was filed in the municipal court, was continued after the case was bound over to the higher court.

According to the Guernsey County Sheriff's Office, Gray was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by deputies investigating suspicious activity at a gas station on East Wheeling Avenue in Cambridge last month.

The suspicious activity was an alleged drug transaction witnessed by a deputy.

Two co-defendants, Deon Christian, 24, Akron, and Maggie B. Adams, 38, Parkersburg, West Virginia, waived their right to a preliminary hearing last month after being charged with four felony drug offenses.

Adams and Christian each face single counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs and aggravated possession of drugs, first degree felonies, as well as trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and possession of fentanyl-related compound, second-degree felonies.

More: Pair facing felony drug charges waive preliminary hearings in Cambridge court

Adams waived her hearing on Dec. 20 and bond was continued at $50,000, cash or surety, with no 10% allowed. Christian waived his hearing the next day and his bond was continued at $150,000 with no 10% allowed.

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A press release issued by the sheriff's office stated Detective Cory May was conducting a criminal interdiction on Dec. 8, when he reportedly observed suspicious behavior at the gas station in Cambridge.

One of the suspects was reportedly seen in two different vehicles at the business before one left the scene a short time later.

May requested assistance and a traffic stop involving a vehicle occupied by Gray and Christian was initiated on Interstate 77, while other deputies made contact with Adams who remained at the gas station.

An undisclosed amount of currency was reportedly located during the traffic stop on I-77 while an open air sniff by sheriff's K-9 Hoke and Deputy Shane Leggett was executed on the vehicle at the gas station.

During a probable cause search after Hoke alerted to the vehicle, deputies reportedly found suspected methamphetamine and a fentanyl-related compound.

Authorities said Gray did not have illegal drugs in his possession at the time of his arrest, but he is suspected of being part of the illegal narcotics trafficking operation.

The drugs have an estimated street value of $25,000, according to the sheriff's office.

All three cases are expected to be presented to a future Guernsey County grand jury.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Judge finds probable cause to bind over drug case against Akron man
K-9 Quinn, a German Shepard, retired from East Lansing Police Department on Jan. 1, 2022.

EAST LANSING - Looking back at their eight years working together and breaking a department record, East Lansing Police Sgt. Travis Bove gives all of the credit to K-9 Quinn, a German Shepard.

He was just the human on the other end of the leash.

Im just glad we were able to make a difference, he said.

On Jan. 1 Quinn, who is around 10 years old, retired after working with Bove in area law enforcement since 2013.

The pair worked in East Lansing as a dual-purpose patrol and narcotics K-9 team. They were assigned to Ingham County Sheriff Special Response Team from 2015 to 2020, first as a perimeter K-9 team and then as K-9 team leader, according to the police department.

The duo has probably handled more than 500 calls in their career, many of which ended in felony apprehensions or narcotics seizures. Bove and Quinn are responsible for more captures, or finding people, than any other K-9 team in the departments history.

East Lansing Police Capt. Chad Connelly said in an email the department doesnt have official numbers, but Bove and Quinn exceeded 50 captures in their career, most of which were for felony-level crimes, beating the former record of 47.

They not only increased the safety of our community but surrounding ones as well, he said.

K-9 Quinn, a German Shepard, retired from East Lansing Police Department on Jan. 1, 2022.

Quinn and Boves journey began in 2013, the year Bove was finally selected for a coveted K-9 spot after waiting seven years for it. Bove wanted to be a K-9 officer from the beginning of his career after seeing the bond between officers and their dogs, and the resources they offered the community.

Quinn came from Budapest, Hungary, so all his commands are in Hungarian. The first time Bove met the dog he was 2 years old.

In dog terms, he was a high-energy teenager, he said.

Bove said it was exciting and humbling work. It was a lot of practice learning the craft of working together, learning what it meant when Quinn wagged his tail or when his ears came up a certain way.

You just have to learn how to kind of, I don't know, for lack of a better term, dance together and figure out what his tells are, he said.

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Their work varied and they could be giving a police dog demonstration at a school and then later get called to find a suspect that fled an area.

Bove recalled responding to an incident where a gun involved in a shooting was thrown in the area of a cornfield ditch. He and Quinn were called to find the gun the next day and they located it within minutes.

On another call, they searched for a missing older woman who had dementia. It was winter and they found her lying in the snow underneath a pine tree at 3 a.m., wearing just a nightgown. If they hadn't found her, she would have perished, he said.

K-9 Quinn, a German Shepard, retired from East Lansing Police Department on Jan. 1, 2022.

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Its rewarding to find evidence or people who have committed crimes. But to find kids who wandered off and weren't old enough to fend for themselves or to find missing adults with dementia or other disabilities who could have been in danger, you cant put a tangible price tag on that, Bove said.

Those days are behind Quinn, who now stays at Boves home sleeping on the couch and watching TV with his family while the sergeant goes to work.

Bove is still emotional about Quinn retiring. Over the past eight years there have only been a handful of times the two havent been together. The dog has only been boarded once when Bove got married.

In those eight years Bove believes he spent more time with Quinn than with his own wife and kids. Theres no tighter bond, he said.

Hungarian K-9 Quinn retired from East Lansing Police Department on Jan. 1, 2022.

Bove now leads the East Lansing Police Departments K-9 unit and trains numerous K-9 teams from other area departments. He hopes the department gets another K-9, as they are absolutely invaluable tools and assets.

Hes grateful Quinn wasnt hurt during their time working together. And hes grateful Quinn was the dog chosen for him.

It was a heck of a ride, he said.

Contact Bryce Airgood at 517-267-0448 or bairgood@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @bairgood123.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: K-9 retires from East Lansing Police after record-breaking career
WASHINGTON (AP)  Russias decision to send paratroopers into Kazakhstan, where a crackdown on violent anti-government protests has left dozens dead, injects additional uncertainty into upcoming talks over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The question is whether the unrest in Kazakhstan has changed the calculations of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he weighs his options in Ukraine. Some say Putin may not want to engage in two conflicts at the same time, while others say Russia has the military capacity to do both and he will decide separately on whether to attack Ukraine. The instability in Kazakhstan may even add new urgency to Putin's desire to shore up Russia's power in the region.

Both Kazakhstan and Ukraine are former Soviet republics that Putin has sought to keep under Moscow's influence, but so far with vastly different results. Ukraine, an aspiring democracy that has turned decisively toward the West, has been locked in deadly conflict with Russia since Putin seized Crimea in 2014 and backed an insurgency in the eastern Donbas region. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, has been ruled in the three decades since the Soviet collapse by autocrats who have maintained close security and political ties with Russia.

Russian troops entered Kazakhstan on Thursday after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev invoked the help of a Russia-led military alliance. The following day, with Russian troops helping to restore control over the airport and guarding government buildings, he ordered his forces to shoot to kill any protesters who don't surrender.

That led to Washington and Moscow exchanging new barbs on the eve of a week of meetings over Ukraine that begins with talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials in Geneva on Monday.

Asked about Kazakhstan and Ukraine on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would not conflate these situations.

There are very particular drivers of whats happening in Kazakhstan right now, as I said, that go to economic and political matters, Blinken said. Whats happening in there is different from whats happening on Ukraines borders.

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Having said that, I think one lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, its sometimes very difficult to get them to leave, he added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry fired back with a statement that referenced past U.S. wars and interventions in other countries. If Antony Blinken is so into history lessons, here's one that comes to mind: When Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive, not being robbed or raped," the statement said.

The U.S. has for weeks warned that Putin has stationed troops near Ukraine with the possible intent to stage a new invasion. Putin is not believed to have moved significantly more troops toward Ukraine in the last several weeks, according to two people familiar with the latest assessments who were not authorized to speak publicly. But at least 100,000 Russian troops remain in positions where they could possibly strike parts of Ukraine, the people said.

In response, Washington and Kyiv have ramped up their cooperation on intelligence and security matters, the people said.

In exchange for easing tensions with Ukraine, Putin wants NATO to halt membership plans for all countries, including Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO have rejected that demand.

Lawmakers and longtime observers of Russia disagree on how the Kazakhstan situation may affect Ukraine.

Fiona Hill, former senior director for Russia and Europe at the U.S. National Security Council, said she believed the violence in Kazakhstan is probably going to accelerate Putin's desire to do something in Ukraine.

She said Putin may want to reassert dominance across the region by both shoring up the president in Kazakhstan and undermining Ukraine's democratically elected leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Russian circle around Putin, they really do want to teach the Ukrainians a lesson, Hill said. And they dont shy away from killing lots of people or seeing lots of people get killed.

She noted that while Kazakhstan is in Central Asia, the northern part of the country was settled by Russians and Ukrainians in Soviet times as part of the Virgin Lands campaign, and Russians see it very much as part of their land and not just a kind of sphere of influence.

And so northern Kazakhstan ... is being seen as an extension of Russia, just like Ukraine, Donbas and Belarus and all that industrial and agricultural complex, said Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

In recent years, Russia has entered conflicts in other neighboring former Soviet countries to seize territory or bolster Moscow-friendly governments. In 2020, when protests broke out in Belarus over the reelection of longtime strongman Alexander Lukashenko, Russia stood by him during a brutal crackdown and offered to send troops. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and seized control of two separatist regions.

In Belarus and now Kazakhstan, Hill noted, there is growing frustration with Russian-backed elites and inequality, together with a growing sense of nationalism. Those factors are also present in Ukraine, while discontent is growing in Russia as well.

This is deeply troubling for Putin because it shows that protests can get out of hand over social issues, she said. And that even if you marginalize the opposition and you look like youre in charge, one day suddenly, youre not.

Some see Kazakhstan as also presenting an opportunity for Russia to consolidate its power regionally.

Fyodor Lukyanov, a leading Moscow-based foreign policy expert, said by stepping in with military force Moscow has made itself the guarantor upon whose position further events depend. He said the situation was similar to Armenia in 2020, when Russia sent peacekeeping troops after a war with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

This is not a final situation or a solution, but it provides an effective set of tools for the period ahead," he wrote in a piece published Thursday.

With this happening on the eve of the talks with the U.S., Russia has sent a reminder of its ability to make quick and unconventional military-political decisions to influence what is happening in parts of the world that are important for it," Lukyanov said.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican who serves on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, is among those who see the uprising in Kazakhstan as deterring Russia in Ukraine.

I dont see Russia with the capability of handling two crises simultaneously, Green said. I think it will deter their ability to wage a major conflict in Ukraine.

A fierce critic of the Biden administration, Green said he supported Blinkens public statements in support of Ukraine and his push for a diplomatic solution.

If Blinkens actions are matching his rhetoric, then theyre doing OK here, he said.
An officer with the Augusta Police Department has been arrested after he allegedly engaged in sexually explicit online conversations with a person who he thought was an underage girl, but who actually was an officer from Minnesota.

The Boone County sheriffs office said it was notified Tuesday that Ryan Hill, 29, of Hebron had been engaging in chats with an undercover officer from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension  Human Trafficking Investigators Task Force.

In chats on a social media app over several days, Hill, who thought he was talking to a 15-year-old girl, described in detail the sexual acts that he wished to perform on her, the news release stated.

The sheriffs office said Hill identified himself as a police officer during the conversations.

Once the Boone County sheriffs office was notified by law enforcement in Minnesota, detectives in Boone County confirmed Hills identity, conducted an investigation and arrested him Friday morning, they said in the announcement posted on Facebook.

The Augusta Police Department said in a news release Friday afternoon that Hill had been with the department since May in a probationary capacity but effective immediately is no longer employed there.

The department said Hill was one of three Augusta officers assigned to Augusta Independent School. He had worked there since August, the police department said.

Augusta police said they had been in touch with the principal and superintendent about the situation.

He has performed his duties effectively and was a model employee during his employment, the Augusta Police Departments release stated.

Hill is charged with unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual activities, a class D felony. He was taken to the Boone County Detention Center and was held on $15,000 bond.
President Trump speaks from a Jumbotron screen as crowds gather for the "Stop the Steal" rally on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Newly appointed board member Rafael Rafidi was asked to resign from his position.

Rafidi had only been in place as a board member for a few days before the request was made.

It came after the board said it learned Rafidi bragged about attending the "Stop the Steal" rally last year.

A Louisiana school board has requested that a newly appointed board member resign after an examination of his social media posts made it apparent that he would be "ineffective" in his role.

Rafael Rafidi was appointed to the Jefferson Parish School Board on Wednesday. But the board only became privy to his social media posts that they said contained "provocative positions" after his appointment.

Rafidi is a businessman who boasted about his attendance at the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, DC, the day of the January 6 insurrection last year, according to an analysis of his social media conducted by the Daily Beast.

He called lawmakers who blamed former President Donald Trump for inciting the riot "traitors."

The rally was where Trump spoke before a crowd of his supporters. The rally led up to the siege on the Capitol, which left five people, including one police officer, dead.

Rioters were emboldened by Trump's calls to protest the results of the 2020 election, despite Democrat Joe Biden's victory. While members of Congress were meeting inside the Capitol to certify the results and verify Biden's presidency, Trump supporters attempted a coup and stormed the Capitol.

Among the lawmakers Rafidi criticized were New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who was one of the seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial last year.

"Go fuck yourselves," Rafidi wrote last February, according to screenshots posted by NOLA.com.

Rafidi "presented himself as a family man of strong faith with a commitment to education," the school board said in a statement about their decision to appoint him. But his social media posts, which the board said they learned about after his appointment, employ a "non-civil tone, profane language and generalized condemnation of opposing ideological groups," the statement says.

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A representative for the Jefferson Federation of Teachers told the Daily Beast that teachers were angered by his appointment.

"No one really had an opportunity to vet this individual prior to his appointment," JFT president Kesler Camese-Jones told the Daily Beast.

One board member who initially abstained from the vote to appoint Rafidi on Wednesday told the Daily Beast that his "position immediately changed from abstaining to this guy needs to go."

The board in its statement called his posts "indefensible and inconsistent" with its mission.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Marble Arch Mound is closing. (Getty)

The much-criticised Marble Arch Mound described as Londons worst attraction is closing this weekend.

The 25-metre high artificial hill, which sits at the corner of Hyde Park and Park Lane, will no longer be open after Sunday.

Westminster City Council commissioned the attraction with a budget of 3.3 million but by completion, it had cost almost double that at 6 million, leading to an apology from officials.

Refunds were offered the day after it opened to the public on 26 July following what the authority called teething problems, with visitors complaining it was still a building site.

A visitor branded it the worst thing Ive ever done in London while others compared it to an abandoned theme park.

In August, council leader Rachael Robathan announced that her deputy Melvyn Caplan had resigned with immediate effect after the totally unacceptable rise in costs.

Watch: Marble Arch Mound branded Londons worst attraction

The costs of the artificial hill jumped to 6 million. (Getty)

Visitors climb the Marble Arch Mound in central London. (Getty)

The Mound, planned by Dutch architect company MVRDV, was designed to give views of the capitals Oxford Street, Hyde Park, Mayfair, and Marylebone.

It was part of a scheme to increase footfall in the shopping district as lockdown restrictions eased.

Read more:

Senior Westminster council staff hid and 'ignored' Marble Arch Mound cost warnings

Marble Arch Mound: call to review culture of complacency at council

Thousands now flock to derided attraction as spectacular light show draws crowds

Tickets first cost up to 8 but entry was made free following the initial negative reaction from tourists.

Despite the poor reception, the hill has had around 250,000 visitors.

A council spokesperson said: The Mound has done what it was built to do  drawn crowds and supported the recovery in the West End.

The deputy leader of Westminster city council, Melvyn Caplan, resigned over the cost. (Getty)

The attraction was forced to offer refunds to visitors amid widespread disappointment. (Getty)

Pedestrians walk past the Marble Arch Mound. (Getty)

The mound was erected beside the iconic Marble Arch monument and was covered with grass and young trees.

Visitors can ascend the structure via a path to see what the council described as views never seen before by the wider public.

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But, following an internal review, the council apologised and said it must learn the lessons of the Mound project.

The review concluded a series of errors in judgement, coupled with a lack of sufficient oversight led to the failure.

It also found robust processes were circumvented  driven by the desire to open the Mound as soon as possible  a failure which the council admitted was unacceptable.

The Mound is due to be deconstructed, a process which could take up to four months, with the materials  including trees and plants  reused.

Watch: Bad reviews for laughingstock Marble Arch Mound
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP)  A Marine Corps battalion commander testified Friday that in retrospect he would have halted the exercise that killed nine of his Marines whose amphibious assault vehicle sank off the Southern California coast but at the time he did not have accurate information to make such a decision.

Lt. Col. Michael J. Regner said his decisions were based in part on what other commanders told him, including that all the Marines had completed their swim certifications and that the aging vehicles they were in had been fixed and were ready for the mission.

He said he was also unaware that the Navy had changed plans that day and did not launch a safety boat.

Had I known that at the time, I would have said No we're not going to go into the ocean without a safety boat,'" Regner said.

Regner gave his account to a three-officer panel at a Board of Inquiry. That panel will issue a recommendation to the commanding general of Regner's unit as to whether the decorated officer, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, should be considered for discharge just shy of his 20-year mark and be denied retirement benefits.

However, a decision isn't expected until later this month and will follow Boards of Inquiry pending for other officers, including one scheduled for next Tuesday.

A Marine Corps investigation found that inadequate training, shabby maintenance and poor judgment by leaders led to the July 30, 2020, sinking of the amphibious assault vehicle in one of the deadliest Marine training accidents in decades.

The vehicle  a kind of seafaring tank  had 16 people aboard when it sank rapidly in 385 feet (117 meters) of water off the coast of San Clemente Island. Seven Marines were rescued as the vessel was returning to a Navy ship on a training exercise.

Regner was relieved of command of the landing team of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, shortly after the sinking. A Marine Corps statement at the time said his removal was based on a substantial amount of information and data and cited a loss of trust.

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The government argued at Friday's hearing that while Regner is not the only one to blame for the tragedy, his substandard" leadership set the groundwork for things to go as badly as they did.

Lt. Col. Michael McDonald said in the militarys closing statement that Regner decided to risk sending his Marines who were inexperienced and had not completed their training, including how to escape the vehicles, into the ocean.

That was just an absolute comedy of errors," McDonald said. This didn't come out of the blue."

Regner's attorney said the panel's task is to determine if Regner is of value to the Marine Corps and has potential for future service, which he argued his client clearly has demonstrated.

Hes never shirked his responsibilities, said Maj. Cory Carver, Regners attorney.

Regner became emotional when he talked about how he has served his country his entire adulthood," becoming a Marine as the United States went to war following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

He said he has excelled throughout his career, including in the last 18 months after he was relieved from his command and assigned to another job.

Hell I grew up in this, Regner said, wiping a tear. My dad was a Marine. I was raised by the Marine Corps.

Regner said he was aware that 12 of the 13 amphibious assault vehicles his Marines would be using in the training had problems but that a fellow battalion commander who overseas the vehicles assured him they would be fixed before the exercise.

He said he tried to get his Marines extra training in the water and warned senior leaders that his troops had never done this type of exercise.

He said he was constrained by a number of factors including the fact that Marines had to squeeze in their preparations after being deployed to the U.S-Mexico border under the Trump administration, and then they faced restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic that interrupted their training.

But he said he was led to believe by a company commander that all had been certified as swimmers, though two of the troops had not.

Other Marines are expected to face possible discharge. Col. Christopher J. Bronzi, who supervised Regner, was relieved of command of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit last year.

The panel was expected to review 6,000 pages of investigative reports and evidence before making its decision.

The Marines use the vehicles to transport troops and their equipment from Navy ships to land. The armored vehicles outfitted with machine guns and grenade launchers look like tanks as they roll ashore for beach attacks, with Marines pouring out of them to take up positions.
People lined up for COVID-19 testing at the First Baptist Church of Ocala Wednesday morning, January 5, 2021. The Florida Department of Health in Marion County and COVID Test Florida LLC has teamed up to offer the drive-thru testing from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday during this spike in cases in the past week and half. Individuals should bring a valid photo ID, and minors must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

There were 3,130 new COVID-19 cases recorded in Marion County for the seven-day period ending Jan. 6  more than double the 1,543 cases reported the previous week, according to the Florida Department of Health. The most cases per week reported during the surge of the delta variant in late August was 3,228.

The state and country are seeing cases soar, particularly because of the omicron variant of the virus, which originated in South Africa and is highly transmissible. Department of Health in Marion County Administrator Mark Lander told county commissioners on Tuesday that omicron and the less contagious delta variant are driving about half of the spread each.

Marion's testing positivity rate was 24.6%, up from the previous weeks 17.4%. It is the highest rate in Marion County since late August, when positivity of 25.1% was reported.

Testing spike: Ocala COVID test site goes from 20 tests per day to 500 as case count and positivity rise

Mask guidance: Most people are still wearing cloth masks. Here's why that's a problem with omicron

Live blog: 4M new US infections reported last week. It took 6 months for the first 4M

The increase this week shows the severity of the spread of the virus throughout our community, and the need for people to take protective measures, Lander said in a statement.

It was encouraging to see the number of vaccines go back up this week. We encourage county residents to consider a COVID vaccine, or a booster if you are eligible for that. The shots remain the most effective way to prevent a serious illness or hospitalization from COVID-19 for those age 5 or older.

Six new deaths in Marion County

The running total of COVID-19 cases in Marion County since March 1, 2020 is now 62,790  16.9% of the population. CDC data showed 6,695 COVID-19 tests performed the week ending Dec. 30, an increase of 16.7% from the previous week.

There were six new deaths recorded since the previous week's report, bringing the total death count in Marion County to 1,803, though recording may be delayed until weeks after a death occurred.

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The addition of 1,042 more people vaccinated this week brings the county total to 219,614. Of Marion Countys population aged 5 and older, 62% have received the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The states vaccination rate is 72%.

CDC data also show 88 new hospitalizations for the seven days ending Tuesday, which is a 193.3% increase from the previous week.

The percentage of beds used for COVID-19 patients was 6%, a slight increase from last week. The percentage of intensive care unit beds used was 6.3%, the same as the previous week.

Florida statewide trends

The FDOH report showed all counties surrounding Marion County also had increasing COVID-19 case counts:

Alachua: 3,789

Citrus: 952

Flagler: 1,166

Lake: 4,108

Levy: 272

Putnam: 397

Sumter: 823

Volusia: 6,443

The new cases reported across the state for the week totaled 397,114, up from the previous week's 297,888. Four weeks ago, weekly cases totaled 13,451. The state's positivity rate was 31.2% this week, up from the prior week's 26.6%.

CDC data show Marion County and all other Florida counties  as well as most of the United States  now have a "high" level of community transmission.

In the Department of Health and Human Services Region 4, which includes Florida and seven other states, 97.5% of cases were caused by the omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to data for the week ending Jan. 1.

COVID tests expired in Florida. Here's what we know: Between 800,000 and 1 million COVID-19 tests expired last month, state official says

Marion County COVID positivity rate: COVID-19 cases surge 325% in Marion County, positivity spikes to 17.4% amid omicron wave

Vaccine cocktails: A guide to mixing and matching Pfizer, Moderna, J&J booster shots

Marion County offers regular, booster shots

The Florida Department of Health in Marion County and other local providers offer vaccines for people ages 5 and older.

The vaccine available for ages 5 to 11 is the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine, which has the same active ingredients as that given to adults and adolescents but only one-third the dose of the adult vaccine. It is also administered with smaller needles designed for children.

Two doses are recommended three weeks apart, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vaccinations are available Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Florida Department of Health in Marion County, 1801 SE 32nd Ave., Ocala. Appointments can be made at tinyurl.com/MakeMarionFLVaxAppt, or walk-ins are also welcome.

All people 16 and older who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine are eligible for booster shots six months after the completion of their initial series, while those who received Johnson & Johnson must wait two months after their initial vaccination.

The Food and Drug Administration also expanded the Emergency Use Authorization of a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine for youths 12-15 this week, and the CDC authorized the recommendation.

Per the CDC, individuals can "mix and match" which vaccine they receive as a booster when available. Many pharmacies, doctor's offices, clinics and health centers also offer vaccines. Other locations can be searched at bit.ly/3GWsBQm.

Monoclonal antibody treatment intended to prevent immunocompromised individuals from contracting the virus for up to six months is now available at some Florida sites. This is different from monoclonal treatments used to lessen the severity of symptoms after infection. Treatment sites can be searched at floridahealthcovid19.gov.

Testing increasing at First Baptist Church

COVID-19 testing is available at the First Baptist Church of Ocala, 2801 SE Maricamp Road. COVID Test FL is offering the drive-thru testing from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Individuals should bring a valid photo ID, and minors must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

Test results are available for free with results within three days. A rapid 15-minute test costs $60. A PCR test with same-day results (if taken by 12:30 p.m.) costs $100 with insurance and $150 without. Next-day results are available for $50 with insurance and $100 without.

Testing is also available at many private labs, physicians' offices, pharmacies and walk-in clinics in the county.

Contact reporter Danielle Johnson at djohnson@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: COVID in Ocala, Marion County: Omicron variant leads to case increase
What it do, Black Tennessee Voices fam?

It is I, LeBron Hill, elated as usual to bring you another newsletter.

January means a new year where resolutions are made and hopefully accomplished. The month is also the time where we honor and celebrate the legacy left by civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. But, as years past, MLK Day has become an opportunity for people to take advantage of King's work for their own political gain.

For instance, on Jan. 5, Dr. King's daughter Bernice tweeted her frustration after a Moms for Liberty-sponsored event used her father's image in an invitation. The Tennessean covered this story on Friday.

The Williamson County chapter of the 501(c)(4) tax-exempt political organization made an effort in November to ban a book about Dr. King. The Tennessee Department of Education refused these efforts.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy lives as area children carry his image during the MLK Day march down Jefferson St. in Nashville on Jan. 15, 2001.

It's critical as we move closer to another MLK Day that we find ways to honor Dr. King's legacy that is authentic for what he stood for.

You'll see more from me on this subject next week.

Here's what else you'll find in this week's newsletter:

Nashville Homeless Underground founder Howard Allen wants homelessness to be eradicated in the city but believes Metro's efforts to "reclaim" Brookmeade Park goes in a different direction. His guest column calls for a focus on creating more affordable, low-income housing in Nashville.

Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis explains why the Memphis City Council should give citizens the opportunity to vote on the residency requirement for police officers.

I want to take time to honor the life of Yusef Harris, who passed away Jan. 4. Harris was the longtime owner of the Alkebu-Lan Images bookstore.

I had the pleasure of talking with Harris during a Black Tennessee Voices Facebook live conversation, and his love for the community was so evident. Rest in Power, Yusef.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Much love.

LeBron Hill is an opinion columnist for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and the curator of the Black Tennessee Voices newsletter. Feel free to contact him at LHill@gannett.com or 615-829-2384. Find him on Twitter at @hill_bron or Instagram at @antioniohill12.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy gets co-opted in Williamson County
Turns out your parents were pretty cool.

And that goes for their parents and their grandparents too.

While you may have cringed at the clothes they wore back in the day, there's a growing audience of collectors and fashion aficionados who appreciate the clothes that once graced a hanger at Kmart or a rack for those fancy pants who shopped at Polsky's Department Store.

Aaron Gascon, owner of Modern Traditions Co., sorts through vintage clothing before a customer arrives to his showroom at the Bounce Innovation Hub in Akron.

Aaron Gascon is one of those vintage clothing nuts.

What started out as a hobby scrounging around flea markets, garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores for unusual, well-loved clothing and other oddities has turned into a full-time endeavor.

This collecting started in his childhood growing up in New Philadelphia and continued well into his teens and now adulthood as he filled closets wherever he called home, whether it be Akron's Highland Square or in Massillon, where he now hangs his vintage ballcap.

To thin the ever-growing collection, he turned initially to selling some items online.

But as this "collection" began creeping into every room in the house, Gascon said, he knew he had to get organized and develop a business plan, particularly if this were to become a full-time endeavor.

He's now partnered with Akron's Bounce Innovation Hub, which works with budding entrepreneurs to foster and grow new business ventures in the city.

A customer browses the wide variety of vintage shirts on display at Modern Traditions Co.

His Modern Traditions Co. no longer calls his kitchen table home and has taken up residence in a space that faces the elevator on the fifth floor of a sprawling former Goodrich Tire building on South Main Street in Akron.

This space allows him to not only sort and inventory what he has from children's clothes to men's and women's apparel but also host periodic open houses, where folks can come in and shop.

His next open house is scheduled for Jan. 27 and 28.

Gascon, 31, said he's had customers drive from as far away as Chicago and Columbus to look through his finds.

Aside from the mentoring to help figure out a long-range business plan, the innovation hub has provided ample space for him to map out a store concept with clothes separated by style and vintage, he said.

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It also provided a place to display some of his cool vintage stuff, including the front of an old truck that greets visitors who make appointments to check out the wares or those who attend the open houses.

One thing he's learned so far: There's an audience for just about everything wearable.

Aaron Gascon owns Modern Traditions Co., a vintage clothing business in Akron's Bounce Innovation Hub.

T-shirts featuring pop culture characters from the '90s are particularly hot right now, along with concert tees from any era.

A lot of times, customers are either looking for something quirky or hoping to relive a piece of their own childhood

Business really picked up after a video he posted on TikTok garnered half a million views in the blink of an eye. In the video, he showed off some of the unusual items he has up for sale.

And just as fast as people viewed the video, shoppers snapped up merchandise at one of the store's open houses the same weekend.

Gascon said half the items for sale in the store flew off the shelves and racks.

A cool vintage tee can be had for as little as $10, while a vintage leather jacket can fetch hundreds of dollars.

Gascon is quick to point out while the notion that a piece of used clothing in a closet or a drawer can fetch this much money now seems absurd, you should see how much these same items are going for in larger cities like Los Angeles.

There is something to be said about living in Akron, where the prices on vintage clothing are still somewhat reasonable and treasures can still be found in area thrift stores, he said.

Gascon keeps a wide variety of affordable Levi's jeans in his showroom at the Bounce Innovation Hub.

Some people bring items in for possible sale, Gascon said. He also has a group of friends who pick things up when they see them at a reasonable price.

But he still finds most of the items himself.

Sometimes, these items are found in the most unusual places.

Aaron Gascon, owner of Modern Traditions Co., sorts through vintage clothing before a customer arrives to his showroom at the Bounce Innovation Hub on Tuesday.

Just the other day, he said, he was driving home and spotted an old clothing rack from a department store sitting out on the curb with the trash.

It is now in the store and being used to display clothes.

And then there was the old abandoned home on a property in West Virginia that a friend had acquired.

"It was in the middle of nowhere, and half of the house had fallen in," he said.

They carefully made their way through what was left of the house and found a closet full of clothes.

The simple clothes were all from the '40s and '50s and were all well-worn.

By well-worn, we mean full of holes and with makeshift patches and other homespun repairs.

But Gascon said those who love authentic clothes also love the holes in the sweatshirts and coveralls harking back to a time when clothing simply was not thrown away.

These well-worn items can fetch hundreds of dollars now from the right customer looking for just the right authentic aesthetic .

"It's like a treasure hunt," he said.

Most of the items found in the store are carefully cleaned and sanitized. But there are some items  like those found in the closet of the abandoned home  that are best left in the condition they were found.

His wife is happy these clothes have found a new home outside of their house.

And he's happy to have a separate workspace.

In the coming months, Gascon said, the goal is to hone a long-term business plan and begin to look for a permanent retail space to show off his ever-revolving collection of items for sale.

"This is the testing ground for my next steps," he said. "Just being able to do something I enjoy and love is great."

Craig Webb, who still wears original-to-him vintage clothes, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

What: Modern Traditions Co.

Where: 526 South Main St. Suite 509

Hours: By appointment. Next monthly open house is Jan. 27th and 28th

For more: Visit the Modern Traditions Facebook page

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Massillon vintage clothing collector opens Akron shop to hone business
Some 69% of people living in Middlesex County are fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers someone fully vaccinated two weeks after they've been given a single-dose shot (Johnson & Johnson) or a second shot (either Pfizer or Moderna).

New Jersey reported 1,674,453 total cases of coronavirus, an increase of 14% from the week before.

The five counties with the highest percentage of their population fully vaccinated in New Jersey as of Tuesday are Morris (74%), Bergen (73%), Hudson (72%), Somerset (72%) and Burlington (71%).

Here are the latest numbers on COVID-19 vaccinations in Middlesex County:

How many people in Middlesex County have received a COVID-19 vaccine?

83% of people in Middlesex County have received at least one dose of the vaccine, for a total of 685,268 people

69% of people in Middlesex County are fully vaccinated, for a total of 566,581 people

For a county-by-county look at the vaccination rollout, see our COVID-19 vaccine tracker, which is updated daily.

How many people in NJ have been vaccinated?

84% of people in New Jersey have received at least one dose of the vaccine, for a total of 7,477,980 people

71% of people in New Jersey are fully vaccinated, for a total of 6,281,498 people

COVID vaccinations for kids and boosters

The percentages in this story reflect the total share of the population that has received vaccines. That now includes people as young as 5 years old, for whom vaccines have been authorized.

These weekly stories will be updated as more data on vaccination rates in children, as well as booster vaccination rates, are released.

This story has been updated using vaccination data from the CDC. The numbers may differ slightly than what was previously reported by the New Jersey Department of Health.

We pull data on local vaccine distribution on a weekly basis. Check back for our next weekly update for the latest numbers.

Dr. Erik Garcia draws doses of a COVID-19 vaccine during a clinic at the Hotel Grace homeless shelter in Worcester, Mass., on Dec. 8. (Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette)

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Middlesex County NJ vaccine rate: How many people are vaccinated?
Molly's dating profile is up on a Times Square Billboard all January. Courtesy of Wingman App

Beth Davis has stage 4 cancer but is on a quest to help her daughter Molly find true love.

After signing up on the Wingman dating app, their story caught the attention of CEO Tina Wilson.

To help the search, Wilson and Wingman put Molly's dating profile on a Times Square billboard.

A mom fighting a nearly two-decade-long cancer battle is on a mission to help her daughter meet her perfect match.

First diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, Beth Davis told Insider it wasn't until June 2020 when doctors informed her that her illness had metastasized to stage IV, spreading to other parts of the body. But the former pharmaceutical rep says she's no victim.

"It's just one small part of me, it doesn't define me," Beth, 61, told Insider. "Most cancer patients, we don't consider ourselves with an expiration date. We're just living our lives and to the fullest."

In doing so she decided to lend a helping hand to her 30-year-old daughter Molly by going on the adventure of a lifetime: finding her the one.

Beth and Molly Davis. Courtesy of Beth and Molly Davis.

"Molly has been my wingman throughout this," Beth said of her cancer journey, which started when her daughter was only 14. "From the moment she wakes up in the morning, she's just lovely and tries to make everyone's life better, so anyone would be lucky to have her."

Apprehensive about using dating apps, the duo turned to the Wingman app in December 2021. They said what stood out to them was how singles looking for love are recommended by friends and family members, who tell personal stories about them on their profiles.

"Sometimes dating profiles, it feels weird kind of bragging about yourself," Molly, who works in medical sales, told Insider. "But then having someone else tell a story about you, it's more meaningful."

Soon after submitting their application, their story caught the attention of Wingman CEO Tina Wilson.

Wingman CEO Tina Wilson (right) and the Davis' (left). Courtesy of Wingman App, Courtesy of Molly and Beth Davis.

Molly's first thought when Beth said she'd been gotten an email from the CEO was that they'd been catfished.

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But they said they quickly realized it was the real deal after speaking to Wilson, who offered to put Molly's Wingman profile on a New York City Times Square Billboard just before New Year's Eve and the ball drop.

In an email to Insider, Wilson said she wanted to help the pair expand their search by putting them front and center in Times Square.

"I swipe through thousands of profiles weekly as part of my job and when I came across Beth's, she instantly stood out to me as someone I wanted to personally help," Wilson said.

Beth and Molly, who are Boston-based, said they traveled down to see the ad in person for New Year's Day.

"When I got out of that Uber, I turned the corner and looked up," Beth said. "It took my breath away so much. I threw my head back, my glasses went flying."

Molly said the billboard is right near 7th Ave, steps away from where the ball dropped.

Molly and Beth went to see the billboard on New Years day. Courtesy of Molly Davis.

Despite sharing some of the spotlight with popstar Olivia Rodrigo's "Sour" album cover, Beth thinks her daughter stole the show.

"Poor Olivia, she's next to you, and you're outshining her," Beth said she told Molly when they saw it.

Now the pair are waiting for Wingman to filter requests before Beth gets a chance to look through the applicants  a task she says she's more than ready for.

And while Beth said she would love to see her daughter married with kids, given time restraints the ultimate goal is to find someone nice, with family values who is able to give her a great relationship.

"I know he's out here. A person that wants to have that special relationship with Molly," Beth said.

Read the original article on Insider
By Nichola Saminather

TORONTO (Reuters) - National Bank of Canada will become the first major bank in the country to offer COVID-19 booster shots to employees and their family members, setting up four vaccination sites across Quebec starting Monday.

The clinics will be located in Montreal, Laval, Brossard and Quebec City, and will be open to staff and members of their families over 30, a spokesperson for the bank told Reuters by email.

The bank also joined forces with other Quebec-based companies to set up vaccination clinics earlier in the pandemic, the spokesperson said. National Bank was one of 13 major employers https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-announces-13-major-employers-picked-to-host-workplace-vaccination-sites-1.5380075 picked by the Quebec government to host workplace vaccination clinics, local media reported in April.

None of the other large Canadian banks offer such clinics, but they do give employees paid time off to get vaccinated.

(Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by David Gregorio)
A group of Arizona health care workers and advocates is calling on the state to take urgent action in addressing a mounting number of COVID-19 infections and what they say is a collapsing health care system.

Top on their list: statewide vaccine and mask mandates, and a prohibition on large gatherings.

At least 1,100 Arizona health professionals, including physicians, nurses and caregivers, have signed an open letter to Gov. Doug Ducey, health care leaders and state and county officials asking for immediate action, including policy changes, in order to combat the latest omicron-fueled surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.

"Without immediate action and intervention, the impending omicron surge will cause many preventable deaths, for both patients infected with COVID-19 and those seeking care for nonCOVID life-threatening illnesses," the letter says.

On Friday the group held a virtual briefing with reporters, saying they want to use their collective voice to sound the alarm about an overburdened health care workforce and call for intervention into what's already a crisis situation in hospitals and other medical facilities across Arizona.

"Enough is enough. We demand action. It's not too late at this point in time to change course," Tucson family physician Dr. Cadey Harrel said during the briefing. "We are on the brink of collapse and we don't have a backup plan."

Ducey on Friday said that he had not yet seen the letter but will take it "under advisement."

There won't be any mandates, he added.

Fueled by the extremely contagious omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, case numbers in Arizona are rising quickly, and hospitals are straining under the weight of low staffing numbers and high patient demand.

On Friday, Arizona reported 14,888 new COVID-19 cases and 30 new known deaths.

Omicron: It's exceptionally contagious. Here's what to do if you test positive

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More people tested positive for COVID-19 in Arizona on Jan. 3 than any day previously during the pandemic, according to state data.

"Health care is completely different now than it was two years ago," Phoenix emergency room physician Dr. Kara Geren said during Friday's briefing. "We have more patients with fewer staff and resources."

Patients likely will face longer waits than usual until they see a nurse, until they are evaluated by a physician or advanced practice provider, and until they are able to get the tests and medications they need, Geren said.

"If you are admitted to the hospital you might spend days waiting in the emergency department for a bed on a hospital floor," she said. "If you require specialty care that can only be provided at a different hospital and require a transfer, you will wait days in the emergency department until the other hospital can take care of you."

Geren said if more patients were vaccinated, Arizona hospitals would not be so busy. It's frustrating, she said.

"Some believe we're the villains, when all we want to do is help patients," she said. "Things for health care workers are only getting worse. ... There are staff shortages throughout health care, including X-ray and CT technicians, behavioral health technicians, housekeeping, physicians, just to name a few."

More skilled health care workers are needed and so are policies that follow public health guidelines, she said.

"We used to have the resources to treat patients and rest and heal after a difficult day," she said. "Now we rush from one patient to another, with limited time to process."

Dr. Bradley Dreifuss, a Tucson emergency room physician, said he regularly sees patients who regret their decision not to follow public health guidance and they are particularly remorseful if their children get infected.

Banning large gatherings would prevent a lot of the problems he's seeing in families affected by COVID-19, he said.

"I'm having pediatric patients coming in with new seizure disorders after COVID," he said. "The Long COVID issue is something we have not addressed or quantified the cost of for society."

Long COVID refers to prolonged health problems following a COVID-19 infection.

Tucson-based epidemiologist Elizabeth Jacobs said that omicron has created a completely new COVID-19 situation in Arizona and that state leaders need to respond.

"This is an opportunity to pivot," she said. "It is clear from the data that we are getting hammered by omicron and that we need mitigation urgently."

Republic reporters Alison Steinbach and Ray Stern contributed to this article.

Reach the reporter at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or at 602-444-8369. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieinnes.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Enough is enough': AZ health care workers want action against omicron
The saga over Novak Djokovics botched entry into Australia took another twist on Saturday as his lawyers claimed the world No 1 was granted a vaccine exemption after testing positive for Covid-19 on 16 December.

The nine-times Australian Open champions fast-tracked appeal will be heard on Monday morning in Melbourne after what will be his fifth night in a state-run quarantine hotel, following his dramatic detainment by the border officials on Wednesday.

In court documents released on Saturday, Djokovics lawyers state that he had been granted an exemption by the Victorian government and Tennis Australia, and also included a letter dated 1 January from Australias Department of Home Affairs - the agency that has detained him - indicating that he met the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival.

Djokovics social media post revealing that he had been granted such an exemption prior to boarding a plane in Dubai provoked a furious reaction from within Australia, prompting political intervention from the Morrison government.

After arriving at Tullamarine airport, the 34-year-old was held by the Australian Border Force (ABF) for around ten hours before being transferred to the Park Hotel, which his parents have compared to a prison.

Requests for Djokovic to have access to a personal chef and tennis court were bluntly rejected by authorities who insist he will not benefit from any special treatment.

Serbias president, Aleksandar Vucic, has claimed the countrys star athlete is a victim of persecution in what has now become a major diplomatic incident.

A second player, Renata Voracova, who entered the country under the same vaccine exemption and competed in a warm-up event in Melbourne, was deported on Saturday after being detained in the same hotel.

I hope that Djokovic will succeed in court on Monday, she said. I want them to let him play. We are athletes, we came for tennis, we read the rules, met the conditions, and received an exception after a lengthy process.

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Djokovic, who is still hoping to win his record-breaking 21st grand slam title when the Australian Open begins on 17 January, could face up to a three-year ban from the country if his appeal is unsuccessful.

The court documents suggest that Djokovics lawyers will argue that the decision to revoke his visa was affected by several jurisdictional errors.

Djokovic had not previously disclosed to the public that he had tested positive for Covid-19 last month. On the same day as the purported PCR test, he attended a panel discussion and an indoor ceremony for a stamp created in his honour in Belgrade. The following day, he was photographed at the Novak Tennis Center in Belgrade alongside a number of junior players.

Further complication has arisen from the fact that Tennis Australia documents appear to stipulate that the deadline to apply for a vaccine exemption was no later than 10 December - six days before Djokovics PCR test.

Tennis Australia have remained noticeably reticent since the 20-time grand slam champion was detained, insisting in a short statement on Friday that nobody had been misled.

In a leaked video that surfaced on Saturday, the organisations chief executive, Craig Tiley, could be seen praising the efforts of his staff for an unbelievable job.

Weve chosen at this point not to be very public with it and simply because there is a pending lawsuit related to entry into Australia. Once that has run its course, well be able to share more with you, he said.

Theres a lot of finger-pointing going on and a lot of blaming going on, but I can assure you our team has done an unbelievable job and have done everything they possibly could according to all the instructions that they have been provided.

Home favourite Nick Kyrgios, who has described Djokovic as selfish and bone-headed in the past, has become a surprising defendant of the Serbian, criticising the governments handling of the situation.

Its a bit of a mess with whats going on, and I just dont think we have gone about it the right way, Kyrgios said. I hope it all gets sorted as soon as possible. For the sport we need him here, its that simple. Hes one of the most influential sports people, probably of all time.

Im feeling for him now. Like its not really humane, is it, whats going on? His lifes probably hard enough as it is, and I know what thats like. I just hope it all gets sorted soon.
Eric Adams, the freshly sworn-in mayor of New York City, has made the controversial decision to select his own brother to be a deputy police commissioner for the New York Police Department, multipleoutletsreported Friday.

Bernard Adams is now expected to join more than a dozen deputy commissioners, who are assigned various areas of expertise and report directly to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the first woman  and first Black woman  to lead the department.

Bernard Adams retired as an NYPD sergeant in 2006, The New York Times reported. His LinkedIn profile states that he has managed parking and transportation at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2008.

As the nations largest police force, funding for the NYPD outstrips that of any other major city by billions of dollars. The mayors brothers salary is not yet known, but other deputy commissioners are paid well over $200,000 per year.

As a candidate, Eric Adams rose to prominence in large part on his law enforcement credentials, having retired as a captain in the force the same year as his younger brother before moving on to a career in politics.

His first week in office has been both colorful and controversial. Surrounded by journalists while riding the New York City subway to his office, Adams called 911 to report an assault the first day on the job, Gothamist reported.

Adams attracted criticism Tuesday with comments on low skill workers like cooks, messengers and Dunkin Donuts employees that seemed to belittle their economic and social contributions. (They dont have the academic skills to sit in a corner office, Adams said.) New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) slammed the new mayor, saying the idea that any job is low skill is a myth perpetuated by wealthy interests to justify inhumane working conditions, little/no healthcare, and low wages.

He made another controversial appointment this week; it emerged on Friday that former NYPD department chief Philip Banks III would be deputy mayor for public safety, despite his 2014 resignation under a cloud of corruption allegations.

Story continues

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
The omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is now overwhelmingly dominant in Arizona, a result that some researchers have been expecting and can now confirm with data, according to sequencing labs at Arizona State University and TGen.

As of Saturday, assistant professor Efrem Lims lab at the Biodesign Institute at ASU is reporting on their website that 95% of their sequenced cases are the omicron variant. TGen, which analyzes samples from across the state, also updated their online tracker to show that 87% of their COVID-positive samples as of this week are the omicron variant.

"It's remarkable how quickly Omicron is taking over from Delta," Lim said in an email.

Its a pattern that has been playing out over the past couple of weeks, but now omicron is outcompeting the previously dominant delta strain, said David Engelthaler, director of the pathogen & microbiome division at TGen. I have no doubt that this will be not just the dominant, but essentially, the variant that we find in all four corners of the state here within the next week or so, he said.

Omicron is exceptionally contagious: Here's what to do if you test positive

The rapid omicron jump in Arizona has been relatively delayed compared with other parts of the country, some of which are already well into omicron-driven surges. It does seem like it starts on the East Coast and then it comes here later, and Arizona seems to be at the end of the whip, as it were, said Joshua LaBaer, director of the Biodesign Institute, in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Deepta Bhattacharya, a professor of immunobiology at the University of Arizona, described the sense of shock he and other researchers experienced watching omicrons rapid takeoff around the world. To see something that comes along and takes over Delta at that rate  its been surreal watching it, to be honest, he said.

Both ASU and TGen researchers can detect the omicron variant because after they digitize a sample, they can use computer programs to analyze each positive case, comparing long sequences of letters that stand for different molecular compounds. The omicron variant has some standout variations in those sequences of letters that make it clearly distinguishable from other variants like delta.

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Rebekah Dowling (right) and Michael Sprenkle (left) process Covid samples in a microbiology lab, October 4, 2021, at TGen North, 3051 W Shamrell Blvd., Flagstaff, Arizona.

Because TGen takes longer to process cases than ASU  their lab sequences positive samples statewide rather than more localized samples  TGens data is likely to show a slight lag compared with the most up-to-date numbers. Engelthaler said TGen has shifted its strategy to process smaller batches of samples every day, rather than one large batch over the course of a week, to better reflect case numbers in rural areas. He expects their percentage of omicron cases statewide to move well into the 90% range by the weekend.

Evidence suggests that omicron may induce milder forms of illness than other coronavirus strains. That fact gives Engelthaler hope that this surge, even with the highest daily national case numbers doubling counts from last winter, may not be as catastrophic as surges brought on by previous variants. However, some experts are still concerned about how the sheer number of infections will stress hospital systems in the coming weeks.

Even though (there is) a small decrease in the virulence, it will be largely offset by the large caseload that we're likely to see here, LaBaer said.

Some doctors are also worried that the volume of cases could have ripple effects across the healthcare system as hospitals reach capacity.

Last month the Arizona Public Health Association reported that Arizona saw the greatest percent increase in excess deaths during the pandemic in the entirety of the United States. This is likely a symptom of our constantly overburdened healthcare system, said Elizabeth Jacobs, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Arizona, in a livestream that brought together some health care workers and advocates calling for better public health mitigation strategies.

The situation has changed, and we must adjust, said Dr. Ruth Franks Snedecor, a clinical assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, on the same livestream. She added that Arizona hospitals are in extreme crisis and on the verge of collapse.

'It's not too late': Arizona health care workers demand state action against omicron

LaBaer hopes for a return to the idea of flattening the curve  slowing the positive infection rate enough to keep the healthcare system afloat. If we can just keep the spread of this thing a little bit more under control so that we don't overwhelm our hospitals  that would be a laudable goal, LaBaer said.

Doctors and researchers stressed that vaccinations and boosters will be critical to managing the tide of omicron cases.

Having been vaccinated will certainly protect you to the extent of significantly reducing the likelihood of hospitalization and death, even from omicron, La Baer said.

Bhattacharya also said a booster significantly reduces the risk of severe disease. If you havent gotten a third dose, or another dose post-(Johnson & Johnson), I think its time to do it, he said.

He also noted that while case numbers are skyrocketing, that doesnt mean it is futile to try to prevent further spread of the disease. He said that researchers are focused on furthering research on the virus, improving vaccines and treatment options such as antivirals that can make COVID-19 less dangerous.

There are chances to avoid omicron, Bhattacharya said. Its going to get harder(but) if you can hold out for a little longer, there will be better pharmaceutical options.

Republic reporter Stephanie Innes contributed to this article.

Independent coverage of bioscience in Arizona is supported by a grant from the Flinn Foundation.

Melina Walling is a bioscience reporter who covers COVID-19, health, technology, agriculture and the environment. You can contact her via email at mwalling@gannett.com, or on Twitter @MelinaWalling.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Omicron variant represents nearly all coronavirus cases in Arizona
SEATTLE  King County continues to break unwanted pandemic records, with daily case counts fueled by the highly-infectious omicron variant now numbering in the thousands and hospitalizations reaching new highs.

Dr. Jeff Duchin, the health officer for King County, hosted his first COVID-19 briefing of the new year on Friday afternoon, outlining the latest trends and other areas of concern, including a health care system that is stretched increasingly thin.

"The speed of spread of omicron has been mind-boggling," he said. "Our University of Washington colleagues estimate omicron is currently responsible for 90 percent of local COVID-19, just a month after it was first detected."

Over the last week, Duchin said King County reached another record-breaking average of 3,323 cases reported each day, a figure quadruple the November 2020 peak and 12 times higher than the level of infections seen in early December. The influx in new cases can be seen across age groups, but recently has been highest among younger adults.

Recent estimates have placed the omicron peak arriving as early as this month, but the lingering effects of so many infections are likely to have lingering repercussions.

"[S]ome have predicted omicron will peak locally in mid-January, although we can't know with certainty whether the current surge will peak at that time or how long the peak will last," Duchin said. "It will likely continue to impact us for many weeks after the peak."



Hospitalizations have risen rapidly, too, with current COVID-19 patient loads exceeding previous record highs.

"In contrast to the tenfold rise in cases, hospitalizations have increased approximately fivefold from mid-December, when we were averaging about seven per day, to an average of about 34 per day [for] the week ending Jan. 3," Duchin said. "That's one person hospitalized every 45 minutes in King County hospitals currently."

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Like with previous strains, the health officer said the risk for hospitalization and other serious outcomes continues to be considerably higher for those who are not fully vaccinated.

"People who are unvaccinated continue to be at the highest risk for COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death, although we are seeing an increasing number of less severe infections among vaccinated people," Duchin said. "In the 30 days through (Dec. 22, 2021), people who were not fully vaccinated were 2.5 times more likely to develop COVID-19, 13 times more likely to be hospitalized, and 27 times more likely to die from COVID-19."

COVID hospitalizations reach new high in King County



As of Friday, Duchin said at least 400 COVID-19 patients were receiving care in King County hospitals, exceeding the previous high of 331, set early last August. The health officer estimates one in seven acute care and ICU beds are currently occupied by people with COVID-19, and the high volume of patients adds to a multi-faceted strain felt at health care facilities across the state.

"The increase in hospitalizations coming on top of the delta surge, and an increase in non-COVID hospitalizations, along with worsening staff shortages and challenges discharging patients is stressing our hospitals now more than ever," Duchin said.

While omicron can lead to a less severe illness for many who become infected, Duchin said the sheer volume of new cases and very high level of community transmission presents a significant concern for others and poses a serious threat to the region's health care system.

"[A]lthough omicron illness is uncomplicated for most people and does not appear to be as severe as delta for individual patients, especially those that are vaccinated and boosted, it's not a mild illness for many and the potential for long COVID remains," Duchin said. "Its impact on our community, and our health care system's ability to provide us with the care we need for all sorts of health problems, is equally if not more severe than past variants."

On Thursday, the Washington State Medical Association sent a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee and state Secretary of Health, asking for a formal crisis declaration and additional resources to assist overrun emergency departments and hospitals pushed beyond capacity across the state.

Specific requests listed the letter include:

Mobilizing the national guard to help with staffing shortages in both long-term care facilities and hospitals.

Increasing the budget for the Department of Social and Health Services to immediately hire more staff.

Continuing and bolstering incentives to long-term care providers for serving patients as they are discharged from hospitals.

Addressing barriers to guardianship for patients who are ready to be discharged, and allow family members to agree to transfers.

Though King County's vaccination rates rank among the highest in the nation, with 86 percent of residents 12 and older having completed the series and 93 percent with at least one dose, percentages for boosters vary widely by age. Duchin said rates for boosters or third doses were highest among people 65 and older, at 75 percent, and lowest among people 18 to 34.

Vaccination rates are improving among the youngest eligible groups, with 50 percent of residents ages 5 to 11 having started a series and 37 percent fully vaccinated, Duchin said.

Learn more about getting vaccinated or boosted on the King County website.

The county is working to increase capacity, expand hours and add locations across the region, including new vaccination sites planned to open this month in Renton and downtown Seattle, along with ongoing pop-up clinics and school-based options.



Duchin notes that omicron's aptitude for infection means counting on vaccines and boosters as the sole defense will not be sufficient.

"Our vaccines, especially with the booster dose, are holding up very well and providing most people with excellent protection from what matters most: serious infections," Duchin said. "But with omicron, even vaccinated and boosted people can become infected and spread the infection to others. We cant' rely on vaccination alone when transmission levels are this high. We need to use the same multiple layers of protection we've used in the past."

Those layers include things like limiting indoor activities, especially in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, using high-quality, well-fitting masks or respirators, improving indoor air quality and following proper isolation guidelines if ill, and quarantining if exposed.

Learn more about the CDC's updated isolation and quarantine guidelines from Public Health - Seattle & King County.

For face coverings, Duchin said N95, KN95 and KF94 masks offer the most protection, followed by snug-fitting surgical masks and multi-layered cloth masks.



King County works to expand testing options and deliver thousands of rapid test kits



As for testing, Duchin acknowledged recent challenges amid surging demand, including the recent winter weather that prompted closures and infections increasing among staff, which forced some locations to temporarily close or reduce their hours. Despite those factors, Duchin said sites across King County and Seattle performed more than 117,000 tests between Dec. 22 and Jan. 4. King County has also requested that the federal government stand up more testing locations, like the FEMA-operated site that recently opened in Auburn.



Earlier this week, the county announced it had secured 700,000 rapid antigen test kits, with distribution expected to begin Monday for the first 100,000. Duchin said the kits would head first to long-term care facilities, emergency medical services and health care providers with urgent needs, along with correctional facilities, senior centers and community partners.

Duchin said the state Department of Health will soon begin weekly deliveries for an additional 10,000 rapid tests per week, and the governor announced the state will purchase millions more to distribute through various channels, including a partnership with Amazon that will allow residents to order them via a web portal.

The health officer closed out his Friday remarks with a message of hope, despite the latest series of challenges put forth by omicron.

"We've shown what we can do when we work together, and right now we need to dig deep for a renewed, community-wide COVID-19 prevention effort over the next few weeks," Duchin said. "These coming weeks for many may be the most difficult yet. Please take good care of yourselves and do what you can to help one another. Despite the recent setbacks with omicron, the overall arc of this pandemic will be improving and we will get through this. I expect 2022 ultimately will be a much better year."



This article originally appeared on the Seattle Patch
Good morning, neighbors! It's me again, Ashley Ludwig, your host of the Orange County Daily.

First, today's weather:

Clouds breaking for some sun. High: 65 Low: 45.

Here are the top stories in Orange County today:

Disneyland's Star Tours turns 35-years-old this weekend. Where is your favorite place to visit in that galaxy far, far away? (Lake Forest Patch). Amid the omicron variant spike, Cal State Fullerton returns online amid the omicron surge. (Orange County Patch). A 3rd Orange County child has died of coronavirus, OC Health Care Agency reports. (Orange County Patch). Mike Clements, the veteran Orange County activist and organizer, dies at 76 (Los Angeles Times). As elections ramp up across the nation, Temecula Mayor Matt Rahn announces he is running for the Assembly seat that includes east Orange County (OCRegister).

Today in Orange County:

Beginning Swing Dance Bootcamp at Atomic Ballroom! (12 PM).

HB APA's "Cabaret" (2 PM).

Stuck @ Home? Start a Business/Stay @ Home Business Opportunity! Sat or Sun (6 PM).

HB APA's "Cabaret" (7 PM).

From my notebook:

Orange County Sheriff's Department, CA: "On Friday, December 31st OC Sheriff Search and Rescue responded to a cliff rescue in Laguna beach. They found two individuals trapped in a cove with giant swells and rising tides. Due to the swift efforts of Laguna Beach FD, Laguna Beach." (Facebook).

German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County: "Cocoa has never had the life she should have...will you be the one to provide her with that? Check out her bio and share to find Cocoa the home she deserves! https://tinyurl.com/24jz9dwm" (Facebook).

Orange County Fire Authority: " Firefighter Friday Were excited to introduce everyone to Captain Todd Lockwood! Captain Lockwood and his wife Sarah whos a nurse practitioner have been together since high school and married for 18 years." (Facebook).

Orange County Fire Authority: "Early this morning your #OCFA firefighters made quick work of a fire in Santa Ana. The fire involving multiple cypress trees and one mobile home was imminently threatening other homes. Fortunately, thanks to a well-coordinated fire attack." (Facebook).

Orange County Guide | SoCal: "Knotts PEANUTS Celebration is back daily beginning January 22 through March 6. The limited-time event welcomes fans of all ages to join in on the excitement with family-friendly options for guests to play and interact with the PEA..." (Instagram).

Story continues

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Send me a news tip or suggestion at ashley.ludwig@patch.com.

Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Saturday! I'll be in your inbox tomorrow with your next update.

 Ashley Ludwig

About me: Ashley Ludwig has been a columnist and online news editor since 2007. Prior to joining Patch, she worked as a staff writer for Southwest Riverside's Valley News Newspaper--in print and online. She was a co-founder of the southern California news conglomerate, DailySoCal.com--and prior to that, a freelance journalist for such publications as the North County Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, and Southwest Riverside News Network (SWRNN.com), and still owns the local southern California Wine Country blog: TemeculaGrapevine.com.Ashley Ludwig has worked as a writer on the web since the late 1990s. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona, with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences. Wife, and mother of two daughters, she is the author of multiple romantic suspense novels. www.ashleyludwig.com

This article originally appeared on the Orange County Patch
Medical staff with Salem Health work to test patients for COVID-19 at Salem Health Lab on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022 in Salem, Ore.

Coronavirus cases in Oregon repeatedly surged to all-time high levels this week, and public health experts warn tens of thousands more Oregonians are likely to be infected by the end of the month.

An unprecedented spike in hospitalizations is also on the horizon as the omicron variant continues to sweep the state, but its severity appears to be less than the delta variant.

The new record for reported daily cases is 10,451, set on Friday. The highest level prior to the omicron variant was about 3,200.

Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state epidemiologist with the Oregon Health Authority, said the daily numbers are certainly an undercount of actual infections, with the state likely reporting no more than 50-70% of actual infections.

Student athletes: Salem schools announce new coronavirus guidelines for sports, extracurricular activities

Many people might be asymptomatic and not realize they have the virus, while others might not have been tested by a medical professional. The state has no way to record cases of individuals testing positive with at-home test kits.

The public is being urged to wear quality masks, avoid large gatherings and get vaccinated or boosted, if eligible, as the highly infectious omicron variant continues to sweep across the country.

It will disrupt lives and livelihoods. Unchecked, it will overburden our already exhausted health care workers and oversaturate our health care system, Sidelinger said.

Forecasting released Friday from Oregon Health and Science University predicts a late-January peak of 1,652 people taking up hospital beds in Oregon sickened by the omicron variant. That would be 30% higher than the delta variant's hospitalization peak of 1,200 people in September.

Less severe but still deadly

Data from counties comparable to the United States that experienced the omicron variant first  South Africa, the United Kingdom and Denmark  has suggested the omicron variant causes less-severe symptoms than the delta variant, particularly among vaccinated people.

Story continues

Jasmin Chaudhary, medical director of infection prevention at Salem Health, said studies have shown omicron causes less disease in the lungs, which could be part of the reason it is causing less dire outcomes.

But she said most of the studies on omicron are from communities with high vaccination or immunity rates. High rates of hospitalization are still likely in unvaccinated communities.

A study out of Denmark cited by OHSU in its recent modeling concluded that vaccinated but un-boosted individuals have nearly the same rate of infection from omicron as unvaccinated people.

Individuals with booster shots reduce their risk of transmission by 50% compared to vaccinated people, the study found.

Rapid tests: How Oregon, US schools are staying open amid COVID surge

Other studies have concluded omicron could be up to three times as infectious as the delta variant.

So while the hospitalization rate among people infected with omicron is likely to be lower than delta, the sheer number of those infected is expected to push hospitalizations to all-time pandemic highs.

The less-severe omicron is also likely to result in shorter hospital stays than were seen during delta's peak, but "that doesnt help with the all-at-once impact on hospital capacity that were going to see," said Peter Graven, lead data scientist at OHSU's Business Intelligence unit.

"We are seeing these levels in states on the East Coast and know they are coming to Oregon," Graven said.

Preparing for a surge

OHA's chief medical officer Dana Hargunani said the public health authority on Friday released to hospitals a crisis care tool staff can utilize to ensure that if decisions need to be made about who receives care at overburdened hospitals, hospital staff can made those decisions in an unbiased manner.

The tool is "focused on equity," which is particularly crucial when medical personnel are making difficult decisions about who is going to receive potentially life-saving care and who is not.

Hargunani said the tool has been in development over the past couple of years as the state has learned about the pandemic and observed other states release similar tools for their hospitals.

"This is a very difficult topic to consider and to work on, Hargunani said.

Medical staff with Salem Health work to test patients for COVID-19 at Salem Health Lab on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, in Salem, Ore.

At Salem Hospital, medical staff said they have been preparing for surges since the beginning of the pandemic, but have yet to see a major spike from omicron.

According to Sarah Horn, chief nursing officer at Salem Health, the hospital has about 50 COVID-19 patients right now, and by early-to-mid February expects to see a maximum of about 100, similar to what it saw during the delta surge.

Unlike with delta, Horn said, they don't expect most of these patients to be critically ill, which will reduce some of the pressure on the hospital staff and supplies.

Salem Hospital is already above 100% capacity, including hitting 119% capacity on Tuesday, Horn said, and have needed to double-book some rooms or place patients in larger rooms with curtain dividers.

We will make room for those who need care from us, for sure, Horn said.

Gov. Kate Brown announced Friday up to 500 members of the Oregon National Guard will be sent to local hospitals to support health care personnel facing the approaching surge.

The first 125 Guard members will be deployed next week.

Those deployed will assist hospital staff with non-clinical needs, including testing and equipment delivery. Guard members with medical training will not be deployed.

With more than 500 current hospitalizations and daily record-breaking numbers of COVID-19 cases, we are at another critical point in this pandemic  and the Oregon National Guard is stepping up again to assist, Brown said in a statement.

How Oregon compares to other states

As of Thursday, Oregon had a seven-day average daily case count of 4,001, or 95 per 100,000, according to the New York Times coronavirus case tracker.

Those numbers are well above the delta variant peak from early September, but still lower than many other states.

Oregon's per 100,000 daily average for new cases is 12th lowest among the 56 entities tracked by the New York Times (50 states, Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories).

As far as Oregon's neighbors, Washington state had a rate of 124 cases per 100,000, California was at 157 per 100,000, Idaho at 51 per 100,000 and Nevada at 104 per 100,000.

In general, states in the East, South and parts of the Midwest currently have much higher case counts than Western states.

Its kind of like being at the beach and someones out there and gets a wave and youre a bit closer to shore and you get the wave next, said Marcel Curlin, associate professor of medicine in infectious diseases at OHSU.

Public heath experts said there is still time to take preventative steps that could brunt the impact of the coming omicron spike.

They encouraged Oregonians to get vaccinated and boosted, if eligible, as well as continue the tried-and-true methods that limit the spread of COVID-19: wearing masks, maintaining physical distance and washing hands often.

Its still the same virus. Its a different variant, but its still COVID. It still spreads in the same way that it does, causes the same kinds of problems that it has been," Curlin said. "The main steps to avoid getting infected and avoid harm to your family, close contacts, loved ones is still the same as it was.

Reporter Connor Radnovich covers the Oregon Legislature and state government. Contact him at cradnovich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Record-shattering spike: Officials prepare for hospitalization surge




Oregon issued guidance on Friday for how hospitals should prioritize care in critical situations amid a surge of omicron coronavirus cases.

The Oregon Health Authority gave hospitals in the state an interim crisis care tool that would help them decide how to prioritize care in the event resources that multiple patients need are limited.

The interim triage tool says if a hospital has insufficient resources to care for all patients, the patients will be scored with "objective medical evidence."

"Care decisions should be based on the likelihood of survival to hospital discharge," the health department said.

The tool does not allow hospitals to score a patient "based on stereotypes, assumptions about any individual's quality of life, or judgement about an individual's 'worth' based on the presence or absence of disabilities."

A person's past or potential future medical needs are also not allowed to be used in the decision to provide care over another person.

"Triage decisions will be made without regard to morally or scientifically irrelevant considerations such as income, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, health insurance coverage or other factors," according to the guidance.

Oregon said the guidance is based on similar rules in states such as Arizona, Massachusetts and Washington.

Hospitals are also allowed to have their own rules as long as they are consistent with the department's equity guidance.

The tool was given as hospitalizations in the state and around the country are increasing due to the omicron variant, which is known to be less deadly but more contagious than previous COVID-19 strains.
We all have secrets  some of them that we'll take to our graves.

Freeform

Well, recently Reddit user u/Comfortable_Tomato_3 asked for people to share all the disturbing secrets they found out about their friends, colleagues, and relatives after they died. Here are some of the most shocking.

1. "[My] grandfather died when I was around 10. I distinctly remember being at his funeral and seeing a group of men there that werent associated with the rest of my family. I think I remembered this because I watched them pull up in beautiful cars and thought they must be rich. ... I wasnt told until I was older, but my grandpa had been involved in some organized crime for most his life, and most of the time he was 'traveling in Europe' he was actually in prison. Those men were his partners, and my family hated them."

u/Accomplished_Cup_922

2. "My uncle...was awesome  [he] bought me Legos when I was a kid, and we'd play fight; he always just seemed really cool when I was young. ... Well, he disappeared around the time I was 13. Then when I was 26, my dad told me he died. He was apparently on the run and was wanted for years...for several murders. He was a hitman, apparently."

"He was never arrested, but he died in a shooting in Italy. I always had a hard time picturing him in that life. ... He always was really good to me and my siblings."

u/kybergod

Fox

3. "When I was a kid, my dad told me that his dad had died from being electrocuted. My whole childhood, he raised me and my siblings to be very cautious around electricity. When my grandmother was on her death bed, she confessed to me that how my dads father really died was autoerotic asphyxiation. It was the '60s, so the fire department in their small town helped cover it up."

u/melvilleismycopilot

4. "After my husband died, I found the stash of love letters that he had saved, which had been written to him throughout the course of our marriage. None of them were from me."

Story continues

u/lunaburning

NBC

5. "My grandfather was a member of the KKK. My grandmother found all his robes and other shit hidden in the trunk of his car after he died. She burned it all that night in the backyard, utterly mortified that he was an active member."

u/msab79

6. "My father fabricated an entire military career. We only found out when he died, and everyone stopped agreeing to lie for him or not mention it."

u/Ok-Entertainer-7904

ABC

7. "I went to one of those fancy New England prep schools that has had to release reports about the sex abuse committed by teachers and faculty. Two of my teachers who had since retired (I graduated back in the '00s) died within a few months of each other. Days after the second one passed, the school released a report that named them both  among others. They had both remained employed for many years after abusing students despite having been reported to the school by the students at the time."

u/iSmellLikeTeenSpirit

8. "My maternal uncle was killed during a robbery gone wrong (he was staying the night at one of his furnished rental properties, which was not being leased at the time). At leastthat was the story I was told before hopping on a plane with my mom to attend the funeral held in our home country. The day of the funeral, a cousin angrily shared with a small group of us that he had seen a photo of my uncle on the front page of the local paper. ... I looked it up on my phone, and proceeded to read a whole article about how my uncle had been tortured and killed in retaliation for past child abuse."

"Dead uncle had allegedly abused several children at different times, spanning decades, but 'somehow' was never prosecuted. (My mothers family is wealthy, so the cousins are pretty sure that authorities/parents of the victims were paid off anytime he was accused, as the victims were primarily children of low-income families). To add to the horror, my relatives knew to keep us children away from him outside of 'supervised' family events."

aGirlLikesTacos

9. "When my stepgrandmother died, we found out she was unloading my grandfather's money to her daughter who was born from her previous marriage. My grandfather was in cognitive decline in his later years, and his health was failing. She got him to sign all kinds of things. ... Over a five-year period, she was able to transfer close to $8 million."

"By the time she died, my grandfather was in really bad shape  mentally and physically. We had to clean out her things, and we found all of the paperwork: every last detail. He couldn't comprehend what she had done, and after trying to tell him about it a couple of times, we stopped trying. Nothing could be done legally. Her daughter was set for life."

u/sitdolore

epix

10. "Our neighbor. He was known as a veteran soldier. ... His family used to be popular in our neighborhood, too, and they seemed pretty well off. They had a female housekeeper who disappeared one day, and the story was that she eloped with someone. Years after his death, his son had their fence fixed by another neighbor, and they unearthed a skull and some other bones. Guess who?"

u/mehehehehheheheheh

11. "When I was about 10, my moms uncle, so my great-uncle, died. I remember going to his funeral; he was a firefighter in a major city, and we spread his ashes at the beach. I wasnt close with him, but my mom was. I didnt know how he died at the time, but I recall thinking it was weird cause he was younger than my dad, who wasnt terribly old yet. I found out nearly a decade later that he died not only via suicide, which is awful, but before he did that, he murdered his wife."

u/nonchellent

12. "I found out that my uncle somehow had a black market liver. He went through the first via drinking himself nearly to death. He wouldn't stop drinking and drugging, so the implant folks wouldn't put him on a list. He then takes a trip to (I believe) India and gets a liver implanted. He then found a shady doctor here for after-care. After that, he drank through another liver in three years. He was preparing for another trip to India, but COVID stopped him from traveling (he was anti-vax too). He died not long ago due to his liver not working anymore. From what I'm seeing and what his wife says, I'm 99% sure that liver was harvested from a living donor."

u/popemichael

Pop!TV

13. "My great-grandma and her brothers were notorious in Watertown, Massachusetts for their check fraud and forgery schemes."

"Oh, the things you find out about the woman who would make you hot cocoa."

u/thatsaSagittarius

14. "My mom found a whole bunch of letters in my grandpa's stuff after he passed away, all from a child of his (my mom's half sister, apparently) from Korea, after my grandpa served in the Korean War."

u/beaniesandbuds

15. "I live in an apartment building, and theres a big family who live in the several apartments upstairs. A patriarch with several children and all his children have families who live in neighboring apartments. A few years ago, the patriarch passed away, and it was only then that his family found out he had a whole other secret family that hes maintained for at least 20 years."

u/Buttercups97

CBS

16. "My partner's grandfather died. A week or so after his death, the grandmother started getting really sick. She is in her '80s, and doctors suspected it was a bad UTI gone into other organs. Turns out it wasnt a UTI, but multiple STIs. The grandfather was sleeping with a ton of women at the church he was a preacher at."

"He left her and many members of the church with quite the parting gift. We all knew he was a crappy guy, but didnt know to this new extent."

u/RachelVonLee

17. "My uncle died suddenly in a car crash when I was 18. My aunt has schizophrenia and went off her meds after he died. ... Eventually she couldn't stay in the house anymore, and we went to help clean it out. We found cameras everywhere. Behind paintings, in the bookshelves, just everywhere. Eventually we found a safe tucked away in a small opening in his closet, and when we finally cracked it open there were two unregistered guns in it alongside a wad of cash."

"My uncle was already very wealthy; we don't know why he specifically had this cash set aside, or why he had illegal guns, or why he bugged his entire house. But we suspect my aunt's illness and paranoia was worsened by him, and she wasn't always as delusional as he made her out to be. In better news, my aunt now lives in Florida with a caretaker in a condo. She paints for a living and is very happy."

u/CassiopeiaFoon

Freeform

18. "My cousin died a couple months ago of a drug overdose. Investigation found that his roommate was a drug dealer, and my cousin had also been making payments of tens of thousands of dollars to a woman who was arrested shortly after for brutality murdering an old woman in my hometown."

u/BojukaBob

19. "I remember a few years back while I was still living in Russia, I went to my grandma's funeral, and in someone's speech about her they began to talk about how she was in a concentration camp and how she had gone through so many horrendous things I won't repeat. I never knew, and it's clear no one else did either."

"She went through horrible stuff, and it disturbs me to this day. We cleaned out her house, and there were so many things from that time in her life that documented all that, and I looked at it, and I felt sick."

u/Effective_River2639

20. "A friend of mine passed away last year, and I had to go through her computers and wipe everything. Before we could wipe it, her partner needed help getting some information to settle her accounts. I saw so much homemade porn of her with all of our friends."

"So. Much. Porn. Everyone we knew together and lots of people I don't know."

u/SendMeSomeBullshit

NBC

And finally, let's end on a story that's really heartwarming:

21. "My grandpa died in the late '90s of a heart attack when he was about 65 years old. My whole family came to Germany from Poland in the '80s, and my grandparents were kids throughout World War II. We didnt find any pictures of him from when he was a child when we went through his stuff after he died. ... We asked my grandpa's aunt, who was still alive at that point. She burst into tears and told us that he was a German Jewish kid my great-grandparents rescued from a train heading to Auschwitz during World War II."

"They used the papers of their son who passed away just a few weeks earlier. We all were stunned, but in hindsight it did explain a lot of things, like how he suffered from PTSD and almost had no Polish accent when he spoke German. It still amazes me how they kept this secret for over half a century."

u/mrl_a
A dramatic three-year saga surrounding a defunct pet cemetery took another step toward its conclusion.

Livingston County District Court Judge Matthew McGivney dismissed a lawsuit against Heavenly Acres pet cemetery, its owner and a land developer on Nov. 9, 2021 after they reached a settlement with customers who'd buried pets there, according to court records.

A lawsuit against the cemetery was first filed in 2019 by pet owners seeking damages in excess of $25,000 and an emergency restraining order to prevent any change to the Genoa Township property, which was for sale.

More: Cemetery where up to 74,000 pets buried on the market, new owner will decide use of land

More: Broken promises: Pet owners file lawsuit to keep Heavenly Acres cemetery undisturbed

A jury trial was scheduled for 2022 after McGivney dismissed the case last year following a two-year legal battle.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice because "the parties have reached a settlement," the judge's order stated. Court records did not contain the details of the agreement and a public hearing did not take place.

As of Thursday, the pet cemetery remained vacant save for a no-trespassing affixed to a closed gate.

Three-year battle

This is not the first settlement in the lawsuit originally filed against the Genoa Township pet cemetery, which abruptly closed after its lease expired in late 2018.

In January 2019, four pet owners asked then-Livingston County Judge David Reader to issue a temporary restraining order preventing any animal remains from being destroyed or removed from the property.

Reader signed the restraining order, which remained in effect as the case moved through court.

Since then, there have been a handful of hearings over the cemetery involving Carol Street Park Ridge, LLC  the property owner  and Linda Williams, who operated the cemetery.

More: Pet owner joins lawsuit against defunct pet cemetery, property owners

More: Judge gives owners additional days to exhume pets from defunct Heavenly Acres Pet Cemetery

Story continues

Three of the four original plaintiffs settled in early 2019 and signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from commenting on the resolution. Part of the agreement allowed them to exhume the remains of any pets they had buried at the cemetery, according to Mike Olson, an attorney for the three plaintiffs who settled.

However, the issue is not completely resolved. Several of the original plaintiffs also filed an appeals claim in November, according to Kevin Gentry, an attorney representing Lisa Barnett.

Barnett, an attorney from Oakland County, joined the lawsuit as an intervening plaintiff after she learned the cemetery where she buried three of her dogs was closing.

The appeals case surrounds "a liability issue regarding the land owners," Gentry said.

Future court dates were not immediately available.

Contact Kayla Daugherty at 517-552-2848 or kdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KayDaugherty92.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Pet owners settle with defunct Genoa Township animal cemetery
FLORIDA  Federal health officials have authorized the Pfizer COVID-19 booster for children as young as 12 in our area, broadening access to the third dose of the vaccine as COVID-19 daily infection rates remain in record territory.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the third Pfizer dose Monday, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention followed suit on Tuesday.

Also, regulators authorized a third Pfizer vaccine shot five months after the second dose, shortening the wait period for the booster by a month, and authorized the boosters to immunocompromised children ages 5-11.

Booster shots are already recommended for everyone over 16. Theyre available in Florida at the select locations of the following pharmacies:

Find other vaccination sites, including government-run locations, using Florida's online vaccine locator, which can be found here.

The FDAs authorization comes as health experts warn of a blizzard of infections following a busy holiday season bookended by two full weekends of celebration.

Related Story: First Flurona Cases Reported In South Florida: Report

We are going to see the number of cases in this country rise so dramatically, we are going to have a hard time keeping everyday life operating," Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, told MSNBC.

The next month is going to be a viral blizzard, he said. All of society is going to be pressured by this.

COVID-19 infections are likely to rise throughout January, according to a statement last week by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert and President Joe Bidens science adviser on the coronavirus task force.

The CDC said last week it had significantly overestimated the prevalence of omicron, the coronavirus variant that is behind the current surge of infections. The agency said on Dec. 18 that omicron was responsible for 73 percent of COVID-19 infections, but slashed that figure to 23 percent.

Story continues

The early data on the omicron variant has shown it is less severe than the delta variant, but health officials are still pushing vaccinations, masks and physical distancing.

Vaccinations offer strong protection against any variant of the coronavirus, but federal health officials urge everyone who is eligible for a booster shot to get one as their best chance to avoid serious COVID-19 breakthrough infections from the highly contagious omicron variant.

Children tend to have milder COVID-19 illnesses than adults, yet child hospitalizations are soaring during the omicron wave, most of them among unvaccinated children.

The vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech is the only one authorized in the United States for children. About 13.5 million youths ages 12 to 17  just over half of those eligible  have gotten two Pfizer shots, according to the CDC.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on the Sarasota Patch
Philippines Webcam Child Abuse

In this April 25, 2017, photo, former cybersex victims participate in a study course at a counseling center for sexual exploitation survivors in Manila, Philippines. Credit - AP Photo/Aaron Favila

In September 2020, the Supreme Court of the Philippines acquitted a man of child sexual abuse charges after he impregnated a 12-year-old girl.

The incident took place in 2012, when the man was 27. He was sentenced to more than 14 years in jail by a lower court in 2016, but appealed. The defendant argued that the sexual relationship was consensual, since the girl bore him not just one but two children before he was sentenced.

The countrys top justices ruled in his favor, saying that the court was not prepared to punish two individuals and deprive their children from having a normal family life simply because the girl was a minor at the time. The court also ruled that the benefits of living in a nuclear family outweighed any perceived dangers from the relationship.

The persistence of such attitudes at the highest levels of the Philippine establishment is the result of a culture in which the sexual abuse of children is tragically common: around 1 in 5 children in the country fall victim to sexual violence. That, in turn, is a factor of the countrys age of consent, which, for the past 90 years has been 12the lowest in Asia and one of the lowest in the world.

Read More: Ghislaine Maxwell Is Accused of Grooming. Heres What That Means

For decades, predatory adults in the Philippines have had a green light to exploit the inability of children to properly understand consentand children involved in cases of sexual abuse are often doubly traumatized as lawyers seek to establish whether or not consent was given. Says Senator Risa Hontiveros: Theyve been asked questions like, Did you enjoy it? Did you feel pleasure? in a bid to prove that they were willing participants.

But at long last, change might be coming. The senator is the co-author of a historic amendment that raises the age of consent to 16. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has meanwhile signed a bill banning child marriage and a law to ban online sexual exploitation is also underway.

Story continues

However, advocates are far from satisfied. They say that unless law enforcement is significantly improved, and the bogged-down justice system reformed, the Philippines will continue to be a global hot spot for sexual violence against children.

In this photo taken on December 2, 2020, Rose Alvarez, 16, whose name AFP has changed to protect her identity, speaks during an interview at a health centre in Manila. TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images

Child sexual abuse in the Philippines

The conservatism of Philippine society, and the enormous emphasis on family, often makes it difficult for Philippine victims to speak up against their abusers, who are typically their relatives or connected to the family group. (In the case of the 12-year-old above, the abuser was the brother of her sisters husband.) The prevalence of abuse is high: a UNICEF study in 2015 found that at least 17% of Philippine children aged 13 to 17 experienced sexual violence while growing up. Comparative data is scant, but UNICEF figures from 2020 show that globally 12.5% of children have been sexually abused or exploited at some point in their lives.



If they wanted to [commit] sexual violence [against] their children, they think that it is okay because the children came from them, says Antonette Acupinpin who was seven years old when her stepfather began physically and sexually abusing her. Now 23, Acupinpin is an advocacy officer in the Philippines for the CAMELEON Associationan international non-profit group assisting sexual violence victims. In her work, she says she has come across many victims shamed by their own families for reporting abuse.



The culture of silence enables some Filipino parents to peddle their kids to sexual predators both in person and online. Together with the availability of quick remittance systems, prepaid Internet, the wide use of English, and the Philippines notorious corruption, it makes the country a global epicenter of sex crimes involving minors, according to End Child Sexual Exploitation (ECPAT), a global network of over 120 civil society organizations.



Read More: Should We Use Survivor or Victim After Sexual Assault?

Before the pandemic, it was relatively easy to go into the country and do whatever, Thomas Muller, ECPATs acting executive director, tells TIME. What makes the Philippines unique is, you have a relatively small country but theres a lot of economic disparity, where people are really scrambling for an income.

A notorious case in the late 1980s highlighted the lack of protection for children. In October 1986, a Austrian man named Heinrich Ritter took two street children to his hotel room in Olongapo City, a three-and-a-half hour drive from the Philippine capital Manila, and paid them a few dollars after sexually abusing them. One of the children died of a severe infection seven months later as a result of a sexual act committed on her by Ritter.

Her relatives thought she might have been under 12 at the time, but prosecutors failed to prove this in court because of a lack of documentation. Ritters defense counsel argued that the girl had submitted herself willingly for money, and the Supreme Court said that there was no proof of force or intimidation. Ritter was acquitted of all charges in 1991 and deportedafter being required to pay a mere $1,000 in damages.

In this April 20, 2017, file photo, members of the National Bureau of Investigation and FBI gather evidence at the home of an American suspected child webcam cybersex operator during a raid in Mabalacat, Philippines. AP Photo/Aaron Favila

The pandemics impact on sexual abuse in the Philippines



Over the years, legislators have attempted to plug the gaps with other laws protecting minorspenalizing sex with children exploited in prostitution (1992), the possession and creation of pornographic material involving minors (2009), and child trafficking (2013). This created a climate of complacency, says Bernadette Madrid, executive director of Child Protection Network, a Manila-based NGOone in which legislators would just say theres no need to pass an additional law raising the age of consent. The penal code and the law against rape continued to define statutory rape as one that took place when the victim was under 12 years of age.

It took a global pandemic to finally bring about change. As COVID-19 swept across the world, and the prevalence of lockdowns forced victims to remain at home for long periods with their abusers, incidences of domestic violence and physical and sexual abuse increased.

In the Philippines, the Office of Cybercrime says that during 2020the first year of the pandemicit received nearly 1.3 million tipline reports flagging child sex content online. The figure was three times the number for 2019. Financial watchdogs also flagged a steep increase since the pandemic began in suspicious transactions linked to online child sexual exploitation cases, with offenders and middlemen in the U.S., U.K., Australia and several other countries.

Read More: COVID-19 and the Crisis Facing Philippine Schoolchildren

Congresswoman Arlene Brosas of the Gabriela Womens Party tells TIME the surges were a direct consequence of the Philippines stringent lockdowns, which have been among the longest and most draconian in the world. No one can rescue and no one can go to where the violence is taking place, Brosas says. The United Nations earlier warned that domestic violence is a global shadow pandemic as COVID-19 ragesan estimated 245 million women and girls aged 15 and up have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in the past year.

In this photo taken on December 2, 2020, Donna Valdez, 15, whose name AFP has changed to protect her identity, arrives with her child at a health center in Manila. TED ALJIBE/AFP via Getty Images

A new law to end sexual abuse

Against this backdrop, proponents of greater protection for children prevailed. Activists, celebrities and international organizations lobbied hard for an amendment to the age of consent, which passed its final hurdle in the Senate on Dec. 15 after getting approval from the House of Representatives. It now awaits Dutertes signature.

How successfully the new law will be implemented is another matter, however. Any law that we may pass, especially to protect our children, is only as good as it can be enforced, warns Senator Hontiveros.

There lies the problem. The Philippine justice system is notorious for being slow, with too few courts, and too many cases, which can take years, even decades, to come to trial. The backlog has worsened dramatically as a result of the pandemic and Dutertes brutal war on drugs. A report from the U.S. Department of States anti-trafficking office further found that the Philippines lacked personnel trained in the handling of evidence and had too few prosecutors.

Emmanuel Drewery, a social worker for Peoples Recovery and Development Assistance, a foundation based in Olongapo City, says government hotlines to report abuse are frequently unmannedand victims are often just passed around between offices. Its all bureaucracy and [theyre] lucky if they will get the help they need, he tells TIME.

Read More: Inside One of the Worlds Longest COVID-19 Lockdowns

For now, there is a real danger that the experience of Acupinpinthe advocacy officer who was herself abused as a childwill remain typical for many.

Months after her stepfather abused her, she was able to file a complaint with her teachers help and there were multiple hearings. But these were hugely stressful events that required her to recount details to prove that she did not give consent. Two years after the abuse took place, when she turned nine, she decided for my own safety, and because I kept seeing my stepfather in court, that the judicial process was simply too much to bear.



She had to dismiss her complaint, Acupinpin says, to obtain the peace that I really wanted.
A Phoenix police vehicle on Dec. 7, 2021.

A 22-year-old Phoenix Police Department officer fired his gun at a suspect later determined to be unarmed during a burglary investigation in southwest Phoenix early Saturday morning, officials said.

Police responded to reports of a burglary near 51st Avenue and Baseline Road at around midnight on Saturday.

The officer, who was not immediately identified, tried unsuccessfully to communicate with 27-year-old Matthew Bia and get him to come outside of the business, Department spokesperson Sgt. Ann Justus said.

Bia reached into his waistband and quickly pulled his hand out, at which point the officer believed he was wielding a gun and responded by firing one round, Justus said. It was later determined that Bia was unarmed.

Bia was not struck by the bullet but had minor glass cuts from the break-in, Justus said. After other officers arrived at the scene, he was taken into custody on suspicion of burglary and aggravated assault on an officer.

Justus said the basis for the assault charge comes from ARS 13-1203 and ARS 13-1204, which considers "reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury" as assault and classifies any assault against a police officer as aggravated assault.

The officer's body-worn camera was activated at the time of the shooting, and store surveillance footage also captured the incident, Justus said.

No officers or members of the community were injured. An investigation is ongoing.

Reach the reporter at bfrank@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8529. Follow her on Twitter @brieannafrank.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral today.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix police officer shoots gun at unarmed burglary suspect
Texas attorney Joseph Gourrier, who is representing the family of James Williams, speaks Saturday at a protest outside the Canton Police Department.

CANTON  Family members and supporters gathered Saturday outside of the Canton Police Department in protest of the officer-involved shooting death of 46-year-old James Williams.

His wife Marquetta Williams has retained Texas attorney Joseph Gourrier to represent the family surrounding her husband's death.

More: What we know about the Canton police shooting of 46-year-old James Williams

A crowd of about 30 citizens gathered just after 3 p.m.

"I want justice for my husband and I want this officer terminated. We need his badge. This is not going underneath the rug," Marquetta Williams said.

More: 'Today is not the day for judgment': Law enforcement experts weigh in on Canton shooting

More: Body cam footage: Officer shoots before yelling, "Police! Get down now!"

Gourrier said he is in the process of trying to retain information and records from public officials. He also said that Williams "did not commit a crime that night by firing his weapon into the air because that's legal here in the state of Ohio."

State Attorney General Dave Yost previously told The Canton Repository that it was a crime.

What happened to Williams?

James Williams was firing an AR-15 into the air repeatedly at 12:06 a.m. New Year's Day to celebrate the new year when he was shot by a Canton police officer who was in the area investigating a call for shots fired.

The officer, who has not yet been identified, saw a male with a firearm firing a weapon from behind a 6-foot fence and fired into the fence, fatally wounding Williams.

The officer was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation being conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation at the request of the Canton Police Department.

Police have declined to comment but said in an initial news release that the officer feared for his safety.

Reach Cassandra at cnist@gannett.com; Twitter @Cassienist

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Community protests police-involved shooting of James Williams
Don't forget your umbrella this weekend!

Corpus Christi experiences heavy rain, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi said 1.97 inches of rain fell in only one hour.

South Texas will be warm and rainy this weekend before another cold front blows through the area early next week.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms will be possible ahead of the cold front Sunday evening, according to the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi. Saturday and Sunday will be mostly cloudy with highs in the high 70s to low 80s during the day and lows in the 60s Saturday night.

Don't put that jacket away! Following a warm weekend, another cold front will bring cooler temperatures and rain to the Corpus Christi area.

Sunday's cold front will drop temperatures into the 40s with wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Rain chances will continue into Monday until around noon. Monday's high will be around 65 and the nightly low will be around 48.

Cooler temperatures and rain chances will be possible throughout the work week, with highs in the low 70s and 20-40% chances of showers through Thursday.

More news

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More: Have you seen this teen? Corpus Christi police believe he may be in danger

Ashlee Burns covers trending and breaking news in South Texas. See our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Cold front to push through Corpus Christi area following warm weekend
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia responded angrily on Saturday to a comment by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Kazakhstan might have a hard time getting rid of Russian troops, saying he should reflect instead on U.S. military meddling around the world.

Blinken on Friday challenged Russia's justification for sending forces into Kazakhstan https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kazakhstan-detains-ex-security-chief-crisis-convulses-nation-2022-01-08 after days of violent unrest in the Central Asian country.

"One lesson of recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Blinken said.

Russia's foreign ministry called Blinken's remark "typically offensive" and accused him of joking about tragic events in Kazakhstan. It said Washington should analyse its own track record of interventions in countries such as Vietnam and Iraq.

"If Antony Blinken loves history lessons so much, then he should take the following into account: when Americans are in your house, it can be difficult to stay alive and not be robbed or raped," the ministry said on its Telegram social media channel.

"We are taught this not only by the recent past but by all 300 years of American statehood."

The ministry said the deployment in Kazakhstan was a legitimate response to Kazakhstan's request for support from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, an alliance of ex-Soviet states that includes Russia.

The Kazakh intervention comes at a time of high tension in Moscow's relations with Washington as the two countries prepare for talks on the Ukraine crisis starting on Monday.

Moscow has deployed large numbers of troops near its border with Ukraine but denies Western suggestions it plans to invade.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Timothy Heritage)
A map of Orange County showing where two people were stabbed at a skate park in Santa Ana

A 27-year-old Santa Ana man was arrested Friday in connection with a double stabbing that left one person dead the night before, authorities confirmed.

Nicholas Nunez was taken into custody around 7:11 p.m. and booked into jail on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.

Officers were called at 8:22 p.m. Thursday to South Coast Global Medical Center after two people suffering stab wounds to their chests were dropped off, police said.

Jose Merlan, 27, of Santa Ana was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. The second victim was admitted for treatment. An update on their condition was not available Friday night.

Officers traced the stabbing to Centennial Skatepark at 3000 W. Edinger Avenue and found surveillance video of a fight between the two victims and a man, police said.

Detectives identified Nunez as the suspect after interviewing several witnesses, police said.

Investigators believe Nunez and the victims were involved in an ongoing dispute, which led to the stabbings, police said.

Further information about the case was not available Friday night.

Anyone with information is asked to call Santa Ana Police Department Homicide Section detectives at (714) 245-8390 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) addresses reporters after the weekly policy luncheon on Tuesday, November 16, 2021.





Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican and a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), on Saturday announced he will run for reelection in 2022.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Thune said he is "uniquely positioned" to serve South Dakota and be "a strong and effective senator who can deliver the results they expect."

"I look forward to earning the support of all South Dakotans in the 2022 election for Senate," he continued.

Thune's decision, which he had held off announcing after going past his end-of-year timeline, will likely bring a sigh of relief to Senate Republicans, who had grown increasingly alarmed that the 61-year-old senator would retire after 2022.

"I've always promised that I would do the work, even when it was hard, uncomfortable, or unpopular," Thune said in the statement. "That work continues, which is why after careful consideration and prayer, and with the support of my family, I'm asking South Dakotans for the opportunity to continue serving them in the U.S. Senate."

It's also a boost to McConnell, who has seen a number of his closest allies exit the Senate in recent cycles.

McConnell - who will lose two members of his leadership team after 2022 to retirement - publicly urged Thune to run for reelection in a recent interview, warning that stepping down "would be a real setback from the country and our party."

Thune is viewed as a potential successor to McConnell, who will turn 80 in February, and the South Dakota senator acknowledged the potential that he could become GOP leader impacted his thinking on whether to retire.

McConnell has given no public indication that he intends to retire anytime soon, but in addition to Thune, Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), the former GOP whip, and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) are also viewed as jockeying for the top spot.

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With Thune's announcement, Senate Republicans are just waiting to hear from one member - GOP Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), who had previously pledged to retire after 2022 but has sounded increasingly likely to run again.

Thune has kept a tight lid on his thinking about his own reelection bid for months, despite routine peppering by reporters about whether he was running again in 2022.

Though GOP senators expressed confidence earlier this year that he would run, Thune set off alarm bells within the caucus when he told a South Dakota publication that his wife was ready for him to call it quits.

Thune joined the House of Representatives in 1997 and, after an initial Senate bid in 2002, sent a lightning bolt through Washington when he defeated then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in 2004 in what was the most expensive race of the cycle.

But over the past year he's also found himself at odds with former President Trump because of the former president's push for GOP lawmakers to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which Trump and some of his closest allies have falsely claimed was "rigged" or "stolen."

Thune warned that a long-shot effort to throw out the Electoral College results in Congress would go down like a "shot dog."

The remarks sparked Trump's ire and the former president fired back that Thune was "Mitch's boy." Trump tried to convince South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) to challenge Thune in a primary but she declined and is running for reelection to the state's top office.

While Trump has seemingly moved on from Thune, he's kept up a long-running, largely one-sided, feud with McConnell. Trump is flirting with running again in 2024 and continues to maintain a fierce grip on the party. Even out of office he has caused headaches for Senate GOP leadership by weighing into fights over the infrastructure bill and the debt ceiling.

But despite Trump's previous anger, Thune appears likely to win reelection and has $14,839,846.75 cash on hand in his campaign account as of the last fundraising quarter.

Senate Republicans, who are close allies of the former president, urged Thune to run and not to worry about a Trump-field primary challenge.

"He likes winners and John Thune is a winner," Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told The New York Times.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who chairs the Senate GOP campaign arm, quickly formally endorsed Thune on Saturday, saying in a statement that "South Dakotans are lucky to have a conservative fighter like John Thune working for them in the Senate."

Republicans are defending 20 seats during the 2022 midterm elections, including five open seats where Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) are retiring.

But they are feeling increasingly confident about their chances of winning back the Senate, where they only need a net pickup of one seat to get the majority. The Cook Political Report has ranked six races "toss-ups": Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, which are each currently held by Democrats, and North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which are currently held by Republicans.

McConnell, during a recent interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, predicted that Republicans have a "great cycle" with a "good chance of getting the majority back."

"The atmosphere is terrible [for Democrats]," he added. "I have a hard time seeing how they get out of the hole by next November."

Lexi Lonas contributed to this report.

Updated 1:39 p.m.
Erie County has finally seen its first significant snowfall this winter.

Through flurries, kids still made their morning walk to the school bus stop on the corner of Jodie Lane and Kuntz Road in Millcreek Township, their hands buried in their coat pockets to keep warm.

Traffic before 7 a.m. moved slower than usual over icy roads, but people made their commute to work nevertheless.

Pennsylvania snowfall totals:How much fell in your area?

A gym member of Planet Fitness, 1920 Edinboro Road in Millcreek Township, walks through snow flurries before sunrise on Friday morning.

As a snowplow cleared the parking lot of Planet Fitness on Edinboro Road in Millcreek Township, gym regulars trickled in, refusing to let a bit of snow stop them from their early morning routine.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland has issued a Lake Effect snow warning until 7 a.m. Saturday with up to 10 inches of snow possible before skies clear.

For updates:Lake Effect snow blankets the Erie region Friday morning. Here's what to expect

As Lake Effect weather returns to the Erie region, an excavator is used to clear snow from parking lots near Boscov's at the Millcreek Mall on Friday.

Early Friday morning, the National Weather Service also reported an intense lake effect snow band affecting areas along the lakefront in Ashtabula County, Ohio and Erie County until about 6:15 a.m., dropping as much as two inches of snow in that timeframe.

Snowfall in Erie usually begins by mid-November, but this winter season, the region has seen significantly less snow accumulation than last year, according to the National Weather Service.

According to the National Weather Service of Cleveland, the snowfall this season is 33 inches below an average amount of snow accumulation Erie County sees at the beginning of January. Unlike the year before, where the accumulation was only 13 inches below average.

Routine weather care

While the timing of the weather may seem out-of-the-ordinary, Jim Shaut, Erie County maintenance manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, handles it like any other winter storm.

"This is sort of a normal event for us," Shaut said.

In preparation for the storm, Shaut checked over all the snowplow equipment, made sure the plow blades were changed and that all 39 trucks were fueled up and ready to go.

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The snowplows, which have been out since 8 p.m. Thursday night, have been clearing snow and salting PennDOT's 39 Erie County routes non-stop, Shaut said.

"We plan to have the trucks out until all the roadways are cleaned off, safe and passible," he said. "We are expecting colder temperatures, and once you get below 20 degrees, it takes significantly more salt ... Well be out there until the job is completed or until it starts snowing again."

Less prepared:Some private snow removal companies are short-staffed but state, city of Erie ready to roll

No matter what winter weather is to come, Shaut said the county is prepared.

"We have 25,000 tons of salt, 11,000 tons of anti-skid (a mixture that provides traction for cars) and about 80,000 gallons of salt brine," he said. "There have been no shipping delays or delivery delays. Everything has been on track, so we anticipate no issues."

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission strongly encourage motorists to heed all travel restrictions and delay unnecessary travel. Visit 511pa.com for the latest travel, roadway, and traffic conditions.

A snowy activity:Why you should take a winter hike at Erie County's overlooked public park

Blowing snow and temperatures in the low 20s didn't keep this early-morning walker from their exercise, shown here passing the Erie sign near Bayview Park in Erie on Friday. Winter weather returned as about four inches of Lake Effect snow had fallen along the lakefront in Erie by 8 a.m. The National Weather Service in Cleveland predicted up to 12 inches of snow in the heaviest areas of the region.

Saturday's forecast calls for sunny conditions and a high near 33 with south winds, 8 to 14 mph. Saturday night calls for a chance of rain and snow showers before 10 p.m., with a south wind 17 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no snow accumulation is expected.

Erie region snowfall reports as of early Friday afternoon totaled 4 inches in Harborcreek Township, 6 inches in North East, 2 inches in Edinboro, and 2 inches in Erie, according to National Weather Service data.

Get the latest weather forecast and radar for your ZIP code at goerie.com/news/weather. Sign up for news alerts at profile.goerie.com/newsletters/manage to receive daily weather forecasts by text or email.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie weather: Lake effect snow covers the region, PennDOT and county are prepared
BOSTON  Massachusetts is once again considering aid-in-dying bills, proposed legislation which has historically divided the state  and the country.

Two bills introduced in the State House reopened the conversation last year, sparking energetic testimony. Considered by many a morally controversial topic, physician-assisted death remains nonetheless a highly debated issue all over the world.

Several countries worldwide have laws which either fully or partially allow doctors to assist patients with end-of-life options. Ten states, including Vermont and Maine, and the District of Columbia have passed legislation allowing some level of doctor-assisted death. New Jersey was the latest state to adopt aid-in-dying legislation, in 2019.

These types of laws come with many names: death with dignity; right-to-die; aid-in-dying. And just as their names differ, so does their content. But they are all based on the same principle: Sane, consenting adults with terminal conditions should have the option to end their lives.

Gov. Janet Mills signs a bill in June 2019 that made Maine the eighth state to allow terminally ill people to end their lives with prescribed medication.

We only get one death, each of us, said Peg Sandeen, executive director of Death with Dignity in Portland, Oregon. And that's why I believe in making sure that we have the autonomy and a number of decisions to have as much control that we can have at the end of life.

Oregons Death with Dignity Act of 1996 is seen by experts as a blueprint for many state laws. The legislation passed narrowly, but made Oregon the first state to allow physicians to prescribe aid-in-dying medications.

It has worked flawlessly, said Sandeen. What we're doing is granting a right to one group of individuals but harming no one else.

Seventy percent of Massachusetts of residents support medical aid-in-dying, according to a 2020 poll conducted by The Boston Globe and Suffolk University. According to the same poll, 74% said they would want doctors to stop treating them if they had an incurable disease and were in terrible pain.

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Yet the state Legislature has rejected multiple attempts to introduce death with dignity bills over the years.

Several bills to legalize physician-assisted death have been introduced, most recently in 2020. Those bills advanced from the Legislatures Committee on Public Health, but ultimately did not pass during the legislative session.

Prior to that, a ballot measure to legalize aid in dying was defeated, 51% to 49%, in the 2012 general election.

Two recent bills

Last March, two new bills were introduced. One was sponsored by Rep. James O'Day, D-West Boylston, and Rep. John Mahoney, D-Worcester, and another was sponsored by Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton. Her bill is sponsored by 84 members of the Massachusetts Legislature (67 House members and 17 senators). A virtual hearing was held Oct. 1 by the Legislatures Committee on Public Health.

Those are big numbers, said Comerford, Senate chair of the committee. That represents both a cohort of legislators who are tuned in but it also represents a great advocacy community, asking us to pay attention.

The bill would allow eligible adult Massachusetts residents to receive aid-in-dying medication from a doctor, but only after following a series of steps. Before a patient can request the medication, which must be submitted in writing, they must consult with a physician and a licensed mental health professional. They must also be able to take the aid-in-dying medication themselves.

The process is often lengthy and structured, to ensure patients who gain access to the medication have been cleared by several physicians and mental health professionals. It also requires patients to have a prognosis of six months or less to live in order to be eligible and wait periods in between requests.

There's nothing cavalier about the work on this bill, said Comerford.

One of the most recent provisions added to the bill ensures that people who would financially benefit from the death of the patient, such as family members, are prohibited from witnessing the decision. This is one of many provisions legislators have woven into the bill in an attempt to ensure patients are protected.

There's two big misconceptions, Comerford said. One is that people don't understand the very, very, very, very, very, very, very narrow cohort of people for whom this would be applicable. And then they also haven't read the version of the bill I filed and that we're actually talking about with layers of protections in it.

'Medicine is not politics'

While these compromises are well received by some, other proponents fear they may reduce accessibility.

Medicine is not politics, Sandeen said. Medicine is medicine. And so we want to make sure you know, if there's any sort of compromise that goes on legislatively, that we still have a process that patients can navigate and patients get access.

A 2020 Gallup poll found that 61% of Americans supported doctor-assisted death for patients living in severe pain with an incurable disease. But only 51% of respondents said they thought it was "morally acceptable." The poll, which was conducted via phone in May 2020, surveyed 1,028 adults living in all U.S. states. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4%.

During the October hearing, many who spoke in favor of the bill shared personal stories and reiterated that the bill ultimately boils down to giving people a choice.

If theres one thing that binds us all together, its our mortality, Rep. Jake Oliveira D-Ludlow, said during the hearing. The one thing we all face is end of life. These two bills provide options to the individuals as we face end-of-life options for people with terminal illnesses.

Having this option is often enough comfort for patients, even if they ultimately decide not to take the medication.

States with aid-in-dying laws are required to publish annual statistical reports about the physicians and patients. Surprisingly, according to Death with Dignity, about one-third of those who obtain the medication ultimately never take it.

What we've learned is that for some people, the medication is simply peace of mind, Sandeen said. It's about having just one more choice when you're terminally ill, just one more option.

But while public support and a growing number of legislators seem to overwhelmingly support the bill, its opposition is not scarce.

John Kelly, director of the disability rights group Second Thoughts Massachusetts and New England regional director of Not Dead Yet, said his organizations have been fighting against aid-in-dying bills for years.

The proponents say that it's about pain and suffering, said Kelly. But it's almost never about pain. It's about dignity and control.

Terminology has been a focal point for many discussions surrounding aid-in-dying laws. Sandeen said terms such as doctor-assisted suicide are often used as tactics to scare the public.

The opponents messaging is all about trying to scare people away from it, she said.

Critics often reject the idea of death with dignity.

The words of 'dignity,' 'mercy,' 'compassion' are used to disguise the taking of ones life  suicide, Rep. Alan Silvia, D-Fall River, said during the hearing.

A recurring concern from opponents is that the choice to end ones life, while marketed as an individual one, is never truly individual, as people can experience pressures from friends and family. People who seek to end their lives, said Kelly, do so because they fear being a burden or because they are upset about losing dignity and social status.

Ruthie Poole, president of M-POWER, a statewide organization comprised of people with lived experience of mental health diagnosis, trauma and addiction, testified that the bill would disproportionately affect people with mental health.

Suicide contagion is real, Poole said. Any assisted suicide program will send the message to people in mental distress  old, young, physically ill or not  that suicide is a reasonable answer to lifes problems. It isnt.

Kelly, who has been paralyzed below the shoulders since he was in his 20s, said the prejudice stacked against people with disabilities and social situations is driving these bills. If passed, he said, they would only reinforce the idea that a life as a disabled person is a life not worth living.

People who have spent their whole life identifying as able, when they become disabled, they use the same prejudice that they applied against others to themselves, Kelly said. Because in this country, if you're disabled, you're seen as 'less than.'

Better end-of-life care

Many opponents also argue that the focus should be on providing better end-of-life care, rather than death. In particular, they noted the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the disproportionate care received by communities of color and the disability community.

Focusing on providing better choices includes providing financial support to patients, providing home care and ensuring they do not have to rely on their families at the end of their lives.

As palliative care experts say, there's always more that you can do, Kelly said. What we think is that palliative care should be improved and everyone should have the same rights to counseling, spiritual guidance, pain relief.

The fear that patients would choose to end their lives for the wrong reasons is a recurring argument from critics.

Dr. Lachlan Forrow, senior fellow at the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, past chair of the Massachusetts Expert Panel on End of Life Care, and a member of the Coordinating Committee of Dignity Alliance Massachusetts, has spoken extensively about the issue.

Forrow said the focus should be on ensuring that patients have reliable access to other end-of-life care options, so they do not choose to end their lives because it is the "last resort." As the bill stands, he said, it would be grossly irresponsible to pass it.

While it is true, and unconscionable, that far too many people in our commonwealth today nearing the end-of-life experience uncontrolled pain or other physical and emotional suffering, and far too many experience a profound loss of their human dignity, the idea that the solution to these problems is to assist them in ending their lives is seriously misguided, Forrow said.

But Comerford said the two are not mutually exclusive.

I truly, with all my heart, believe that our work to provide that option for people who are terminally ill does not in any way obscure or preclude the work to advance health equity for individuals in the disability community or for people of color, Comerford said. They are not mutually exclusive. We don't get one and not the other.

Comerford said she intends to make the bill a priority during the next legislative session. And while the outcome is hard to predict, the reopening of the yearslong moral and ethical conversation is bound to dominate discussions around the bill in months to come.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Massachusetts divided over concept of medical aid-in-dying
By Jiri Skacel

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Superman, Cinderella and Minions were among characters from films, comics and fairy tales who greeted children at a COVID-19 vaccination centre in Prague on Saturday to ease their nerves as they came to be inoculated.

Despite a lull in coronavirus infections in the past month, the Czech Republic is trying to boost vaccination rates because it is bracing for the Omicron coronavirus variant. Vaccinations lag other European Union countries.

With children aged 5-11 now eligible for the vaccine, staff dressed in costume at one of the biggest vaccination centres in the Czech capital helped children who came to be vaccinated.

"We thought it would be better to have a day just for the kids," said Nikola Melicharova, a vaccination centre worker dressed for the day as Snow White. "And because kids are usually a bit afraid of vaccinations, we decided for a fairy tale day so that it was a little more pleasant."

Some 62.4% of the population in the country of 10.7 million has been fully inoculated, compared to a rate of 68.6% in the whole of the EU, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The Czech Republic started giving shots to children aged 5-11 in mid-December. Health Ministry figures show just over 27,000 shots had been administered to this age group by Friday.

Some children cried, but less so while talking to their favourite characters.

"I think it is right (for vaccinations). It is the only way out of the pandemic," said Jaroslav Kottner, who brought his nine-year-old son to be vaccinated.

(Reporting by Jiri Skacel, writing by Jason Hovet, editing by Timothy Heritage)
A Black man in Philadelphia spent 37 years in prison, despite the trial witness being charged with perjury just months after his conviction. In 2022, he was released from his incarceration after evidence emerged that officers offered said witness sex and drugs to lie on the stand.

According to NPR, Willie Stokes, 61, spent more than half of his life in a Pennsylvania state prison after a man from his neighborhood named Franklin Lee told the courts that Stokes killed a man named Leslie Campbell during a dice game in 1980.

William Stokes (middle)  CBS 3 Video Screenshot

After being arrested on rape and murder charges and being bribed by police with a deal to receive special favors and an early release, Lee testified in a preliminary hearing in May of 1984 that Stokes confessed the crime to him.

Lee would later say that detectives offered him sex with his girlfriend, would give him party favors like weed and opioids, and a lesser sentence for his crimes if he lied on Stokes.

However, by the time of Stokes murder trial in August 1984, Lee had changed his mind about the deal he was offered. On the witness stand he told jurors hed lied in the hearing and didnt know anything about Stokes and the murder of Campbell.

Despite Lee recanting, the prosecution still won their case and Stokes was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors then charged Lee with perjuring himself in the preliminary hearing. Lee pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve a maximum of seven years in prison in addition to his sentences for his convictions on his original charges.

Some 30 years later in 2015 Stokes found out about Lees perjury conviction. He hired an attorney.

He and his lawyers, even armed with that evidence, didnt get an evidentiary hearing on his federal habeas corpus motion until November 2021.

In a transcript of Lees testimony during the 2021 federal hearing, he told the judge that he fell weak and went along with the offer, admitting that he made everything up.

He further stated that his girlfriend, under the counsel of Lees mother, did not go along with the detectives suggestion to sleep with Lee in exchange for a lesser time. Not to be deterred, the detectives hired a prostitute to satisfy him the next time.

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Lee confessed that his mother had an impact on him also. The transcript said he testified saying, Once I talked to my mother, she told me, I didnt raise you like that, to lie on a man because you got yourself in a jam.

He said, She said, I couldnt care if they give you 1,000 years. Go in there and tell the truth. And thats what I did.

That federal magistrate judge took Stokes side after that hearing, especially after Phillys DAs office agreed that the trial and post-conviction actions by the prosecution  withholding info about the perjury plea from Stokes appeal lawyers  were unfair and Stokes deserved a new trial.

The US magistrate who listened to Stokes appeal said it was an egregious violation of (his) constitutional rights, the Daily Mail reports. A U.S. district judge agreed and overturned the conviction last week.

Stokes attorney Michael Diamondstein summed up the case this way, The homicide prosecutors that used Franklin Lees testimony to convict Willie Stokes then prosecuted Franklin Lee for lying on Willie Stokes. And they never told Willie Stokes.

On Tuesday, Jan. 4, he was released from prison but was not aware that he was getting out until 30 minutes before he was let go.

From outside of the SCI Chester prison in Chester, Pennsylvania, Diamondstein said to CBS 3, Hes only known for a half hour he was going to be released, this isnt something that we expected.

Key to his emancipation was Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who in 2018 dismissed 31 prosecutors in the city in efforts to achieve substantive criminal justice reform. Before this position, he sued the police department 75 times on cases that he believed had foul play.

Krasners office is responsible for the release of several Black men who were lied to by the Philadelphia police and spent decades in jail.

In August of 2021, Anthony Wright was exonerated of the rape and murder of an elderly woman in 1993 and served 25 years in prison before evidence proved that three former Philly homicide detectives Manuel Santiago, Martin Devlin, and Frank Jastrzembski set him up.

After serving 31 years behind bars and 25 years on death row, Christopher Williams and co-defendant Theophalis Wilson, through Krasners Office Conviction Integrity Unit, were found innocent of four 1989 murders.

Remarkably similar to Stokes, the CIU re-examined the cases and found the crooked police officers paid a witness, who was already in jail, to lie in order to get the men convicted of those murder crimes.

Williams has now enlisted civil rights attorney Ben Crump and is suing the city, the Philadelphia Police Department, Philadelphia District Attorneys Office, as well as 17 police detectives or their estates, two former assistant district attorneys, and former district attorney Lynne Abraham for $100 million for knowingly participating in his wrongful conviction.

While Krasner, who has shown massive support to Stokes case, has not yet formally decided not to retry him, his office did say publicly that Lee, the key witness, lied during his trial and that Stokes did not receive due process in his case.

A spokesperson from the DAs office said that the decision will be shared before the scheduled Jan. 26 hearing in state court.

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As a former Sumner County Assistant District Attorney, I prosecuted more cases than I care to count in which victims  often terribly traumatized by the events of a crime  suffered heartbreaking anguish after finding out Tennessees justice system is not what they thought it was.

The realization that most criminals, on average, only serve about a third of the time theyre sentenced to can be devastating for victims and their families.

Unless an offender receives life without parole, the time theyll serve is based on a complex mathematical equation established in 1989. Simply stated, the current structure is a grossly inaccurate reflection of the real time that will be served.

More troubling is that our current structure offers very little transparency at the time of sentencing. No one  not a judge, not a prosecutor or even a defendants attorney  can accurately tell an offender or a victim how long of a prison sentence will be served.

Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

Two significant pieces of legislation passed in 2021

Accountability and truth in sentencing are fundamental rights every victim deserves. We should be able to tell victims exactly how long a criminal who has harmed them will spend behind bars.

Representative William Lamberth speaks at the signing of Gov. Bill Lee's latest criminal justice reform bills at the Tennessee State Museum on Monday, May 24, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn.

Republicans in the General Assembly joined by Governors Bill Haslam and Bill Lee began in 2015 to lay the groundwork for reforming Tennessees current criminal justice system so that it meets present-day standards. Not those of four decades ago.

Separate task force committees from both administrations identified ways to improve public safety and reduce recidivism rates. Since then, Tennessee Republicans have taken a smart-on-crime approach to reforming criminal justice.

Two key pieces of legislation passed in 2021 as a result of the work of these committees, including the Alternatives to Incarceration and Reentry to Success Act.

These laws support the rehabilitation of non-violent and low-level offenders. Our justice system now provides alternatives to incarceration for individuals who can be safely and effectively monitored and provide additional reentry support.

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Proposal will keep judge's discretion but narrow sentencing range

Another recommendation from the two committees included rewriting Tennessees sentencing code to establish a clear period of incarceration that is communicated to all interested parties at the time of sentencing.

Chattanooga Councilperson Demetrus Coonrod speaks at the signing of Gov. Bill Lee's latest criminal justice reform bills at the Tennessee State Museum on Monday, May 24, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn.

This legislative session, we will work to make Tennessees sentencing codes more transparent through the Truth in Sentencing Act of 2022.

We know that the overwhelming majority of offenders will be released back into society. Uncertain prison sentences do nothing to make our streets safer.

But knowing exactly when an offender will be released enables our prisons and communities to better rehabilitate and plan for their release based on individual criminogenic risk factors that put them behind bars in the first place. We will strengthen public safety on the front end by eliminating the guesswork.

This plan preserves the judges discretion but will narrow sentencing ranges to reflect current state averages for most felony offenses. Tennessees most dangerous criminals  those convicted of murder, rape, sex trafficking, and violent crimes against children - will continue to serve 100 percent of the maximum sentences without parole.

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Parole will be phased out

Truth in sentencing will eliminate time off for good behavior. Instead, we will replace it with a robust evidence-based system of rewards, programs and services during incarceration that will better prepare them to become contributing members of society. This plan will preserve and enhance character-based, faith-based and job-preparation work-release options inside and beyond prison walls.

Parole will be phased out. Victims will no longer have to endure traumatic parole hearings every few years. Truth in sentencing will give the Tennessee Department of Corrections the discretion to evaluate an inmates risk factors to best determine how they will be supervised upon release after their full sentence has been served.

The work ahead will not be easy. A more transparent and efficient approach in sentencing will improve public safety and facilitate positive outcomes for all. This reform is long overdue. Tennesseans deserve a well-functioning justice system that holds criminals accountable but also advances human dignity by supporting those who desire to change.

Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, is the House Majority Leader for the 112th General Assembly. Lamberth represents Tennessee House District 44, which includes part of Sumner County.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Criminal justice reform: Truth in sentencing long overdue in Tennessee
The outside of the Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Center is seen in St. Louis, Missouri. Saul Loeb/Getty Images

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said Saturday she was "appalled" by the fire that destroyed a Planned Parenthood facility.

Investigators designated the incident as arson but have not identified any suspects.

The same Planned Parenthood location was previously the target of a shooting.

The mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee said on Saturday she was "appalled" by the fire that burned down the city's Planned Parenthood after city officials this week ruled it was set ablaze intentionally.

"I am appalled at the violent destruction of Knoxville's Planned Parenthood clinic. This criminal act is a serious threat to the public safety of our city and we are committed to bringing the person or people responsible to justice," Mayor Indya Kincannon tweeted on Saturday.

While investigators have not determined who set the building on fire, they determined it was set intentionally, the New York Times reported. The Knoxville Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) concluded on Thursday that the fire was an arson, according to NPR.

"This is an appalling and heartbreaking act of violence towards Planned Parenthood, our patients, and our community," said Ashley Coffield, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee & North Mississippi, in a statement.

The December 31, 2021, blaze resulted in a "total loss" of the building. The building was also been the target of a shooting in January of last year. In both incidents, the building was empty, and no injuries were reported.

"Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have mourned at this health center. As we reckon with this news and the road ahead of us, we remain tremendously grateful for the hard work and determination of the Knoxville Fire Department and the ATF to find the cause of this fire and bring the person, or persons, responsible to justice," Coffield added.

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Kincannon said in a tweet there was a $10,000 reward for information that lead to the "prosecution of anyone involved in any criminal activity related to this fire."

"I appreciate the diligent and on-going efforts of the Knoxville Fire Department for putting out the fire and working with federal partners to expeditiously and fully investigate this serious crime," Kincannon said in a tweet.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Katrina Robinson walks into a press conference following her conviction on wire fraud charges on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, in Memphis, Tenn.

U.S. District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman has acquitted Tennessee State Sen. Katrina Robinson of two counts of wire fraud but left two of her four counts remaining.

Robinson was found guilty in a jury trial in September 2021 of the four counts of wire fraud in connection with her leadership and ownership of The Healthcare Institute, a nursing school, and its management of funds received under a Health Resources and Services Administration grant.

The new order, issued Thursday, granted Robinson her request to acquit her of charges that she submitted annual performance reports in the years 2017-18 and 2018-19 to HRSA that contained fraudulent misinterpretations of The Healthcare Institutes operations in furtherance of a scheme to defraud HRSA.

However, the judge denied Robinson's motion to acquit her of the two other counts, which charged Robinson with improperly using HRSA grant funds to pay for two personal expenditures related to her wedding in furtherance of a scheme to defraud HRSA. One was to a caterer, the other to a makeup artist. The expenses totaled less than $3,500.

In her testimony at trial, Robinson said that her now-former husband later deposited cash back into the account to offset those expenses.

Katrina Robinson: Case against Tennessee state senator, codefendants dismissed following pre-trial diversion

Katrina Robinson: Tennessee state senator found guilty in federal fraud trial

But in an email exchange with a manager charged with processing THIs transactions, Robinson appeared to describe the charges as purchases for our patient education event [that]  that should be under our ADRD funds for grant accounting purchases, according to the court ruling.

I am grateful that her honor reviewed the trial proceedings and partially granted our motion acquitting me of the two wire fraud charges stemming from data entry reports that were completed by former employees of my corporation," Robinson said in a written statement. "However, my legal team is still reviewing the order from the court in order to make decisions on our next steps, as we intend to continue to fight this case. Had we not contested the government's actions and theory at every turn, I would have been punished for even more crimes that I absolutely did not commit."

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Robinson, 40, was initially accused by the government of misusing $600,000 in federal funding meant for scholarships. Instead, prosecutors said, some of the federal funding was used for personal expenses associated with Robinson's wedding, a Jeep for her daughter, designer handbags and other items.

At the trial, Lipman granted a motion from the defense to acquit Robinson on 15 of 20 federal charges of fraud and embezzlement.

Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Katrina Robinson acquitted of two counts of wire fraud; two remain
As COVID-19 cases have surged across Shelby County, public school districts are reporting increased numbers of sick students and staff and two schools are temporarily closed to some students in-person because they don't have enough staff to operate.

Across Shelby County, 25,393 people had active cases of COVID-19, the health department reported Friday, of which 4,857 were kids. Experts expect there is more illness in the community because the data do not reflect all positive results of at-home tests.

Compared to other counties, Shelby County's cumulative case rate among kids is one of the lowest in the state, data show.

But the sheer number of cases is beginning to pose logistical challenges for schools.

IMPACT ON KIDS: Omicron's impact on Memphis kids, schools yet to be fully seen but already 'significant'

In Memphis, Power Center Academy Middle, a Shelby County Schools charter in Hickory Hill, was granted a waiver by the state to close for seven calendar days and offer remote instruction. The school reported 47% of its teachers and 32% of its staff were in isolation or quarantine when it submitted the waiver Jan. 3.

Power Center Academy Elementary, also an SCS charter in Hickory Hill, was approved to close for seven calendar days and offer remote instruction to 20 classrooms of kids in grades 3-5. In those grades, 36% of teachers and 27% of staff were in isolation or quarantine when the school submitted the waiver Jan. 3.

Both charter schools are by operator Gestalt Community Schools.

HOSPITALIZATIONS SURGE: COVID-19: Shelby County could see record hospitalizations as cases surge

In Arlington, 1.8% of its high school students had reported cases of COVID-19 this week, a total of 40.

Collierville began the week facing staffing challenges. By Friday, a reported 53 students and staff at Collierville High School, 14 students and staff at Collierville Elementary, 20 students at Crosswind Elementary and 18 students at Collierville Middle School had COVID-19.

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In Germantown, a reported 16 students and staff at Riverdale School had COVID-19.

Medical assistant Bianca Bardee administers a Covid-19 test to a student at the Libertas School of Memphis on Thursday, March 18, 2021.

Below are available case reports for public school districts in Shelby County.

Shelby County Schools

Between Dec. 16 and Jan. 5, the district reported:

579 student cases among about 85,000 students in traditional SCS schools, or about 0.7%

477 staff cases

The district did not report how many students or staff were impacted by quarantine.

The district has reported a total of 4,041 student cases and 1,087 staff cases among traditional schools since the start of school on Aug. 9.

Among the district's more than 50 charter schools, between Dec. 31 and Jan. 6, the district reported:

78 student cases

14 staff cases

The district did not report how many students or staff were impacted by quarantine.

The district has reported a total of 638 student cases and 129 staff cases among charter schools since most started school on Aug. 9.

As of Dec. 16, about 6.9% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data, which calculates attendance across the district's traditional and charter schools. About 0.6% were remote.

SCS requires masks.

TESTING CENTER: New COVID-19 testing center opens in Memphis; tests adults, kids

Arlington Community Schools

Between Jan. 1 and Jan. 7, the district reported:

48 student cases among 4,978 students, about 1%

5 staff cases

The district did not report how many students or staff were impacted by quarantine.

The district has reported a total of 381 student cases and 66 staff cases since the start of school on Aug. 9.

As of Dec. 16, about 4% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data.

Arlington does not require masks.

Arlington Community Schools Superintendent Jeff Mayo and Lerkenda Little interact with a student during a visit to Donelson Elementary School. Nov. 16, 2021

Bartlett City Schools

The district has not recently reported any case data, according to the state dashboard.

As of Dec. 16, about 4.7% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data, and 0.9% were remote.

Bartlett does not require masks.

Collierville Schools

As of Jan. 7, the district reported:

125 active student cases among 9,119 students, or 1.4%

35 active staff cases among 1,346 employees, or 2.6%

The district did not report how many students or staff were impacted by quarantine.

The district has reported a total of 728 student cases and 147 staff cases since the start of school on Aug. 9.

As of Dec. 16, about 3.3% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data, and 0.4% were remote.

Collierville requires masks for staff but not for students.

MASKS NOT REQUIRED: No masks required for Collierville Schools students, board decides, despite superintendent's staffing concerns

Germantown Municipal Schools

Between Dec. 31 and Jan. 6, the district reported:

30 student cases

18 staff cases

The district did not report how many students or staff were impacted by quarantine.

The district has reported a total of 451 student cases and 94 staff cases since the start of school on Aug. 9.

As of Dec. 16, about 4.5% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data.

Germantown requires masks.

Students including Fatmeh Jaber (from right), Connor Gleason and Ella Garner go through the syllabus in Amanda Schulters art class Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, at Houston High School in Germantown.

Lakeland School System

As of Jan. 4, the district reported:

23 cases among about 1,850 students

At least 8 cases among about 240 employees

As of Dec. 16, about 4.8% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data, and 0.3% were remote.

Lakeland does not require masks.

MASK MANDATE: Germantown schools issue mask mandate for returning students

Millington Municipal Schools

Millington's COVID-19 website was not accessible Friday afternoon. The district regularly reports active cases and quarantines.

As of Dec. 16, about 7.1% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data, and 0.7% were remote.

Millington does not require masks.

Achievement School District

The district has not recently reported any case data, according to the state dashboard.

Of the 27 schools in the Achievement School District, 25 are in Memphis and 2 are in Nashville.

As of Dec. 16, about 3.3% of students were absent on average over the month prior, per state data.

Masking requirements across the district's schools were not immediately clear.

Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis schools and COVID-19: Two schools close; 4,800 kids sick in county
A U.K. advisory panel recommended against a fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose for elderly and at-risk populations, citing evidence that a third shot provides sufficient immunity.

The U.K. Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization advised against the fourth dose after data showed one booster shot  a third dose of an mRNA vaccine  offered enough protection against Covid-19 after three months, according to the Associated Press.

The panel recommended instead that as many people as possible receive a third shot to strengthen protection against infection.

The current data show the booster dose is continuing to provide high levels of protection against severe disease, even for the most vulnerable older age groups, said committee chair Wei Shen Lim, according to the AP.

For this reason, the committee has concluded there is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, though this will continue to be reviewed, Lim added.

The committees consideration of a fourth dose comes amid a spike in Covid-19 cases driven by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant. The U.K. has seen a surge of new cases and a staff shortage in hospitals as the virus  which is thought to be more mild than previous strains  spreads.

Late last month Israel became one of the first countries to administer a fourth vaccine dose after it approved the shots for individuals with weakened immune systems, elderly residents, and employees in care homes.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said earlier this week that he believes a fourth Covid vaccine shot will eventually be needed as protection from previous shots wanes over time.

I will be surprised when we get that data in the coming weeks that its holding nicely over timeI would expect that its not going to hold great, Bancel said, though he added that those who received third shots in fall 2021 are likely protected through the spring.

Assuming Omicron is an acceleration to the endemic phase, I still believe were going to need boosters in the fall of 22 and forward, Bancel continued, noting that at-risk groups may need additional boosters for years.

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Moderna projected in the third quarter of 2021 that its Covid vaccines would account for $15 billion to $18 billion in sales by the end of the year.

Last month, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBCs Squawk Box that another dose of the drugmakers vaccine may be needed sooner than expected because of the Omicron variant.

More from National Review
On busy summer weekends at the Oceanfront, the Virginia Beach Police Department beefs up its presence with sheriffs deputies.

But under city code, those deputies dont have the same powers as police officers when it comes to non-felony offenses, such as misdemeanors and traffic violations.

Sheriff Ken Stolle wants to replace references to police officer with law enforcement officer in the city code so that sheriffs deputies can issue summons for those offenses.

But some City Council members are concerned about the implications of the change, including the deputies accountability.

In November, the council approved forming a new board that will have investigative powers while independently reviewing complaints against police officers. Councilman John Moss said hes concerned that the sheriffs deputies would not be held to the same standard.

When theyre interacting with the public and someone files a complaint, their only recourse is to the sheriff, Moss said.

The City Council deferred a vote on the matter until March 1. At Tuesdays City Council meeting, members Michael Berlucchi, Rosemary Wilson and Linwood Branch voted against deferring, but others wanted more information. Councilman Rocky Holcomb, who works for the Sheriffs Office, abstained.

Councilman Aaron Rouse said he has serious concerns, in part, about the deputies level of training for police work on the streets. They typically work in the jail and courthouses, and receive half the amount of training hours as police officers. Rouse also was worried that citizens didnt have much time to learn more about the proposed changes to the law.

The public deserves more engagement, Rouse said. This has a significant impact to our community.

Stolle said at the council meeting that the amendment simply cleans up the code, to mirror state law, and that he didnt expect any controversy.

Its just much to do about nothing, Stolle said. Its not going to change the way we do business.

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Only a police officer can request a citizen to show identification based on reasonable suspicion or probable cause under current law, said City Attorney Mark Stiles. Stolles request would allow sheriffs deputies to perform that duty, among others.

Moss asked for a copy of the agreement that the police department has with the sheriffs office for the augmented services at the Oceanfront and elsewhere in the city.

It should talk about being accountable, Moss said. It isnt so much about what theyre doing, its are they being held to same level of accountability to all the people that we serve and that they serve.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
Still in the midst of a turnaround, Western Heights Public Schools faces a leadership turnover with its top administrator announcing Friday his departure from the troubled school system.

Interim Superintendent Monty Guthrie notified staff and parents his last day at Western Heights is Jan. 31. He said he has accepted a position at another school district that will bring him closer to home in eastern Oklahoma.

Guthrie commutes 2 1/2 hours from his residence in Stigler to the southwest Oklahoma City district.

"The people at Western Heights are just outstanding," Guthrie said when reached by phone Friday. "I couldn't have asked for anything better. It's just that I live 2 1/2 hours away."

Monty Guthrie, Western Heights interim superintendent, speaks about meetings with the Western Heights School Board at the Western Heights Board of Education building in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Friday, July 16, 2021. Guthrie was named by State Superintendent of Public Instruction,Joy Hofmeister, to lead state intervention of Western Heights

State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister chose former Western Heights teacher and administrator Brayden Savage to replace Guthrie as interim superintendent.

Savage spent 16 years at Western Heights during the tenure of then-Superintendent Joe Kitchens, advancing to the roles of director of human resources and assistant superintendent. She is now the principal of the Shawnee Early Childhood Center.

Savage, whose three children attended Western Heights schools, is a certified superintendent working toward a doctorate of education.

"Being back at the district where I have spent most of my career is exciting," Savage said in a statement. "I genuinely love this community  the teachers and staff, the students and their families. I believe that at the core of what we do is the partnership we have with parents and the local community. It is the only way to assure the best outcome for students."

Brayden Savage

Guthrie is the deputy superintendent of finance and federal programs for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. He stepped into the full-time superintendent role at Western Heights in July once Hofmeister appointed him to lead the district for the 2021-22 school year.

She made the appointment after the Oklahoma State Board of Education suspended the district's original superintendent, Mannix Barnes, and took control of operations in the school system this summer.

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Western Heights had struggled with abysmal academic performance, high absenteeism rates, heavy staff losses and poor financial management since Barnes was hired in 2019, state officials said.

More on Western Heights: 'Please help us': Oklahoma City schools face urgent complaints, one district on probation

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector's Office are probing the district.

District parent Amy Boone said Guthrie was a "breath of fresh air" after the discord under Barnes.

"I'm eternally grateful for his enthusiasm for Western Heights and for the positive influence that he was in our district and for the things that he was able to accomplish," Boone said.

Guthrie instantly encountered roadblocks from the Western Heights school board. Soon after his appointment, the board voted to approve an interim superintendent of its own choosing.

The school board and its attorney, Jerry Colclazier, challenged Guthrie's appointment in court, arguing the state has no authority to remove a superintendent and choose its own candidate.

An Oklahoma County district judge ordered Western Heights to accept Guthrie and denied the district's legal challenge. The Oklahoma Supreme Court declined to hear Colclazier's first appeal.

Western Heights board President Robert Everman even attempted to subvert Guthrie in a bizarre September public meeting by taping his own version of the meeting agenda to the front door.

Everman and the board then blocked Guthrie's superintendent contract, his choices for 44 new hires and a resolution to a two-year impasse in negotiations with the district's teacher union.

State selected interim superintendent, Monty Guthrie, walks off the bus he drove to get children to and from class on the first day of school in the Western Heights school district in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021.

The board in October approved the union contract, which Guthrie negotiated.

Guthrie said he decided to leave Western Heights solely to work closer to his family, not because of any issues within the district.

Boone said she was surprised and shocked to learn of his departure. She described the community response to Savage's appointment as mostly positive.

Longtime Western Heights educator Laurie McCracken said Savage's return will be a "joyous reunion."

"We will have people coming back to teach here because they will want to work for her," McCracken said in a statement via the state Department of Education.

The district has struggled after promoting from within, specifically following Barnes' hiring as superintendent after serving on the Western Heights school board. Given this track record, Boone said she is skeptical of any candidate with a history at Western Heights.

"I'm going to give (Savage) a chance, of course," Boone said. "My opinion has always been that Western Heights needed someone from the outside that has experience improving troubled districts."

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nurias work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Western Heights schools superintendent to depart, another appointed
A Whatcom County man told police that he shot and killed his father in self-defense after his father pointed a gun at him during an argument late Thursday in Everson.

A family dog also was shot during the incident, according to the probable cause and booking form obtained by The Bellingham Herald

The Whatcom County Sheriffs Office booked Ethan M. Knight, 20, into Whatcom County Jail Friday, Jan. 7, on suspicion of second-degree murder. Whatcom County Superior Court records show Knight was scheduled to make his preliminary appearance Friday afternoon.

The Everson Police Department and sheriffs deputies were called at 11:32 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, to the 600 block of Prairie Court in Everson after Knights mother called and said that Knight had shot her ex-husband, Michael Knight, according to the court documents.

Michael Knight, who was 46 and lived in Federal Way according to Nexis records, had come to Everson to visit for the holidays, according to documents.

Ethan Knight and his mother were in the living room, unarmed and waiting for police when they arrived, documents state, while Michael Knights body was found in the master bedroom. Ethan Knights gun was found on the dining room table.

Ethan Knight told deputies that he had shot his father and then made his gun safe, according to documents.

Before saying he would not answer any further questions without his attorney, Ethan Knight volunteered that he had shot his father in self-defense after his father had pointed a gun at him, documents state. He also said that after shooting his father, he had taken Michael Knights gun and placed it in a nearby bathroom.

As previously reported in The Herald, unconfirmed emergency radio reports at the time of the incident said that the mother had told 911 dispatchers that Ethan Knight shot Michael Knight after her ex-husband pointed a gun at her.

The mother also told detectives that she wished not to answer questions until speaking to a lawyer, documents state, but before invoking that right she told deputies that Michael Knight had been drinking alcohol throughout the day and bothering his son. At one point, according to the mother, Ethan Knight entered her bedroom to complain about his father and the mother had to get in between the two.

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Detectives found that Michael Knight had been shot in the face and least once in the left side of his body, according to documents. They also found three spent shell casings near his body.

A family mastiff that was positioned behind Michael Knight during the shooting also was shot by Ethan Knight, documents state, but it was not reported if the dog survived or if the shooting is believed intentional.

According to Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs records, there has not been a murder reported in Everson since 2002.

Denver Pratt contributed to this story.
A Winnsboro native who became an established multi-instrumentalist featured on hits during the '60s and '70s will be the inaugural artist commemorated in the new Northeast Louisiana Music Trail.

Country Music Hall of Famer Fred Carter Jr. will be commemorated with a marker as part of the sign route, similar to the famous Mississippi Blues Trail, in his hometown of Winnsboro.

Raised on the heavy musical influences of jazz, country, western, hymns and blues, Carter got his start as a principal on "Louisiana Hayride," a popular television country music show broadcast in Shreveport from 1955 to 1960.

Settling in Nashville by the early 1960s, Carter became an established session musician performing on hits by well-known stars, such as Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer" and Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay." Carter also worked with Muddy Waters, Waylon Jennings, Dottie Rambo, Dean Martin and Chet Atkins.

Carter died of complications from a stroke in 2010.

Country Music Hall of Famer Fred Carter, Jr. will be honored with a commemorative as part of the Northeast Louisiana Music Trail on Jan. 29.

Much like the Mississippi Blues Trail, the Northeast Louisiana Music Trail will highlight musical talents from the region. Trail founder Doyle Jeter said it has been a longtime dream of his to honor the immense talents of musicians in the area.

"After my wife, Yvette, and I opened our music venue, Enoch's Pub and Cafe, in 1980, it became a priority to do just that," Jeter said. "Priorities change - paying the electric bill and life got in the way."

Jeter said for the past 20 years, he and his daughter, Molly, have discussed promoting a historical landmark sign project in the region with the assistance from the son of an old friend.

"In 1979, I met a guy named Odis Jackson," Jeter said. "Odis was a bluesman, an entrepreneur, a promoter, a musician. His best friends were people like Bobby 'Blue' Bland and B.B. King. He booked a lot of the Chitlin' Circuit performances from all around the four-, five-state area. I became a good friend of his and his son, Dexter Jackson, is a dear friend. Him and I and my daughter are the ones that have been at the very essence of making this sign project work."

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Local Chitlin' Circuit stop: Chitlin' Circuit stop to get become affordable housing with $15M investment

Jeter said there are currently eight signs in production for future unveilings. Some of the names on the short list for potential signs include Jackson's father, Ivory Joe Hunter, Lillian West, Pearlee Mae Tolliver and Toussaint McCall, a Monroe native whose 1967 single "Nothing Takes the Place of You" reached No. 5 on the Billboard charts.

Jeter said he is working in conjunction with the Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser's Office on Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

"We're going to inevitably be under they're umbrella of their new program called the Louisiana Music Experience which is going to recognize performers and venues statewide," Jeter said. "It's kind of an exciting thing and it's taken me 40-plus years to enact it but it's all coming together."

A sign honoring Carter will be unveiled near the gazebo in Winnsboro on Jan. 29. A concert will be held Princess Theatre, 714 Prairie St., featuring Carter's daughter, platinum-selling country artist Deana Carter.

On Jan. 29, doors open at 2 p.m., and the concert will begin at 7 p.m.

Tickets are currently available on eventbrite.com. The ticket price is $40. Proceeds from the concert will go to the Princess Theatre and Winnsboro Main Street.

Follow Ian Robinson on Twitter @_irobinson and on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3vln0w1.

Support local journalism by subscribing at https://cm.thenewsstar.com/specialoffer.

This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Winnsboro musician to be first on new Northeast Louisiana Music Trail
LONG ISLAND, NY  Here are some of the biggest stories that Long Island Patches covered for the week of Jan. 3-7.

A LI teacher accused of giving a teen a COVID-19 shot without parental consent has been reassigned from her classroom duties, officials say.

See the top 10 states people are moving into and the top 10 they are moving from, including New York, and the reasons why.

"There should not be a hunting area near a wildlife center. That's like putting a porn shop next to a children's playground."

The state says the new county executive does not have the authority to override its orders, though.



Many New Yorkers are among the more than 700 people charged so far in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Also worth a read:

This article originally appeared on the Massapequa Patch
A dog who left a lasting legacy by helping socialize cheetah cubs and comforting other animals at the Columbus Zoo has died.

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of beloved cheetah ambassador dog, Coby, the zoo wrote Thursday on Facebook.

Coby, an 8-year-old Labrador retriever, was euthanized after his health significantly declined and he began suffering severe neurological signs related to chronic arthritis and secondary neck compression, and there were low chances he could live a life without pain.

The zoo praised Cobys playful and calm demeanor and recalled that he loved spending time with animals and humans alike.

Coby was a puppy when he first came to the zoo, where he began his illustrious career with cheetahs Bibi and Zemba, the zoo said. He also helped mentor two other dogs at the zoo who took on similar duties.

Pairing cheetah cubs with puppies is a relatively common practice for zoos, especially in cases when cubs have come separated from their siblings or were born without them. The puppies and cubs mutually benefit from socialization and exercise, and the timid cubs end up taking a cue from the dogs and become less fearful of their surroundings.

Kris the cheetah playing with her companion dog, Remus, at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2019. (Photo: John Minchillo via AP)

We want them to have confidence, the Columbus Zoos Suzi App told The Wall Street Journal in 2019. When we raise them with dogs, they have all the confidence.

Though the animals may become less close as they get older, they typically remain friendly companions.

Cobys duties extended beyond cheetahs. He also helped socialize other baby animals, like warthogs, and provided comfort for animals recovering from surgery.

Coby the cheetah companion dog help to give RJ the warthog confidence! He played a big role his early months of his life. #FriendshipDay#SecretsoftheZoopic.twitter.com/baiZ45JR5C  Columbus Zoo (@ColumbusZoo) August 6, 2018

He made everyone feel special, the zoo said.

Story continues

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Related...
As the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates on whether employers and/or healthcare facilities can require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, state legislatures and employers await the outcome.

Additionally, Iowa Rep. Jon Jacobsen, a Council Bluffs Republican, has announced plans to introduce a bill that bans employer vaccine mandates during the upcoming state Legislature session, which starts on Monday.

If the court strikes down the Biden Administrations mandates that employers with 100 or more employees must require vaccination and Medicare/Medicaid providers are not exempted, or if a ban passes in Iowa, health care facilities would be among the first to be affected.

CHI Health, like health care systems across the country, requires a host of vaccinations as a condition of employment, said Jeanette Wojtalewicz, interim president and CEO, noting the complete list of vaccines can be found on the CDC website. In 2021, CHI Health added the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required vaccines for all employees, regardless of position or patient contact.

There are exemptions available for the COVID-19 vaccines, according to Denise McNitt, vice president of patient care services at CHI Health Mercy Hospital.

There is an exemption process that employees can apply for if they feel like they have a medical or religious reason to abstain from the vaccine, she said.

CHI Health is still not sure how the tug-of-war between the Biden Administration and court will end, Wojtalewicz said.

We continue to follow the changing legal landscape in the federal courts, she said. What we can tell you is, to date, 97% of our workforce (12,000 employees) is either vaccinated or received a medical/religious exemption. Thirty-eight people (nurses, food services workers, clerical staff, etc.) left CHI Health over the vaccine requirement.

Methodist Health System declined to comment on the possible ban in Iowa or on employer vaccine mandates.

COVID-19 has now caused about 830,000 deaths in the United States, according to The New York Times and Our World in Data. Health care workers who have observed dying patients have said it is a miserable way to die, with patients sometimes gasping for oxygen with their lungs no longer capable of absorbing it, according to various reports. Long-term effects can include breathing problems, heart complications, chronic kidney impairment, stroke and Guillain-Barre syndrome, according to the Mayo Clinic.

There have been 8,019 deaths and 641,727 cases in Iowa.

Jacobsen said the bills promoters are not anti-vax.

Were just for medical freedom, he said.

Gov. Kim Reynolds and state GOP leaders have said theyd like to wait to see how the issue plays out in court before moving forward with legislation.

Supporters of the bill point out that COVID-19 vaccines can and do cause harmful effects in some people  sometimes severe.

One way to find out about these is to look at information from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System on the CDC website, available at cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/vaers.html.

The CDC provides updates on the following serious adverse effects:

Anaphylaxis  an allergic reaction characterized by difficulty breathing that can be severe and sometimes life-threatening. The CDC says this occurred in about 5 people per million.

Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (Johnson & Johnson vaccine)  a rare event that causes blood clots in large blood vessels and low platelets. There were 57 reports of this. A review of reports indicated this was caused by the vaccine, the CDC said.

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (Johnson & Johnson vaccine)  rare disorder in which bodys immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. This is usually temporary, but some people suffer permanent nerve damage. After 17.2 million doses were administered, there were 283 preliminary reports  about 0.002%  of GBS, mostly in men 50 or older.

Myocarditis and pericarditis  Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis is inflammation of the hearts outer lining. Most cases can be treated with medicine. VAERS received 1,947 preliminary reports of myocarditis or pericarditis among people 30 and younger who received COVID-19 vaccines.

Death  FDA requires health care providers to report any death after COVID-19 vaccinations to VAERS, even if its unclear whether the vaccine was the cause, the CDC website states. Reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem, according to the CDC. After 496 million vaccinations from Dec. 14, 2020 to Dec. 20, 2021, VAERS received 10,688 reports of death.

An estimated 207 million U.S. residents are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, with more than 515 million doses administered. About 62.4% of the US population has been vaccinated.

According to Iowa Department of Public Health data, the state is at a 59.2% vaccination rate, with 1,839,852 people fully vaccinated. Pottawattamie County is at a 54.4% vaccination rate.

Read more about the court system taking a look at vaccine mandates on Page A3.

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COVID winter envelops U.S., Europe again as global caseload tops 300 mln

Xinhua) 09:23, January 08, 2022

-- Massive COVID-19 waves magnified by the Omicron variant have been wreaking havoc worldwide, as the global caseload has surpassed the 300 million mark.

-- The sharp increase of new infections has created mounting pressure on the health care systems, and has once again disrupted the struggling economic recovery and people's daily life.

-- Experts and officials have been calling on the governments to take necessary measures, while appealing to people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United States and multiple European countries have been once again stormed by a drastic resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the global caseload has surpassed the 300 million mark.

With new infections skyrocketing, the fresh COVID-19 surge in the United States and Europe has mainly been fueled by the Omicron variant. Factors including eased restrictions, more social gatherings and frequent personal movements during the holiday season have also played their respective roles.

As the resurgence has added uncertainty and unpredictability to the prospects for the tottering global social and economic recovery, the time is now ripe for governments to take necessary actions and stand in solidarity against the pandemic.

SOARING INFECTIONS

Massive COVID-19 waves magnified by the Omicron variant have been wreaking havoc across the globe. The number of global COVID-19 cases reached 300,002,021 as of 0250 GMT on Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States remains the hardest-hit country by the pandemic worldwide, with its daily cases surpassing 1 million on Monday amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

People wait for COVID-19 testing at the Times Square in New York, the United States, Dec. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The new wave came as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to shorten the recommended time that people should isolate themselves following a positive test result from 10 days to five days if they do not show symptoms.

Across the Atlantic, Britain reported on Thursday another 179,756 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the national tally to 14,015,065. On Tuesday, the country's daily new cases exceeded 200,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) visits a vaccination center in Aylesbury, Britain, Jan. 3, 2022. (Andrew Parsons/No 10 Downing Street/Handout via Xinhua)

In France, 261,481 cases were registered on Thursday, much lower than the daily record that France set the day before. However, patients being treated in hospitals continue to rise, reaching 21,169, with 3,759 of them in intensive care.

People wearing face masks walk near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, Dec. 23, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

Germany on Thursday registered 64,340 new cases, around 21,000 more than a week ago, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported, adding Omicron cases increased by 8,916 within one day to a total of 51,472.

Italy recorded 219,441 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, surpassing the 200,000 mark for the first time.

People in their vehicles wait at a drive-thru COVID-19 test site in Bologna, Italy, Dec. 31, 2021. (Photo by Gianni Schicchi/Xinhua)

Greece, Croatia and Ireland have also reported record daily COVID-19 count while the Netherlands and neighboring Belgium have seen infection rates hiking significantly by 35 percent and 79 percent respectively.

What has brought a sense of relief is that the weekly death toll worldwide decreased by 10 percent last week compared to the previous week, according to the World Health Organization's weekly update on the pandemic situation.

MORE UNCERTAINTY

The sharp increase of new infections has created mounting pressure on the health care systems, and has once again disrupted the struggling economic recovery and people's daily life, causing a labor shortage, thousands of flight cancellations, and the closure of businesses.

A notice of cancellation of Christmas Spectacular performance is seen outside Radio City Music Hall in New York, the United States, Dec. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

In the United States, medical and testing needs have surpassed what the government and the country could provide, and colleges and schools have chosen to resume online education or even call off classes.

Amid the Omicron surge, initial jobless claims in the country last week rose to 207,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Thursday.

In Britain, hospitals have switched to a "war footing" due to staff shortages caused by the resurgence of the pandemic, the government said. According to media reports, the hospitals have been calling back staff from holiday or those on leave to tackle the Omicron-fueled "healthcare crisis."

Poland's Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Wednesday that his country is preparing to increase the number of hospital beds reserved for COVID-19 patients from 31,000 to at least 40,000 -- or 60,000 in the worst-case scenario -- in light of the surging cases caused by the Omicron variant.

A medical worker treats a COVID-19 patient at a hospital in Barcelona, Spain, Dec. 22, 2021. (Photo by Francisco Avia/Xinhua)

In Sweden, the Omicron surge coincides with rising influenza cases, putting a serious strain on hospital wards, many of which are already running at full capacity.

The number of COVID-19 patients has increased considerably in Stockholm's hospitals. Johan Bratt, the Stockholm Region's chief medical officer, said he expected the trend to continue "as it usually takes a couple of weeks between a person getting infected and the disease proving to be so serious that it requires hospitalization."

The Omicron variant has also dealt a blow to the economic recovery in Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

In Thailand, the Ministry of Public Health on Thursday raised its COVID-19 alert level from three to four in response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

The spread of the Omicron variant in Thailand could have a more severe and prolonged impact than expected on the country's economic recovery, according to the Bank of Thailand.

CALL FOR ACTIONS

To avoid disastrous results of the pandemic resurgence, experts and officials have been calling on the governments to take necessary measures, while appealing to people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

A poster showing measures against the COVID-19 is seen in the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 27, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

"We are in a race with Omicron here, and anything that slows down the virus helps. Decreasing the overall rate of new cases will mean more people get boosted before they are infected," William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a recent article on The Guardian.

"But while vaccines are the most important part of the strategy to blunt Omicron's impact, they are not enough by themselves. We still need to support isolation for those infected, quarantine for those exposed, rapid tests to identify cases, and promote masking in public places. All of these need urgent support from the government," said Hanage.

A man takes a self-administered COVID-19 test in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 5, 2022. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

French Health Minister Olivier Veran stressed the importance of vaccination, saying it helps prevent severe symptoms whereas an unvaccinated person, when infected, will likely need to be hospitalized.

German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach called for further contact restrictions to fight the Omicron wave. Although current measures would work, "we will probably have to step it up again," he told public broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday.

Italy on Wednesday further tightened anti-coronavirus measures, mainly making vaccination mandatory for people aged 50 and above, in an effort to curb surging COVID-19 cases fueled by the Omicron variant.

"What we really need to see is vaccines that are going to help drive down transmission because that's how we get control over the pandemic," Katrina Pollock, who leads the COVID-19 vaccine project at the Imperial College London, said.

Pollock highlighted that the most important thing in tackling the pandemic in the long-term is international collaboration.

"As long as we continue to collaborate globally and to break down those doors with scientists, politicians and public health experts ... we will move a global population away from the bad situation that we're in now," she said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
After a series of attacks by the Algerian government through its official media, the World Bank has responded in a well-thought statement that defended its latest data-based report warning on worsening poverty and economic conditions in Algeria.

The official mouthpiece of the military regime in Algeria has published at least three articles in which it accused the World Bank of seeking to undermine Algerias stability and accused the report of serving Moroccan interests. The APS went as far as attacking the MENA region head in the World Bank Farid Belhaj accusing him of being a Moroccan lobbyist.

Nowhere did the APS or other media put forward data or figures to respond to the World Bank analysis and data-based outlook warning of economic downturn and a social implosion in oil-dependent Algeria.

In a succinct response, the World Bank reminded Algeria that the report was conducted on the basis of official data.

The report, which undergoes a thorough quality review before it is released, is based exclusively on publicly available data that is referenced in the report, or data that is supplied directly by member country authorities, said the World Bank.

The conclusions of the report are consistent with official data available at the reports data cut-off date (November 1st, 2021), most of which is presented in the bulletin of the Central Bank of Algeria published on December 22, 2021, it said.

We have noted with regret that some of the articles cited above have adopted language which may not have been fully thought through by their anonymous authors. Unacceptable as they are, these comments will not be responded to, as we do not consider that they could be used as an argument or constitute an element of debate, the World Bank said.

The Algerian hysterical response to the report- which warns of a surge in poverty in Algeria and an impending economic crisis in the country  is reflective of a regime in disarray and denial restoring to lies and cosmetic reforms to delay the inevitable: structural adjustment.
Leaders of the Sustainable Beef LLC and Lincoln County rail park projects are welcoming new bills by state Sen. Mike Groene to have the state steer more money toward each.

The North Platte lawmakers LB 783 would set aside $75 million of Nebraskas share of federal COVID-19 relief funds for grants toward new construction of beef slaughter and packing plants.

LB 788, meanwhile, would boost available state matching funds under Groenes 2021 rail-park law (LB 40) from $10 million to the full $50 million envisioned in the original bill.

Groene introduced both bills during the 2022 sessions first day Wednesday. Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg is a co-sponsor of both LB 783 and LB 788.

The Legislature last May gave unanimous 49-0 final approval to LB 40. The North Platte Area Chamber & Development Corp. helped shape that bill as it continued planning its proposed rail park just east of Hershey.

Groene first brought up his desire to steer American Rescue Plan Act funds toward Sustainable Beef as he testified Nov. 23 at City Hall in favor of city support for its project.

Americas beef industry was demonstrably harmed by the pandemic that reached Nebraska in March 2020, Groene said. Spending of ARP funds must be linked to COVID-19s impact.

Getting some or all of what LB 783 envisions would ease Sustainable Beefs debt burden in building its plant atop a retired North Platte sewer lagoon, CEO David Briggs said Friday.

This would allow us to not borrow as much money, he said. The less money you borrow, the less risk there is.

Groene presented the idea to us (that) thats an eligible use of the funds, Briggs added. Hes leading the charge on that, and we appreciate his support and interest in Lincoln County and our project.

Because project organizers wont borrow all they need at once, he said, it doesnt matter much when the Legislature might pass LB 783 or something like it. Lawmakers are scheduled to meet through mid-April.

Sustainable Beef must complete its $325 million in financing to buy the old lagoon and start preparing it under the redevelopment plan the City Council approved Dec. 7.

Were very close. This definitely would help, Briggs said.

Groenes follow-up rail-park bill would help the Hershey project take shape more quickly, North Platte chamber President and CEO Gary Person said Friday.

Building the rail parks initial stage would cost $37.5 million, he said, based on the 3,000-page LB 40 application the chamber submitted when the program officially opened Monday.

Person said the chamber is asking for the maximum $30 million in matching funds allowed under Groenes original bill. The difference represents funds raised or otherwise secured locally.

The rail-park design would cost $60 million to realize if it were built all at once, he added.

LB 40 set the maximum size of the states rail park fund at $50 million. Senators allocated only an initial $5 million a year for two years under a companion bill, LB 40A.

If they agree now to fully fund the program, Person said, the Hershey rail park could be built out more rapidly instead of piecemealing it over 10 years.

Youre going to have a park rocking and rolling and having an economic impact much quicker, he said.

Person applauded Groenes followup rail-park effort. I hope he can pull it off, he said. Hes told us theres hope it can get done.

LB 788 also would open the door for Lincoln Countys project to gain more than $30 million in state help over the long term.

Should the Legislature allocate more matching funds beyond the initial $50 million, the bill says, individual projects could receive up to 60% of the extra funds.

Several other Nebraska cities applied for rail-park funds when applications opened Monday, Person said. He doesnt know when the Nebraska Department of Economic Development might make initial awards.

More by Todd von Kampen

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A medical worker in full PPE works on a patient who has COVID-19 in a negative-pressure room in the ICU ward at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, on January 4, 2022. Photo: Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

From abroad, where COVID-conscious Americans now look for portents of our near-term Omicron future, nearly all the signs have been positive over the last few weeks. In fact, case numbers aside, the U.K. and continental surges and new research from labs in Japan and Liverpool and Cambridge and Hong Kong (among other places) have made Omicron look almost like a best-case scenario or at least what wouldve qualified as one just a few weeks ago, once we knew how quickly the wave was spreading but not yet how quickly the wave would subside or how much severe disease would be left in its wake.

In all of these places, initial case growth was dizzying  if earlier surges were defined by exponential growth, with Omicron it seemed practically stratospheric. But the waves turned quickly  in South Africa, cases peaked just four weeks after the wave began, and in London, the wave has turned now too. In South Africa, the picture of severity was even more encouraging, since COVID fatalities there reached only a fraction of the level reached at the height of the countrys previous wave (in some charts you couldnt even see a rise in excess mortality). In the U.K., where hospitalizations are still growing, especially among the elderly, the death toll is likely to be more significant, though still well below the levels reached by the country last winter. This reduced severity is no mystery  study after study is now demonstrating that Omicron is much less effective in the lungs, where it can do the most damage, than previous variants. And several small-scale studies have suggested that  despite early concerns that Omicrons capacity for reinfection and breakthroughs meant it might not produce much cross-protection against other variants  infection with the new variant probably does offer enough cross-protection that a true parallel pandemic is an unlikely outcome.

But while this is all encouraging, it is not clear that those same patterns observed abroad will hold here in the U.S. In fact, there are already early signs in hospitalization and ICU data that the experience of Omicron in America may be harsher than has been observed so far in Europe. This should perhaps not come as a surprise, given that Delta was much more lethal in the U.S. than in Europe  and the current data may still reflect some lingering cases of that variant. And it does not mean a tsunami of deaths is right around the corner or that this new variant will mean for the U.S. what Delta meant for India. (To begin with, the U.S. is, by global standards, very well vaccinated.) But the higher rate of severity observed so far is a reminder that the shape of a pandemic is not simply a matter of the biological properties of the virus; it is also determined by the social and immunological context in which that virus spreads. And it appears that, with Omicron as with Delta, the American context may be different enough to make a real difference, delivering perhaps considerably more severe illness and death than weve seen on the other side of the Atlantic.

With Delta, many Americans observed a miraculously light British wave and effectively ignored the real carnage that followed here  100,000 Americans dead, and September and October was the deadliest two-month phase of the pandemic outside of last winters horrific surge. With Omicron, the same pattern  optimism from Europe followed by overlooked suffering here  seems troublingly possible again. And if youre hoping for an outcome resembling South Africas, where COVID deaths during the Omicron wave didnt reach even 10 percent of the previous peak, keep in mind that the U.S. began this wave on a Delta plateau 50 percent as high as our previous peak of daily deaths.

To this point in the Omicron surge, at least, American fatalities have not grown dramatically from that plateau, and the small rise we have observed is as likely to be the result of ongoing Delta cases as Omicron infections (that is how fast this surge has come upon us  our data are still telling a story about the last one). Anecdotal reporting from around the country suggests that while new patients are crowding hospitals and emergency rooms, to the doctors working in those hospitals the Omicron cases appear, on the whole, less serious. But while the New York Times reported this week this wave is putting less pressure on ICUs than previous ones, state data tell a different story: A comparable proportion of hospitalized cases are already now in the ICU as was the case in New York during the winter surge of early 2021. Then, hospital admissions reached 9,000; now, were already past 10,000. ICU admissions got to 1,600; now, were at 1,404.

And the numbers are still growing, quite fast. NYU epidemiologist Celine Gounder told me that between December 27 and January 3, ICU admissions in the city as a whole grew 55 percent. That is not a small jump, she said. It took place in just a week. Statewide, on the day before Christmas there were 4,891 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, 880 of them in the ICU; yesterday, there were 11,184 in total, with 1,404 in the ICU. In less than two weeks, in other words, hospitalizations had more than doubled and ICU admissions had grown by 60 percent. Cases had grown a lot too, from 49,708 on Christmas Eve to 84,202 yesterday. But a 70 percent jump in cases accompanied by a 60 percent jump in ICU admissions does not suggest a dramatic decoupling of the kind weve observed in South Africa and Europe and seemed almost trying to will into existence here. And since, in general, hospitalization surges lag behind case surges, it is worth keeping in mind that the data we have now about hospitalization levels all reflect infections from the Omicron upswing, not its peak, which may well be ahead of us. Gounder says she expects another week or two before a local peak here in New York, followed by another week or two before we reach a national peak  a rough timetable echoed Thursday by the epidemiological modeler Jeffrey Shaman. But already the country is reporting more than half a million new cases every day; the new daily case counts are rapidly approaching one million, four times as high as the worst days of the surge last winter.

This is the point Ive made over and over, Gounder says. The simple math I give is even if its half as virulent  so half as deadly, your case fatality rate is reduced by half  if you have twice as many cases, you have actually the exact same number of deaths. The way other concerned doctors and epidemiologists have put it is: A small fraction of a huge number is still a large number.

I think people have fixated on this idea that its mild, Gounder says. Mild means mild  relatively mild  for the individual whos infected. But it does not necessarily mean mild at a population level in terms of numbers of deaths. If a lot of people get infected, even if its a relatively benign virus, enough of those people will still have to be hospitalized and die that this is really going to be very overwhelming for the health-care system. I think its gonna be really tragic.

Im very reluctant to quote, unquote, learn anything from what South Africa and the U.K. experienced, says Brigham and Womens Hospital emergency physician Jeremy Faust. Theres different levels of vaccination. Theres different levels of mitigation. And quite frankly, its a different time of year in South Africa.

The data are already looking different, as well. Consider this chart from the U.K.s NHS dashboard:

Total hospital admissions are indeed still rising in London, as are ICU admissions and the number of patients on ventilators. But the number of patients who have needed critical-care beds is bending well below the catastrophic NHS experience of last winter (as you can also see in these charts from John Burn-Murdoch and the Financial Times).

Now compare with the below chart, from the New York Department of Health, of statewide hospitalizations (in gray) and ICU admissions (in yellow). The spring 2020 peak is the first bump, the winter surge the second, and the Omicron wave coming ominously into view all the way at the right.

These charts arent exactly equivalent  one shows patients in need of ventilators and the other hospitalizations and ICU admissions. But comparing the ongoing Omicron spike on the right to the large winter wave in the middle, two things are very clear. The first is, in New York, both hospital and ICU admissions are obviously still on the rise, even if we are at or close to a local peak of cases. The second is, by both measures things are already nearing or past the heights of our previous wave. From here, Omicron is certain to trace a taller curve, at least, and perhaps a larger one, depending on how quickly the wave subsides. And for the moment, it is not looking much less severe at the population level than the intermediate surge last winter; in terms of total people in the hospital and ICU, it is looking likely to be at least as bad and potentially considerably worse.

In London, ICU demand is not just way down from last winter, it is already declining:

In New York, it is not just approaching last winters peak but clearly on the rise:

Of course, last winter was not New Yorks worst period of the pandemic, as it was for much of the rest of the country (and England and much of Europe). New Yorks worst phase came right at the start, in spring 2020, and though the next few weeks remain uncertain, it seems unlikely that the city or the state will reach the awful heights of that first wave, when more than 18,000 COVID patients were hospitalized, more than 5,000 of them eventually in ICUs.

But a look at the country as a whole shows the same troubling pattern, as illustrated in this chart, by Burn-Murdoch and the FT:

There is a national decoupling, yes, in the sense that cases are shooting up much higher than hospital admissions and ICU patients. But each of those levels is already approaching the worst heights of the pandemic, and Omicron is just now starting to roll through the hospital system. Burn-Murdoch estimates that in in wealthy, well-boosted countries like the U.K., deaths may peak at 1015 percent of the previous record. In others, they may hit 50 percent. Those are encouraging estimates, especially given how large the case growth has been. But the U.S. began the Omicron wave at close to 50 percent of its previous peak, and those lines on the right are all pointing pretty sharply up. The ultimate outcome is not yet clear, but if the early course of Omicron through Europe suggested a decoupling of cases from hospitalizations and deaths, the early course of the variant through the U.S. suggests a decoupling from that encouraging European path.

Why might our Omicron surge be different from the European one? Looking at the country as a whole, one big answer is obvious: Our vaccination rates are markedly lower than most European countries. (That is the hypothesis put forward by Burn-Murdoch, examining the divergent patterns of decoupling in the U.S. and U.K.) A second related answer is that weve done an even worse job, compared to our European peers, vaccinating and boosting the elderly. (Eric Topol of Scripps has emphasized this fact.) A third possibility is that the relatively high levels of severe disease we are seeing in New York and throughout the U.S. are the residue of that lingering Delta wave  either the effect of some limited amount of ongoing spread of the more virulent variant or the impact of cases that began their clinical cycle a few weeks ago and are still requiring treatment in the hospital. In some parts of Europe, like France, Omicron has been growing on top of Delta, but most of the continent and the U.K. had not been dealing with nearly as much severe disease this fall as the U.S. has been. This is Gounders hypothesis, echoed by other doctors and public-health officials who are advising caution in making any assessment of the American wave before Omicron truly takes over the hospitals  that we should wait for another week or two of data to see a clear picture of the new variant unclouded by the old one.

But we may already be past that transition, given that 95.7 percent of cases sequenced in New York between December 19 and January 2 were Omicron, and more than 18,000 New Yorkers have been hospitalized since December 26. And while the lingering Delta hypothesis might well explain some early-Omicron-observed severity at the national level, New York didnt have a big Delta caseload in the late fall to begin with  by national standards at least.

On top of which, New York has a different vaccination profile than the country as a whole: 72 percent of New Yorkers have gotten at least two shots of vaccine, compared to 62 percent for the U.S. and 70 percent for the U.K. The Brits have done a considerably better at the critical job of delivering boosters  just over half their population has been boosted  but in terms of overall vaccination, New York State may be as close to the U.K. and other European countries as it is to the rest of the American states, where rates are often much lower. All this makes the concerning New York data potentially even more concerning, suggesting that outcomes here might not be representative of the American experience to come, but in fact milder, on the whole, than we will see in the rest of the country, assuming that Omicron cases soon overwhelm those places.

But one apparent difference between New York and Europe may also prove significant, if our Omicron wave continues to be more severe: Even though our vaccination rates may be comparable, we appear to be seeing a much bigger share of cases among the unvaccinated here than they have over there.

In fact, across Europe, wherever surveillance has been conducted, it has demonstrated that Omicron is spreading very proficiently among the vaccinated, which may be one reason why the overall severity of the surge looks so low (those people are much less protected against infection with the new variant, given its apparent immune-escape features, but especially if they are boosted they remain very well protected against severe disease caused by it). All of this data is better than the American equivalent, but it still has shortcomings and limitations: Some countries count two shots as fully vaccinated, some count three; some distinguish between the two groups, but some dont; and none are sophisticated enough to carefully track the effect of immunological waning in their official reports. Nevertheless, taken altogether the picture European data gives is very clear, with the share of Omicron cases among each countrys vaccinated population equal to or greater than the vaccinated share of the population as a whole. In Germany, where 71 percent of the country is double-vaccinated, 78 percent of the countrys Omicron cases have been among the vaccinated, it was estimated. (A data error at first made it seem the share was even higher, but it has been corrected.) In Denmark, where 80 percent are, it is 81 percent. Because vaccination does protect so well against severe disease, in any particular place hospital admissions should skew much more dramatically toward the unvaccinated than do cases, and yet, in the U.K., more than two-thirds of their hospitalizations have been patients with two or more doses of vaccine.

That these shares are large is not so surprising, given what we know about Omicrons immune-evasion properties. And as weve heard again and again since the rollout of vaccines, as the vaccination level of a population grows, so too will the share among the vaccinated of new cases (and even, ultimately, severe cases). But the fact that the share of cases among the vaccinated so closely matches the share of the population that is vaccinated suggests that, in Europe, though the seriously ill are more likely to be unvaccinated, in terms of pure caseloads, Omicron has been spreading about equally through vaccinated and unvaccinated populations.

This pattern is not what we are seeing in New York, where, according to the state, the unvaccinated were  at the end of December, after Omicron took over  eight times more likely to be diagnosed officially than were the vaccinated. Presenting this data alongside the European numbers does not make for a perfect comparison, since one is a raw accounting of spread and another a population-adjusted calculation of risk, and since neither accounts for the age stratification of vaccination, which is crucially important. But pandemic comparisons are never neat, especially this early in a wave, with so much noise in the data, and the contrast is striking nevertheless. And given how much more well protected the vaccinated are against severe disease, with Omicron as with every other variant, even a small difference in the share of spread among the unvaccinated could make the overall picture look significantly more severe. According to Gounder, two thirds of the patients newly hospitalized at Bellevue, where she has recently been on service, are completely unvaccinated  a reversal of the British data. And the data from elsewhere in the country is similar: 80 percent of hospital admissions in Louisiana were not fully vaccinated, and 71 percent in Connecticut.

The reasons for this apparent pattern are not obviously clear, though it may reflect some amount of statistical noise; the particular subpopulations through which the variant happened to get an early foothold; the relatively larger number of unvaccinated Americans; or social dynamics beyond our intuitive grasp or modeling capability. If the pattern holds, though, it could prove a grim sign.

To this point, however, reporting from inside American hospitals has been relatively reassuring  doctors have tended to describe less pressure on ICUs and, overall, a picture of less severe disease than has been observed at previous points in the pandemic. Doctors have also emphasized how many patients have been hospitalized with COVID, rather than for COVID. Indeed for the first time today New York State has begun, at the direction of Governor Hochul, distinguishing between those patients whose COVID is incidental to their hospitalization and those who were admitted expressly for the disease. In the first days data, 41 percent of COVID admissions in New York were incidental, and in many hospitals across the country, the number of patients admitted with incidental COVID outnumber those admitted for COVID treatment; in Los Angeles, among recent admissions, its been two-thirds. And in New York, 37 percent of those recently diagnosed at the hospital are asymptomatic.

But while Gounder says there are absolutely more patients with incidental COVID during this wave, the two are not precisely defined categories. Faust has emphasized a third group  those who have other medical issues but have been tipped over into hospitalization by the presence of COVID. To me, he also mentions a fourth group  the hospital onset cases, where patients admitted for another issue catch COVID while hospitalized. For some of them, the new infection could be not trivial but a catastrophic complication, and, Faust says, hospital onset cases are now at record highs for the pandemic  among the worrying signs hes watching at the moment.

I think that so far we have experienced what I would call a buffer between this massive rise in cases and the effect that has had on the hospitals  the wave has not yet fully worked its way into the hospital systems, in other words. Thats for a lot of reasons, Faust says. Thats due to population immunity. Thats due to maybe Omicron being a bit milder  I think thats real. And in many places, its a result of a younger, healthier population being the ones driving the outbreaks at first. This makes it hard to project early data on severity out through the end of a given wave, since the sorts of people sick now with Omicron arent necessarily representative. Its essentially the same thing as, as saying, if a vaccinated college has an outbreak and an unvaccinated nursing home has an outbreak, those produce two very different pictures, Faust says. 20,000 sick college kids can have less of an effect on a hospital than 200 sick nursing-home patients.

A few weeks ago, Faust helped launch a hospital-capacity dashboard with Bill Hanage and Benjy Renton. At the moment, it shows that eight states, including California and Texas, have reached a circuit-breaker level  meaning that additional mitigation measures are needed to preserve proper ongoing hospital functioning. Thirteen more, including New York and Florida, are now operating at an unsustainable level.

Whats happened in the past few days is that threshold  how many cases we could tolerate before hospitals really feel it  has been leapfrogged by the cases, Faust says. So thats where Im getting worried. On top of that, the relative mildness of this disease has also made it so that ICUs have lagged, as well. And what gives me great concern is that in the past week or so, around the country, you started to see outbreaks in nursing homes. That was not happening before, he says. When I look at the data that Im looking at, theres a range of possibilities that could be absolutely catastrophic. And I cant rule em out yet. And thats why Im sitting here sort of nervous.

What worries Faust most is what he calls the sort of zombie-apocalypse scenario, where you truly have to pull patients off of ventilators and not have enough oxygen. This was what famously happened early in 2020 in Italian hospitals and became the source of the largely successful flatten the curve rallying cry for Americans later that spring. There was almost no place in the country that had to really use crisis standards of care, Faust says. We didnt stomp out the virus, but we certainly didnt get in a situation where there were 35 patients in an ICU but only ten ventilators, and so 25 of them were just dying. And now? Theres a great portion of the country right now that is at risk of entering into that kind of situation sometime soon, he says. Will that happen? I dont know, but I always prefer when I can say, I dont think that will happen.
President Joe Biden has rescinded COVID-19-related travel restrictions that were imposed in late November on eight African nations. The rescission, which took effect on Dec. 31, was recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Prompted by concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant, the President had issued a proclamation on Nov. 26 that imposed travel restrictions on U.S.-bound travelers from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa (where the Omicron variant was first detected) and Zimbabwe. The proclamation, with few exemptions and exceptions, barred entry to the United States of non-U.S. citizens, immigrants, or nonimmigrants, who had been in any of these countries 14 days or less before their entry or attempted entry.

The President stated the following reasons for revoking the Nov. 26 proclamation:

Since I issued [the original] proclamation, our Nations health officials, in collaboration with the South African scientists who originally reported the variant, have made substantial progress in understanding the Omicron variant. Importantly, scientific experts have determined that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are protected against severe disease and hospitalization from the Omicron variant.

Moreover, the Omicron variant has now spread to more than 100 countries, and it is prevalent in the United States. At the same time, my Administration has made international travel to the United States from all countries safer in the time since I issued [the original proclamation, including generally applicable rules requiring] noncitizens to be fully vaccinated, . . . and for travelers to wear face masks on commercial conveyances and at United States transportation hubs.

Current vaccination and testing requirements

All persons traveling to the United States continue to be subject to the COVID-19 vaccination requirements under Proclamation 10294 and the testing and travel requirements issued by the CDC.

The current testing and travel requirements are as follows:

All international travelers inbound to the United States (including vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents) must present proof of a negative COVID test taken no earlier than one day before their planned departures.

Unvaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents must, in addition, present proof of purchase of a viral test to be taken upon entry into the United States.

Foreign nationals must, in addition, present proof that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Other developments

Consistent with the revocation of the African travel ban, the U.S. Department of State has announced that as of Jan. 1, the issuance of visas to individuals who were subject to the ban would no longer be prohibited but that the current vaccination and testing requirements remained in effect. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made a similar announcement.

The State Department guidance also addresses applicants whose visa applications were refused solely due to their presence in a country covered by a regional COVID proclamation Those applicants were advised to contact the embassy or consulate where they made the application to request reconsideration.

Tammy C. Woolley is Senior Counsel in the Opelika, Alabama, office of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP, and can be contacted at twoolley@constangy.com. This article is adapted from a recent e-newsletter published to our clients.
2021 ended with a report that Nigeria experienced a deficit of almost 200 million barrels of crude in the first 11 months of the year, mainly due to oil theft. But these experiences are all too common, and not limited to Nigeria alone. Year on year, we are seeing huge oil losses because of theft.

Oil theft in Nigeria is made easier by several factors. Aging infrastructure, such as oil pipelines, makes it easier for thieves to get access to the crude. In addition, general underinvestment across the sector and poor security of the countrys waterways means little is being done to tackle the crime. Some security agencies even collude with cartels for the pay-out.

While Nigeria hopes to meet its OPEC quota of 1.68 million bpd of crude for January 2022, these types of crimes are making it increasingly difficult. Over the last few months, Nigeria has been producing closer to 1.25 million bpd, demonstrating the uphill battle it must face meeting this target.

And the high prevalence of oil theft is driving international investors away. While the problem persists, oil majors are taking their money to more reliable markets with better monitoring and surveillance practices. Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Total have all already moved their operations to other regions, despite Nigeria being Africas biggest producer.

These thefts equate to $3.5 billion of revenue lost in 2021 alone or around 10 percent of the countrys foreign reserves. It is thought that Nigeria lost 42.25 million barrels in 2019 and 53.28 million barrels in the year prior, owing to oil theft. So, it seems clear that the situation is worsening, perhaps partially due to the economic difficulties faced during the pandemic, as well as the ease of access to aging pipelines and the prevalence of corruption.

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the countrys oil industry auditor, published a report in 2019 that suggested the OPEC state had lost around 138,000 bpd of crude to theft over the previous decade, at a value of around $40.06 billion.

In September last year, the Nigerian government set up a committee on the recovery of crude oil and illegally refined petroleum products. The group comprised the Department of Petroleum Resources, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, the Nigerian Army and Navy, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. But Nigeria still experienced huge losses throughout the rest of the year.

Related: White House Praises OPEC For Production Decision

Despite previous discussions about how to prevent this situation from continuing, little investment has been made to curb the trend. For example, there has been an unwillingness to fund technologies that could monitor oil and gas pipelines across the country to recognize sabotage or human interference and prevent theft.

And this is after years of widespread oil theft in Nigeria. In November 2015, thieves stole $250 million worth of crude from just one pipeline, around half a billion liters. As Africas biggest oil exporter, it is vital that the government and oil industry work in unison to curb this costly trend before it gets even worse.

But this is not a problem that affects Nigeria alone. While most of the oil comes from Nigeria, the effects of the crime spill over into other West African countries, according to the UNODC. Cartels in the Niger Delta region generally steal crude by hot tapping  attaching a secondary pipeline to a mainline, or cold tapping  blowing up a pipeline and replacing it with their own. They then export this oil illegally to countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and South Africa. Some even reach the international market. Corruption comes into play as oil tankers are often over-filled, with exporters bribing officials that control the transportation of the product to turn a blind eye.

While Nigeria is not the only country to face oil theft directly, with case studies on Ghana, Morocco, Uganda, Mozambique, Mexico, Thailand, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, to name a few, it experiences the most significant average losses by far. The lucrative nature of the crime makes it all the more common in poorer states. For example, in 2009, tapping a Mexican pipeline for seven minutes to access its refined oil could earn a cartel $90,000.

While oil theft across the global industry averaged 70,000 bpd of crude output in August 2020, Nigeria experience significantly higher losses. While its oil production levels remain high, the government and oil industry must tackle the crime head-on, through better pipeline monitoring and evaluation, if they hope to attract greater foreign investment in the industry. Having lost the funding of some of the worlds supermajors, and experiencing a drop in production levels following the pandemic, Nigeria is facing an uphill battle as OPEC raises its quotas. Reducing the prevalence of oil theft could strongly support the ongoing development of the countrys oil industry.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Western leaders have pledged tough financial and other punitive measures to be implemented if Russia escalates militarily against Ukraine.

The EU is calling for talks with Moscow as the face-off between Russia and the West continues to escalate.

The European Commission chief and the EU's new French leadership have stressed the need for European involvement as Russia and the West continue to square off diplomatically over the possible threat of escalated conflict in Ukraine.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on January 7 that "one thing is clear: no solution without Europe. Whatever the solution, Europe has to be involved."

The United States and its EU partners have stepped up warnings of major consequences if Russia invades Ukraine as Moscow amasses troops near their shared border and presses demands for security guarantees against NATO expanding eastward.

Von der Leyen said the European Union is "very present" in Ukraine, including through giving billions in financial assistance to Kyiv and the bloc's reliance on Russian natural gas shipments via Ukraine.

Speaking alongside von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed direct U.S.-Russian talks slated for next week but stressed that "European security architecture" is "up to us to build."

France officially took up the six-month, rotating European Union Presidency at the start of January.

Western leaders are said to be working on what they have pledged are tough financial and other punitive measures to be implemented if Russia escalates militarily against Ukraine.

Macron said "it's a good thing that there are discussions between the United States and Russia," and added that "coordination between the Europeans and Americans is exemplary on the matter."

But he called for the European Union to hold its own talks with Moscow.

"Dialogue does not mean making concessions," he added.

NATO foreign ministers are scheduled to meet virtually on January 7 to coordinate members' approaches to Russia.

U.S. and Russian officials are to meet in Geneva on January 10. This will be followed by NATO-Russian and EU gatherings with discussion of the Ukraine crisis high on the agenda.

By RFE/RL

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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says help is on the way to hundreds of motorists who spent a chilly night snowed in along on Interstate 95 after a
The words still circle in Tom Wenzls mind.

The 50-year-old Omaha man had just tackled 21-year-old gunman Jacob Muhle  a kid, as Wenzl put it  and held him down in an aisle at the Hy-Vee near 180th and Q Streets. An off-duty deputy Omaha police chief had joined the fray, wrestling Muhles gun away from him.

Youre no hero. Youre no hero. Youre no hero, Muhle kept saying, according to Wenzl.

Others might beg to differ. Wenzl and Scott Gray, the deputy police chief, saved lives during the frantic few minutes that Muhle shot at occupied cars and rattled off shots within the store, said prosecutor Amy Jacobsen, a deputy Douglas County attorney. The shooting sent people scrambling amid terror that a mass shooter was targeting shoppers, as had happened at Westroads Mall in December 2007.

Wenzl deflected the hero description Friday but said he knows that he saved one life: Muhles.

He said it was clear to him that Muhle was despondent and wanted to die.

He wanted suicide by cop, Wenzl said. Life was so bad that he wanted someone to shoot him that day.

Muhle and, miraculously, everyone else survived that surreal March 17, 2020.

And on Friday, he pleaded guilty to six felony charges that carry a punishment of anywhere from 11 to 176 years in prison. He will be sentenced in March.

Muhles father has told The World-Herald that his son had severe depression. He graduated from Millard West High School, where he participated in an independent learning program for students with learning disabilities.

On Friday, Wenzl said he half expected that he would tell his story on Ellen or Tough as Nails. But then the pandemic geared up, and the world moved on.

I still think this would be a good story for those shows, Wenzl said.

He said he had stopped by the store that night because his dog, Stella, had just had a litter. He wanted the stores old boxes to line puppy crates. He headed around back but didnt see any boxes discarded there.

He headed to the front of the store  planning to ask customer service if they would make a note to set aside any boxes for him.

Just then, he heard loud pops and thought it strange that someone would be setting off fireworks in March.

The loud pops, it turned out, were gunfire. Muhle started in the pharmacy drive-thru lane, firing one shot at a car and two at an SUV. The SUV driver, Carl Evans, said Muhle fired once and broke the rear window and again into his rear door.

We were lucky he didnt keep shooting, Evans told The World-Herald then. The fact that he didnt shoot us made me think that he was just trying to wreak havoc. If he wanted to kill someone, we were right there.

Having started toward customer service, Wenzl followed the gunshot sounds and walked outside to see Muhle with his gun.

I saw the kid firing, firing at an SUV.

Wenzl ran back into the store, yelling, Gun! Shooter! Basically I was screaming at the top of my lungs.

He said he thought that Muhle fired in my direction. A window at the front of the store shattered.

Wenzl took cover between a row of shelves in the pharmacy. Belly-down, he peeked around the corner.

Muhle stopped at the front of the store and shot out a security monitor.

Customers ran, screaming, to the back. Wenzl stayed put, shifting to a crouch. Meanwhile, Gray had bolted to the front of the store and had circled around to discern where the shots had come from.

Looking for anything suspicious, he spotted Wenzl crouching but, as he came up behind him, realized that he wasnt armed.

Gray asked him where the shooter was. Wenzl pointed to a young man dressed in black. Muhle was walking between checkout aisles and grocery rows toward where Gray was crouched behind the Gatorade, assessing the situation.

Gray pulled out the firearm that he has carried with him ever since he was one of the first responders at Westroads in 2007. He said he didnt want to get shot by the shooter, or by a police officer who might respond.

Just then  Gray said it was a fraction of a second before he was going to pull the trigger  Wenzl pounced. He grabbed Muhle by the shoulders, and wrestled him to the ground.

Gray said Muhle, knocked to a sitting position, put the gun to his own temple, then lowered it. Wenzl said he had Muhles arms pinned when Gray asked where the gun was. Muhle didnt know.

Gray used his gun to bash Muhle in the head, and knocked his gun away with his left hand. Gray broke his hand in the process.

He and Wenzl held Muhle until more help came.

It wasnt until minutes later, Wenzl said, that he had a chance to assess what had just happened, and what might have happened. A divorced father of four girls and a boy, Wenzl said he could see desperation in Muhle.

Wenzl said you wouldnt believe the things that go through your mind when staring down a gunman. Wenzl said he thought about his kids, and also a cousin awaiting a liver transplant.

I thought about everything, and I just told myself, You know, you gotta go. You know, lets rock and roll and, I mean, get it done.

He also knew that the scrawny kid  Wenzl put Muhle at about 5-foot-7 and a buck-thirty  had no chance, as long as Wenzl surprised him.

Wenzl, a 1989 graduate of Grand Island High School, said he outweighs Muhle by about 60 pounds. His day job involves working with an overpowering substance, concrete.

Plus, Im an ex-wrestler  I wrestled in junior high and high school. I mean, I didnt go very far, but Im the kid that everyone put down and made fun of my last name (Wenzl vis-a-vis weasel). So Ive always been a scrappy little s-.

Days, weeks and now 22 months later, Wenzl said hes had time to reflect on his actions. He knows that many people have died trying to subdue an active shooter. Most recently, a high school linebacker in Oxford, Michigan, was shot and killed while trying to disarm a gunman.

Wenzl said his adult daughters alternately applauded him and chided him.

They kind of said, Go figure, my dads crazy  my dads a dumb- if he tackles a guy with a gun when he dont have nothing. But I made sure I had the element of surprise. I just wanted to make sure I hit him like a ton of bricks.

Wenzl himself has had rough patches in his life. In his mid-20s, he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car crash caused by a drunken driver. Since then, hes battled depression and his share of ups and downs.

So he has sympathy for Muhle.

Jacobsen, the prosecutor, gave one fact that still concerns her: In interviews with police in the hours after the shooting, she said, Muhle said he would do it again.

Wenzl wonders whether that was just a further cry for help  not much different than Muhles youre not a hero refrain when he was pinned.

Wenzl said everyone in the store that day was lucky that the only blood spilled was when Gray hit Muhle in the head. Muhles blood dripped onto Wenzls work boots.

Wenzl said he hopes that Muhle gets the help he needs.

My sole focus was not letting him hurt anybody or hurt himself, he said. Because, I mean, that could have been one of my kids shopping. And weve had too much of this stuff.

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LINCOLN  Kirk Penner made his opposition to proposed health standards known Friday during his first meeting as a member of the Nebraska State Board of Education.

The Aurora businessman drew applause from attendees as he tried to place a motion on the agenda to permanently reject the standards.

But he said bylaws prevented that from happening, so it will be on the agenda of the next meeting on Feb. 4.

The health standards were indefinitely postponed by the board in September, but any board member could attempt to revive the process with the support of a majority.

Penner, who was appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts in December, said that it should be up to parents, not the board, to decide what their children should learn about the content in the health standards, which called for teaching elementary school students about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Board member Deborah Neary, who has been an advocate for the standards, said that she was delighted to have Penner on the board but that she didnt want anyone to falsely believe that the state board wasnt an advocate for local control.

In cases like the health standards, we totally respected the idea of parent and local control because we gave every school the opportunity to get what they wanted from the health standards, she said.

She noted that the standards would not have been mandated for local districts.

Penner also expressed disapproval Friday when the board approved a two-hour time limit for public comment.

The board voted 7 to 1 to set the limit, which can be extended or terminated at any time with a majority vote.

Under the change, each person will have five minutes to speak. They must complete a sign-in card with their name and address and identify any organizations they represent. Anyone who doesnt identify themselves would not be allowed to speak.

Penner was the sole vote against the revised policy, citing the health standards.

He said he disagrees with the policy because he doesnt believe that the board would have voted to extend public comment during the health standards debate, potentially cutting off people wanting to voice their opinions.

Last year, the proposed standards sparked lengthy public comment sessions at meetings. Since there was no time limit, some sessions were allowed to go on for several hours, while others had a specific cap on the number of people speaking or how much time they were allotted.

You had a hot-button issue, and now we are going to limit public comment. And to me, thats not correct in my opinion, he said.

Board member Jacquelyn Morrison said the board had the ability to limit public comment last year but chose to lengthen some sessions to include more comments.

I personally fought for more hours for public comment, Morrison said. So if that limit was in place, would we have (extended) it? I would say yes, because we did.

The new policy was developed by researching how other governing bodies handle public comment and with feedback from the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office, Morrison said.

Penner, who has the endorsement of the Protect Nebraska Children political action committee, which fought the health standards, said if the board was really listening to the parents, then the health standards would have never come forward. Rounds of applause came from a crowd of about 40 people, with some holding up signs condemning the standards.

Penner is completing the term of Patricia Timm, who resigned from the District 5 seat in October, citing personal health reasons.

Penners Dec. 23 appointment to the board was followed by a controversy over his Twitter account.

Social media users shared screenshots of posts Penner shared, including one questioning vaccines for young children and another comparing Europes response to the pandemic to Nazi Germany. His account was suspended on Dec. 24.

On Dec. 25, Twitter reversed the suspension, saying it had been made in error. Penner indicated in a tweet that the suspension stemmed from a photo taken after a goose hunt.

Penner said Friday that he thought his first meeting was interesting, noting that he knows what it feels like to go to a first board meeting. He served for 16 years on the Aurora school board.

At my second board meeting, I will understand more of the process and whats going on, he said. I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed getting to know my fellow board members.

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Only a few days into the new semester, some school districts in the Omaha metro area are reporting an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among students and staff.

The Millard Public Schools on Friday reported 297 active cases, or 1.08% of the districts population.

Spokeswoman Rebecca Kleeman said the cases are the result of winter break and mirror what is being seen in the community. She said most of the cases are not from school buildings but are reports that are being called into the district.

Kleeman said the district has a layered approach that includes sanitizing buildings, providing hand sanitizer and running air conditioning systems around the clock for fresh air. The district has recommended and encouraged masking and social distancing when possible.

On Friday, the Omaha Public Schools COVID-19 dashboard showed 125 active cases among staff and 469 cases among students. The last dashboard update before winter break, posted on Dec. 17, showed active cases among 38 staff members and 189 students.

OPS has required students and staff to wear masks all school year.

School is resuming at a time when cases of COVID-19 are increasing in the area and the state. Cases of COVID-19 in Nebraska jumped to 14,799 in the week ending Wednesday, more than double the 7,176 cases recorded in the previous seven-day stretch.

The tally was the second-highest weekly total of the pandemic, just below the 15,348 cases recorded in the second week of October 2020.

Douglas County marked its highest daily case count of the pandemic on Wednesday, with 1,547 new cases reported.

This week, six Omaha-area teachers unions called on local officials to implement mask mandates because of a record-breaking surge of daily cases due to the omicron variant. The unions said strong mitigation efforts are needed in the entire community, not just school buildings.

But Omaha officials expressed skepticism that a mask ordinance would receive the support needed to be passed by the Omaha City Council.

The Papillion La Vista Community Schools saw a surge in cases this week, spokeswoman Annette Eyman said.

Officials are closely monitoring the situation for a rise that would trigger a change in the districts mask-optional policy, she said.

Kids have been in school for only three days this week, but total cases for the week are likely to exceed the week before winter break, Eyman said.

Its definitely, definitely up, without a doubt, she said.

The district saw about 20 cases of students and staff with COVID-19 on Friday, and about the same number on Thursday, she said. Students made up the majority of cases, and many of those were high school students, she said.

A spokeswoman for the Springfield Platteview Community Schools said Friday that the district hasnt yet experienced a surge in cases but that officials are closely monitoring the situation.

The Gretna Public Schools had 60 cases this week, the highest weekly count theyve seen this school year, Superintendent Rich Beran said.

Gretna students came back Tuesday.

Twenty-five of the cases were in the high school, Beran said.

Our numbers have gone up but not skyrocketing right now, he said. I think for the next two weeks, theyre going to go up. They should, I mean everyone else is, we should, too.

The surge wont trigger any changes in the districts protocols for now, Beran said.

What were seeing is more families getting it at once than we ever have, so Mom, Dad and all the kids, he said. Most of the kids are asymptomatic or (have) hardly any symptoms.

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Emily Nitcher Emily is an enterprise reporter for the World-Herald. Previously, Emily covered K-12 education, local government and the Nebraska Legislature. Follow her on Twitter @emily_nitcher. Phone: 402-444-1192. Follow Emily Nitcher 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 number of Omahas first responders who are off work after testing positive for COVID-19 has hit or is close to hitting the previous peak.

In addition, COVID vaccination rates of workers in the Police and Fire Departments have increased only slightly since the summer, just before the delta variant caused an uptick in cases and hospitalizations.

City officials on Wednesday implemented a mask mandate for all Omaha police and fire employees, requiring masks while indoors, in a vehicle with another person or interacting with the public.

Omaha Deputy Police Chief Michele Bang said the department is able to maintain daily services, but the mask mandate was deployed in an attempt to prevent further infections.

With the pandemic and the ability of omicron, because its more contagious, we dont want to get to that point where we are having operational impact due to employees being off, she said. We are hoping to see a decline in positive cases over the next few weeks.

Wednesday, 35 Omaha Police Department employees were unable to work because they had tested positive for COVID. Friday, that increased to 41 cases, which matched the previous peak of daily positive cases from late 2020. Of those testing positive Friday, 38 are sworn officers and three are civilian employees.

Over the last year in the department, Bang said, the daily COVID-positive numbers have been low  possibly about a dozen but mostly under 10.

Bang said Police Chief Todd Schmaderer has identified a threshold of daily COVID positives that would trigger emergency plans to manage daily operations, but she declined to give that figure.

Were not near that now. Nobody should be concerned, she said. Its impacting us because were having more overtime or crews are running slightly shorter than they normally would, but its not impacting overall operations.

As for the Omaha Fire Department, its COVID numbers were close to the peak of 40 from Dec. 22, 2020, with 39 firefighters infected on Wednesday. By the next day, several workers had ended their required isolation and went back to work, so the number of firefighters out with COVID dropped to 26, said Battalion Chief Scott Fitzpatrick. Friday, the figure rose to 27.

In the citys announcement Wednesday on the mask mandate, officials said most employees are vaccinated and have mild symptoms, while a few unvaccinated employees recently were hospitalized. Bang said she wasnt aware of any Omaha police worker who was in the hospital as of Friday. Fitzpatrick didnt answer a reporters question about whether any firefighters were in the hospital with COVID.

Bang said department leaders have continued to encourage vaccinations against COVID because those who are unvaccinated are more likely to have serious symptoms or need to be hospitalized than those who are vaccinated.

Yet six months after The World-Herald reported the COVID vaccine rates of Omahas first responders, the rates have barely increased.

In mid-July, 61% of both sworn officers and civilian Omaha police employees were fully vaccinated. (Broken out, the rates were roughly 59% of police officers and recruits and 74% of civilian employees). This week, the vaccine rate for sworn and civilian Police Department workers was up to 67%. The number of employees in the department had decreased by 36 people since the summer.

Omaha Fire reported about 73% of fully vaccinated firefighters in mid-July. That figure now sits at 74%, with 23 firefighters added since then.

Officials caution that the rates could be higher because employees are not required to report their vaccination status. Since a city policy went into effect in July, the city has denied workers compensation claims for unvaccinated first responders if they get sick with COVID on the job. Vaccinated employees still would be given the presumption that they had contracted the virus while working.

In July, more than 250 Omaha Police and Fire Department workers were listed on city records as refusing the vaccine.

The vaccination rates for both Omaha firefighters and police officers fall just short of the adult population they serve.

Nearly 76% of Douglas County residents ages 18 and older were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, health officials said Friday. Specific rates within the Omaha city limits are not available.

Before Wednesday, Omaha Police Department workers were encouraged but not required to wear masks after Omahas mask mandate expired in late May. Masks were scarce at a police promotional ceremony in late November with more than 75 officers, Police Department employees and city officials in attendance.

Bang said the department followed CDC guidelines for wearing masks, testing and quarantining if exposed to the virus.

Omaha firefighter crews have worn masks on medical calls since April 2020, Fitzpatrick said. In July, Assistant Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman said that if one person was unvaccinated at a fire station, all personnel had to wear a mask. She said then that the policy would be reviewed.

Fitzpatrick said Friday that the policy had been slightly relaxed this past summer when in fire stations because of the low transmission rates we were seeing.

Now, he said, firefighters are required to wear masks inside fire stations while around other firefighters, including during shift change in the mornings.

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The elephant herd at Omahas Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium has grown by one.

Kiki, an 18-year-old African elephant, gave birth to a calf Friday morning.

Mom and baby are doing well, zoo officials said in a press release. Zookeepers do not yet know the gender or weight of the calf.

Its the first elephant born at the Omaha zoo.

Kikis pregnancy was announced in October, seven months after zoo officials announced that 12-year-old elephant Claire was pregnant. Claires calf also is due this winter.

All the female elephants at the zoo were present when Kiki delivered her calf.

The Elephant Family Quarters building is closed to the public to allow staff to observe bonding, maternal behaviors and nursing between Kiki and her calf.

Callee, 21, is the father of both Kikis calf and Claires calf. He joined the zoo in 2019 from the Birmingham Zoo in Alabama.

Kikis pregnancy was a bit of a roller coaster for zoo staff. She showed signs of pregnancy around the same time as Claire, but her hormone levels started to drop.

By spring 2021, a zoo veterinarian heard the babys heartbeat.

Claires pregnancy has been textbook.

In the meantime, zoo staff worked on baby-proofing the elephant barn by installing new cameras with better night vision and filling gaps in the enclosure.

Kiki, Claire and the herds three other females came to Omaha in 2016 from Swaziland.

Visitors will get the chance to reserve a timed ticket to see the calf with the herd once the elephant building has reopened. Updates on tickets will be available at a later date.

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Nebraska lawmakers will consider letting employees across the state refuse vaccinations because of a strong moral, ethical, or philosophical belief or conviction, under a bill introduced Friday.

Vaccine and testing requirements have become a hot-button political issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially since President Joe Biden issued a series of federal mandates. The mandates face ongoing court challenges. Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has signed onto multiple lawsuits challenging the federal requirements, and Gov. Pete Ricketts has consistently voiced his opposition to such requirements, while simultaneously encouraging Nebraskans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Vaccines have proven effective at preventing the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, and Nebraska is currently experiencing a surge in cases due to the omicron variant.

Sen. Ben Hansen introduced the vaccine exemption bill, Legislative Bill 906, and 10 co-sponsors have joined him so far.

I never thought wed ever have to have something like this, he said.

Hansen said that hes been inundated with communications from employees and employers concerned about requirements and that hes concerned about the impact on individuals as well as the economy.

The bill would require the State Department of Health and Human Services to create a form for people to claim the exemption and post it on its website. Employers would have to honor the exemption, but they could still require the employee to be periodically tested for an illness (at the employers expense) and use personal protective equipment (which the employer would have to provide).

The bill would apply to employers with at least 20 employees, the state, government agencies, political subdivisions, and any employer whose business receives funding through the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority Act. But it wouldnt apply to the federal government, tax-exempt private membership clubs or Indian tribes.

The effort is much narrower than a bill Hansen introduced last year, LB 643, which looked to broadly give every individual, parent and business in the state the right to decline a mandatory vaccination directive issued by the state government without facing penalties.

Hansen said he has shifted his focus to the new bill. He had foreshadowed the more specific bill and said it would be aimed at protecting employees while making sure not to encroach on employers.

Hansen and Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood led a push to convene the Legislature for a special session last year to consider banning vaccine mandates but fell five senators short of the support they needed.

Other bills introduced Friday include:

School funding. Sens. Lynne Walz of Fremont and Brett Lindstrom of Omaha introduced a bill each, LB 890 and LB 891, aimed at revamping how schools are funded. In a press release, they called the bills a power package that offers a transformational vision for education funding. Their goal: to offer property tax relief while fully, sustainably and equitably funding schools. Walz chairs the Education Committee, and Lindstrom is the vice chair of the Revenue Committee.

Tampon tax. Sen. Terrell McKinney introduced LB 881, which would exempt menstrual hygiene products, such as tampons, panty liners and menstrual cups, from sales and use tax. States across the country have considered similar legislation in recent years. The Legislature has considered such an exemption in the past but hasnt approved it. Advocates for eliminating the tax often frame it as discriminatory. McKinneys bill also requires detention facilities to supply female inmates with feminine hygiene products for free.

Racetrack casinos. Sen. Tom Briese of Albion is looking to put in place new requirements for racetrack casinos with LB 876. If it were to pass, racetracks would have to host at least five live race days a year by 2026, and there would have to be 50 miles between existing racetracks and new racetrack casinos, with some exceptions for existing tracks in specific counties. The bill also includes provisions related to self-excluded people, who could agree not to be eligible to collect winnings or recover losses from gaming activity at a racetrack. In a statement, Briese said, Nebraskans voted to allow gaming in our state, and we want to make sure the right guidelines are in place for this industry to grow appropriately here.

Implicit bias training. LB 885 from Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha would require people renewing licenses to practice medicine, surgery, dentistry, chiropractic, nursing, massage therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy and several other professions to complete annual implicit bias training  an approved program designed to expose unconscious prejudices or partialities, to provide tools to adjust automatic patterns of thinking, to eliminate discriminatory behaviors, and to create awareness of implicit bias.

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Mayoral response?

Where are you, mayor? Our citys hospitals are filling up and good people are dying of COVID, yet silence. You were elected to be a leader, not a follower of the governor or a disgraced president. Where are you, Mayor Stothert?

Mathew Davey, Omaha

Real equality

In 1688, the first religious document opposing slavery was written by four Mennonite men meeting in a Quaker meeting house in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Four hundred years later, we have not achieved liberty and justice for all. At one time, Black people were only three-fifths human and Native Americans werent considered human until 1869. One of the problems with Mr. Chappelears article (Dec. 14) is attempting to soften or water down a full-fledged effort to bring about complete equality, thus to continue racial inequality. I want to commend the leaders at UNL for a full-fledged attempt to bring about real equality, now.

Elvin Siebert, Omaha

Relief funding

Senator Rand Paul has consistently voted against awarding federal disaster relief money to states impacted by weather-related disasters, over the last 10 years, stating people here have great compassion for others, but notice that their great compassion is with someone elses money. While voting to deny relief money to other states, he asked that relief money needs to be sent to his home state of Kentucky. Fortunately, the relief bill is for all four states impacted by the tornadoes, otherwise Rand would probably be voting no on three of the bills and yes for Kentucky.

Rick Madej, Omaha

No more descriptors

First off, full disclosure  I am white; lived and raised in North Omaha and went to a mixed race grade and high school. But, being white, I am automatically labeled as privileged, a white supremacist by some that want to widen the divide among races. There have been several recent posts in the Public Pulse about systemic racism. In my opinion (that I want to express before personal opinions are also a sign of systemic racism), this phrase is getting a little old and worn out.

There also was a recent editorial about How young is too young to teach white kids about race? My immediate answer was ... never. I would like to share an experience with my 5-year-old daughter, some 50 years ago, when she was taking swimming lessons in the mixed race area (but mostly white) where we lived in North Omaha. She was in a small group of five girls taking lessons. During a pause in the lessons, she came running over to my wife and me all excited and exclaimed I just made a new friend. We asked her which one it was. She was having trouble pointing out the new friend. Then she said the one in the pink bathing suit ... the only Black girl in the group. My wife and I just looked at each other and smiled.

Prior to that event, we did not teach our children about race. We also did not teach about handicapped people, short people, etc. We always answered questions as needed. But I do not remember one instance where any of our four children asked about a persons skin color. They made friends based on the content of their character.

This is not to say that we shouldnt teach the blemished and imperfect history of our country. But to essentially declare that our great country is systemic racist and even demand reparations for terrible mistakes made by people that have died several years ago, does nothing to bring us together as Americans. Lets get rid of the descriptors and lets just be Americans.

Dan Hedrick, Omaha

Future of democracy

I read with interest the article on issues facing the Nebraska Legislature in the upcoming session (Dec. 26). The issues listed were those that will be facing most of the country as we move into 2022. They are not unique to Nebraska and are at the center of the great divide in our nation.

There were a couple of issues that were obviously missing that I believe to be crucial for the future of our democracy.

Are members of the Unicameral capable of addressing the issues on a bipartisan basis? I am deeply concerned that as the Republican Party is drifting further to the right, there seems to be a strong opposition to democracy. We see a willingness to embrace tyranny as a path forward as opposed to our current governmental system.

Second issue is the drift towards tyranny itself. There appears to be some vocal supporters of what they perceive as a positive in a tyrannical form of government. There appears to be those who find their guidance down this path in the Constitution. The reality is in experience, there simply is not an example in history or the present where tyranny has served all of the people well. Even the majority of the populace who help put tyrannical leaders into power experience few, if any benefits.

Third and probably equally important if not primary, is the willingness to pull back from corporate denial and have the strength and courage to address the issues of climate change. If we do not do that, and I am not a doomsday person, the other issues will become moot in 30 to 40 years.

I would hope our state, which has some wonderful, strong and dedicated people, finds the courage to address these issues and at the same time find the basis of affirming the integrity, value and importance of those on the opposite side of the debate. I hope the leaders of this state would seek ways for the populace to have a serious debate on these important issues.

Don Sarton, La Vista

Capitol attack

The attack on our Capitol building one year ago should be included in the history of the United States as one of our darkest days. My blood boils when I hear people try to downplay this fact. Lives were lost, more than 100 people were injured. Everyone knows who is to blame.

God bless America.

Leon A. Bresley, Omaha

Rein it in

Representative Don Bacons press release concerning the Jan. 6 insurrection I am sure is sincere. His revulsion to what happened that day echoes that of the majority of the country. However, I get the sense from his remarks that maybe he is getting tired of taking punches from Trump for voting for the infrastructure bill. When you get criticized for supporting something the overwhelming majority of the county has been clamoring for for a decade, I imagine its difficult not to feel abused. But it is also difficult to sympathize with someone who for so long enabled a former president who was  and continues to be  so petulantly vindictive and self-absorbed. Accusing Speaker Pelosi and the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 for being tainted by partisanship is laughable. Congressman Bacon says its time to rein this back in. No doubt. That should have started long ago, by Don Bacon and the majority of the Republican members of congress, before two impeachments and an appalling, treasonous insurrection.

Leo Miltner, Omaha

COVID vaccinations

In response to Jim Birkels letter (Pulse, Jan. 5)  you are confusing apples and oranges. You are either missing or ignoring a few critical differences between COVID vs. obesity, alcohol abuse, and cancers from tobacco use. 1) COVID is a highly transmissible virus and 2) there is a widely available vaccine to prevent or significantly lessen the effects of this virus. An individuals freedom to damage their own health is different from our responsibility for public health. The regulation of smoking in public places is a more apt comparison. Public mandates for smallpox and measles vaccinations have made these public scourges almost non-existent. How is COVID vaccination different?

Michael Kaipust, Omaha

Importance of water

Burning fossil fuels pollutes our air creating a greenhouse effect which warms our planet, the science is there. No one is addressing the elephant in the room, hydraulic/hydro-fracturing or fracking after a bit of wordsmithing. The product of hydro fracturing is natural gas, a fossil fuel, but it is the extraction method we need to scrutinize. To extract natural gas from rocks below the surface, water, sand, and a proprietary mix of chemicals is injected into layers of shale causing the natural gas to rise for collection. Water rises back to the surface as well. This water is ruined, so toxic it must be stored in deep wells under ground forever. Elementary science class taught us about the water cycle, where we learned that all the water on Earth now is all the water there ever was and will ever be. Where are the studies showing the impact of removing so much water from the water cycle? Is that why snowfall is down in the Rockies? Does it play into the unprecedented drought in California? How is this affecting the climate overall? Can life on Earth survive without water, no.

J.A. Conley, Omaha
BLOOMINGTON  Two police cars were damaged during the arrest of a man on drug charges, prosecutors said.

Stefan A. Mangina, 32, is charged with three counts of unlawful delivery of methamphetamine, unlawful possession of meth with the intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver.

A prosecutor said Mangina delivered 50 pills of ecstasy (about 23.5 grams), or MDMA, a substance containing methamphetamine, to a Bloomington Police Department vice unit on Nov. 8. Hes also accused of delivering 16 pills of MDMA (about 7.5 grams) Nov. 19, and 10 MDMA pills (about 4.5 grams) on Wednesday, officials said.

Following Wednesdays drug sale, Mangina got into the passenger seat of a vehicle and Bloomington police tried to conduct a traffic stop for Manginas arrest, the prosecutor said.

The vehicle did not stop, and when boxed in by police, the car rammed two police cars, causing extensive damage, authorities said. One police vehicle was totaled, prosecutors said.

Mangina and the driver fled the scene. Mangina was found walking in the 500 block of Grove Street, Bloomington, but he got in the passenger seat of an SUV, authorities said.

Police pulled over the SUV, and Mangina jumped out of the car and fled on foot, prosecutors said.

He was later arrested. A search warrant for his home lead police to recovering about 17 grams of cocaine, 15 grams of methamphetamine, drug packaging materials and cash, prosecutors said.

Mangina remains jailed in lieu of posting $50,035.

He is due back in court Jan. 28 for an arraignment.

Contact Kade Heather at 309-820-3256. Follow him on Twitter: @kadeheather

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ROCK ISLAND  Three years after his release from prison, Anthony Gay continues to fight to end solitary confinement in Illinois.

The 48-year-old recounts the horrors of spending 20 consecutive years isolated in a prison cell no larger than a parking space. Starving for attention and human interaction, he began self-mutilating as his mental health deteriorated without proper treatment.

"I used to ask myself when I was in this environment, how could America be so cruel to its own people?" said Gay, a Rock Island native, in a recent interview with The Pantagraph. "One thing I got in my head, I said, even at the expense of losing my life, I will fight and fight and fight until they stop torturing my people in solitary confinement."

Gay was sentenced to prison in 1994 after pleading guilty in a Rock Island robbery when he was 20 years old. In an interview with The Pantagraph Gay said that he had gotten into a street fight with another teen, who then told police that Gay stole his hat and a dollar bill. Gay was initially serving his time on probation, but was caught driving without a license and was sentenced to prison.

While serving out his seven-year sentence, Gay said during the interview that he began to manifest a mental illness that caused him to act erratically. Shortly after his prison sentence he landed himself in solitary confinement following a fight with another inmate.

During his time in prison, he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, which he said the Illinois Department of Corrections was aware of. He was prescribed psychotropic drugs, which did not stop him from self-harming.

Gay said that rather than being treated for his mental illness, he was continuously punished for his actions by being placed in solitary confinement with little human interaction. He was typically not allowed outside his cell, even for meals, and was only sometimes let out for short periods to exercise.

"You've got to remember that this environment is psychologically darkening," Gay said. "Instead of them realizing that he's (Anthony) psychologically sinking, they would up the ante and try to figure out a way to stop me from being able to get to the outside hospital.

"At some point, they got tired of me flooding the cell, putting stuff in my ear, so they sent me to the supermax."

Federal lawsuit filed

For the next 20 years Gay was transferred between prisons, going from one solitary confinement cell to the next. During his sentence he was placed at the Pontiac, Menard, Tamms, Dixon and Stateville prisons.

After his transfer to the Pontiac Correctional Center, a maximum security prison for adult men, Gay accumulated an additional 97 years onto his sentence for multiple assaults on prison guards.

Gay's sentence was eventually reduced in 2014 to 24 years, and he was released in August 2018.

As his mental state deteriorated, Gay began to cut and re-cut wounds on his body, sometimes inserting foreign objects or staples and often losing enough blood to lose consciousness. Two months before he was released from prison in 2018, he inserted a razor into his eye just leave solitary confinement.

"I'm thinking, 'How can I get people to care about me? How can I get people to talk to me? How can I get people to understand? So I started out scratching myself," Gay said. "Then, it started getting to the point where my body reacted to it and I started feeling better when I did it.

"I would do it to where it would become so horrific to the point where I've got blood gushing out of my neck like water out of a water fountain. It's sad because, it's like these people are now showing me care and compassion because they don't want me to kill myself."

In 2018, Gay filed a federal lawsuit against former Illinois Department of Corrections director John Baldwin and current IDOC director Rob Jeffreys; Wexford Health Sources, which provides medical and mental health care to IDOC inmates; and several wardens and assistant wardens at specific prisons where Gay was held.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois and alleges the defendants tortured Gay and violated his Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act. It also states Gay's 14th Amendment rights were violated. The lawsuit is ongoing.

The Illinois Department of Corrections is undergoing changes to its solitary confinement policy, which it calls "restrictive housing," said Lindsey Hess, IDOC public information officer. Each inmate placed in solitary confinement is examined by a qualified mental health professional and receives "programming based on their mental health status and needs," she said.

"The Department is committed to ensuring its policies and procedures support the wellbeing, rehabilitation and successful reentry of all individuals in custody," Hess said in an emailed statement to The Pantagraph.

The new policy, which began in October 2020, requires all people in custody to have time out of the jail cell and access to programs, services and recreation, Hess said. It is based on a set of best practices recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice and the American Correctional Association.

'The greatest agent for change is awareness'

An estimated 67,000 inmates across the U.S. are in a cell 22 days alone, a 2019 Yale University and the Association of State Correctional Administrators study has found. The state Department of Corrections also estimates about 900 or the 1,100 prisoners in solitary confinement have mental illness.

Earlier this year, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the Anthony Gay Isolated Confinement Reform Bill, which seeks to reform solitary confinement in Illinois. The bill is currently stalled in the state senate, said state Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago.

"We tried to pass this many times in the General Assembly, with many people giving testimony about the trauma that the confinement puts them through," Ford said in an interview with The Pantagraph. "It's my hope this year that we can continue to work with the Department of Corrections and the sponsor in the Senate to pass it on to the governor for his signature.

"It's really changing the way solitary confinement is in Illinois and making it a little more humane, making sure they have access to daily exercise, able to read and have certain amount of daylight."

If passed, the bill would limit an inmate to no more than 10 consecutive days in solitary confinement in a 180-day period. The bill also ensures inmates have access to to group therapy, medical appointments, meals, educational classes, job assignments, visits and exercise, the gymnasium or yard time when not in solitary.

IDOC would also be required to file quarterly reports on the use of solitary confinement.

"We have to remember, putting people in this state, they're the very same people coming back to our neighborhoods," said Ford. "If we don't treat them better and try to reform them, it's only hurting us. We have to make sure we reform our correctional institutions, and this is one of them. You can tell that Mr. Gay is traumatized."

Ford said he was moved after reading Gay's story, which is why he reached out to him as one of the sponsors of the bill.

"That was his only way to receive any touch from the outside, and that's sad," said Ford. "That tells you the system is inhumane. When you saw the cuts on his arm and listening to his testimony, it's clearly inhumane and unnecessary. There's no way Illinois should treat people that way."

Today, Gay has committed himself to raising awareness of the dangers of solitary confinement. Every day he is driven to call and share his story with others, creating new alliances in the fight to end solitary confinement.

During his Rock Island interview with The Pantagraph, Gay invited a few community activists he had met while he was reaching out to various groups and organizations to raise awareness and share his story. The activists said they were inspired by Gay's story and wanted to help raise awareness of the dangers behind solitary confinement.

Amirra Rose, an activist for inmates in Rock Island, said she had met Gay through his outreach. His story spurred her to assist in educational efforts to raise awareness of the harmful effects of solitary confinement.

Ethics, minimum wage top Illinois' new laws in 2022 With nearly 300 laws taking effect on New Year's Day, Illinois lawmakers have resolved to hold themselves to a higher ethical standard, stay the government's regulatory arm on young entrepreneurs and review ways to revive the struggling local journalism industry.

People always think or have the mindset, well, they got themselves in prison, this is what they deserve, this is what they get, this is their punishment," said Rose. "Many times, people make bad decisions, but at the same time its the peoples tax dollars that are covering the cost of these individuals being behind the wall, and that doesnt necessarily give the state the right to use those tax dollars in the poor manner that they are.

Latrice Lacey, director of the Davenport Civil Rights Commission, and high school students at United Township in East Moline Kadija Sylla, Leslie Moreno and Omnia Salih, all 17, also joined. The students are part of a Youth in Government program and are drafting their own bill to abolish solitary confinement in Illinois.

"I think the thing that appealed to both me and Leslie is that solitary confinement is honestly inhumane," said Sylla. "It's just something that affects everyone in society, even if it's not directly affecting you. That's what appealed us to this bill."

The students, they said, were touched after hearing Gay's story and testimony and wanted to take matters into their own hands to raise awareness.

Gay continues to share his story to inspire others while advocating for inmates who are still incarcerated. He said he is not motivated to gain sympathy or gratification, but to help those who are facing the same psychological tortures he experienced while incarcerated.

"In order to beat this monster, in order to dismantle this monster, I have to be proactive in the extreme," said Gay. "I think the most therapeutic thing for me is fighting back. Sometimes I cry at night because I know there are still people in there that are being tortured and I'm out and they're not.

"The greatest agent for change is awareness. The more people we can make aware, the more people we can inspire to do something about it."

Contact Sierra Henry at 309-820-3234. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_sierrahenry.

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Illinois reported a record 201,428 new COVID cases since Dec. 31, along with 444 deaths, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced Friday. As of Thursday night there were 7,096 people with COVID in Illinois hospitals. That includes 68 people in McLean County hospitals.

McLean County also had a record number of new cases reported on Friday, with 1,281 new cases since the Thursday update from the McLean County Health Department.

COVIDs continued impact on education was felt clearly this week by Bloomington District 87 families when classes were canceled on Friday.

Superintendent Barry Reilly said the closure was due to an expected lack of available staff, including substitutes. Absences included those isolated and quarantining due to being close contacts.

He expects the weekend will allow enough quarantines to end for school to resume in-person on Monday.

Julie Riley, president of the Bloomington Education Association teacher union, said that it was evident in schools that there were high numbers of teachers and students absent. Substitutes have also been hard to find the entire year, in part because many are retired teachers who are worried about being exposed to the virus.

The administration has been good about communicating with and getting input from the BEA, Riley said.

Official numbers for the week from Unit 5 and District 87 are not expected until the end of the weekend or early next week.

At Unit 5, that has led to some support staff and administrators having to step in as substitutes, said Superintendent Kristen Weikle. She does not intend to use a districtwide decision, instead focusing on individual classrooms or buildings. At times last term the district had to move some classes to remote learning.

We could use the same process if we just didnt have staff, she said.

'Not as easy as it seems'

Unit 5 Education Association President Lindsey Dickinson said that the union had noticed the absences, including the lack of available paraprofessionals and substitutes, which then impacts the unions teachers.

The most obvious way to address staffing shortages due to COVID might seem to be pivoting to remote learning  even if just for a classroom or in targeted ways where necessary  but it is not as easy as it seems, she said in an email to The Pantagraph.

Both Riley and Dickinson said that the preference was for in-person learning as the best way to teach students, but want it done in a safe way.

Teachers have also moved around to fill open classes in District 87, Riley said. She wishes teachers would be able to focus on their content areas or non-classroom assignments, but said it is also important that the school be able to operate.

Teachers want to be in their classrooms () and we need to know that its safe for us and those kids, she said.

The number of days students are out of the classroom may soon change for Illinois school districts. The Illinois State Board of Education plans to bring quarantine and isolation guidelines in line with the new shorter guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Illinois Wesleyan University also started classes this week. Baseline testing which included students before they came to campus and some on campus showed 100 positives. Of those, 36 were found during on-campus baseline testing.

It is not clear how many of the other two-thirds had already returned to Bloomington-Normal but tested off-campus, said Dean of Students Karla Carney-Hal.

We anticipated that we would see larger numbers because Omicron has higher transmissibility, she said.

The university had asked students to test negative within three days of returning to campus but found it had to alter that due to some students having difficulty finding tests or getting results within three days, Carney-Hall said.

Around 97% Illinois Wesleyan students are vaccinated, as it was required to either be vaccinated or receive an official exemption to start the semester. The school is now considering a booster mandate as well, Carney-Hall said, but is still in the process of deciding.

Were doing all of the things we can to support an in-person experience while also keeping our students safe and healthy, she said.

The university is trying to be careful to acknowledge that it is part of the wider Bloomington-Normal community as well, Carney-Hall said.

The Unit 5 and District 87 employees are also mindful of their interaction with the community, as well as the community's influence on area schools.

Education is a challenging occupation to be in right now and the simplest way to help is to provide positive support and show kindness, Dickinson said.

It is also important for families to be staying safe outside of school, in the wider community where cases continue to spike, Riley said.

I feel like teachers are only as safe as the least safe family they work with, she said.

The Belleville News-Democrat and Capitol News Illinois contributed reporting.

Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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Some of her advice might seem like straight out of "Moby Dick."

Thats something I actually feel connected to now  old literature of sailing ships, she said.

A Goodfield native who is now a junior at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Littell spent her fall semester learning about and doing research on plankton in the Caribbean through Sea Education Association Semester.

Littell learned to do all this aboard the SSV Corwith Cramer, one of SEA Semesters two sailing research ships. The SSV stands for Sailing School Vessel. The program describes the ship, which is named for the program's founder, as a first of its kind research vessel with a brigantine sail arrangement.

SEA Semester offers programs for college students to do a study abroad program but at sea. The first half of the semester was spent in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, also the location of a premier marine science and engineering research lab, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The second half of the semester, from Nov. 23 to Dec. 23, was spent at sea.

Three weeks of those were spent without docking at a port, she said. The course took them from the U.S. Virgin Islands south along the line of Caribbean Islands which stretch down toward the Venezuelan Coast and then back.

Bon voyage

The trip was a completely new experience for Littell. She remembers in middle school being told that it was impossible for her as someone who grew up in Illinois to seriously pursue marine biology. When it came time to choose a college, she knew she wanted someplace that would give her those sorts of opportunities, and she found it at Wellesley.

She had worked in labs at Wellesley before doing SEA Semester, but those had mostly been animal care labs, she said. Aboard the Corwith Cramer, each student had their own research project. Littell studied the differences between plankton on reefs and plankton in the open ocean.

The ship had a full lab, but it uses space much differently from how a land-based lab with room to spread out would. Ships and sailors have to be extremely good at two things, Littell said: saving space and keeping things in place.

Its all very cramped together, theres a lot of space conservation, she said.

Along with her individual project, Littell also helped out reef surveys, where they would count the number of fish, coral and other invertebrates they found. They would also look for stony coral tissue loss disease, which has been moving into the area.

Part of our job was to share with the government and the University of the Virgin Islands where we saw it, she said.

The disease kills coral and leaves behind a white skeleton of the former living coral. It was first seen in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January of 2019, according to the territorys Department of Planning and Natural resources.

The department has set up a citizen science project to track coral diseases through community reporting. Since 2019 more than 450 citizen surveys have been reported.

Swabbing the deck

At the same time, the students were also the crew of the ship. They learned to sail a tall ship, including raising and lowering said, navigation and steering. It was a lot to learn for Littell, and it was not helped by severe sea sickness her first few days aboard.

She spent most of those first days up on deck, as going below made it worse. Out on the ocean, far from any light pollution, she was able to see more stars than ever.

Youre nauseous and miserable, but theres still beauty, she said.

Beyond just studying the marine biology, students live in it. They saw two different species of dolphins and the ships wake would be filled with flying fish, along with the sea birds that followed the boat to feast on the flying fish. Littell even had the chance to see a six foot ray while snorkeling and two humpback whales from the ship.

The students would have six hour shifts, followed by 12 hours of rest time, which included time to eat, she said.

While on shift, students had to do everything from changing the sails to navigating to washing dishes. With more than 30 people on board, there were plenty of dishes to wash too, Littell said.

She even had to help once with recording coordinates during a mayday situation. A boat had put out a mayday call but its radios could not reach the rescue ship coming to get it, so the Corwith Cramer had to relay the messages back and forth, she said. Her job was to record the sinking boat's coordinates.

Nature became the driving force of their days, even outside research. The wind and weather dictated how they had to change the sails while the lookout, required on every shift, kept watch for any dangers on the horizon.

There is such a connection to nature and reliance on nature, in a way I had never experienced before, Littell said.

Land ho

Littell goes back to Wellesley on Jan. 20 to start her second semester of her junior year. She is already looking towards options after she graduates, including working for SEA Semester. She would love to go back and continue to do research, while also being a part of the experience for other students like her.

She also made new friends among her shipmates. Shipmates have a bond that is there regardless of personal feelings towards the person because everyone has to trust each other.

Its very similar to being family () you take care of them and they take care of you, she said.

The crew was also together the whole month, especially because of COVID protocols. They had to stay pretty much just with that set of people the whole time, to avoid potentially bringing the illness back to the boat.

Littell hopes that those who have experiences like she did in middle school being told her dreams were unrealistic know that it is not true.

If you have the desire to go outside of Illinois or explore the ocean, you can do it, she said.

Contact Connor Wood at (309)820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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On June 21, 1920, a neighbor who heard gunshots found Ruth Wanderer and a shabbily dressed stranger mortally wounded in the foyer of a two-flat at 4732 N. Campbell Ave. Ruths husband, Carl, explained that the couple were returning from a movie theater and had paused to turn on the foyer light.

The man called out: Dont do that, and then he fired, the Tribune reported Carl Wanderer saying. He killed her. I had my own automatic with me, and I fired.

Lt. John Loftus, the police commander on the scene, later recalled: I thought he was entitled to a medal for bravery after I listened to his version.

Other cops had their suspicions, but Wanderer was a decorated veteran of World War I, and they cut him some slack.

I cannot believe there is anything sinister in the case beyond what has already been learned, Ruth Wanderers father told the Tribune. My daughter was killed by a highway man; her husband killed her slayer. That is all.

In fact, there was more to the story. It was like an eerie prequel to the case of Jussie Smollett, recently convicted of lying to the Chicago police about being mugged. In similar fashion, the more cops dug into the details of Wanderers story, the less it made sense.

It began to look like Wanderer had paid someone to stage an armed robbery, and then killed him. As no one claimed the body of the alleged robber, reporters dubbed him the ragged stranger.

Therein lay a clue.

The man was clad in rags, the Tribune noted. He had not bathed in some time, but his head was clean and had been barbered frequently and recently, and his hands were immaculate, the nails manicured.

The rags matched Wanderers description of the assailant as a bum. But the haircut and manicure suggested the rags were intended to make Ruth Wanderers slaying look like a random street crime rather than a targeted killing.

Other evidence supported that theory. On the day of the killings, Ruth Wanderer had taken $1,500 out of a bank account where the couple had been saving for a home. Could she have unwittingly paid for her own assassination? Or did Wanderer intend it to finance his post-married life?

Confronted with the contradictions between his story and the evidence, Wanderer confessed to the double murder.

Ruth was pregnant, and Wanderer felt hemmed in. He acknowledged that when a friend visited him in a holding cell on July 17, a day after he was indicted on a charge of murder. The friend reminded Wanderer of his frustration at working in his fathers butcher shop.

Yes, thats so, Wanderer said. The whole thing popped into my head in a minute when I saw the bum that day.

But he then claimed hed been coerced into confessing that he killed his wife and her supposed assassin. Wanderer demanded a trial, which lived up to its advanced billing.

The state intended to call as a witness Julia Schmitt, a 17-year-old typist. He had written her a love letter shortly before being arrested.

Im very lonesome tonight, it began and concluded: Good night little lover & happy dreams to you.

Deciding not to mail it, Wanderer had torn it up and put the pieces in a bureau drawer. But fearing his mother-in-law might find it, he asked a reporter to retrieve it. The reporter pasted it together, and it was printed on the front page of the Herald-Examiner under the headline: Wanderers Other Woman.

That made a courtroom seat the hottest ticket in town. Hundreds lined up in front of the Criminal Court and County Jail at 54 W. Hubbard St.

The majority of the court fans are women, the Tribune observed. Many of them brought their lunches that they might keep their seats during the noon recess.

Judge Hugo Pam was furious at the sight of his court being turned into a lunchroom. He also ruled that Schmitt couldnt be asked about Wanderers letter unless the original was produced. As the prosecution couldnt, Schmitt was excused from testifying.

But the jury did get an explanation of why a second gun found at the crime scene was the same expensive model as Wanderers revolver. The police traced it to the man who bought it at a Chicago sporting goods store, then sold it to Wanderers cousin, from whom Wanderer borrowed it.

The judge also had Wanderers confession read to the jury. I wanted to get back to the Army, hed said in his confession. I thought it would be better to have her dead.

He also explained in his confession that he forgot to bring the money hed promised the stranger for making her look like a casualty of an armed robbery. Fearing he might squeal, Wanderer shot the man as well as his wife.

As the jury began its deliberations, the Tribune reported: Assistant States Attorney James C. OBrien, Red Necktie Jimmy, who has sent a dozen men to the gallows, believes Wanderer will hang.

Though found guilty, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Tribune expressed a widely felt outrage, saying the jury enabled Wanderer to cry gleefully to his jail mates: Ive beaten the rope. 

Ruth Wanderers mother pleaded with the police that she hadnt been able to sleep since her son-in-law was allowed to live, and the states attorneys office announced: Public sentiment demands Wanderer be tried again.

And so he was. It wasnt double jeopardy because in the first trial he was charged with killing is wife and unborn child. The new charge was for the fatal shooting of the shabbily dressed stranger.

When the trial began, Judge Joseph David ruled that the prosecution couldnt argue that Wanderers romantic relationship with Schmitt amounted to a motive to kill his wife

It does not follow that if a man seeks the society of other women he must necessarily have tired of his wife, the judge said.

When prosecutor Milton Smith objected, the judge retorted by telling Smith he was unmarried and not qualified to argue on love.

Still, the prosecution found a way to use Schmitts testimony during a war of words between the defenses psychiatrists and the prosecutions psychiatrists.

The defense strategy was to convince the jury that Wanderer was insane, thus not legally accountable for his actions. Its psychiatrists explained that the insane lack feelings for other people, whereupon a prosecutor asked Schmitt: Did he ever kiss you?

She answered: Yes, almost every time I was with him.

The prosecutor hoped the jury would think necking in a cab meant Wanderer had feelings for others and thus was sane.

Asked about Wanderers courtroom demeanor, a prosecution psychiatrist said: I have observed him yawn several times.

If yawning betrays boredom, Wanderer was in contact with his environment and not insane, the prosecution argued. The Tribunes headline: Yawns in Court May Cost Life of Wanderer.

When the defense offered as proof of Wanderers insanity that he had a vision of his wifes spirit, the judge said: You dont mean to argue that because Wanderer says he saw spirits he is insane. He cited Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Homes stories, as a sane believer in spirits.

Ultimately, the jury favored the prosecution. Wanderer was quickly found guilty and sentenced to die. On Sept. 30, 1921, a noose was put around his neck in the Hubbard Street jail. When the sheriff asked if he had any last words, Wanderer sang:

Old gal, old pal, you left me all alone

Old gal, old pal, Im just a rolling stone.

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CHICAGO  Former Ald. Ricardo Munoz was supposed to have an in-person sentencing hearing Wednesday at Chicagos federal courthouse, but instead the parties found themselves back on the telephone discussing what to do in light of the resurging COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. District Judge John Kness said during the brief hearing that due to the very fluid public health circumstances surrounding the omicron variant, he didnt think it would be prudent to go forward with a hearing at the courthouse.

Munozs lawyer, law professor Richard Kling, agreed, saying his office at the Chicago-Kent College of Law has been on strict pandemic-related lockdown for several weeks, leaving him without access to information and computer equipment he needs to go forward.

Im sure you all know its going to be very hard to predict when circumstances are going to be such that well all be comfortable having an in-person hearing, Kness said, setting a status date for mid-February.

It was a flashback to earlier stages of the pandemic, when both the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse and Leighton Criminal Court Building endured closures and months of hearings conducted by phone and videoconferencing.

The sentencing for Munoz, who pleaded guilty to spending campaign cash on personal items, was the highest-profile cancellation so far due to the latest COVID-19 wave at either Chicago courthouse. Both, like many other government buildings, remain open for business despite seeing a rash of visitors and employees test positive for the virus in recent weeks.

Many judges in Cook County have been attempting to transition away from video conferenced court hearings; some at the Leighton Criminal Court Building have been operating exclusively in-person for months. But most are operating in a hybrid fashion, with some hearings conducted on Zoom and others in the courtroom.

According to a spokeswoman for Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans office, 45 judges have tested positive for COVID-19 throughout the pandemic  nine of them this week.

At the Dirksen courthouse, meanwhile, at least 44 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 after being in the courthouse since mid-December, according to letters sent to courthouse employees by U.S. District Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.

Someday I will have no positive test results to report, Pallmeyer wrote in a recent letter Tuesday, which reported four new cases. Today is not that day.

In a statement to the Tribune, Thomas Bruton, the clerk for the Northern District of Illinois, said that while federal court work continues, officials are closely monitoring public health information and adhering firmly to safety protocols.

Although we report regularly on persons who have tested positive in the building, so far we are aware of no instances of transmission of the virus within the courthouse, Bruton wrote. We will, however, continue to monitor the situation, and take steps necessary to protect our staff and the public.

Impact on jails

The virus is also on the rise at Metropolitan Correctional Center on West Van Buren Street, where many federal pretrial detainees are held. Earlier this week, 109 prisoners  about 18% of the total population  were currently testing positive, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website. That number had dropped to 73 prisoners as the week drew to a close. No deaths had been reported.

Meanwhile, at the Cook County Jail on the Southwest Side, 404 people in custody were positive for COVID-19 as of Wednesday, according to Sheriff Tom Darts office. That accounts for about 7 percent of detainees. In addition, 478 sheriffs office employees, a category that includes correctional officers, courthouse security deputies and more, were positive as of Wednesday.

The federal jail outbreak was already having an impact on court calls. On Thursday, for example, a hearing for Adel Daoud, the Hillside man convicted of trying to blow up a Loop bar, was canceled after U.S. Judge John Lee wrote in a minute order hed been informed that the MCC has imposed additional restrictions due to the recent surge in COVID infections.

The numbers reflect the overall situation with the omicron surge across the state, with single-day positive tests and hospitalizations reaching the highest levels since the pandemic began nearly two years ago.

Chicagos chief medical officer, Dr. Allison Arwady, has said she hopes the omicron surge will peak in Chicago by the end of January, but added that its impossible to tell for sure at this point.

Big trials looming

The latest pandemic surge comes as several high-profile, in-person jury trials are set to begin at the Dirksen courthouse, including the trials of sitting Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson on Feb. 1, and state Sen. Thomas Cullerton on Feb. 22.

Cullerton, a Democrat from Villa Park, faces indictment on embezzlement charges alleging he pocketed almost $275,000 in salary and benefits from the Teamsters union despite doing little or no work.

Thompson, nephew and grandson to two mayors, is charged with tax offenses stemming from the collapse of a bank in the Daleys Bridgeport neighborhood.

So far, the courthouse is still continuing to host jury trials, operating under the same protocols set in place in April when trials resumed after a six-month hiatus.

The precautions include a testing program that requires jurors, lawyers and other trial participants to take a saliva-based COVID-19 test up to two times a week for the duration of any trial. Others expected to participate in a trial or other in-person hearing for more than two days are also required to submit to testing.

Social distancing and mask-wearing has been constant at the courthouse. To help alleviate overcrowding, only one trial can start on any given day, and only one trial per floor of the high-rise building can proceed at a time.

Also, reporters and spectators are not allowed into the trial courtrooms themselves, watching instead from an overflow room with a live video feed.

Bruton said the Northern District of Illinois has been one of the most successful in the country in safely holding jury trials amid the ongoing health crisis.

With those protocols in place, we have been able to select more than 62 juries since the beginning of the pandemic, Bruton said. Since April 2021, there have been only five jurors who have tested positive out of 53 juries, and we have not had to declare any mistrials. "

He said the districts 2,197 trial hours in 2021 were second only to the Southern District of New York, which logged 3,205.

The courthouse also hosted a free COVID-19 booster clinic in the lobby before Christmas that was open to the public and administered 200 to 400 shots a day, Bruton said.

Cook County criminal jury trials started back up in March after a yearlong pause, and Leighton saw about one per week throughout May and June, according to Chief Judge Evans office. While mask-wearing is strictly enforced in the courthouses, jurors are not tested for COVID-19 at Leighton like their counterparts in federal court.

Reduced social-distancing requirements expanded capacity for jury trials significantly over the summer, and dozens of jury trials were held at Leighton last year. Dozens of others were slated for jury trials that were postponed, ended in pleas, or went to a bench trial instead, according to Evans office.

But Leighton was host to a number of high-profile jury trials  like those of actor Jussie Smollett on charges of falsely reporting a hate crime attack and the murder trial of Wyndham Lathem  as well as complex trials like a double homicide in Edgewater linked to a prolifically violent drug and robbery crew.

Case backlog remains

The extensive courthouse slowdowns created a heavy backlog of felony cases last year  one that has shrunk significantly, but not disappeared, according to numbers from Cook County States Attorneys Office.

Prosecutors began 2022 with roughly 25,900 to 32,200 felony cases pending, according to the office. That number is much smaller compared to what the office characterizes as the backlogs peak, March 2021, when there were between 30,000 and 36,000 felonies pending, officials said.

In February 2020, the last full month of regular court operations, there were about 21,000 pending cases, the office said. That means prosecutors are still facing a caseload 23 to 53 percent higher than the prepandemic status quo.

States Attorney Kim Foxx said last year that the office might have to drop cases en masse to clear out the backlog. That wave of dismissals never materialized, according to the offices data.

In fact, prosecutors dropped fewer cases in 2021 than they did in 2019. Of all the felony cases that concluded last year, about 33 percent ended in a dismissal, compared to 39 percent in 2019. Last years share of dismissals is closer to 2018, when 30 percent of resolved cases ended in dropped charges.

And an anticipated flood of trial demands once the speedy-trial clock started ticking again did not materialize either, according to a statement from the prosecutors office.

Currently, the (Cook County States Attorneys Office) is resolving cases at pre-COVID levels, the statement read. Although it did not come to fruition, in anticipation of a rush of trial demands upon the lifting of the Speedy Trial toll on October 1st, our (assistant states attorneys) worked diligently to resolve cases. We are back to pre-COVID levels due to the ASAs who worked through these difficult circumstances to resolve cases and work towards justice.

At the federal courthouse, a standing order updated by Pallmeyer in December allows for most criminal proceedings other than jury trials  including initial appearances and bond hearings, arraignments, guilty pleas and sentencings  to proceed by video or teleconference as long as the parties agree.

That order is set to expire April 4.

Meanwhile, those who demand an in-person hearing, such as ex-alderman Munoz, could be forced to wait it out.

I hope you all stay safe and healthy, Judge Kness told the parties on Wednesday before signing off. We will all get through these challenges ... and get to a hearing in due course.

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PAXTON  The Paxton office of Farmers-Merchants Bank of Illinois donated $15,000 to the Gibson Area House Rehab Foundation.

The group helps homeowners in need with repairs by paying for materials and contractors. The foundation also manages renovations on homes for those with disabilities, which includes remodeling bathrooms, kitchens, doorways and adding ramps.

The organization recently supported the community of Gibson City after heavy August flooding damage in about 800 properties.

Farmer-Merchant's donation will help the foundation's flood relief efforts and the purchases of furnaces, water heaters, mattresses and other needs.

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After receiving a $1.2 million federal grant, Kane County officials hope to expand a pre-arrest diversion initiative, including potentially to Aurora, aimed at keeping people out of jail.

The initiative currently operates in the Elgin Police Department and Kane County Sheriff's Office and has been running since November. Instead of taking someone to jail or charging them with a low-level crime, participating police departments have the option to connect people to social services like a drug treatment center, mental health provider or a homeless shelter through the pilot program.

After an officer comes across a person suspected of committing a minor crime, officers can use their own discretion to decide if they want to make an arrest under the program, or refer the person to a social service group.

So far, three participants have entered the program. Participants who agree to enter the program will be paired with a case manager and will sign a contract agreeing to follow the course of action outlined by the manager. They could face criminal consequences for not living up to their end of the deal, officials said.

For instance, one participant was a homeless man without any identification, so the first thing a case manager began working on was getting him an ID because, without it, it is hard to find housing or become employed, pre-arrest diversion coordinator Martha Paschke said.

"Of the participants we have so far, one of their family members commented that they are a completely different person and said how beneficial it's been to have someone following through with them," Paschke said.

The newly-awarded grant from the U.S. Department of Justice allows the program to expand to additional police agencies in Kane County. Paschke said the team is meeting with Aurora Police Chief Keith Cross and city officials next week to share information about what they've seen so far in the pilot program.

Aurora police spokesman Paris Lewbel said while department officials have not been involved in the process yet, they are "always interested in what our law enforcement partners are doing and seeing how it fits into our department."

So far, the biggest challenge in launching the initiative is trying to change the culture within law enforcement from making arrests to making referrals, Paschke said.

"It's a slow start, but it's to be expected with any new initiative," Paschke said. "Some don't want to be the first person to do this in fear of what if it goes wrong. Even if someone is enrolled in pre-arrest, they can be arrested again and that just means a lot more collaboration and follow-through. We don't want people falling through the cracks."

Paschke said officials are meeting with officers involved in the program and attending roll calls to help them understand what their mission is and to build trust.

"We don't want them to feel like they are referring a potentially dangerous person into a new program," Paschke said. "But we have to break down any of the common misconceptions. They have their way of doing things and we have to respect that, but we can show them this is a new tool to use."

Each department will create its own criteria for what a low-level offense is. In Elgin, they eliminated violent crimes, DUIs, domestic battery and violation of orders of protection from the program. They do not look at someone's past criminal history and convicted felons can enter the program.

To ensure officers are not biased in who they choose not to arrest, police officials said they'll be releasing monthly reports that show the demographics, how many referrals each officer is making as part of the program and how many cases are successful.

Officers can also make social referrals, meaning when an officer continuously sees an individual in trouble in the community and knows the root cause is untreated substance abuse, poverty or mental health issues, they can refer them to the diversion program before any criminal contact.

This is the second grant awarded to the Kane County State's Attorney's Office for the initiative after it received a $152,000 grant from the state of Illinois, which helped them hire staffing for the pilot program at the sheriff's office.

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For a long time, I attributed the animosity expressed toward conservatives to the lies of the Democrat Party leadership and the support of those lies (either directly or by not reporting the facts) by the MSM. However, based on the misinformation proffered by some contributors to The Pantagraphs Opinion section, I have concluded that those who choose to believe the anti-conservative narrative are ultimately responsible for their decision to not question that narrative.

Voting for -- and supporting -- a particular candidate should not result in the other side trying to tarnish the opposition with a whole set of ridiculous attributes. For instance, the silly label Trumper. For the 2016 and 2020 Presidential elections, there was truly only one choice for conservatives. That doesnt make one a Trumper. Name-calling adds nothing of value to a rational discussion.

Why are many people suspicious of the 2020 Presidential election? Well, just take a look at the antics of the Democrats on the night of the election. Of course people are suspicious. But once the electors have voted, thats it. Most conservatives understand that.

Then there is CRT. Conservatives dont want their children taught that all whites are racist and that they need to apologize for their privilege. But implying that we dont want historical facts taught is ridiculous. As a conservative, I support the teaching of American history, including slavery, Jim Crow, lynching, the Rosewood murders and other atrocities experienced by Black people in this country. I also support teaching perspective when it comes to our Founding Fathers, as opposed to labeling them as unworthy of the honored position they hold in our country and tearing down their statues.

Climate change? No sensible person denies that the Earths climate changes. Core samples taken in the Antarctic reveal that, at one time, palm trees flourished there. What many question is mans impact on climate change, especially since some wealthy politically-connected people are becoming even more wealthy by scaring us into thinking we must give them  and the Federal government  ever-increasing portions of our hard-earned wages; it is clear the green agenda will likely decimate the economy and our way of life.

Finally, COVID-19. When President Biden and Dr. Fauci continue to lie to us and attempt to discredit and censor scientists and doctors with opposing views, of course people are going to be suspicious! Jen Psaki went so far as to encourage social media to assist them in this censorship.

Without respectful discussion, full disclosure of the facts and freedom of speech, we cannot make sensible decisions when it comes to voting for our representatives and holding them accountable. And thats what we should all support.

Tony DeRosa is former Bloomington-Normal resident and current Pantagraph subscriber who travels the country via recreational vehicle and reads the e-edition of the Pantagraph.

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Illinois lawmakers continue to let our state down by not taking ethics reforms and accountability seriously.

The latest example: The embarrassing handling of Legislative Inspector General Carol Popes departure.

The inspector general is a kind of clearinghouse for misconduct complaints against lawmakers. The job is given authority to investigate allegations that a law, rule or regulation has been violated by lawmakers or people who work for the legislative branch.

A Republican, Pope was appointed in 2019 after the job was dark for four years. But she grew frustrated that the position didnt have more power and with the ethics reform legislation that lawmakers passed last year, saying legislators demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority.

Pope told lawmakers in July that she would be stepping down in mid-December. Then she extended it after a bipartisan panel appointed by party leaders couldnt agree on a replacement.

Republicans say Democrats, who control both chambers, wanted someone who wasnt recommended by the panel. Both sides said there were partisan factors at play. There were allegations of political maneuvering.

Cut short by an abridged session because of COVID, lawmakers left Springfield last week without coming to an agreement on this crucial position.

The irony of that is not lost, but not all that surprising. The words ethics reforms and Springfield dont exactly match.

Illinois has a long history of wildly corrupt politicians, from notorious Chicago city council members like "Hinky Dink" Kenna to a string of governors who spent time behind bars. (See Blagojevich.)

In recent years, two members of the General Assembly  Martin Sandoval and Luis Arroyo  have been charged with bribery.

And then theres Michael Madigan, the once-powerful House Speaker whose incredible fall coincided with the ComEd investigation into corruption and bribery.

That inquiry by federal prosecutors continues.

And yet Illinois has no internal watchdog to safeguard the citizenry from corrupt politicians.

Thats a failure of those sent to Springfield.

Thats a failure of the system.

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100 years ago

Jan. 8, 1922: There is an interruption of telephone service as the Kinloch Telephone Co. moves from the Evans Building to the Lillard Building in Bloomington. The firm has recently bought the Lillard and remodeled it. Bloomington is a leading city for telephone development.

75 years ago

Jan. 8, 1947: Persons unknown are circulating petitions to force a referendum on return to the commission form of government. The city had it from 1915 to 1923. A commission replaces the council but retains the mayor. Six hundred voters signatures are needed to force a referendum.

50 years ago

Jan. 8, 1972: A two-car accident on West Washington Street sent one car through the front wall of Kelleys Appliances and TV. One driver was driving on a revoked license, and the other ran a stop sign. There were no injuries but damage to the cars and shop is in the thousands of dollars.

25 years ago

Jan. 8, 1997: Richard Wagner is resigning from the Illinois Board of Higher Education next year. Hes a Chenoa native and is the boards executive director. After 28 years, Wagner said he wants new professional challenges. Hes a Bradley graduate with a masters degree from Pittsburgh.

Compiled by Jack Keefe; jkeefe@coldwellhomes.com.
The Bui Power Authority (BPA) has completed the construction of an initial 1MWp of a proposed 5MWp Floating Solar PV System on the Bui reservoir.



This makes it the first of its kind in West Africa.



A floating solar power plant is an innovative approach of using photovoltaic modules on water infrastructures to conserve the land along with an increase in efficiency of the module.



Additionally, the water is also conserved due to a reduction in evaporation of water from the water body.



The plant can be installed on a pond, lake, reservoir, or on any other water body.



Commenting on this, Board Chairman of the Electricity Company of Ghana, who is also a lawmaker for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for this achievement.



He said this is an indication that the government is committed to green and renewable energy.



This is testament to the governments commitment to green and renewable energy. Kudos Mr. President, he said.

Source: 3news









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The member of parliament for Bantama constituency in the Ashanti Region, Francis Asenso-Boakye has extended warm wishes to his constituents on the occasion of the new year.



The legislator who doubles as the minister of works and housing extended his warm wishes to his constituents through phone calls.



The lawmaker could be seen in a viral video calling constituents on phone to wish them a happy new year.



This is the second time that Mr. Asenso-Boakye has been seen with such an incredible act after the 2020 elections where he used the same method to canvass votes for President Akufo-Addo.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Drama has trailed the news of the death and sudden resurrection of veteran Yoruba actress, Sidikat Odukanwi, popularly known as Iyabo Oko.



The actress, who started her acting career in 1973 on the platform of Eda Onileola theatre troupe, was announced dead on Wednesday by her daughter.



She gained prominence in the movie Oko, which was produced by Oga Bello. She earned the nickname Iyabo Oko from the movie.



However, contrary to news making the rounds on Wednesday that the veteran actress was dead, it is now confirmed that she is still alive.



Yoruba actress, Foluke Daramola-Salako, confirmed to Premium Times that her colleague is alive.



Although Ms Salako had posted via her Instagram page on Wednesday evening that Iyabo Okos transition was early, she has debunked the news about the veterans death.



She said, Iyabo Oko is very much alive, what happened was that her daughter had called me at about 11:00pm yesterday that her mother was pronounced dead, and she forwarded a WhatsApp message to me.



But at about 12:00am she (Iyabo Okos daughter) said that her brother confirmed that she was moving her hand, and they rushed her to the hospital where she is responding to treatment.



Salako also confirmed that the actress had been suffering from a stroke, but through her charity foundation and the support of Nigerians, they have been catering for the medical needs of the veteran, not until the surprise news of her death.



The death news



News about the death of the veteran began to make the rounds after Bisi Aisha, the actress daughter, posted on Instagram on Wednesday that her mother had died. She wrote: My mum is gone. Rest well mummy. May ur soul Rest In Peace mummy.



Shortly after her post, Salako also posted via her Instagram page that Iyabo Okos death was quite early.



The resurrection



According to Ms Aisha, in a video she shared on her Instagram page, while she was still mourning her supposed dead mother, she received a call from her brother that her mother had regained consciousness.



The actress returned to life three hours after being announced dead.



Wonderful being, she moved her hand after being confirmed dead three hours ago. God, we will forever praise your holy name, Aisha stated on Thursday morning.



She said: Yes she is already in the hospital as we speak. Thank you, everyone, we still need your prayers please.



Salako later updated her earlier report,  Just heard from her daughter again that she moved her hand and she is still alive. Hallelujah! She is alive.



Medical condition



It was reported by one of the veterans daughters, Olamide, that the actress was diagnosed with ischaemic stroke about five years ago but chose to keep her health issues away from the public.



She said: What affected my mum was the fact that she was not going for her medical check-ups. I want Nigerians to help provide a car for her. What happened (to her) could have been prevented but because of the unavailability of a car, things took a different turn. She lives very far from the hospital.



When she had her last attack, I had to get a motorcycle to convey her to the junction before I could get a cab to pick her. She was diagnosed with a right ischemic stroke some years back. The first health scare happened about five years ago but she did not want anyone to know about it. My elder siblings even flew her to China for better medical treatment and she got better. Sadly, she had two other attacks.



According to her, the 61-year-old actress had instructed her children not to tell anyone about her health conditions, unfortunately, the veteran had another attack that affected her limbs.



However, she is getting better. She can now talk and respond to people. The doctors have assured us that with the help of physiotherapy, she would be able to use her limbs again.



We spoke out because we now need financial help. Her children are doing their best but they cant do everything. Actresses like Foluke Daramola, Iyabo Ojo, Mercy Aigbe, and Biodun Okeowo have assisted financially in the past. She said.

Source: premiumtimesng.com









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" " Salt is a necessary nutrient and makes up about 0.4 percent of the human body, but what does taking something with a grain of salt mean? BSIP/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

We're often advised to take things we hear or read with a grain of salt. We understand that this means we should be skeptical about the information, maybe because the source is obviously biased or the facts are unreliable.

But why a grain of salt? Why not a spritz of lemon or a nibble of chocolate? Let's get in our time machine and head back to the Roman Empire to find out.

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Poison Pen

In 77 C.E., Pliny the Elder wrote a remedy for poison in his massive treatise "The Natural History." It's in chapter 77, on walnuts:

Take two dried walnuts, two figs and twenty leaves of rue; pound them all together, with the addition of a grain of salt; if a person takes this mixture fasting, he will be proof against all poisons for that day.

In the original, which is of course in Latin, Pliny wrote "addito salis grano." In modern versions of the Latin phrase, we usually use "cum grano salis," which means "with a grain of salt."

But Pliny means this literally: when mixing this potion against poison, add an actual grain of salt. So when did it become a metaphorical grain of skeptical salt?

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The Modern Metaphor

The phrase didn't really pop up again until 1647, when John Trapp used it in his "Commentary on the Old and New Testaments." Specifically, he wrote, "This is to be taken with a grain of salt." The trouble is that scholars aren't quite sure it meant the same thing to Trapp as it means to us now.

There was a period of time after this when the phrase doesn't really seem to have been used; it did pop up occasionally, but it usually referred to actual grains of salt. But in 1908, "The Athenaeum," an American literary journal included this line: "Our reasons for not accepting the author's pictures of early Ireland without many grains of salt." You have to feel a little bad for that author learning that his photography skills weren't up to the standards of this magazine through the use of this fresh, new idiom.

It does seem that the modern meaning of the phrase is American, as the Brits seemingly picked up the similar "with a pinch of salt" only after World War II. The earliest printed British citation seems to be found in F.R. Cowell's "Cicero & the Roman Republic," from 1948:

"A more critical spirit slowly developed, so that Cicero and his friends took more than the proverbial pinch of salt before swallowing everything written by these earlier authors."

HowStuffWorks may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article.

Walnuts, figs and salt are all common today, but what exactly is rue? It's actually really common too. It's a native evergreen herb in Europe and Asia that has yellow flower clusters. It's been used to treat everything from diarrhea to ear aches. It is slightly toxic, though, so stay away from it if you're pregnant or breastfeeding.
Warren County Health Services staff reported 320 additional COVID-19 cases on Friday, nearly doubling the previous one-day high set a day earlier.

In light of the dramatic increase in infections in recent days, those who test positive should understand that COVID-19 case investigations may be delayed, the county said in a Friday afternoon news release. Those who do not hear from Warren County Health Services or New York state contact tracers promptly should self-isolate for five days upon testing positive, and notify those they had contact with two days prior to testing positive or onset of symptoms, whichever occurs first.

Warren County Health Services Director Ginelle Jones stated: We are asking our residents to be patient as we deal with this drastic increase in cases. Please help us by taking precautions when going into public. Understand that there is a very good chance you will be exposed to this new, highly transmissible variant of COVID-19, and protect yourself with a mask that fits well. We are hopeful that data will continue to show that this variant is causing less severe illness than prior variants, but we are still early in this surge of cases.

In addition to 320 new cases, Health Services reported 212 recoveries Friday, and is monitoring 1,301 active COVID cases, 1,276 of them involving mild illness.

Fifteen Warren County residents were hospitalized as of Friday, unchanged from Thursday. Two patients are critically ill and the remainder have moderate illness. Ten are moderately ill outside of a hospital.

One of the two critically ill patients is unvaccinated. Overall, seven of the 15 who are hospitalized are unvaccinated.

Glens Falls Hospital spokesman Ray Agnew reported 31 COVID-related hospitalizations on Friday. Two of those are in the ICU.

Warren County Health Services stated that it continues to see the majority of new COVID-19 cases stemming from household/family exposures, exposures from gatherings and contact at workplaces.

The highly transmissible omicron variant has been confirmed as responsible for over 97% of cases in New York in recent days. This variant spreads much more easily, and incubation periods after exposure are shorter than previous variants.

Warren Countys rolling seven-day average of new cases was 159.4 as of Friday, and the rolling seven-day average for test positivity stood at 17.7%, compared to the Capital Regions rate 18.7%, as of Friday morning.

Registration has opened for the Health Services next COVID-19 vaccination clinic scheduled for Tuesday. Registration is required through online links posted at https://warrencountyny.gov/covidhub/ unless otherwise noted.

Upcoming Health Services clinics are as follows:

Tuesday, Jan. 11, Warren County Municipal Center, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Moderna and Pfizer booster and first doses, Johnson & Johnson booster doses.

Tuesday, Jan. 18, Warren County Municipal Center, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Moderna booster doses. (Registration not yet open)

Tuesday, Jan. 25, Warren County Municipal Center, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., vaccines to be determined. (Registration not yet opened)

The vaccination rate for Warren County stood at 73.3%, with 78.7% of residents receiving at least one dose. Health Services reported that 32.1% of children 11 years old or younger have received their first vaccine dose.

The state average for the same age group was 30.9% as of Friday afternoon.

Of the newly reported cases, 168 involved fully vaccinated individuals. That brings the total number of breakthrough cases to 2,858, or 6.1%, of the 47,105 fully vaccinated county residents.

Statewide

Of the 377,160 test results reported on Friday, there was a total of 82,094 positive cases of COVID-19. The state also reported a total of 106,978 vaccine doses that were administered over the past 24-hour period.

The states seven-day positivity rate stood at 21.77% on Friday afternoon.

My administration is hard at work making testing, vaccines, boosters and masks more widely available to fight this winter surge, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. While we are prepared to deal with whatever comes our way using the tools we know are effective, it will take a concerted effort on the part of every New Yorker to beat this pandemic and protect our loved ones.

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Washington County reported its 74th COVID-related death on Friday night.

Public Health reported that the individual was 67-years-old and had recently been hospitalized.

The individual was vaccinated, according to the report.

Public Health offered thoughts and prayers to the family, friends and caregivers of the community member in a news release.

Washington County reported a total of 243 new cases that were added and processed on Thursday and Friday, along with 224 recoveries.

As of the recent report there were 12 hospitalizations reported.

Public Health reported that they are working through investigations of the new cases and pending cases to find the location of origin.

According to the recent report the cases continue to have varying locations of origin, including workplace spread, household spread and school and community events spread.

There are a number of cases that have no identified origin, according to the report.

Check back at poststar.com for updates

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New Jersey National Guard teams are being deployed to several long-term care facilities in South Jersey this week as part of COVID-19 operations.

A 10-member National Guard team will begin working at Atlantic Countys Meadowview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Northfield starting Monday, county officials said Saturday.

The team will assist with COVID-19 response efforts and augment staff that is short-handed due to the surge of the omicron variant. The team will be available for seven days or longer if needed, the county said in a news release.

Our health care workers have worked tirelessly throughout this pandemic, county Executive Dennis Levinson said. Exposures and outbreaks are currently impacting our staff and residents, so we welcome the support of the National Guard at this time.

Guardsmen may assist residents with daily hygiene activities, getting out of bed, dressing, walking and feeding, the county said. They also may buddy up with Meadowview staff to provide additional assistance.

Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday said he was deploying the Guard to nursing homes as they experience COVID surges and staffing shortages. About 150 Guard members are expected to bolster staffing at more than a dozen facilities in the state. Other states also have employed this option in recent weeks.

Other local long-term care facilities receiving National Guard troops are the Vineland Veterans Memorial Home and Lincoln Specialty Care, also in Vineland, and Crest Haven Nursing & Rehabilitation in Cape May Court House, according to a document from the National Guard. Those deployments also start Monday.

According to the states COVID-19 dashboard, 513 long-term care facilities in New Jersey were experiencing COVID outbreaks as of Saturday, for a total of 5,627 resident cases and 8,679 staff cases.

In Atlantic County, 16 facilities were experiencing outbreaks, with 122 resident cases and 281 staff cases. In Cape May County, 10 facilities were experiencing outbreaks, with 85 resident cases and 155 staff cases. And in Cumberland County, nine facilities were experiencing outbreaks, with 128 resident cases and 288 staff cases.
MOUNT HOLLY  The Burlington County Board of Commissioners has started the new year by selecting a new director and deputy director.

The commissioners also vowed at their 2022 reorganization meeting to find new ways to help residents and businesses during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

We had hoped to see the last of the COVID-19, but unfortunately we are faced with another resurgence of the virus, said Commissioner Dan OConnell, of Delran, who was chosen to serve as the boards director this year.

He said the board will seek new and innovative ways to ease the pandemics impact.

Commissioner Tom Pullion, of Edgewater Park, was selected as the boards deputy director at the Jan. 5 meeting.

Brian Carlin, formerly mayor of Burlington Township for more than a decade, took the oath as the countys surrogate. He will lead the office responsible for probating wills and estates, as well as some adoption and guardianship issues.

Mount Laurel swears in its first Black mayor MOUNT LAUREL  Mount Laurel kicked off the new year with the historic swearing in of the tow

OConnell and Commissioner Felicia Hopson, of Willingboro, were sworn in to three-year terms. Hopson led the board of five Democrats in 2020 and 2021.

OConnell joined the board in 2019 by filling an unexpired term and was elected to a full term in November 2019. He was the boards deputy director last year. He is a retired locomotive fireman and engineer and a former state legislative director for the United Transportation Union.

Pullion, a former member of Edgewater Parks school board and Township Committee, was elected to the county board in 2017.

In his reorganization address, OConnell noted the county has tested hundreds of thousands of residents and distributed millions of pieces of personal protective equipment since the pandemic began.

More than $13 million in rental assistance was also awarded to more than 1,700 households in the county and $295,000 in zero-interest loans to local small businesses.

None of this happens without the dedication and hard work of our county employees, department heads, volunteers and many partners, OConnell said.

If this virus has taught us anything, it is that we are stronger when we work together. We must remember that for as long as this crisis continues and beyond, he added.

OConnell also identified affordability as one of the commissions main goals.

According to the state Department of Community Affairs, he said, Burlington County had the lowest average county tax for two years running. And when the 2021 property tax data is released next later this month, we expect well once again be the lowest for the third consecutive year,

Among other goals, the commissioners plan to host additional roundtables to connect existing and prospective businesses with information and resources. They also expect to hold a Made in Burlington County Day for local artists, chefs and other small business owners to market their products.
Brimm was the first Black licensed practical nurse to work at Camdens old West Jersey Hospital in the early 1950s. She later overcame uterine and colon cancer, and was separated from her husband for months at a time because he couldnt go to school where she lived due to racial enrollment quotas, and she couldnt work where he went to school due to employment restrictions.

And when her husband needed money for college tuition, and a loan to kick-start his medical practice, it was Brimm who stepped up.

She was a strong woman, said her daughter, Linda. When anyone was having a bad day, she would always say, And this, too, shall pass.

Brimm was married for more than 60 years to the flamboyant Charles E. Brimm, a popular family doctor in Camden who made house calls, served on the Camden City Council and for whom the Dr. Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High School is named. He died in 2010.

They were, their children said, an ideal couple.

Judge protects anonymity in Atlantic City needle exchange lawsuit ATLANTIC CITY  Three plaintiffs, all injection drug users, will be able to proceed anonymou

They complemented each other, said son Charles Jr.

They led extraordinary lives, said their daughter, and we were lucky to have them as parents.

Brimm graduated from nursing school at St. Josephs College in New York, and married her husband in 1949. Over the next six years, she helped him as he graduated with a bachelors degree and then a medical degree from the University of Ottawa in Canada.

She tried to stay in Canada while he attended school but was unable to obtain legal working credentials. So she visited him when she could, and returned to Camden to work as a nurse at West Jersey Hospital and later Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

When her husband returned with his medical degree in 1955, Brimm got a loan to pay for an office on Kaighns Avenue in Camden and worked with him for two years to get the practice established. At first, they lived in an apartment over the office, and later moved to nearby Park Boulevard.

In the late 1970s, when her children were in high school, Brimm enrolled at Stockton State College, now Stockton University, and earned a bachelors degree in social work. She went on to help families, the elderly and others in need at several local counseling centers throughout the 1980s and 90s.

Born Oct. 15, 1927, in Camden, the youngest of 10 children, Edith Mapp grew up on Walnut Street, graduated from Camden High School and met her future husband in the neighborhood when they were young.

They adopted their son and daughter as newborns in 1957 and 1960, respectively, and Brimm put her nursing career aside for the next decade to raise them. She stressed the importance of education and hard work, sent them to summer camps in the mountains, got them jobs at church food banks and helped them learn to deal with and understand racism and disappointment.

She was consistent, steady, and reliable, said her son.

She was the kindest, sweetest individual you could ever know, said her daughter.

Brimm was a member of The Links, Incorporated, and Jack and Jill of America Inc., and she attended St. Augustines Episcopal Church in Camden for more than 85 years. She enjoyed watching the Eagles and 76ers, and afterward liked to hash over the games with her son and best friend, Jean Helton.

She cooked a memorable fried chicken, and rarely missed a TV episode of The Young and the Restless or Judge Judy. She liked to dress up, play the slots at the Atlantic City casinos and catch the latest shows in New York. She moved to an apartment in Cherry Hill in 2014.

In an online tribute, friends called Brimm a Camden icon, a beautiful person and a great lady.

In addition to her children, Brimm is survived by a grandson and other relatives. Five brothers and four sisters died earlier.

Services were private.
The future is looking a little brighter for the piping plover, an endangered beach-nesting bird, after it registered a 33% increase statewide in nesting pairs last year, including at Cape May County sites.

Nesting pairs went from 103 to 137 in 2021, Senior Wildlife Biologist Todd Pover said in a Conserve Wildlife Foundation blog post Monday.

Several new sites for piping plover breeding pairs appeared last year, including at two Cape May County sites in Strathmere and Two-Mile Beach  in sections of both the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge and U.S. Coast Guard properties.

Cape May County was once a hot spot for piping plovers in the state, but its population had been in a long decline; recolonization of these new sites in 2021 was part of a big rebound for the countys piping plovers, up to 15 pairs now after a low of just 3 pairs in 2018, Pover wrote.

Piping plovers require undisturbed beach areas, without human activity and without nearby populations of foxes, raccoons and other animals who consider them and their eggs prey.

Locals band together to protect rare beach nesting species UPPER TOWNSHIP  For eons, the ability of piping plovers, terns and other beach nesting bird

The state Department of Environmental Protection has attempted to keep the fox populations around many beaches in control through hunting, but has run into opposition from the public.

Brooke Maslo, assistant professor in Rutgers Universitys Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, is conducting a GPS collaring project on coastal foxes from Sandy Hook in Monmouth County to Cape May. The goal is to further understand the role foxes play in coastal ecosystems, and see if the state can find an alternative to killing the predators, while still protecting the shore birds they hunt.

This was a much-needed bump, as productivity has been high over the past few years, but we werent seeing any sustained growth, Pover wrote. The challenge now will be to maintain that higher level or increase it even more, as it has fluctuated up and down quite a bit in recent years.

The Holgate Unit of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, on the southern tip of Long Beach Island, has the states largest population of piping plover. It had 46 nesting pairs in 2021, up from 29 in 2020, the foundation reported. That site was greatly improved for the beach nesters by Superstorm Sandy in 2012, when beaches there grew much larger due to Sandy pushing more sand onto them.

Since the historic storm, the piping plover population there has quadrupled, according to the foundation.

Seaside Park in Ocean County had two pairs of nesting piping plovers in 2021, the first time plovers nested on this municipalitys busy beach since regular statewide monitoring began nearly four decades ago, Pover reported. And a total of four chicks fledged from the two pairs, one of the best productivity rates in the state.

Rutgers tracking foxes along shore, including Brigantine, for study on predator management {child_flags:top_story}Rutgers tracking foxes along shore, including Brigantine

Perhaps the biggest surprise of 2021 involved the creation of an entirely new and largely undisturbed site  a rarity in New Jersey. An island, dubbed Horseshoe Island because of its shape, has been emerging just off the mid-coast of the state over the past few years, Pover wrote.

In 2021, it was high and large enough to host one of the biggest least tern colonies in the state, as well as common tern and black skimmer colonies and a small royal tern colony. Its the northernmost documented colony for royal terns in the hemisphere, Pover said.

Although the island is vulnerable to storms and tides, so we dont know how long it will persist, CWF hopes to be part of the monitoring and protection of this important site moving forward, Pover wrote.

The Barnegat Light Habitat Restoration, a project CWF helps lead, continued to perform above expectations in 2021. The site has gone from one to five breeding pairs of piping plovers since completion in 2019 and this year least terns, common terns and black skimmers nested at the site for the first time in over a decade.

Least terns had a surprisingly good year in Point Pleasant inlet  one of the states tiniest sites and most disturbed by human recreation. It had the most least tern fledglings  197  of any site in the state, just over 80% of the statewide total.

Point Pleasant inlet also produced 90 black skimmer fledglings.

Army Corps awards beach work contract for Cape May The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday awarded a contract for beach replenishment along 

The biggest surprise here, and a sight to marvel if you were lucky to see it, was how over 200 pairs of least terns and the other nesters crammed into such a small site to begin with, Pover wrote. Interestingly, this year the site also had the highest density of seabeach amaranth, an endangered plant that CWF helps monitor.

American oystercatchers did not have a particularly good year, as productivity was very low overall due to a severe Memorial Day weekend noreaster and high predator activity, Pover reported.

Nonetheless, oystercatchers continue to keep us on our toes as they pop up in new and unexpected places. The steady increase of pairs nesting on our Atlantic Coast beaches continued in 2021; the number of pairs has nearly tripled on the sandy barrier beaches of New Jersey since regular monitoring began in 2003 when only about 50 pairs were recorded, Pover wrote.

CWF also did a first-ever survey of Delaware Bay for American oystercatchers in 2021; 13 breeding pairs were found at eight sites, more than expected.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-272-7219 mpost@pressofac.com

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Rivermont Collegiate Headmaster Max Roach heard important news as he sat in the shafts of Friday afternoon's still-bright sunlight streaming through the large windows of what was once the billiards room of the Bettendorf mansion.

Just one of the students at the school tested positive for COVID-19. All told, it was the sixth member of Rivermont's faculty, staff and student body to test positive for the virus since Roach implemented community-wide testing on Tuesday.

Rivermont is the educational home of roughly 200 students and 60 faculty and staff  and as omicron spreads throughout the Quad-Cities, Rivermont is the only area school with a test-to-stay policy. Roach said community-wide testing was a practice that's not workable at larger schools.

"I think testing-to-stay was a good decision for this school," Roach said. "It's not good news to hear about someone here testing positive, but these tests allow us to do the best we can to protect students and the staff from further spread.

"Some of those who tested positive board at the school. We have quarantined them in their rooms, or the student can go home. We can follow the recommendations for quarantine. I can't lose teachers, and testing shows parents we are doing our best to keep students safe."

According to Roach, Rivermont was proactive and has had an all-mask, all-the-time policy for students, faculty and staff since the start of the pandemic. The school made a large purchase of BinaxNow test kits in August and made the decision to test all students and staff when school started back up after the holidays.

Roach said roughly 85% of students and 85% of staff were fully vaccinated. He said the school decided against a mandatory vaccination policy.

"It is not unreasonable to ask people to wear masks, and it's not unreasonable to require testing  these are the inside-the-nose tests, not the deep tests," Roach said. "I do not feel the same way about the vaccines. I'm vaccinated. My children are vaccinated. But I don't want to try and force what is a very personal decision."

Roach said he thought the decision to mask had helped keep Rivermont's community safe.

"Is (masking) perfect? Of course not," Roach said. "But it helps. And it's something we can do to protect each other."

COVID-19 in the Q-C, by the numbers

The week-ending COVID-19 news from around the Q-C remained grim.

In Rock Island County, public health officials confirmed the COVID-19 death of a woman in her 50s who died at a hospital. The total number of deaths in Rock Island County linked to the virus is 426.

Fueled by the omicron variant, case counts are soaring on both sides of the Q-C. The Iowa Department of Public Health will not update county-wide COVID-19 statistics until next Wednesday, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Scott County added 1,635 new cases in the seven-day period ending Friday.

The Rock Island County Health Department reported 674 new cases of COVID-19 since its last update on Wednesday. The two-day total is the highest since the start of the pandemic, beating the combined total from Monday and Tuesday by 73 cases.

The Rock Island County Health Department's update from Friday also noted 85 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county.

Those numbers spurred more pleas from public health officials.

"In the last two days, the number of cases jumped by 674, but we are more worried that 80 to 90 people each day this week have needed in-patient hospital resources," Rock Island County Health Department Administrator Nita Ludwig said. "The test positivity rate in Rock Island County is 28.07%, which is almost a point higher than just two days ago. Please make a plan to get vaccinated or boosted as soon as possible."

Scott County's positivity rate was 24.34% for the seven-day period ending Friday.

Who can vaccinate, and where

This week, the CDC updated much of its COVID-19 booster guidance:

Everyone 12 and older who received the Pfizer series should get boosted after five months;

Moderately or severely immunocompromised 5 to 11-year-olds should receive an additional primary dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine 28 days after their second shot;

Everyone 18 and older who received the two-dose Moderna series should get boosted after five months;

Everyone 18 and older who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago should get boosted immediately. CDC recommends a Pfizer or Moderna booster, but Johnson & Johnson remains available.

The Rock Island County Health Department offers twice-a-week walk-in vaccination clinics for those 12 and older: Tuesdays (Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for 18 and older) and Fridays (Pfizer for 12 and older). The hours for both days are 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Boosters or third doses for immunocompromised people are available on the same day as first and second doses.

Appointments for the Rock Island Health Department's Jan. 14s pediatric Pfizer clinic for children ages 5 to 11 will be available Jan. 12 through a link on the health departments Facebook page.

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Ever since Californians voted in 2018 to pass Proposition 12, a ballot measure that humanely requires more room on farms for egg-laying hens, veal calves, and gestating sows, pork producers have been fighting it. And in every federal district court and federal appeals court in which they asked for the law to be blocked, they have lost.

The pork producers and other groups asked the California Department of Food and Agriculture for more time  possibly as much as 28 more months  to prepare before the law was enacted. The agency said it had no authority to do that, and the law went into effect as intended on Saturday.

Instead of spending their money on legal fees to fight the law, pork producers should have been spending it on revamping their hog farms to comply with the law. Some producers have already done so or are in the process.

Proposition 12, the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act, requires the calves that will be served as veal, the hens that lay eggs for market, and the pigs that produce piglets to be killed and turned into pork have enough space to turn around, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs. The point is to offer animals destined to become food for Californians a modicum of humane treatment during their short dismal lives.

But now the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In June, the high court turned down a request from meatpackers to block the parts of the law pertaining to veal calves and pigs. Now, the pork producers are arguing that California is violating the Commerce Clause of the Constitution by setting requirements on businesses outside the state. Federal district and appellate courts have already rejected that argument and so should Supreme Court justices when they consider the petition, which they are expected to do at the end of this week.

The pork producers note in their lawsuit that California has very few hog farms. Yet Californians buy about 13% of the pork produced in this country. So most of the pork sold in California comes from other states. The pork producers argue that the burden to retrofit farms and comply with regulations and inspections falls mostly on hog farms in other states selling pork to California  not on California farmers.

But, as the lower federal courts ruled, thats permissible, because the new law applies to all hog farms, including those in California, that want to do business here. There is no legal problem because the law does not apply one rule for California and another for other states.

California has been on the forefront of protecting farm animals, and other states are following suit with a variety of farm animal welfare laws. Nine other states have passed bans on gestation crates  though not all are in effect yet  and 60 major food retailers such as grocery stores and fast food restaurants have pledged to phase out pork that comes from pigs in gestation crates. Pork producers should be thinking about how to adjust their operations to the increasing resistance to cramped crates.

No doubt conversions of hog farmers operations to comply is costly. But thats the price of an important yet modest change to protect animals well-being and health. Egg farmers and veal producers, under an earlier deadline, have already complied.

Nearly 63% of California voters approved this law. Its time for the people who make billions of dollars selling bacon and other pork products to Californians to do what their customers want and operate more humane farms.

This editorial was written by the Los Angele Times Editorial Board and distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Thumbs Up ... to the Davenport School District for swiftly overcoming a shortage of bus drivers to get schools back open on Tuesday. Unfortunately, schools were closed the day before when a wave of drivers called in sick because of Covid-related issues, the district said on its Facebook page.

Nobody likes to see school canceled because there aren't enough drivers to get kids to class. But with the massive increase in infections recently and an existing driver shortage, we understand this can happen.

Busing in Davenport is handled by Durham School Services, which attributed the shortage to "various reasons."

Superintendent TJ Schneckloth said the situation came on suddenly Monday, leaving no time to adjust routes.

Under the circumstances, this looks like it was the right call. And, more importantly, we were happy to see Durham and the district adjust quickly to get things back on track Tuesday.

Bus driver shortages exist across the country, and they started long before the pandemic. Back in 2016, the National Association for Pupil Transportation published a survey saying that 70% of respondents said the shortage of bus drivers was getting worse.

Among the reasons cited for shortages around the country: Pay and benefits, the hours worked and the time it takes for drivers to get a commercial drivers license.

Now, with the pandemic and many older workers deciding to exit the labor force, the problem has only gotten worse.

That's not good for a state like Iowa, whose population is stagnant and that has struggled for years to attract a decent-sized workforce. For the most part, what the state's been doing hasn't worked. But if these problems aren't substantively addressed, we just might see more of these disruptions in the future.

Thumbs Down ... to gridlock in Springfield that has apparently left the office of legislative inspector general vacant. Carol Pope was set to leave Thursday, according to the Chicago Tribune, but lawmakers left town Wednesday, failing to appoint a replacement.

Pope had already extended her departure, which had been planned for December. She announced last year she was leaving the office because of her dissatisfaction with the ethics reform law that Springfield passed.

The 8-member Legislative Ethics Commission (evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans) has deadlocked on recommending a replacement to the full legislature. And, as you might expect, members of the commission from the two parties are pointing fingers at each other for the problems.

As the Tribune pointed out, this wouldn't be the first time the office has had a vacancy.

"After the states first legislative inspector general resigned in 2014, the position went unfilled until the vacancy was thrust into the spotlight when a victims rights advocate testified at a legislative hearing in October 2017 that her complaint alleging shed been sexually harassed by a state senator went unanswered for more than a year," the Tribune reported.

We'd hate to see that happen again, but nothing would surprise us. It's pretty clear how much value state lawmakers in Springfield put on this position.

Thumbs Up ... to all those generous Quad-Citians who stepped up fast and donated $60,000 to pay for the replacement of five furnaces at the Humane Society of Scott County.

After a carbon monoxide leak was discovered a few weeks ago, the animal shelter at 2802 W. Central Park Ave., Davenport, was without working furnaces until new ones were installed the week after Christmas.

After a story appeared in the newspaper about the problem, the public reacted quickly, said Celina Rippel, who is development coordinator for the society.

"We could not be more grateful for how awesome our community is and how generous they've been," Rippel added.

We agree. What's more, people also donated blankets and beds for the dogs and cats at the shelter.

Well done, Quad-Cities.

Thumbs Up ... to the beginning of construction on a new workforce housing building just west of the R. Richard Bittner YMCA downtown. The four-story, 185-unit building will include studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. They'll be reserved for individuals who earn at or below 60% of the area median income.

TWG, a national real estate development company, made the announcement earlier this week and said construction is expected to be completed by December 2023.

The project, called Federal Point, was developed in conjunction with the YMCA.

We've been excited about this project for months, and it's great to see it get underway.

The Quad-Cities has a significant lack of affordable housing, and this should help address some of that need.

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Time for you to ask these questions with a truthful answer! Do you believe everything Biden and his administration tell you? Is it time for Biden to resign? Is the border safe or we in danger of more crime? Why should student loan debt be cancelled; is it fair for those who paid for their children's education? Have we ventured extremely into climate control without proper knowledge of the consequences? Do you believe in the extreme left Democrat party and their beliefs? Is Biden capable to turn around inflation? Should the oil pipelines be turned-on and America becomes energy independent? Will you buy an electric car in the next 2 years at a cost of over $50,000? Do you want term limits in all government? Do you like WOKE? Can you vote for what is good for America rather than be a party junkie? Should the crazy state of California leave the union? Would we be better off if it did leave the union? Do you want definition of sex to be male or female, not some made-up definition? Do you want parents to voice their opinion to schools, colleges, on what is appropriate subjects? You need to count the positives and the negatives within yourself with truth and integrity. There are many philosophies, but what is of basic importance is compassion for others, concern for others suffering, and reduction of selfishness! Vote your conscience for the good of all that is true and safe for all Americans!
Black News Channel, the cable and streaming service aimed at Black audiences, has been hit with a gender discrimination lawsuit by 13 current and former women employees who claim they were paid substantially less than male counterparts and disciplined for being too aggressive in the workplace.

The Tallahassee, Fla.-based outfit, which has about 300 employees, is also accused of terminating several of the women last month in retaliation for their complaining to the companys human resources department.

The amended lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County, Ill., is an expansion of a suit filed on behalf of two former employees  Ashley Flete and Claudia Jean  last summer.

Several plaintiffs in the suit state they were paid less than their male counterparts. In one case, a female supervisor was allegedly paid less than the men who reported to her.

BNC, a privately held company with the majority stake held by Shad Khan, owner of the NFLs Jacksonville Jaguars, denied the allegations raised in the suit.

We have investigated each of these claims thoroughly and will soon be filing our motion to dismiss [the lawsuit] based on several grounds, Tim Buckman, a spokesperson for BNC, said in a statement. In addition, we are pursuing multiple actions related to the plaintiffs counsels pattern of ethical misconduct and are looking forward to our day in court.

BNC is seeking to dismiss the case, partly on grounds that the company does not have any significant presence in Illinois, where the suit was filed.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday on whether the amendment to the original suit, which also seeks class-action status, will be allowed.

The widening litigation creates a perception problem for BNC, which is attempting to get a foothold in an increasingly challenging TV news business. The company is looking for a strategic partner in order to expand.

BNC has been on the air since late 2019 and reaches more than 50 million cable and satellite homes. Its on-air hosts include Charles Blow, the New York Times opinion writer, and prominent progressive commentators Marc Lamont Hill and Aisha Mills.

The complaint alleges a pattern of BNC managers complaining about behavior by female employees who they believe behaved too aggressively or were insufficiently docile.

The complaint also says the BNC employee handbooks for 2019 and 2020 did not offer a confidential mechanism or policy to report sexual harassment, gender discrimination or pay disparities. Employees were told to raise workplace issues with their supervisors, even if the supervisors were the subjects of their complaints.

According to the suit, Flete signed a two-year contract as an on-air journalist in June 2020 at an annual salary of $42,000, and was promoted to host of the morning show. The complaint said she was paid significantly less than male employees with similar experience.

Several months into the job, she was getting berated by a producer for being insufficiently feminine, according to the complaint.

Flete raised the issue with the human resources department at BNC and was terminated shortly afterward, with 18 months left on her contract, the lawsuit states.

Flete was told by BNC that the network no longer needed a morning show host. However, a new host was hired six weeks later. Flete claims she was dismissed in retaliation for her complaint to human resources.

Jean, a talent producer at BNC, said in the complaint that staff members laughed at her in meetings for mannerisms they deemed insufficiently feminine and too aggressive. She was also allegedly told by a supervisor that she had aggressive masculine tendencies.

Jean said she received word of her termination during a meeting with human resources about her supervisors comments.

Another former BNC employee, Felicia Burton, said she was paid significantly less than several of the white men who reported to her. She raised the issue of inappropriate behavior by male employees with human resources.

Burton, who served as a technical production manager for BNC, said she was told by HR that it was inappropriate to report the mens conduct because it was in the past.

Burton said she was stripped of her position and duties while out on medical leave and was terminated in late December. She believes it was in retaliation for her complaints.

Lauren Coleman, who worked as a technical director for BNC for nearly two years, said she was paid less than men in similar positions. She said her male supervisor told another employee that only men should be directors.

Similar issues were raised by the other plaintiffs in the suit, including six women who are not identified by name. One current employee said she was demoted because her supervisor believed she was insufficiently feminine, and had her pay cut.

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Days after announcing he will step down from his congressional seat, veteran U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush announced Friday he will endorse Alexi Giannoulias for the Democratic nomination for Illinois secretary of state.

Giannoulias also picked up backing from many big-name supporters of Ald. Pat Dowell, a former opponent who dropped out of the secretary of states race to run for Rushs congressional seat.

Dowell, however, has not said who she will endorse.

Support from Rush and the Black politicos who had been with Dowell comes as some Democratic Party officials have made clear they want a person of color to replace longtime Secretary of State Jesse White, who is Black.

Giannoulias is white and his main rival for the nomination, Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, is Latino. The other Democrat vying for the partys nomination is South Side Ald. David Moore, who is Black and whose 17th Ward includes Chicagos Auburn Gresham community.

In a 1 1/2 -minute video released Friday by Giannoulias campaign, Rush praised the former state treasurer and U.S. Senate candidate as the right person to lead the secretary of states office during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hes always been there for our community. He knows our community. He understands our community. He knows what we need, said Rush, a Chicago Democrat whose 1st Congressional District runs from the South Side into the south and southwest suburbs to nearly Kankakee. He will be with us and for us. I know that.

The support for Giannoulias from backers of Dowells secretary of state bid comes despite the stinging rhetoric she directed toward him at the Cook County Democratic Partys slating session just last month.

Dowell and Valencia have questioned Giannoulias loyalty to the Democratic Party, criticizing him for his support of former Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross in his 2014 bid for state treasurer against Democrat Michael Frerichs, who won and is now seeking his third term.

Dowell, whose 3rd aldermanic ward covers Chicagos South Loop and Bronzeville neighborhoods, urged the party at the Dec. 14 slating session to support someone loyal to the organization who is a dedicated public servant rather than an opportunist looking to further their stalled political career.

To succeed we must have a Democrat, a nominee, who appeals to the people who vote Democratic  mainly women, and precisely, African Americans, Dowell said. Lets be practical. The path to victory is not paved with gold. Money can buy endorsements and influence, but it cannot buy votes.

Giannoulias narrowly cleared the bar to win county slating over a vote of no endorsement.

Despite that close vote, hes vastly outpacing his opponents, and one former opponent, in fundraising By the end of 2021, his campaign had over $4 million in cash on hand, more than Dowell, Valencia and Moore combined.

On Friday, several Black politicians who previously backed Dowells secretary of state bid said they were now with Giannoulias.

Alexi is committed to protecting voter rights, enhancing the public library system, increasing diversity within the office, and helping minority-owned businesses get started and hiring. We trust Alexi, and we need his leadership in Springfield, Democratic state Sen. Mattie Hunter of Chicago said in a statement shared by the Giannoulias campaign.

Other endorsements came from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, Chicago Alds. Howard Brookins, Roderick Sawyer and Christopher Taliaferro, and former state Senate President Emil Jones Jr.

An alderman since 2007, Dowell has name recognition in the citys portion of Rushs newly redrawn congressional district, something she lacked in a statewide race.

But the field of candidates for Rushs seat is expected to grow with South Side and south suburban elected officials and activists considering the rare opportunity to run for an open congressional seat in a Democratic stronghold that virtually ensures reelection for many terms.

Ive done a lot of work in my ward related to small business development, education, health care and I thought that the congressional seat offers me an opportunity to best serve my community, Dowell said in an interview.

I decided that I would seek the seat because its in my wheelhouse of concerns that I care about. In some ways, its a better fit than secretary of state, she also said.

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CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  Students, staff and faculty in the University of Illinois system will be required to get a COVID-19 booster shot once they are eligible for a shot, school officials said.

In a mass email sent Thursday announcing the policy, school President Tim Killeen said there is now significant evidence that vaccinations plus boosters are effective at preventing infections from developing into serious illness.

Killeen said members of the campus community who already had medical or religious exemptions from the universitys COVID-19 vaccine requirement will also be exempted from the new booster requirement.

The university gave no deadline for the booster requirement, just a strong encouragement to get one before the spring semester begins.

School officials announced last month that the university's Chicago campus and the Champaign-Urbana campus will be starting the spring semester online.

The new policy comes as universities across the nation are responding to a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the fast-spreading omicron variant.

University officials said they will continue to monitor policies and make adjustments where appropriate based on updated guidance.

In the face of this new variant, we must again act collectively to protect both the health and safety of our communities and the quality of the educational experience that makes the U of I System truly extraordinary," Killeen said.

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As an Iowa Senate Republican staff member, I endured degrading sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination after speaking up. I made the decision to file a lawsuit against my employer. Filing a case after being sexually harassed at work is an incredibly difficult and personal decision  one that is scary, ostracizing, and taken only because we feel we have no other choice or power to protect ourselves or others in the same situation.

Ultimately, a jury of Iowans decided I had been sexually harassed in violation of Iowas laws. The road to get there was very difficult, which is why most victims of sexual harassment never come forward. If victims do come forward, they are up against a mountain of challenges, including a powerful defendant that holds the information victims need to prove their case and enforce accountability. This is to say nothing of the emotional toll of losing a career, friends and former colleagues. This system thrives on intimidation, secrecy and maintaining the status quo. Forced arbitration is a key part of this archaic and flawed system and the practice needs to end.

Forced arbitration clauses are buried in the fine print of employment paperwork which strip survivors of their basic right to file their case in a public court of law. Instead, forced arbitration cases are heard in a secret tribunal, decided by a private arbitrator selected by the abuser. Unsurprisingly, victims never win.

Fortunately, there is bipartisan legislation pending in Congress that could change that. The Ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 would put a stop to the practice of forcing arbitration onto survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment if they would rather file a case in court. Passage of this bill is a fundamental first step in addressing the variety of issues which allow sexual harassment to run rampant in the workplace.

This bipartisan bill recently passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with no objection and our own Sen. Chuck Grassley, the highest-ranking Republican committee member, is a supporter.

Corporations dont want to lose the unfettered ability to force victims into a rigged system, and are pushing an alternative bill, led by Sen. Joni Ernst, which entirely fails victims. Inexplicably, Sen. Ernsts bill would limit the use of forced arbitration for sexual assault victims but leave the status quo for sexual harassment victims like myself. Shouldnt victims, and not the corporations that protect predators, decide how best to pursue justice and confront their abusers? Being sexually harassed is an intensely devastating and personal experience and victims should decide how to enforce their rights.

Right now, Congress has the power to restore a victims right to make those decisions by passing the Ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. The focus of this debate should not be about how to whittle down the rights of victims until they are left with nothing; it should be on restoring rights, asking why so few victims come forward in the first place, and how Congress can better support survivors. Victims of sexual assault and harassment deserve a choice on how to pursue their cases and hold their harassers and abusers publicly accountable.

The time to act is now. Sen. Ernst should follow Sen. Grassleys lead and build on her legacy of protecting and strengthening the rights of survivors.

Kirsten Anderson is the author of the upcoming book, "More Than Words: Turn #MeToo into #ISaidSomething". She won a lawsuit against the state of Iowa and the Senate Republican caucus following her firing after she complained of sexual harassment and retaliation.

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Before Starr Chief Eagle performed a hoop dance for students at Rapid City High School on Friday, she described the way her dancing draws from the work of her father, Dallas Chief Eagle.

I honor my father with a very special design, she said. Its going to look like a tail or a bridge or a ladder. He created that design, and he brought it to the World Hoop Dance competition, and he took first place with that design.

Starr Chief Eagle continued, I may have never become a hoop dancer if it werent for my father teaching that to me and my brothers and sisters. My father is still alive today and he still does hoop dance, and every now and then we still get the chance to perform together.

A renowned hoop dancer and educator, Starr Chief Eagle spent four days this past week at Rapid City High School. Its part of the work shes doing in schools throughout the Rapid City Area Schools district this year, as she performs dance and helps students to experience a cluster of other school subjects in new ways.

Starr Chief Eagles celebration of the relationship she's forged with her father echoed, in some ways, the sorts of harmonious connections she expressed in her dance  and the ones she talked about outside of her dance. Chief Eagle is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, or, in her words, of the Sicangu Lakota of the Oceti Sakowin. She grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City.

She describes herself on her website as an American Indian Culture Interpreter.

During a pause in her schedule at the high school on Friday, Chief Eagle reflected on her work. She said hoop dancing has been part of her life since she was a small child, as she followed a path carved by her father. Later in her life, she explained, she tapped her talent as an artist to do educational work with students in schools. She explained that shes on two rosters for the South Dakota Arts Council: Touring Arts and Artists in Schools & Communities.

Jennifer Roberts, principal of Rapid City High School, said Chief Eagles work in the school district is supported by federal Title 4 funds, and she noted its importance throughout the district and particularly in Rapid City High School.

The district as a whole is about 20% Native American, and Rapid City High School is roughly 40%, Roberts said. It is so relevant to so many students. This is a culture they may have come from  and then it helps the staff and other students connect. It builds bridges.

Roberts noted that Chief Eagle has been able to add new perspectives into classes such as social studies, English Language Arts, physical education and visual arts.

She also worked with Spanish teacher Amanda Thomsons class.

As much as I want my students to learn Spanish, I want them to be worldly people, Thomson said on Friday. The work Chief Eagle did with her students, she said, helped to broaden the classs cultural focus.

Chief Eagle has traveled widely outside of the area, and so shes heard many viewpoints  including misconceptions about Native culture.

Sometimes it goes as far as people thinking that Native Americans dont exist anymore, she said. Here in Rapid City we may be more aware of the Indigenous presence, but there are definitely other areas where theyre not as aware.

But the cultural challenges students experience in Rapid City can still create emotional struggle. Students may encounter, Chief Eagle explained, the difficulty of trying to unite two worlds that seem vastly distant from one another.

Students might be coming from a reservation, where things are done differently, and they move to Rapid City  or vice versa, she said.

Chief Eagle said the simple presence of someone from an Indigenous background can help bolster students confidence.

One of the positive things Ive seen from having conversations with students is that just being at a school can be helpful, she said. Me, as an Indigenous person, expressing my culture and being proud of that  that alone is very helpful. Its very inclusive as well."

Students from Rapid City High School expressed warm feelings as they gathered for Chief Eagles hoop dance performance on Friday.

Just her being able to come around and go to the schools is really amazing, especially thinking of how much people are not educated within Native communities and the culture, said Kevin Big Crow, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe and a sophomore at the high school.

I feel like us as Native people, were stuck behind a lot of stigmas, he added, and he said the presence of someone such as Chief Eagle can correct those misperceptions.

Sophomore Thomas Varnadoe, who is Lakota and Dakota, said he was glad to learn more about his culture from Chief Eagle, including the towering number of tribes throughout the country.

It was very interesting to learn more about my culture, he said.

Chief Eagle noted there are about 570 federally recognized tribes in the United States. Its the answer to one of a series of questions she asks students to spark their learning.

Its not so much about finding out one exact answer, but about us thinking about the bigger picture, she said.

Chief Eagle stressed that she welcomes questions from students, including those unfamiliar with Native tribes and cultures. She said shes noticed that as students get older, they tend to become less willing to ask questions as they become more self-conscious and more fearful of revealing a lack of knowledge. She tries to defuse those feelings.

Im a very understanding person, she said. I try to explain that if youre coming from a good place and you genuinely want to know the answer, Im not going to embarrass you or point out the faults in your question. Im going to answer in a positive way, but Im going to speak on behalf of the truth, too.

As Chief Eagle danced on Friday, students sat riveted, seated around her in the schools multipurpose room. She danced to the song Joes Flow by Black Bear.

Ive always been fascinated and interested in all the dances, said freshman Clara Bailey. I like learning about them  and all the backstories of them.

Chief Eagle noted, after her dance, the way hoop dancing can be used for many different types of expression.

I made a personal choice to start telling the story of my life, she said, explaining that the first hoop represents herself being born.

As I add on more and more hoops, thats me navigating through my life.

She explained other parts of her life that she'd embodied in the dance and the materials she'd crafted, such as her fathers powerful and positive presence. She also mentioned some of her goals, such as graduating from college.

It was sometimes difficult for me to navigate because I didnt really have someone to tell me how to apply for grants, how to figure out that process, she said. But I was able to become the first college graduate in my moms family. So Im very grateful for that.

Taylor Klein, a junior at the high school, felt moved by the way Chief Eagle used images to express herself and to help the audience watch her life unfold under new lights.

She expressed her life through the hoops and the art she made without using her words, Klein said. Sometimes its hard to express your story through words, so you express it through art, in a different way. Thats what she did. Its beautiful what she did. Its inspirational what she did.

People seeking more information about Starr Chief Eagle can visit https://chiefeaglestarr.wixsite.com/hoop.

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No, State Rep. Julie Frye-Mueller, you can't purport to welcome input from constituents and then submit a column to the Journal carping about a person who expressed an opposing point of view. Maybe if you listened you would see both sides of the issue and look at compromising legislation that would attempt to accommodate and solve, not divide and dictate.

It is amazing that as voters of South Dakota, we reach out to our legislature, city leaders, county leaders, school board leaders and cannot get hardly any of them to answer. Obviously, they have their own agendas and do not care about voters.

The GOP is looking to create jobs for attorneys this legislative session. Bills allowing people to sue their employer if vaccines are required and students allowed to sue school districts if somebody of the opposite sex is in their bathroom. How about a bill allowing citizens to sue legislators for introducing frivolous legislation?

Why are so many members of the state Legislature opposed to Medicaid expansion so more citizens of South Dakota would be eligible for medical coverage?

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Tristan Thompson had a goal and an assist and David Tendeck made 36 saves as the Rapid City Rush weathered a late push from the Iowa Heartlanders and came away with a 3-2 win Friday night at The Monument Ice Arena.

Rapid City opened the scoring in the second period when Kenton Helgesen carried the puck below the goal line and spun away from pressure. He sent a backhanded pass to Thompson, who was pinching in from the blue line. Thompson fired a shot from the left circle that snuck through the short side of Corbin Kaczperski and the Rush took a 1-0 lead.

Iowa answered late in the second period while on a power play. Joe Widmar fired a pass across the attacking zone to Cole Stallard, who snapped a shot from the left circle that got through Tendeck, tying the score at 1-1

The Rush grabbed the lead back just 18 seconds into the third period when Thompson cranked a slap shot from the blue line that Alec Butcher deflected at the right circle. The puck ramped off his stick and went in top-shelf past Kaczperski, putting Rapid City on top, 2-1.

They extended their advantage just past the halfway point of the third period when Jake Wahlin saucered a pass to the front of the net where Zach Court was crashing. Court chipped a backhander past Kaczperskis blocker for a 3-1 lead.

The Heartlanders fought back and got themselves within one with another power-play goal late in the third. A pass was fed in front that Bryce Misley snuck past Tendeck, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Rapid City improved to 14-13-4 with the win while Iowa dropped to 9-17-4. The Rush face the Heartlanders again at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

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South Dakota is sunny. The percentage of time between sunrise and sunset during which sunshine reaches the ground in Rapid City is 63% according to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center.

The U.S. state average is 205 sunny days per year. As a state, South Dakota has 213. The sun as a natural resource warrants serious consideration by those in the state who oversee the regulatory aspects of this resource.

Its one of the small ironies of life. Three elected officials in South Dakota control the sun  in a manner of speaking. Not even the Egyptians had that much influence over their sun god Re. Let us explore this. The Public Utilities Commission regulates investor-owned electric utilities and oversees and sets tariff rates. Solar generated energy systems owned by utility customers that tie into a utility system - so called grid-tied customers - are a part of this regulatory scheme.

A utility customer whether commercial or residential may generate more electricity with the customers photo voltaic system than it uses as a utility customer. Net metering is a billing process a utility company uses under which the utility credits electricity generated from solar energy system caused by this customer-created electricity. A net metering protocol is one way of handling the back and forth of electrical generation caused by a customers creation of electricity. If a customers energy collection system is net-metered, the electricity meter would run backwards to provide a credit against electricity consumed by the utility customer.

The South Dakota PUC sets the pricing policy on energy use charges for investor-owned utilities in the state. South Dakota is one of two states which do not set utility rates using a general net metering protocol. Under the current system when a solar collection system is operated by a customer, the customer sells back excess generation to utility companies at a lower-than-market rate. Customers in the state pay approximately 10-13 cents per kilowatt hour and receive from an investor-owned utility approximately 1.5-2.5 cents per kilowatt hour for the unused excess of generated energy.

Net metering legislation in other states require a utility company to pay a certain rate to customers, sometimes equal to the full retail rate. In SD utilities are allowed to determine the value on their own. The state has no net metering rules. The payment rate (credit) given to customers by a utility is meant to represent the equivalent value for energy that the utility would otherwise have to pay for other sources. From the perspective of a customer, utilities are benefiting more from the customers produced electricity. From the perspective of a utility, customers in reducing their consumption of grid power are causing a cost-shift from other customers and the energy-generating customer is not paying a fair share to the utility for its use of electricity. The utility argues that it needs to recover for lost revenue.

The Commission has taken a position opposed to net metering. The Commission reports, If utilities must pay above market rates for substandard power, rates will eventually have to rise to cover increased expenses. In addition, net metered customers dont pay their fair share of the utilitys fixed costs and those costs are shifted to the utilitys other customers causing their rates to increase. I am not aware of any independent publicly available financial study done by, or for, the PUC discussing the pros and cons of a net metering system. The state legislature has considered but declined to pass legislation on this issue. I am also not aware of any independent publicly available financial study done by the legislature (or the PUC for the legislature) discussing the pros and cons of a net metering system. In 2021 two staff persons from the Michigan Technological University wrote on this rate system issue. Their study concluded that substantial future work is needed for regulatory reform to ensure that solar owners are not unjustly subsidizing U.S. electric utilities.

David Ganje practices law in the area of natural resources, environmental and commercial law with Ganje Law Office. His website is Lexenergy.net.

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On Monday, the Montana Department of Commerce announced they awarded more than $1 million in funding across the state to strengthen local economies in 21 communities.

These grants will serve 22 tourism and recreation projects across Montana, including unincorporated small towns, rural communities, and areas of known attractions to non-resident visitors, Commerce Director Scott Osterman said. Not only will these funds help boost tourism locally, but they will also support good-paying jobs, another added benefit of increased visitor activity.

In the Bitterroot Valley, the Ravalli County Museum is a Tourism Grant Program grant recipient.

The Ravalli County Museum will receive $13,750 to fabricate and install panels for a permanent Nez Perce history and culture exterior exhibit.

Executive Director Michelle Nowling said the Montana Department of Commerce grant allows the museum to complete their Nez Perce exhibit, west of the museum.

A smaller version was in the museum a few years back, I understand, and theyve turned it into something bigger so it can be permanently outside, Nowling said.

Former Executive Director Tamar Stanley and Assistant Director Nancy Bevins began the work on the Nez Perce exhibit.

The first set of six-foot-high panels of information is in the museum. Montana Timber has custom cut the logs for outdoor exhibit display.

Nowling said Installation could take place in May before Bitterroot Day or just after Bitterroot Day when the focus is on the Salish Tribe.

Well install the Nez Perce exhibit between the two trees on the west lawn where we usually set up the teepee, it is the flattest section, so it is handicapped accessible, she said. We also have electricity over there so we can have motion lights, so people could walk by and still see the exhibit. Im excited about the grant and eager to complete the project.

Other Tourism Grant Program funding recipients are the Darby Rodeo Association (see related article), Blaine County, the Carter County Geological Society, the Deer Lodge Development Group, Dillon Main Street LLC and the City of Dillon, the Evelyn Cameron Heritage, Fallon County, the Frontier Gateway Museum, the City of Glasgow and the Valley County Historical Society, the Libby Chamber of Commerce, Madison County, Musselshell Valley Community Foundation/Roundup Community Partners, the Myrna Loy Theater, Our Lady of the Rockies, the Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee, the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation, the City of Shelby, the Stanford Open, the West Yellowstone Ski Education Foundation, the Wibaux Chamber of Commerce and the Yellowstone Historic Center.

The Tourism Grant Program is funded by the Bed Tax, a 4% lodging facility use tax enacted by the 1987 Legislature. Taxes are collected from guests of hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, guest ranches, resorts, short-term vacation rentals and campgrounds. For more information about the Tourism Grant Program, visit marketmt.com.

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While theres agreement the constitutional rights of Montana voters are being violated by political districts that haven't had a population adjustment in 19 years, federal justices Friday questioned whether the court should intervene or give state legislators another year to make it right.

At issue are the five voting districts of the Montana Public Service Commission, which has attracted public attention after three years of scandal. The commission districts, last drawn into balance in 2003, violate the one-person, one-vote provision of the 14th Amendment. Voters suing for a redraw and defendant Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen agree on that much.

Voters seek to prevent the secretary of state from carrying out the 2022 election of two PSC districts until the districts are reapportioned by a three-judge panel, unless the Montana Legislature does the job.

But Jacobsens state attorney Friday argued the reapportionment should be left up to the 2023 Legislature. Though he assured a three-judge panel in Missoula Friday he wasnt suggesting the Legislature would actually do the work, Jacobsens attorney, Brent Mead, said lawmakers deserved a chance to act before the court stepped in.

The Montana Legislature must be afforded the opportunity to reapportion, based on the data received in August, Mead told the court.

The data Mead referenced is the 2020 U.S. Census for the Montana, which provides the most recent population statistics available for political districts.

Representing voters, attorney Constance Van Kley said theres no reason to believe the Legislature will redraw the maps when it next convenes in 2023, not to mention that voters are disadvantaged now. Theres no need to put the Legislatures next turn ahead of voters constitutional rights, she argued.

The PSC has been redistricted exactly one time in nearly 50 years, Van Kley told the court. There's no state constitution, or statutory mechanism to ensure that redistricting will ever be considered again by the Legislature.

As the districts are currently drawn, the least populated district, District 1 spanning 400 miles of the Hi-Line from Shelby to Sidney, has 53,132 fewer people than the most populated District 3, anchored by Bozeman and Butte. As a result, District 1 voters get as much say on what Montana utility customers pay for the electricity and natural gas as those in District 3 despite having 33% fewer people.

The PSC sets the rates for more than 400,000 utility customers in Montana. In cases where customers are captive, meaning they must rely on one business for services like electricity, garbage or water, the commission is supposed to balance customers' right to a reasonable price and reliable service with a utility's right to a rate of return. A PSC commissioner job pays $112,000 a year.

During the last three years, several scandals have played out at the PSC, including false claims to law enforcement, poor use of public funds and impersonating a state legislator.

In December, voters Hailey Sinoff and Donald Seifert of Gallatin County, and Bob Brown, a former Montana Republican secretary of state, sued to force the districts into balance for the 2022 election. Brown lives in District 5, which includes Helena and Kalispell and is on the ballot as an open seat this year along with District 1, where Republican Commissioner Randy Pinocci is seeking a second term.

The five districts would balance if each had a population of 216,845. The 14th Amendment accepts a deviation of 10% from the ideal population.

The justices hearing the case Friday were U.S. District Judge Don Molloy, of Missoula, District Judge Brian Morris, of Great Falls, and Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford, of Pasadena, California.

Because the U.S. District Court in Missoula was hard to reach after heavy snowfall, attending the hearing remotely was allowed for the judges and interested parties.

Justices questioned the merits of putting voters rights on hold so the Legislature could have another chance to balance the political districts.

Whats the issue with the voter who has the diluted vote, or the voter who has an over-represented vote? They just grin and bear it? Molloy asked Mead.

Montanas top election official, the secretary of state, framed the voters lawsuit as attempting to leverage new districts based on the 2020 Census. Were that the case, the first chance the Legislature would get to use the Census data would be early 2023, unless they called for a special session to fix the districts this year. Using the Census data to change the maps in 2022 would be jumping the gun, Mead argued, because the districts on the ballot this year would have been tied to the Census from a decade earlier.

Mead said the voters hadnt used the 2010 Census to make their case.

If they want to challenge the 2022 elections, they must bring a claim based on the 2010 census, Mead argued. They don't do that. They only bring a claim based on the 2020 census.

But Watford said Mead was on shaky ground, given that Legislators chose not to make the districts constitutional in 2013. And Mead made clear he wasnt suggesting the Legislature would actually restore voters rights when lawmakers convened for regular session in 2023. The attorney just suggested the voters case wasnt ripe until the Legislature had a chance to redraw the district in 2023 using the latest Census numbers.

Is your position that the Legislature never has to act when theres a constitutional violation of one-man, one-vote until someone brings a lawsuit, but (voters) cant bring the lawsuit until the Legislature acts? Watford said.

No, Mead said. The voters case should target the 2010 Census and the Legislatures decision not to make the districts constitutional in 2013. With 2022 being the election year in that 10-year cycle, Mead argued the voters had waited too long to act.

Van Kley told the court the release of the Census wasnt the issue. Rather, the date of redistricting was the issue, in which case the last redrawing was 2003 and that map had already been unconstitutional for at least a decade when the 2010 Census indicated the districts varied by more than 13%.

Were bringing this challenge because the map is stale and malapportioned, Van Kley told the court.

But if the trigger for the lawsuit was the 2020 Census, the secretary of states argument would have a lot of merit, Watford said.

Friday afternoon, the court extended a restraining order preventing Jacobsen from starting the election process for PSC districts on the 2022 ballot, starting with candidate registration, which was scheduled to begin Jan. 13. The restraining order is good through Jan. 18, a date by which the judges indicated they would reach a decision about whether to halt the PSC election process until the districts are redrawn.

Federal restraining orders in civil matters are hard to come by. A party must prove their lawsuit is likely to succeed in order to obtain one. Molloy issued the restraining order Dec. 22, after concluding that voters were likely, though not certain to succeed in their lawsuit to have the districts redrawn before the 2022 election.

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While Mondays snowstorm gave Richmond-area students extra days off after winter break, behind the scenes public school districts were scrambling to keep schools up and running with hundreds of teachers out sick or quarantining as the omicron surge of coronavirus cases continues.

On Thursday, Chesterfield County Public Schools recorded 529 teacher absences, Henrico County Public Schools had 404 teacher vacancies, and Richmond Public Schools said 160 teachers were out. Hanover County Public Schools were closed all week due to weather. Not all teacher absences have been COVID-related, according to school officials.

After remaining fully virtual at Jacobs Road Elementary in Chesterfield for a year, Celeste Jacksons sons stepped into the school again this past August.

At the end of August and this time last year, Virginia was seeing about 700 to 800 cases a day among children and teenagers. On Monday and Thursday, Virginia reported more than 2,000 cases among children and teenagers, figures never reached in 2020 or 2021.

Jackson applauds Jacobs Roads administration for navigating the coronavirus pandemic, but said central office continues to come up short.

It doesnt feel they [school system officials] are being proactive at all, Jackson said in an interview this week.

When interviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch in August, Jackson said the fear and anxiety she had before the start of the 2020-21 school year was back, calling it deja vu.

This go-around, though, it feels a little different.

I think now its defeat, not if you cant beat them join them, but at this point, COVID is not going away and its just here to stay now. At this point, I can just get my kids the best masks I can and send them off to school, said Jackson, whose children are vaccinated.

While only 11 COVID-19 cases (nine students, two staff members) were reported on Thursday, 2,094 students were in quarantine. Chesterfield is maintaining the 10-day quarantine for students who test positive.

On top of the 529 teachers being absent on Thursday, 88 bus drivers and 59 support staff members were out.

Chesterfield has requested 7,000 test kits from the Virginia Department of Health, schools spokesperson Shawn Smith said in an email this week. Ahead of winter break, the school system had 3,000 test kits available.

Smith did not address questions regarding whether the requested 7,000 test kits are to be split between the roughly 62,000 students and 8,000 staff members or if the tests are being prioritized to certain schools, student demographics or ages.

Jackson said Chesterfield should have had testing centers set up for a long time.

Its been two years [of the pandemic], yall should have already had tests handed out to people, she said.

In response to a question, if the school district would have school-specific vaccine clinics, Smith said the system is working with the VDH to have additional vaccine opportunities in the county.

For now, the school system directs staff and families to the Chesterfield Health District Rockwood community vaccination clinic and shares information about additional testing sites that pop up. Rockwood, the only county vaccine clinic for 364,000 residents, is offering vaccines and boosters, including the Pfizer booster to 12- to 15-year-olds and the Pfizer vaccine to 5- to 11-year-olds.

The Chesterfield Health District is hosting four free COVID testing events, at New Deliverance Church on Jan. 7 and Jan. 21 from 2 to 4 p.m. and at Faith & Family Community Center on Jan. 12 and Jan. 26 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Ahead of returning from winter break, Richmond Public Schools, which handed out 8,000 free at-home tests to families and a quarter of a million KN95 masks to middle and high school students and staff, announced a test-to-stay program. The program could allow for close contacts of people who have the virus to return to school sooner than the five-day quarantine time by testing negative daily.

But on Thursday  the first day of school after the Christmas break  the local teachers union said it was concerned about Richmonds ability to continue in-person learning.

I think everyone is anticipating that there will be cases of COVID before the numbers flatten and then go back down, said Sarah Abubaker, a spokesperson for RPS. Last estimates are anticipating a spike in cases mid-January with a decline by early February.

In Henrico, 404 teachers out of 4,502 were absent, but not all were related to COVID, said spokesperson Eileen Cox  the district was also short 72 bus drivers. Cox said higher-than-normal staff absences have been happening all year and is expected because of COVID, flu and other winter illnesses.

Fortunately, we have a contingent of people, including teachers, teacher assistants, administrators, a pool of substitutes, retirees and central office staff who are stepping in to ensure classes are covered and students are learning, Cox said.

Both districts are short on substitute teachers and have plans to deploy central office staff in place of teachers who are absent if staffing levels become stringent.

Tunstall Willis, who like Jackson sent two of her children back to school for the first time in 18 months this past August, has been trying to help Chesterfield Public Schools with testing and vaccinating students.

Willis, an event planner, is now working with TestHere and VaccineHere to set up clinics. As the director of community outreach, Willis assisted with the RPS event this past weekend when thousands of tests were handed out.

She has yet to have luck setting up an event with Chesterfield schools.

With Chesterfield, we havent made much progress at all [setting up testing and/or vaccine clinics], said Willis, who was also interviewed in August. As a whole, I think Chesterfield is very reactionary and they dont prepare.

RPS has also scheduled 15 vaccination events for January and February.

Despite recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating a five-day isolation period followed by five days of strict mask use for those who test positive, Chesterfield schools are continuing a 10-day isolation period for students who test positive. Staff members can follow the new CDC guidance.

Students and staff are encouraged to complete a daily health assessment every morning before heading to school.

With omicron appearing much more contagious than other variants, though less severe, all Willis can do is send her vaccinated children out the door with KN95 masks, hand sanitizer and a prayer.

Her daughter attends Bettie Weaver Elementary, and her son attends Midlothian Middle. Willis praised Bettie Weaver for its COVID response, highlighting the communication of positive tests. As far as middle school, Willis would like to see more efforts at social distancing.

I wish I could say I was confident things are going to go well in the next few weeks, Willis said.
Virginias elected officials will need to make dramatic policy changes to address the inequities brought on by centuries of racial segregation and oppression, a state commission tasked with studying systemic disparity in Virginia found.

The 65-page report is the work of the Commission to Examine Racial and Economic Inequity in Virginia Law, which was created by Gov. Ralph Northam last year in an effort to better understand how ongoing policy exacerbates inequity.

Much of its work focused on economic disparity faced by Black Virginians, who are more likely to be at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Among its 45 policy recommendations, the commission is urging lawmakers to back paid family and medical leave for workers, to boost tax relief and to improve protections against foreclosure.

An earlier version of the commission was created in 2019 in the aftermath of Northams blackface scandal. The original commission first set out to identify racist laws that remained in the states code despite no longer being enforced. The commissions work led to many of those laws being formally repealed by the Virginia legislature in 2020.

In its final report, the commission focused on the present day, offering recommendations to address economic inequality, the unique struggles of Virginians of color who live in rural areas, and disparities in environmental conservation.

The recommendations come as Virginia enters a new era of divided government. Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin will become the states first GOP governor in almost a decade; he came into power after running a campaign that included promises to do away with the teaching of systemic racism in Virginia schools, arguing that public discourse on race has been too divisive.

Power of the Virginia legislature will be shared by the parties: Republicans will have majority control in the House, while Democrats will have a majority in the Senate.

Cynthia Hudson, the former chief deputy attorney general of Virginia, who chaired the commission, urged the states leaders to look at the work without the lens of political ideology.

This is simply about common humanity, and trying to bring equity to the treatment and quality of life of every Virginian, Hudson said in an interview. Its not political  but rather moral and necessary.

The commissions report highlighted data from the U.S. Census Bureau showing that the median household income for Black Virginians was about $68,000 in 2018  less than two-thirds of the median household income of white Virginians.

State-level policies intentionally created these disparities, reads the report, adding that undoing them will require targeted policy action.

The commission urged lawmakers to create a paid family and medical leave program that would provide workers with paid time off after childbirth, or if they or a family member face a medical event requiring care.

Virginians of color are less likely to have access to paid leave, the commission found, and the lack of it leaves many working Virginians without income during major life events, making them more likely to fall into economic distress.

The lack of time off also could have negative effects on peoples health. For example, Black women are twice as likely as white women to die during pregnancy or within a year of pregnancy.

Paid leave would allow new mothers more time to attend postpartum health visits and recover from childbirth, the report states.

The commission also urges lawmakers to create a partially refundable state earned income tax credit, and ensure that workers of color are not disproportionately disqualified.

The panel also proposed ways to mitigate foreclosures, including providing better access to counsel for homeowners at risk of losing their home. The body also recommended limiting the percentage of a workers wages that debt collectors can garnish.

The commission also looked at how struggles faced by rural Virginians exacerbate disparities borne by people of color. Among its recommendations, the panel urged lawmakers to address the lack of health care personnel and funding in the states rural areas, and to improve rural infrastructure, including broadband and access to food sources.

Finally, the commission urged lawmakers to address disparities in environmental conservation. The panel urged lawmakers to make tribal governments eligible for land conservation grants, and to prioritize minority communities in the development of urban green spaces.

While the commissions work ends with the Northam administration, its members urged the states new leaders to create a permanent commission dedicated to racial equity, and to create a policy review process that will assess new laws for their racial equity impact.

Asked what her message to the states leaders would be, Hudson said: It would be to not discard or diminish this work. Use it, read it, expand upon it.
As the omicron variant spikes COVID-19 cases around the Richmond region, working parents and local child care centers are forging ahead, unsure of the future.

This just does not feel sustainable at this point, said Andrea Leggett, mother of 4-year-old twins. She works part time in education, while her husband is a security guard. She spoke from her home on Friday, where she was out of work with her kids because her son had a wet cough and a runny nose and couldnt attend child care.

Im already almost out of sick time because Im staying home so often with my kids when they have symptoms, Leggett said.

Its a problem facing many Richmond-area working parents and child care centers with the latest wave of the coronavirus, which has led to record-breaking case numbers in Virginia. On Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported more than 18,000 new cases in the state, higher than any other wave even at the height of the pandemic in terms of cases.

Add to the fact that children under 5 arent able to get vaccinated yet.

For now, Richmond-area child care centers are planning safety protocols similar to what theyve been doing throughout the pandemic. They will continue to require masks for children over age 2 or 3 and to screen for illnesses. But many have questions on which guidance to follow if a child tests positive for COVID.

Were seeing a lot of confusion in the field right now with regards to CDC guidance. Weve been able to get guidance for the general public, but not specifically for child care, said Kim Hulcher, executive director of the Virginia Child Care Association, on Wednesday. Were seeing a lot of pushback from families who need [child] care. These parents have to work.

In late December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for people in the general public with COVID to isolate for five days, followed by five days of wearing a mask when around others.

J. David Young of the Friends Association for Children, which operates two child care centers in Church Hill and Jackson Ward, said their centers are sticking with the previous 10-day quarantine rule.

It just doesnt seem wise to do anything else, he said.

But if a child starts to show symptoms of COVID, the responsibility is on the parent to get their child tested. And with the shortage of at-home COVID tests, that can be difficult to do.

The availability of rapid antigen testing might be strained for some time, Dr. Laurie Forlano, deputy director for the VDH, said on Tuesday. It could take two or three more weeks for the supply to be replenished.

Many child care centers are asking families to keep children at home if they have any symptoms of COVID and havent yet received a negative test.

Leggett said thats part of the reason why shes running out of sick days so quickly.

It takes one to two days to get a COVID-19 test and results, and those [count as] sick days for me, she said. It goes quickly.

Another pressing issue with local child care centers is staffing. Staffing continues to be a challenge for many centers due to historic low wages, hindering enrollment. Child care workers typically make $11 per hour, just above minimum wage. As of 2019, child care workers received an average annual salary in Virginia of $22,797, well below the federal poverty line, according to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.

KinderCares Allison Peressin said, Were working hard to meet the needs of the community. The one thing that holds us back is the ability to staff. If we had the staff, we could fill our centers.

There are nine KinderCare locations in the Richmond area.

Were about 75% occupied, she said, in terms of enrollment.

We are currently doing a statewide survey of [early education] providers and we have heard that it is incredibly difficult to retain, attract and hire new staff right now, said Jenna Conway, from the Virginia Department of Educations early childhood care and education division, via email. The VDOE does not track employment or enrollment at private child care centers, but does track statewide services.

From their survey, two-thirds of directors reported that staffing was either moderately or very hard. For the directors who made new hires in July, 83% said the process was either moderately or very hard.

These staffing challenges had real implications, Conway added. 74% said they asked current staff to work more hours or take on additional duties. Over half (52%) said staffing challenges made them serve fewer children or turn families away. Over a third (36%) reduced the number of classrooms at their sites. 56% said they hired an applicant that was less experienced/or qualified than they would like.

While Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has promised that Virginia will remain open for business, working parents and child care centers scramble to adapt as COVID cases continue to rise in the Richmond area.

According to The Associated Press, hospitalizations of U.S. children under 5 with COVID soared in recent weeks to their highest level since the pandemic began, adding to parents worst fears and worries about keeping their children safe.

We have to learn how to live with COVID. Its not going away, said the VCCAs Hulcher. We have to start looking at alternative solutions [for child care], such as quarantining in place with pods. ... We cant keep opening and closing these classrooms based on one positive case. We need specific guidance on child care centers and how we can support our children and families as they go back to work.

ccurran@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6151 Twitter: @collcurran Information from The Associated Press was included in this report.
Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin will challenge a rule that requires hospital employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, putting his opposition to vaccine mandates into action.

Youngkins transition team announced Friday that he and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares will seek to cancel an order from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which in its original form would have required vaccines from almost every hospital employee in the country.

The announcement came on the same day Virginia broke its own record for COVID hospitalizations. On Friday, there were 3,329 people hospitalized in the state for the virus, eclipsing the previous total, 3,201 on Jan. 13, 2021. Hospitalizations in the state have nearly tripled in the past month.

Already under attack, the mandate has been paused in 25 states following three injunctions issued by U.S. District Court judges. Virginia is not among the 25, so the mandate could still come into effect here.

President Bidens CMS mandate ignores the hospital systems long-established policies designed to keep staff and patients safe and threatens the tenure of essential medical personnel at a time when staffing shortages threaten the health and safety of Virginians, Youngkins office said in a statement.

Two of the Richmond areas three health systems had already required vaccines before the CMS mandate arose  Virginia Commonwealth University Health and Bon Secours. So have many other health systems across the state.

When VCU Health announced it would require its employees to be vaccinated, it did so because administrators were losing the battle against false information spread on the internet, Dr. Art Kellermann, CEO of the health system, said at the time.

HCA Health System, however, never imposed its own requirement, following only what the law requires.

In the fall, 25 states challenged the CMS mandate in three different cases. In early December, a Louisiana judge issued an injunction, blocking the CMS rule. The judge applied the injunction to all 50 states, saying uniformity was necessary.

But a few days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit narrowed that injunction to only the states that were part of the lawsuit. That allowed the rule to stay in place in Virginia and 24 other states.

CMS has not said whether it will implement the rule in the states not affected by the injunction.

During his campaign, Youngkin said he is vaccinated and encourages others to get vaccinated. But he believes mandates go too far.

While we believe that the vaccine is a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19, we strongly believe that the federal government cannot impose its will and restrict the freedoms of Americans, his office said in a statement, and that Virginia is at its best when her people are allowed to make the best decisions for their families or businesses.

Youngkins statement called the vaccine mandate a staffing barrier to hospitals. But evidence suggests mandates arent driving away employees in large numbers.

Departures at VCU were minimal following the announcement. According to the Virginia Mercury, 11 staffers left Sentara hospital system in Hampton Roads because of their mandate. At Virginias Inova Health System, 89 employees  or 0.4% of the workforce  cited the mandate as their reason for departure.

Youngkin said he also opposes the OSHA mandate, which requires companies with more than 100 employees to be vaccinated or perform tests regularly, and the Head Start mandate, which would require vaccines for young children and teachers in a federally operated early education program.

Youngkin and Miyares take office on Jan. 15.
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

Fake vaccine quote circulates after Betty White's death

CLAIM: Betty White told a news outlet she received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, three days before her death, saying: "Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today."

THE FACTS: The quote is fabricated. White did not receive a booster that day, her agent confirmed to The Associated Press. The news article cited by social media users does not contain the bogus quote or anything about vaccines.

Days after Betty White's death at the age of 99 was confirmed on Dec. 31, social media users falsely claimed "The Golden Girls" star had received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, using a bogus quote to suggest her death may have been related. Posters on Twitter and Facebook shared an image containing a quote reading, "'Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today.' - Betty White, Dec. 28th, 2021," alongside a link to an article in Minnesota news outlet Crow River Media, titled, "Betty White: I'm lucky to still be in good health."

One post on Twitter shared the fabricated quote with a caption that reads, "Died 3 days later! Coincidence." But the article does not include that quote, and archived versions of the story stored by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine also do not mention COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Crow River Media ran an editorial addressing the falsehood in the Hutchinson Leader and Litchfield Independent Review, which they publish." The story itself is about a Dec. 28 article in People that included quotes from White given "a few weeks" before she passed away. The People article also does not mention boosters. White's agent, Jeff Witjas, confirmed to the AP that the quote attributed to White is entirely false. "Betty never said this," Witjas said in an email. Witjas also confirmed that White did not receive a booster on Dec. 28, though he did not comment on whether she received one at all. Witjas said she died peacefully in her sleep of "natural causes."

 Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Sacramento, California, contributed this report.

Labeled swabs in some COVID test kits are for quality control

CLAIM: A photo showing a COVID-19 test kit that includes swabs labeled "positive" and "negative" proves tests are manipulated to give a predetermined result.

THE FACTS: The photo does not prove the tests are being manipulated. The swabs labeled "positive control" and "negative control" are included in test kits for quality control purposes to make sure the tests work properly, a standard for most rapid diagnostic tests.

As the COVID-19 variant omicron generates a renewed wave of infections around the world, social media users began recirculating a photo from several months ago to falsely claim that COVID-19 test results are being planned in advance and that tests are unreliable. One recent Instagram post showed a photo of a COVID-19 test kit manufactured by ACON Laboratories, which included test swab packages labeled "positive control swab," and "negative control swab." The post added the caption "Picture taken secretly by a nurse on shift. Name not mentioned for obvious reasons." The same photo has been circulating online since at least spring 2021. However, the positive and negative control swabs are not used on patients, they are used to make sure the test kits work.

The swabs in the photo were part of an antigen rapid test first distributed in December 2020 by ACON Laboratories that was marketed for professional use. In this version of the test, a section of the instruction manual labeled "quality control" stated: "These control swabs should be used to ensure that the test cassette and that the test procedure is performed correctly." William Anderson, a technical support specialist with ACON Laboratories, confirmed to The Associated Press that this is the purpose of the swabs, and said it is "common practice" to include such control samples. ACON's positive control swab is precoated with a SARS-CoV-2 recombinant antigen, according to the test kit instructions. Recombinant antigens are manufactured artificially in a lab. When the positive control swab is used on the kit, it is supposed to produce a positive result to demonstrate that the test is functioning accurately. Similarly, the negative swab should show a negative result. The controls are often used by sites that perform a high volume of tests, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Loren Williams, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Georgia Tech, said the falsely captioned photos were "misrepresenting normal features" of these diagnostic tests. "For any good assay you need both positive and negative controls," Williams wrote in an email to the AP. He added: "You cannot believe a negative result if your positive control is not positive. And a negative control ensures that your reagents are not contaminated. If you get a positive result in your negative control, then you generally have a contamination problem." A similar claim was made on Twitter about swabs found in tests by Abbott Laboratories. The company responded in a statement clarifying that the labeled swabs are to make sure the tests work.

 Associated Press writer Sophia Tulp in Atlanta contributed this report.

Biden didn't 'fire' more than 200 Marines

CLAIM: "Joe Biden fired over 200 marines for refusing to take the COVID vaccine."

THE FACTS: As of Dec. 30, 206 Marines have been removed from the Marine Corps for refusing to comply with the Pentagon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate  but the removals were made by U.S. Marine Corps leadership, not the president, according to a Marine Corps spokesperson.

Disciplinary decisions for armed service members are handled by the respective military services, the Department of Defense confirmed to The Associated Press. As COVID-19 vaccination deadlines for some armed service branches recently passed, social media users spread false claims about which authorities carried out the discipline for those who refused to get the vaccine. The deadline for active-duty Marines to be vaccinated was Nov. 28, and the deadline for reservists to comply was Dec. 28. Shortly after the final deadline, Nick Adams, president of The Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, a conservative civic education organization, tweeted to his more than 223,000 followers: "Joe Biden fired over 200 Marines for refusing to take the COVID vaccine." But the assertion is incorrect about who is responsible for disciplining troops. Cpt. Andrew R. Wood, a Marine Corps communication strategy officer, confirmed that Corps leadership removed the Marines. Adams' Dec. 31 tweet was deleted as of early Jan. 6, hours after an inquiry from the AP. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The post echoes similar false claims that social media users shared in October, asserting that Biden had ordered dishonorable discharges for all troops who refused to be vaccinated. A Pentagon official told the AP in October that Biden had not issued any such order, and that the president does not have the authority to make those decisions. The Biden administration did at one point oppose a proposal by the Pentagon to remove dishonorable discharges from the list of disciplinary options that could be used against service members who refuse COVID-19 vaccines. But the administration did not order that such punishments be carried out. In fact, last month the president signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act  the annual bill that sets the DOD's budget  with a provision that bars dishonorable discharges for service members who refuse the vaccine, the AP reported. The provision specifies they receive at least a general discharge, a less serious option.

 Sophia Tulp

Posts misrepresent movie schedules to push Jan. 6 conspiracy

CLAIM: Only one film is scheduled to play at many major movie theaters nationwide from Jan. 7-8, and this may be related to a Jan. 6 news conference planned by former President Donald Trump.

THE FACTS: The temporary lack of listings in movie theater schedules had nothing to do with any political actions or other conspiracies. The single film  called "The 355"  that was at one point the only movie listed for the second weekend in January on many schedules was the only new movie premiering for most theaters, meaning tickets were open for advance sale. Titles that previously premiered were scheduled in subsequent days, following standard practice among most theaters.

Social media users misrepresented the advanced theater schedules to push the baseless theory that they could foreshadow an announcement by Trump on Jan. 6, the anniversary of the violent insurrection in the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. The claims originated on the messaging app Telegram and hinged on the fact that as of last weekend, only one film was listed as showing on Friday, Jan. 7, and Saturday, Jan. 8, across many major markets and theaters. "Something odd is going on in theaters across the nation on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8," a widely-shared post on Facebook, Telegram and Twitter stated in part, before adding: "Wonder if this has something to do with the press conference Pres. Trump has scheduled for Jan 6?" Trump on Tuesday canceled the press conference. The claims were based on a misunderstanding of how most movie theaters compile and publish their schedules. A spokesperson for Cinemark Theaters told The Associated Press that its showtimes aren't usually booked for the week until after internal meetings each Monday, leaving the schedule sometimes looking bare until Tuesday. An exception is when theaters allow advance sales for a movie that is set to premiere on a specific date, the spokesperson said. Such was the case with "The 355"  a film starring Jessica Chastain as a CIA agent who joins forces with a rival German agent when a secret weapon falls into the hands of mercenaries. Ryan Noonan, public relations director for AMC Theaters, also said the showtimes reflect normal operations. "As is always the case, the complete showtime schedules at all AMC locations for the week of Jan. 7-13 will fully populate by Wednesday morning," Noonan wrote on Monday in an email to the AP. Trump had said he planned to hold a news conference on Jan. 6 but later canceled it.

 Sophia Tulp

Posts misrepresent Portugal's COVID-19 death count

CLAIM: A court in Portugal ruled that only 152 people died of COVID-19 in the country, not 17,000.

THE FACTS: More than 19,000 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in Portugal, not 152.

Social media users are misrepresenting figures from Portugal to make it seem like the country was inflating deaths related to COVID-19. In May, Portugal's General Directorate for Health was asked how many COVID-19 deaths were confirmed by autopsy. The agency responded to the request stating that 152 death certificates had been recorded at the time by doctors working for the Ministry of Justice, which performs forensic medical autopsies. At the time of the request, the country had recorded 16,945 COVID-19 deaths in total, according to the Ministry of Health.

A majority of death certificates in the country are issued by doctors in the Ministry of Health, not the Ministry of Justice. Autopsies performed by the Justice Ministry take place when there is a violent death or an unknown cause, according to the agency. Autopsies are not performed on most deaths related to COVID-19.

"In other words, forensic medical autopsies aim, namely, to support criminal investigations, and are not, as a rule, carried out in situations of natural death by COVID-19," the agency said in a statement. As a result, the number being circulated online did not reflect total deaths in the country, nor did it prove that health officials were increasing Portugal's COVID-19 death count. According to the Health Ministry's daily report for Jan. 5, Portugal had recorded a total of 19,029 COVID-19 deaths. False claims about the number of COVID-19 deaths in Portugal circulated in July and resurfaced this week as the omicron variant surges around the globe. One post sharing the false claim was retweeted on Twitter about 9,000 times.

 Associated Press writer Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed this report.

Nuremberg Code says nothing about mask mandates

CLAIM: The Nuremberg Code explicitly states that mask mandates are a war crime.

THE FACTS: The Nuremberg Code, a set of research ethics created after World War II in response to atrocities perpetrated by Nazi scientists, does not discuss mask mandates.

Text circulating online that is said to show details in the code about masks is bogus. Posts claiming that the Nuremberg Code classifies mask mandates as war crimes have circulated widely on social media alongside an image purportedly showing text from "Article 6: Section 3" of the code. Part of the text in the image states, "Leaders should be aware that mandating masks on the citizens of a nation and preventing their access to food, healthcare, transport or education if they don't comply, is a war crime. Masks or any other medical intervention must remain voluntary."

But the Nuremberg Code contains no such information. The code doesn't mention masks or mask mandates. The sixth principle of the real code asserts that an experiment's "degree of risk" should "never exceed" the "humanitarian importance of the problem" that the experiment aims to solve. Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, told The Associated Press that the Nuremberg Code doesn't include "anything like" the text in the image. "From start to bottom, this is made up," she said. "The essence of the code is to prohibit experiments on human subjects without informed consent. Mask mandates are not experiments. The people who are subject to them are not human subjects." "The code is in no way, shape or form relevant to mask mandates," Reiss added.

The Nuremberg Code originated at a military tribunal that occurred in Nuremberg, Germany, following World War II where Nazi officials were prosecuted. Physicians who conducted harrowing experiments on concentration camp inmates were among the defendants. The code was drafted in 1947 in response to the scientists' crimes and remains influential in medical ethics. The AP previously reported on different online posts that claimed Germany's restrictions for unvaccinated people violate the Nuremberg Code. Medical ethics and legal experts told the AP that these claims are false.

 Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed this report.
Virginias systems for continuing state government in the face of disaster are being put to the test.

With the General Assembly preparing to convene on Wednesday for a 60-day session, legislative agencies are running their websites and computer systems on a backup IT network to bypass malware implanted in a ransomware attack that crippled them last month.

The legislative agencies  including the Capitol Police and the division that drafts bills  have mostly restored their computer systems and websites, using a separate network for continuity of government as a criminal investigation continues into the ransomware attack first detected on Dec. 12.

Nearly all our web assets and applications are up and running using our Continuity of Government environment, which is located separately from our local environment, said Dave Burhop, director of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems, the IT operator for the legislative branch of government.

Continuity of government is an emergency plan to keep the government operating in a disaster  natural or man-made. In this case, the state is trying to avert a disaster from an attack on legislative agencies timed almost exactly a month before the assembly arrives in Richmond for a session that will include adoption of a new two-year state budget.

While some additional work continues, we remain laser-focused on ensuring that our General Assembly systems are operational and available for the upcoming session, Burhop said in an email message last week. Our teams will remain heavily engaged monitoring for any suspicious activity and respond to any needs.

The attack did not affect the computer systems and websites for the executive branch of Virginia government, which are managed by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, or VITA. But the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services continues to use manual time sheets for recording employee work hours because of a separate ransomware attack on the Ultimate KRONOS Group, a global human resources management company that provides services to the state agency.

Legislative websites are operating and the Division of Legislative Services is relying on a separate bill drafting system to produce bills and resolutions for the assemblys 140 members to introduce during the session. However, the drafting process was initially delayed by the attack and ensuing investigation by Burhops department, VITA and an independent contractor, Mandiant.

Based on the data from the security investigation to date, weve been able to identify effective strategies, he said.

At the same time, the Virginia Department of State Police is leading a criminal investigation into the attack, which began on Dec. 10 when computer hackers broke into the legislative IT system using what Burhop called extremely sophisticated malware. The state discovered the cyberattack two days later through the intelligence fusion center run by state police.

Currently, the bad guys have most of our critical systems locked up except for [the Legislative Information System], Burhop told Senate Clerk Susan Schaar and House Clerk Suzette Denslow on Dec. 13.

The state received a ransom note, but without a specified amount of money required for the attackers to remove the malware from the system. The identity of the attackers remains unclear, as the state police and FBI conduct the criminal investigation.

Its still ongoing, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Friday.
For far too long, employers have complained that the education system is not producing the skilled, career-ready graduates needed to meet the challenges of todays workforce economy. Currently, the Manufacturing Institute reports having nearly 900,000 open jobs in manufacturing  a record for the industry.

Education has been trapped in an academic paradigm that everyone needs to go to college and get a degree. Unfortunately, this has made mainstream K-12 and higher education increasingly irrelevant to blue-collar opportunities, trade jobs and the growing area of new-collar work. The old paradigm emphasizes intellectual knowledge; the new paradigm emphasizes expertise and skills.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has crunched the numbers, estimating the economy has created millions of job openings over the last decade, and less than a third require college degrees. Among recent high school graduates ages 16 to 24, college enrollment rates for men and women were 59.3% and 66.2%, respectively.

After paying for four more years of education, however, graduates arent finding jobs to match. While the estimates vary from 40% and up, a whopping percentage of new college graduates are underemployed, getting jobs they might have found straight out of high school, if given the right resources.

So, what do K-12 students and prospective graduates need? Employers are looking to fill open positions based on the skill sets of candidates. A growing number of companies offer well-paying jobs to those with nontraditional education experience and just a high school diploma, including tech giants like Apple and Google. If offered ample resources  like community college classes, software boot camps, certification opportunities, apprenticeships and internships  todays high schoolers have the world at their fingertips.

School choice can address how the educational system needs to be reinvented. By breaking the connection between ZIP code and assigned school, choice offers families access to a bigger world of resources and opportunities. These opportunities include the vocational skills, certification programs, on-the-job learning experiences and specialized learning that can close the skills gap. A framework of choice also resets our mentality about learning  school choice options like microschooling and homeschooling, for example, challenge the notion that learning must take place primarily at a desk.

By giving families more personal agency in education decisions, school choice engages parents and students in the broader conversation about American education, and how it might need to change and grow. Whats more, by encouraging diverse technical and skill-based opportunities for students, school choice invites employers who are directly affected by the outcomes of public education to collaborate with K-12 schools, too.

Skilled and credentialed professions are paying off, and our high schoolers should know that. Twenty-seven percent of people with postsecondary licenses or certificates earn more than the average bachelors degree recipient. When asked about the strengths of U.S. manufacturing careers, a survey of manufacturing professionals confirmed that manufacturing provides stability and solid middle to upper middle-class salaries.

During National School Choice Week (Jan. 23-29), the Association for Manufacturing Excellence will be highlighting school choice  public schools, private schools, microschools, online learning, career technical collaboratives and more  because choice can answer our urgent need for a paradigm shift in education. We hope you will join the conversation, too. Its time for communities to take an active role in preparing students to make their American dream a reality by graduating them with career and college-ready skills of their choosing for success in work and life.
BOZEMAN, Mont.

Steven Rinella has a very hard time sitting still. This is not just an observation. It is, he says, what makes him who he is.

I was born with this wanderlust to move, constantly, as far as I could. Its more than I have a very hard time holding still: I like to go places. I like to understand the people, their history, their social norms, the stories behind their lives, what they ate and how they prepared it, explains the writer and outdoorsman. We are talking from his office in Bozeman, Montana, Rinella having just returned after several weeks hunting and fishing with his family at his cabin in Alaska.

His wanderlust for tracking, hunting, cooking and storytelling has generated a multiplatform empire that includes his reality show, MeatEater. In it, Rinella travels to far-off places to track and hunt animals, typically followed by painstakingly prepared and often exotic meals.

In his wanderings, Rinella says, he ponders who was there before him  not yesterday, or last year, but as long ago as the Ice Age. I often look at some of my favorite periods in deep history that involve these nomadic hunters, he explained. People who did move around a lot and cover a lot of ground. Even in our understanding of surviving on the Great Plains, they would cover this enormous amount of ground. I imagine these peoples base skill set, it would be adaptable to so many different places, and so I admire that, he said.

It is a notion that conflicts with his love and respect for the person who was born of, and remains in, a certain spot. And they know it inside and out, they know everything, they know every lead, and if something is different, they know. They know what the weathers like every year, where the wind blows from on such and such day. I love all that, he said of the more rooted hunters across the country whose experience spans dozens of generations.

These are two very different ways of going about your life. I could be happy in each, but Im happier as the person who can just go anywhere and hack my way through it because Ive accumulated enough knowledge to be adaptable, he said. Im happier at this age in that nomadic space.

Rinella and his team have spawned a cultural movement through their multiple platforms, one that has nothing to do with politics or tribalism and everything to do with freedom, responsibility, giving back and the great outdoors. The Instagram posts alone are worth carving out a portion of your day to follow.

It is a movement that may not be on the radar screens of Madison Avenue or Wall Street executives. Yet for many of the young, up-and-coming set behind them, their imaginations have been captivated; they are watching, listening, buying and getting out there.

So have a lot of other young professionals across the socioeconomic spectrum, who may not have come from that generational tradition of hunting or fishing, but who find themselves wanting to escape their hyperconnected, constantly online world. They want to step outside of that and do the most primitive, basic thing imaginable: hunt.

It definitely was not a stated goal of mine to intentionally reach people who had never considered hunting before. But there is certainly an inevitability to it, that if theres something you love and you are able to capture in a media product, Rinella explained.

Rinella said whether it is a television show, a podcast, an essay or a book, if people see someone love something and why they love it and how they love it, that inevitably is infectious. Imagine that youre speaking to a person, and you dont like dogs. But youre speaking to a person who really knows dogs well, and theyve experienced many, and theyve come to love them, and they understand the other person that doesnt like them. These two people sit down and talk. What are the odds that first person is going to come away from it liking dogs even less? he explained by way of analogy.

Rinella says that type of persuasion proves to be naturally seductive; there is an irresistible quality to it. I think that had I gone in and said to myself, I am going to go and do whatevers in my power to change peoples minds about hunting, I probably would have wound up doing some really goofy, ineffectual thing like, If we dont hunt deer, deer will be overpopulated. Well, that doesnt mean anything to people.

According to Rinella, that kind of approach doesnt inspire and speak to people. Instead, he continued, I think just by saying, Heres this thing, heres how I understand it, heres what appeals to me about it, that works for people. Which explains why a large segment of the MeatEater audience might never hunt but at least understands why people do it. Its no longer thought of in the Disney caricature way, in which a shadowy man with a gun kills Bambis mother.

A natural-born storyteller, Rinella earned a masters degree in creative writing at the University of Montana. When he discusses the importance of the relationship he has with nature, his words are intoxicating. You want to experience smelling and feeling and contributing actively in the outdoors, and you want to do it responsibly because of him.

Rinellas approach is simple: He does not advise. He does not tell people what they need to do to be happy. What he does is open minds.

Hunting and fishing numbers over the last year and a half have exploded, and it would not be a stretch to say Rinella and his network have played a role in attracting new people wanting to take refuge in outdoor sports. They provide an active example of the skills, creativity and camaraderie that can develop when hunting and foraging for food, as well as the reward when one has a hand in putting food on the dinner table. The spiking popularity of hunting and fishing reverses what was a steep, years-long decline many feared would lead to the near-extinction of the sports.

While Rinella is an integral part of this awakening, he is, a reluctant evangelist for the movement. For him, it isnt just about hunting; it is about tracking the animals and understanding our role in the food chain. He admits he takes a lot of pride in how he communicates about conservation and about the ethics of hunting, as well as in demonstrating the thrill and skills of tracking an animal and preparing the feast afterward.

Being outdoors is great for all people, Rinella says, but he also doesnt want everybody hunting, nor does he think hunting is for everybody. But I do think everybody can learn something by understanding hunting. And we all become closer to our food and to nature.

It is something that is profound and powerful.
The Netflix film Dont Look Up satirizes how theres no planetary cataclysm so large that it cant be monetized or ignored.

I use the word satire loosely for an over-the-top film that somehow could still function as a documentary. Its cinematic crisis is a metaphor for our avoidance of existential crises: the pandemic, insurrection and, most obvious of all, climate change.

Which brings us to a political nomination so wrongheaded that it could have easily fit into Dont Look Up: Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkins choice of a former coal industry lobbyist as a steward of Virginias environment. Andrew Wheeler will be Virginias secretary of natural resources unless state lawmakers have the good sense to reject him.

Wheeler was head of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Trump administration, which took unseemly pleasure in trashing environmental protections.

In a General Assembly that typically rubber-stamps a governors Cabinet picks, Wheelers nomination has riled up Democrats.

I dont recall ever receiving an email asking me to reject a governors appointment before, and my inbox is flooded, said state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, a Democrat from Richmond.

Youngkins pick, she said, shows that the environment and addressing climate change is not only not a priority, but that theyre going to roll back all the progress we wanted to make. And thats just unacceptable.

Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, urged Virginias Senate to oppose Wheeler, saying in a statement that as EPA chief, he disregarded scientific advice, loosened emissions standards, allowed for unsafe levels of PFAS in drinking water, rolled back protections for our nations waterways, and undermined our global standing as a partner in the fight against climate change by rescinding the Clean Power Plan.

Obviously, the Youngkin team has a different take.

The Governor-Elect appointed Andrew Wheeler because of their shared commitment to protecting the Chesapeake Bay, addressing rising sea levels, solving longstanding stormwater management issues, and establishing a Coastal Virginia Resiliency Authority, a transition aide for Youngkin said via text.

If so, Wheeler has experienced a conversion previously unwitnessed in his public life.

Virginia  and really, the nation and world  dont have the luxury to indulge in this folly.

Weve already endured the weird and wasteful witch hunt that Ken Cuccinelli, Virginias former attorney general, conducted against climate scientist Michael Mann. Now, the commonwealth is ushering in a new age of climate denial with Youngkin and Wheeler, a former staffer for Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has called climate change a hoax.

In December, of all months, wildfires consumed towns in Colorado and tornadoes leveled locales in Kentucky. During the first week of the new year in Virginia, a mere two days separated balmy temperatures from a snowstorm that paralyzed Interstate 95.

How many signs do we need?

Which brings us to another malady the nation refuses to address: systemic racism. Climate denial is inseparable from environmental racism. An organization called Moms Clean Air Force, whose stated mission is to protect children from air pollution and climate change, called out Wheeler during his EPA tenure with a list citing 10 Ways the EPA is Making Life Worse for Black and Brown Americans.

In 2021, the EPA, under new management after Trumps defeat, released a Social Vulnerability Report examining how some populations  based on income, educational attainment, race and ethnicity, and age  may be more exposed to the highest impacts of climate change.

According to the report, Black individuals are 40% more likely than their non-Black counterparts to live in areas with the highest projected increases in mortality rates due to climate-driven changes in extreme temperatures; their children, far more likely to experience asthma due to climate-driven air pollution.

Latino individuals are 43% more likely than non-Latino counterparts to live in areas projected to experience lost labor hours outdoors because of climate-driven high temperatures. American Indian and Alaska Native individuals are 48% more likely than their counterparts to live in areas where the highest percentage of land is projected to be inundated due to sea level rise.

Wheeler is not merely associated with the inherent racism of climate denial.

In 2018, stories in the Washington Post and Huffington Post said Wheeler, while head of the EPA, liked a blatantly racist post featuring Barack and Michelle Obama staring at a banana. Wheeler, lamely, said he did not remember liking the picture.

Partisan polarization on climate change  not unlike in the fight against COVID-19  is a self-defeating and potentially lethal hill to die on, seeded with misinformation. But the havoc of extreme weather respects neither partisan politics nor privilege.

Wheeler, in this climate, is the wrong man for this job. Youngkin needs to quit the satire and submit a serious pick.
When Gov. Ralph Northam began his term in 2018, an estimated 660,000 Virginians lacked high-speed internet access. That staggering figure was a metric the governor took personally.

Northam grew up on a farm just outside of Onancock on the states Eastern Shore. His hometown was among the unserved places, and long before the COVID-19 pandemic became the driving issue behind broadband policy, he channeled his personal experience into a sense of urgency.

Last month, nearing the end of his term, Northam took the podium at a fire station in Goochland County with a sense of accomplishment. He announced more than $722 million in grants that would support 35 broadband projects across 70 localities. Roughly 278,000 households, businesses and community institutions are positioned to gain high-speed service, and Virginia now is on pace to achieve universal broadband by 2024.

We always knew that broadband was important for everybody, said Northam, whose team has steered more than $2 billion in public and private investments over the past four years. No matter who you are, no matter where you are in Virginia, it has become a necessity.

But the metrics that have shaped recent broadband efforts, led by the number of unconnected homes and businesses, have to evolve going forward. Virginia must measure the return on investment. Collect concrete data about who is receiving new internet service, where it is being placed and how it is generating progress.

Circle back to Northams initial case for pursuing universal broadband. The digital divide in Virginia was caused by a fundamental math problem, the governors team explained in its Commonwealth Connect report. For private providers, the cost of building 1 mile of service in Arlington and Accomack counties might be the same, but densely populated areas like Arlington had a distinct advantage.

For areas with lower densities, the cost of the infrastructure outweighs the potential revenue that could be gained from customers, the report warned. In those areas, without government intervention, citizens will never be served.

Government intervention has been characterized by four paths over the past four years:

First, Virginia ramped up state grants that support public-private partnerships between localities and providers. Annual investment in the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative jumped from $1 million in 2017 to $50 million in 2021.

Second, the General Assembly adopted laws that help promote coverage and innovation. For example, Virginias utility-leverage program allows major electricity companies to partner with localities and providers, and build infrastructure serving hard-to-reach areas.

Third, state leadership developed detailed guidance and resources for localities to develop individually tailored broadband plans. Information sharing has ranged from sample requests for proposals, to maps of available services and assets.

Finally, strong relationship-building yielded the Commonwealth Connect Coalition, an alliance of 100-plus businesses, nonprofits and other stakeholders invested in improved access.

Why put time and energy into these initiatives? The Commonwealth Connect report stressed there was a significant return on investment.

One study cited that universal broadband could add $1.29 billion to Virginias gross state product while creating upward of 9,400 jobs. Home property values also were estimated to grow between 3% and 8%.

Another study by the USDA Economic Research Service found agriculture, the commonwealths largest industry, could increase output by 18% through the adoption of connected technologies. Agriculture already generates $70 billion in economic activity for Virginia, and broadbands impact could add another $12.6 billion.

But the Commonwealth Connect report admitted these calculations, while robust, still fail to capture the economic benefits of increased market access for rural businesses, telehealth patients, students and more.

It can be easy to say, Well, some of our county is connected,  Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, added at the Dec. 13 event in Goochland. But thats not everybody.

Extending Spanbergers sentiment, it can be easy to say Well, our entire county is connected. But what about the people behind the data? Theres more work to do to ensure that better outcomes are experienced by households and businesses with newfound connections.

Look no further than the tumult of this past weeks snowstorm across Virginia. Local governments already are using digital tools to send civic alerts that help residents prepare for  and survive during  a crisis.

Last Sunday morning, Goochland County reached out to residents via social media: No matter the weather forecast, downloading the @DominionEnergy app to easily report and check the status of power outages right from your fingertips is a smart idea.

By Tuesday afternoon, with a majority of residents facing a multiday power outage, Louisa County announced help via Twitter for residents  with a major caveat: There is a warming shelter available at the Holly Grove [Fire Department]. We cannot provide transportation.

Current broadband investments have to lead to stronger systems in the future  ones that improve power-outage response times, provide shelter and transportation, and most of all, prevent motorists from being stranded for an incomprehensible 24 hours along a major interstate highway.

Great strides have been made in the past four years to close the digital divide. But a connection alone wont result in improved outcomes. With more than $2 billion on the line, we have to monitor the implementation and collect data that demonstrates a real return on investment for Virginians.

 Chris Gentilviso
Recognizing our history

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I read with great interest the recent article about Randolph Colleges recognition of the Monacan Indian Nations history, which long predates the colleges presence, with the establishment of historic plaques around campus.

This called to mind the dedication of the historical road marker located at Manakin Episcopal Church on state Route 711, just a mile west of state Route 288. The marker is one of four in that one-mile stretch between 288 and the church that commemorate different historic events of that route.

The plaque recognizes the Monacan Nations history and the 10,000 acres of former Monacan lands given to Huguenot refugees by the English crown, who established King William Parish in 1700, now known as Manakin Episcopal Church. Some active members of the parish are direct descendants of those first settlers. As the rector of the parish at that time, it was a distinct honor to welcome the Monacan representatives back to what had been their land so long ago.

It is great that Randolph College has undertaken this important project. I hope it inspires others throughout the commonwealth to do more research into the heritage of the original inhabitants of this land in our collective history and to offer appropriate recognition of that heritage.

Rev. Michael Stone,
A prosecutor described how Adam Richard Hodge used a sharp objects to inflict scars, how he clubbed one boy with a gun, and how he pressed pillows over both boys' faces and held a gun to their heads, saying he could kill them and no one would hear the shots.
Radford University joined Virginia Tech and numerous other colleges with a decision to require COVID-19 booster shots for students as the spring semester approaches.

Radford made the announcement on its website Thursday, while also outlining other protocols for the semester that begins Jan. 18.

The school is expanding its vaccine mandate to include the requirement of booster shots for students within 14 days days of eligibility, according to the announcement.

Fully vaccinated students currently at or beyond the booster eligibility window will have to provide documentation of receiving the booster by no later than Feb.15.

Students not yet eligible to receive a booster must do so and provide documentation within 14 days of eligibility, according to the announcement.

Students enrolled in a fully online program with no in-person engagement or physical presence on campus remain exempt from the vaccine and booster requirement, as do students previously receiving a medical or religious exemption for the vaccine.

Eligible students that do not provide required documentation may be required to participate in weekly COVID-19 testing and may not be eligible to register for future semesters.

The same is true for faculty and staff, except staff are not at risk of losing their jobs, but will have to go through weekly testing, according to the announcement.

The mask mandate that requires all to wear a mask while indoors on campus is still in effect, according to the schools website.

Isolation and quarantine procedures will remain at 10 days, though the school may use updated CDC guidelines in certain instances.

The updated CDC guidance related to isolation and quarantine provides options to shorten either period, the announcement states. The updated guidance also expands quarantine to include vaccinated individuals who have a known exposure and are eligible for the booster but have not yet received it.

When circumstances are appropriate, the University may apply these shortened timeframes for isolation and quarantine followed by a period of strict wearing of a well-fitted face mask.

Boosters will be available, at no cost, to interested students, faculty, staff or contractors during entry testing on the main campus between 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Jan. 13-16, according to the university. Boosters will be available, at no cost, to interested students, faculty, staff or contractors at Radford University Carilion in Roanoke on Jan. 21.

Roanoke College will also require boosters for its students for the upcoming semester, according to the Salem schools website.

Those eligible for the booster must show proof that they received the shot by Jan. 31, the website reads.

Additionally, due to the high level of cases in the area and around the nation, the school is implementing a phased return for the spring semester that will take place starting Jan. 15.

We plan to start the semester on time with classes beginning Jan. 18. However, we will begin most classes online, allowing students to move to campus in controlled phases, a statement from President Michael Maxey reads. Select studio and lab classes will be held in person, and students in those classes will be contacted directly.

Our plan is to have all students back on campus by Jan. 30 and return to in-person classes on Jan. 31. The academic calendar is unchanged.

University of Virginia officials announced Friday the deadline for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots is being moved to Jan. 14 to assure students, faculty and staff are at maximum resistance to the omicron variant that has fueled the recent surge of cases.

Officials made the announcement Friday in an email message to the UVa community. The deadline was Feb. 1.

More detailed information on each schools plans can be found on their respective websites.

The Charlottesville Daily Progress contributed to this report.

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BEDFORD  A Salem woman was sentenced Friday in Bedford Circuit Court on abduction and robbery charges from 2020.

Michelle Lea Nester pleaded no contest last June to charges in connection with the robbery and abduction of a Forest man in fall 2020.

The 25-year-old also has been convicted on related charges of malicious wounding, abduction, and robbery in Roanoke County Circuit Court, where a sentencing is scheduled for March.

Nester was sentenced to 10 years with all but four years suspended. She has been in jail in Amherst since Sept. 12, 2020, and will receive credit for time served.

Bedford County Commonwealths Attorney Wes Nance said during a June hearing that Nester believed the victim had stolen marijuana from her home in Roanoke. Based on this suspicion, she lured the victim to her home on the night of Sept. 11, 2020.

Nance said at the June hearing several of Nesters friends later came over armed with guns, though Nester said Friday she had not met two of them prior to that night.

The group waved their guns at the victim and struck him, then took several personal items from him before tying him up with string trimmer line and putting him in the back of his own vehicle, according to previous court hearings and documents.

The attackers drove the bound victim back to his home in Forest, where they stole more items from him, including electronics and clothing. The vehicle also was counted as a stolen item in the case.

Nester met the victim through a dating website, according to search warrants and Nesters testimony.

During her testimony Friday, Nester said the relationship with the victim began as hanging out and smoking marijuana together, then progressed to a romantic nature. At this point, she testified, he took prescription pills, marijuana, and about $500 in cash from her.

After the attack on the victim, Nester said she and a few co-defendants drove him back to his Forest home from Salem, where, she said, they cut the victim loose and let him out of his car.

They went into his home, smoked cigarettes together, and made ramen noodles. She said she also made sure the victim had his laptop so he could keep up with online schooling.

After hanging out and talking for a while, Nester took some items from his home and left.

Nester said she never intended to cause any harm to the victim; she just wanted her stuff back.

Nesters attorney, Aaron Houchens, said his client had no prior criminal history and the situation got way out of hand very quickly.

Houchens said Nester had a troubled and problematic upbringing that resulted in trauma and mental health struggles, and over the course of counseling for the past few years she was diagnosed with major depression, PTSD, and a personality disorder.

Due to mental illness factors, Houchens added Nester at times exhibited childlike behavior, causing her to be easily influenced by others, such as several individuals who came over and participated in the attack and robbery.

Nance acknowledged Nester may have her own trauma, but the victim experienced trauma at the hands of Nester and the others who participated in the crime.

Nance also shared in court a series of text messages Nester had sent her mother earlier on the day of the incident, expressing her eagerness to get back at the victim, often using the expression lol, texting slang for laughing out loud. She also had obtained a gun earlier that same day. This evidence, he said, countered Nesters statement that she had not intended any harm and instead proved the retaliation was premeditated.

Nance also presented a recovered photo from Nesters confiscated phone showing the victim tied up in his car, a photo taken several hours after the attack showing ligature marks, and documentation of all the victims injuries.

Nester said she was sorry for what she had done and took full responsibility for her actions. She said the victim did not deserve what he went through, and she prayed he would find full healing from the trauma.

Khairajhn Muhammad Sims, a co-defendant in the case, is scheduled for an upcoming jury trial on charges of abduction, robbery and two counts of using a firearm in a felony. Hes also facing similar charges in Roanoke County, along with four other co-defendants.
RICHMOND  Incoming House Speaker Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said Friday he will encourage COVID-19 vaccines and boosters for legislators and others ahead of the 2022 legislative session, declining calls from the outgoing Democratic speaker to levy a mandate.

Outgoing House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, is instead calling to require COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters, from legislators and staff when the legislature convenes Wednesday. Those who chose or cannot get vaccinated would be subject to a mask mandate in the chamber and inside all House facilities, along with weekly testing, according to the speakers proposal.

The safety of the convening for the 100-member chamber has taken on new significance amid a surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Virginia and the nation, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.

The GOP next week takes majority control of the chamber, and will have the power to impose its own rules once session starts.

In a statement Friday, Gilbert said that despite COVID-19, the House will meet in person, with the option for virtual public testimony. He said anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19 will be asked to participate in the legislative session remotely.

He also urged every Virginian to be vaccinated, and when appropriate, get a booster.

Vaccines may not prevent every case of COVID, but they are extremely effective in turning what could be a life-threatening illness into something much less severe, Gilbert said, adding that NK95 masks, gloves, thermometers and hand sanitizer would be widely available during the legislative session.

Filler-Corn, in a last move as speaker, proposed mandatory reporting of COVID-19 symptoms, followed by testing. Filler-Corn also proposed a virtual option for votes for members who become exposed or test positive for the virus. And, as a last resort, an option for the speaker to convene the chamber virtually.

As COVID-19 infections rise across Virginia, it is vital the House put in place measures to ensure that it can complete the critical work deserved by Virginians in the upcoming session, Filler-Corn said in a statement.

Republicans have long opposed convening virtually, even before vaccines had become available, arguing that it hampered the power of the minority and decreased public transparency.

While we have made a great deal of progress in mitigating the pandemic, it is clear that COVID will be with us as we begin the 2022 Session, Gilbert said.

Nonetheless, it is crucial that we not only get the peoples business done in a timely manner, but we do so in an open and transparent fashion, while operating in as regular of order as possible.
Virginias senators on Friday sent a letter to Amtraks CEO and its president, saying the train service must do better after roughly 220 passengers and six crew members were stranded this week outside Lynchburg for more than 24 hours.

Passengers aboard Train 20  which left New Orleans Sunday en route to New York but had to return to Lynchburgs Kemper Street Station after encountering downed trees and power lines  reportedly described a lack of communication from Amtrak as a nightmare situation. One passenger said Amtrak did not tell passengers they would be spending the night in the train, according to the letter from Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats, to Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn and President Stephen Gardner.

Passengers also said the train ran out of food, despite Amtrak saying food and water were available, according to news reports.

It is unacceptable that Amtrak did not better communicate with passengers during an emergency situation such as this, the senators wrote. Inclement weather is uncontrollable. However, Amtrak must have appropriate systems and practices in place to ensure that passengers and crew caught in such weather are not only safe, but also understand the situation and their options. We have long been supporters of Amtrak; but, simply put, Amtrak must do better.

The senators wrote their staff will follow up to discuss Amtraks current procedures as well as steps Amtrak is taking so that communication failures like what we saw this week in Lynchburg do not happen again.

Another Amtrak train, No. 176 heading from Roanoke to Washington, D.C., also became stuck outside Lynchburg Monday morning into early Tuesday following the winter storm that dumped up to 7 inches of snow around the region.
DARLINGTON, S.C.  The newly formed Archeological Institute of the Pee Dee is beginning to dig into the areas history.

Theres a great archeological heritage in the Pee Dee, Institute Leader Ben Zeigler said. [Its a] very unusual part of the world in the history of the world and the history that we learn from archeology.

Zeigler added that until the institute was formed, archeological work in the Pee Dee had been piecemeal in that whenever archeologists wanted to investigate a particular site, they were able to. But, he added, there had been no organized plan to unearth the important historical sites of the Pee Dee.

The institute has a governing board with members from several local museums, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and other stakeholders in regional history.

Last week, a team of archeologists including began work on the institutes first project: determining the location of the Cashaway Baptist Church and the cemetery next to the church.

The church was founded in 1756 on a bend that existed in the Great Pee Dee River.

Zeigler said the church was likely an offshoot of the Welsh Neck Baptist Church across the Great Pee Dee River from Society Hill. Ultimately, the settlers came from up north in Pennsylvania or Delaware  the boundaries of the colonies werent determined until the Mason-Dixon line was surveyed in the 1750s  and may have made the church here like a church there.

He said settlement in the area around the church began in the late 1730s or early 1740s and by 1756, there were enough settlers around to populate the church.

The archeologists found the location of the church on a piece of property owned by Diamond Hill Plywood and leased by David Lowe.

They have been tremendously generous in allowing us to come out here and do the work that weve done, Zeigler said.

The name of the church and the crossing of the river provides the word Cashua that we use for the street in Florence and the road leading to the river in Darlington County. The ultimate source for the name Cashaway is unclear.

The conventional explanation  and it goes all the way back to Bishop Alexander Gregg, who wrote the History of Old Cheraws  is they called it Cashaway because you had to pay cash to cross the ferry, Zeigler said. Thats the most asinine explanation that Ive ever heard because you had to pay cash to cross at any ferry.

Zeigler said one of the oldest plats of the land identifies the area as Casawha. He said that over time that word, probably borrowed from the Native Americans who were in the area, changed into Cashaway and then eventually into the word Cashua that we use today.

The team located the church and several gravestones in a flat spot next to what appears to be a wagon road leading from the location of the former ferry to the current location of S.C. 34.

The gravestones appear to be simple rocks with initials carved in. Over time, most of them were buried in sediment but the tops of a few gave the team an idea of the location of more gravestones.

Zeigler said the church records and the diary of the minister, Evan Pugh, indicate that one of the stones belongs to Peter Kolb, who served as a Revolutionary War soldier and died in 1779 likely from either a wound or a disease. Another could belong to Elizabeth James, who died in October of 1771.

Around 1786, the church was moved across the river and became the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.

The archeologists were able to determine the churchs location by locating the materials the movers left behind, including wrought nails and broken bricks.

In 1818, the church was moved again to Mechanicsville, where it became the Mechanicsville Baptist Church.

However, the history of the site does not begin with the church.

The team also recovered several Indian artifacts from various periods including some from as far back as 8,000 years.

College of Charleston professor Andrew Agha provided the Morning News with an overview of how the team works to find artifacts.

He said the process began by laying out a grid system and digging three- to four-foot-deep holes every 100 feet. Agha said the next step was light metal detection.

Finally, the process concludes with the digging of holes 10 centimeters at a time in areas that test positive for metal and artifacts.

The team has found several rocks that have been shaped into tools like spears and knives and some pottery pieces.

Modern technology could allow the team to learn what the tools were used on and what was cooked in the pottery. And the team also uses GPS to define the location of each successful dig site and to outline the grid system.

Chris Moore of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said the history of the site could go even further back.

He took the Morning News to a site near the borrow pit for the S.C. 34 road bed and showed a large section of sand that he said hadnt been exposed to the air for thousands of years. Moore said the sand would be tested to look for a spike of metal in the air that could have occurred when a comet hit the earth around 12,000 years ago.

Zeigler said the institutes second project is planned for the spring. He said the plan called for investigation of an Indian site near Pamplico on the Great Pee Dee River.

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Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

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Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
SIOUX CITY -- During a meeting with state lawmakers from Sioux City Friday, city leaders identified a shortage of workers as the most pressing priority for the upcoming session, citing hiring struggles for local businesses of all sizes.

"It's literally something we deal with every day," City Economic Development Director Marty Dougherty said during a forum at City Hall attended by Democratic Sen. Jackie Smith, Republican Sen. Jim Carlin, Republican Rep. Jacob Bossman and Democratic Rep. Chris Hall.

Before the pandemic, in early 2019, Dougherty said the unemployment rate in metro Sioux City was 3% or less. Today, it's about the same but "it's misleading, because we have probably several thousand fewer people in the Sioux City area than we had before," said Dougherty, who noted people left the workforce due to day care issues, early retirement and other reasons.

"It's a real issue and it affects our community and most communities in the country," he told lawmakers.

While Iowa has a variety of "innovative programs," such as the Last-Dollar Scholarship, Future Ready Iowa, and Learn and Earn, which it should continue to fund, Dougherty said the state needs to "go to another level" when it comes to workforce training and recruitment.

"I think we need new facilities. I think we need more innovative partnerships and training solutions. I think we should basically rethink the state's approach to provide next-level, customized employee recruiting and training. There are some states that do more than we do," he said.

Dougherty noted that one of the things that draws people to live in a community is quality-of-life initiatives. He cited the city's Cone Park and trail system as amenities that factor into an individual or family's decision to relocate to the city.

The city is also facing housing shortages and increasing housing prices, lawmakers heard Friday.

Dougherty thanked local legislators for increasing the workforce housing tax credit program's maximum credit, but he said more funding is needed. Since 2016, he said the program has assisted 25 separate qualifying housing projects in Sioux City, helping to create 546 new housing units.

Smith asked city leaders, "What is considered affordable housing on an entry price point?"

Mayor Pro Tem Dan Moore said the city doesn't have a clear definition or a formula. Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr said she believes lenders look at 33% of an individual's gross income.

"If you're building more expensive homes in areas like Whispering Creek etc., I can't go from an $80,000 bungalow in one of the other neighborhoods, a starter home in Morningside or the Leeds area, and jump to that," Schoenherr said. "So, having an affordable inventory that stages it for people, so if I'm ready to get out or I get married or need more room, I can find something that's more in the $200,000 range and move up there. That's kind of what my definition of affordable housing is."

Carlin responded, "We don't have an inventory. If you talk to any Realtor here in town, a $200,000 house is gone in a day."

Councilman Alex Watters said the first home he bought in Morningside around eight years ago sold for $115,000.

"You could get a really nice house then. You're not going to find any house that's inhabitable at that price point at this level without an investment in rehabbing or doing something else," he said. "I think the city is trying to be creative in meeting that need, whether we're looking at smaller homes and setback issues or partnering with Habitat for Humanity."

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SIOUX CITY -- Iowa environmental regulators are seeking what could add up to millions of dollars in penalties from the City of Sioux City for repeated violations at the city's wastewater treatment plant.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources also is seeking injunctions enjoining the plant from future violations and requiring the city to meet compliance requirements contained in its state wastewater treatment permit. The DNR is asking a judge to assess penalties of $5,000 per day for hundreds of days on which the violations occurred.

A lawsuit filed Friday lists numerous violations dating back to March 2012 and including a three-year scheme in which two former plant supervisors manipulated water sample test results to ensure that plant discharges into the Missouri River met environmental requirements. It also said that the city declined to fix problems at the plant because doing so would have exposed the city's dishonesty to the DNR about the effectiveness of its operations.

The city also received a substantial economic benefit from inadequately treating wastewater, while attracting new industries and delaying capital investments in the facility, the lawsuit said.

"The city potentially endangered human lives and wildlife by violating water-quality rules and perpetrating a fraud to conceal its employees' actions," Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said in a press release Friday after the lawsuit was filed in Woodbury County District Court.

According to the lawsuit, as early as 2012, plant officials knew the facility could not consistently disinfect the millions of gallons of wastewater each day.

The city has and continues to address the issues that have led to violations, said Guy Cook, a Des Moines attorney representing the city.

"The city has been working diligently to address and make improvements to the wastewater treatment facility," Cook said. "That effort is ongoing and substantial. The city staff has worked cooperatively with the DNR."

Built in 1961, the 28.73 million gallon-per-day plant at 3100 S. Lewis Blvd. accepts industrial, commercial and residential wastewater from Sioux City. The city also accepts wastewater from Sergeant Bluff, South Sioux City, North Sioux City and Dakota Dunes.

From 2012 through April 2015, former plant superintendent Jay Niday and shift supervisor Patrick Schwarte manipulated chlorine levels to make it appear the city was meeting federal E. coli standards when wastewater samples were tested. The two would raise chlorine levels added to wastewater on days that E. coli samples were taken, producing test samples showing plant discharges met federal limits for levels of fecal coliform and E. coli before they were discharged into the Missouri River.

Once the samples were taken, chlorine added to the wastewater was reduced to minimal levels, leading to the discharge of water containing high levels of E. coli and potentially endangering public health and fish and water organisms.

During that time, the lawsuit said, the city was touting the effectiveness of the plant's system in an attempt to convince the DNR to grant a higher rating so the city could increase its treatment capacity in order to recruit more businesses and industries producing high-strength wastewater. The DNR trusts municipalities to self-report its test results and inform regulators of any noncompliance.

"Cheating on required environmental tests gave the city an unfair advantage in this competition to attract business and industry among other municipalities," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit says the city concealed problems with the disinfection process from the DNR beginning in 2011, and by May 1, 2012, had notified an engineering firm that the system could not meet E. coli treatment levels. Engineers advised the city to conduct additional testing and submit it to the firm, but the city never provided the data. The city also did not seek a contract to replace or upgrade faulty systems, actions that would have cost millions of dollars and required DNR approval, a process that would have revealed the city's deception to the state and endangered its ability to increase capacity and attract new business.

The engineering firm in 2013 sent the city a draft master plan in which it said the plant was unable to provide adequate disinfection and also included recommendations for treatment alternatives. The city instructed the firm not to finalize the plan and began using a different firm.

In April 2015, a plant employee tipped off the DNR to Niday and Schwarte's actions. The city fired the two in June 2015, and both surrendered their state wastewater licenses.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation ensued, resulting in criminal charges against Niday and Schwarte. Both pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges of conspiracy and falsifying or providing inaccurate information. Niday was sentenced in April to three months in prison with two years of supervised release to follow and fined $6,000. Schwarte was sentenced in November 2020 to two years' probation and a $5,000 fine.

Niday's attorney said at sentencing he did not know the motive for Niday's actions, but he did not profit financially.

Cook, the city's attorney, on Friday reiterated the city's position that Niday and Schwarte acted on their own and were not directed by city department heads or other top officials. Friday's lawsuit does not implicate any other city workers or administrators by name, though it said at least four other plant workers said Niday and Schwarte directed them to manipulate the chemical levels.

"This conduct was rogue conduct by Mr. Niday and Mr. Schwarte," Cook said.

The DNR had put its case against the city on hold while federal authorities investigated the allegations and prosecuted Niday and Schwarte.

The attorney general's office is not conducting its own criminal investigation, spokesman Lynn Hicks said.

"There's been no referral to our office for criminal charges," Hicks said.

An EPA official would not comment on whether its investigation has concluded and referred questions to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa. A U.S. Attorney's spokesman said Friday he had been unable to confirm the investigation's status.

The DNR lawsuit also is seeking penalties for a number of other wastewater violations. The DNR said that the city exceeded ammonia concentration limits on several occasions in 2018 and 2019, resulting in the DNR issuing a compliance schedule requiring the city to meet more stringent ammonia limits by April 1, 2025.

The city also exceeded daily maximum total residual chlorine, or TRC, concentration limits and daily maximum TRC mass limits in 2017, 2018 and several months in 2019. Again, the DNR has issued a compliance schedule requiring the city to meet stricter TRC limits by Dec. 1, 2023. The DNR says the city continues to have difficulty meeting those TRC limits and exceeded them in March, May and June of 2021.

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China's virus-hit Xi'an to gradually resume trade in necessities, deliveries, catering services

Xinhua) 09:31, January 08, 2022

Volunteer Li Guang carry vegetables at Deshan shared kitchen in Yanta District of Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)

XI'AN, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, will advance the orderly resumption of businesses dealing with the supply of necessities, postal and express delivery services, and the catering industry, amid the latest COVID-19 resurgence.

The city, with 13 million residents, reported 57 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The new cases brought the total number of local cases in the city to 1,913 since Dec. 9, 2021.

According to a notice issued by the city's epidemic prevention and control headquarters, Xi'an will allow the resumption of business of supermarkets, fresh-food stores and suppliers of other necessities, as well as logistics storage centers and distribution sites, after evaluations of epidemic prevention conditions.

Catering enterprises will receive take-out orders but dine-in services will remain suspended.

Couriers and other staff working for the resumed businesses will be required to carry employment certificates and proof of a negative result from nucleic acid tests taken within the previous 48 hours, the notice said.

The headquarters also announced the policies of giving awards and subsidies to support e-commerce enterprises, residential communities and wholesale vegetable markets to ensure food supplies and deliveries.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Bianji)
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

Fake vaccine quote circulates after Betty White's death

CLAIM: Betty White told a news outlet she received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, three days before her death, saying: "Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today."

THE FACTS: The quote is fabricated. White did not receive a booster that day, her agent confirmed to The Associated Press. The news article cited by social media users does not contain the bogus quote or anything about vaccines.

Days after Betty White's death at the age of 99 was confirmed on Dec. 31, social media users falsely claimed "The Golden Girls" star had received a COVID-19 vaccine booster on Dec. 28, using a bogus quote to suggest her death may have been related. Posters on Twitter and Facebook shared an image containing a quote reading, "'Eat healthy and get all your vaccines. I just got boosted today.' - Betty White, Dec. 28th, 2021," alongside a link to an article in Minnesota news outlet Crow River Media, titled, "Betty White: I'm lucky to still be in good health."

One post on Twitter shared the fabricated quote with a caption that reads, "Died 3 days later! Coincidence." But the article does not include that quote, and archived versions of the story stored by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine also do not mention COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Crow River Media ran an editorial addressing the falsehood in the Hutchinson Leader and Litchfield Independent Review, which they publish." The story itself is about a Dec. 28 article in People that included quotes from White given "a few weeks" before she passed away. The People article also does not mention boosters. White's agent, Jeff Witjas, confirmed to the AP that the quote attributed to White is entirely false. "Betty never said this," Witjas said in an email. Witjas also confirmed that White did not receive a booster on Dec. 28, though he did not comment on whether she received one at all. Witjas said she died peacefully in her sleep of "natural causes."

 Associated Press writer Karena Phan in Sacramento, California, contributed this report.

Labeled swabs in some COVID test kits are for quality control

CLAIM: A photo showing a COVID-19 test kit that includes swabs labeled "positive" and "negative" proves tests are manipulated to give a predetermined result.

THE FACTS: The photo does not prove the tests are being manipulated. The swabs labeled "positive control" and "negative control" are included in test kits for quality control purposes to make sure the tests work properly, a standard for most rapid diagnostic tests.

As the COVID-19 variant omicron generates a renewed wave of infections around the world, social media users began recirculating a photo from several months ago to falsely claim that COVID-19 test results are being planned in advance and that tests are unreliable. One recent Instagram post showed a photo of a COVID-19 test kit manufactured by ACON Laboratories, which included test swab packages labeled "positive control swab," and "negative control swab." The post added the caption "Picture taken secretly by a nurse on shift. Name not mentioned for obvious reasons." The same photo has been circulating online since at least spring 2021. However, the positive and negative control swabs are not used on patients, they are used to make sure the test kits work.

The swabs in the photo were part of an antigen rapid test first distributed in December 2020 by ACON Laboratories that was marketed for professional use. In this version of the test, a section of the instruction manual labeled "quality control" stated: "These control swabs should be used to ensure that the test cassette and that the test procedure is performed correctly." William Anderson, a technical support specialist with ACON Laboratories, confirmed to The Associated Press that this is the purpose of the swabs, and said it is "common practice" to include such control samples. ACON's positive control swab is precoated with a SARS-CoV-2 recombinant antigen, according to the test kit instructions. Recombinant antigens are manufactured artificially in a lab. When the positive control swab is used on the kit, it is supposed to produce a positive result to demonstrate that the test is functioning accurately. Similarly, the negative swab should show a negative result. The controls are often used by sites that perform a high volume of tests, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Loren Williams, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Georgia Tech, said the falsely captioned photos were "misrepresenting normal features" of these diagnostic tests. "For any good assay you need both positive and negative controls," Williams wrote in an email to the AP. He added: "You cannot believe a negative result if your positive control is not positive. And a negative control ensures that your reagents are not contaminated. If you get a positive result in your negative control, then you generally have a contamination problem." A similar claim was made on Twitter about swabs found in tests by Abbott Laboratories. The company responded in a statement clarifying that the labeled swabs are to make sure the tests work.

 Associated Press writer Sophia Tulp in Atlanta contributed this report.

Biden didn't 'fire' more than 200 Marines

CLAIM: "Joe Biden fired over 200 marines for refusing to take the COVID vaccine."

THE FACTS: As of Dec. 30, 206 Marines have been removed from the Marine Corps for refusing to comply with the Pentagon's COVID-19 vaccine mandate  but the removals were made by U.S. Marine Corps leadership, not the president, according to a Marine Corps spokesperson.

Disciplinary decisions for armed service members are handled by the respective military services, the Department of Defense confirmed to The Associated Press. As COVID-19 vaccination deadlines for some armed service branches recently passed, social media users spread false claims about which authorities carried out the discipline for those who refused to get the vaccine. The deadline for active-duty Marines to be vaccinated was Nov. 28, and the deadline for reservists to comply was Dec. 28. Shortly after the final deadline, Nick Adams, president of The Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, a conservative civic education organization, tweeted to his more than 223,000 followers: "Joe Biden fired over 200 Marines for refusing to take the COVID vaccine." But the assertion is incorrect about who is responsible for disciplining troops. Cpt. Andrew R. Wood, a Marine Corps communication strategy officer, confirmed that Corps leadership removed the Marines. Adams' Dec. 31 tweet was deleted as of early Jan. 6, hours after an inquiry from the AP. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The post echoes similar false claims that social media users shared in October, asserting that Biden had ordered dishonorable discharges for all troops who refused to be vaccinated. A Pentagon official told the AP in October that Biden had not issued any such order, and that the president does not have the authority to make those decisions. The Biden administration did at one point oppose a proposal by the Pentagon to remove dishonorable discharges from the list of disciplinary options that could be used against service members who refuse COVID-19 vaccines. But the administration did not order that such punishments be carried out. In fact, last month the president signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act  the annual bill that sets the DOD's budget  with a provision that bars dishonorable discharges for service members who refuse the vaccine, the AP reported. The provision specifies they receive at least a general discharge, a less serious option.

 Sophia Tulp

Posts misrepresent movie schedules to push Jan. 6 conspiracy

CLAIM: Only one film is scheduled to play at many major movie theaters nationwide from Jan. 7-8, and this may be related to a Jan. 6 news conference planned by former President Donald Trump.

THE FACTS: The temporary lack of listings in movie theater schedules had nothing to do with any political actions or other conspiracies. The single film  called "The 355"  that was at one point the only movie listed for the second weekend in January on many schedules was the only new movie premiering for most theaters, meaning tickets were open for advance sale. Titles that previously premiered were scheduled in subsequent days, following standard practice among most theaters.

Social media users misrepresented the advanced theater schedules to push the baseless theory that they could foreshadow an announcement by Trump on Jan. 6, the anniversary of the violent insurrection in the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. The claims originated on the messaging app Telegram and hinged on the fact that as of last weekend, only one film was listed as showing on Friday, Jan. 7, and Saturday, Jan. 8, across many major markets and theaters. "Something odd is going on in theaters across the nation on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8," a widely-shared post on Facebook, Telegram and Twitter stated in part, before adding: "Wonder if this has something to do with the press conference Pres. Trump has scheduled for Jan 6?" Trump on Tuesday canceled the press conference. The claims were based on a misunderstanding of how most movie theaters compile and publish their schedules. A spokesperson for Cinemark Theaters told The Associated Press that its showtimes aren't usually booked for the week until after internal meetings each Monday, leaving the schedule sometimes looking bare until Tuesday. An exception is when theaters allow advance sales for a movie that is set to premiere on a specific date, the spokesperson said. Such was the case with "The 355"  a film starring Jessica Chastain as a CIA agent who joins forces with a rival German agent when a secret weapon falls into the hands of mercenaries. Ryan Noonan, public relations director for AMC Theaters, also said the showtimes reflect normal operations. "As is always the case, the complete showtime schedules at all AMC locations for the week of Jan. 7-13 will fully populate by Wednesday morning," Noonan wrote on Monday in an email to the AP. Trump had said he planned to hold a news conference on Jan. 6 but later canceled it.

 Sophia Tulp

Posts misrepresent Portugal's COVID-19 death count

CLAIM: A court in Portugal ruled that only 152 people died of COVID-19 in the country, not 17,000.

THE FACTS: More than 19,000 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in Portugal, not 152.

Social media users are misrepresenting figures from Portugal to make it seem like the country was inflating deaths related to COVID-19. In May, Portugal's General Directorate for Health was asked how many COVID-19 deaths were confirmed by autopsy. The agency responded to the request stating that 152 death certificates had been recorded at the time by doctors working for the Ministry of Justice, which performs forensic medical autopsies. At the time of the request, the country had recorded 16,945 COVID-19 deaths in total, according to the Ministry of Health.

A majority of death certificates in the country are issued by doctors in the Ministry of Health, not the Ministry of Justice. Autopsies performed by the Justice Ministry take place when there is a violent death or an unknown cause, according to the agency. Autopsies are not performed on most deaths related to COVID-19.

"In other words, forensic medical autopsies aim, namely, to support criminal investigations, and are not, as a rule, carried out in situations of natural death by COVID-19," the agency said in a statement. As a result, the number being circulated online did not reflect total deaths in the country, nor did it prove that health officials were increasing Portugal's COVID-19 death count. According to the Health Ministry's daily report for Jan. 5, Portugal had recorded a total of 19,029 COVID-19 deaths. False claims about the number of COVID-19 deaths in Portugal circulated in July and resurfaced this week as the omicron variant surges around the globe. One post sharing the false claim was retweeted on Twitter about 9,000 times.

 Associated Press writer Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed this report.

Nuremberg Code says nothing about mask mandates

CLAIM: The Nuremberg Code explicitly states that mask mandates are a war crime.

THE FACTS: The Nuremberg Code, a set of research ethics created after World War II in response to atrocities perpetrated by Nazi scientists, does not discuss mask mandates.

Text circulating online that is said to show details in the code about masks is bogus. Posts claiming that the Nuremberg Code classifies mask mandates as war crimes have circulated widely on social media alongside an image purportedly showing text from "Article 6: Section 3" of the code. Part of the text in the image states, "Leaders should be aware that mandating masks on the citizens of a nation and preventing their access to food, healthcare, transport or education if they don't comply, is a war crime. Masks or any other medical intervention must remain voluntary."

But the Nuremberg Code contains no such information. The code doesn't mention masks or mask mandates. The sixth principle of the real code asserts that an experiment's "degree of risk" should "never exceed" the "humanitarian importance of the problem" that the experiment aims to solve. Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, told The Associated Press that the Nuremberg Code doesn't include "anything like" the text in the image. "From start to bottom, this is made up," she said. "The essence of the code is to prohibit experiments on human subjects without informed consent. Mask mandates are not experiments. The people who are subject to them are not human subjects." "The code is in no way, shape or form relevant to mask mandates," Reiss added.

The Nuremberg Code originated at a military tribunal that occurred in Nuremberg, Germany, following World War II where Nazi officials were prosecuted. Physicians who conducted harrowing experiments on concentration camp inmates were among the defendants. The code was drafted in 1947 in response to the scientists' crimes and remains influential in medical ethics. The AP previously reported on different online posts that claimed Germany's restrictions for unvaccinated people violate the Nuremberg Code. Medical ethics and legal experts told the AP that these claims are false.

 Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed this report.

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Six sites in Lancaster, Douglas and Dodge counties are being looked at for the possible location of a new Nebraska state prison, the head of the system announced Friday afternoon.

The new 1,512-bed prison would replace the aging Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

The exact locations were not disclosed as negotiations are initiated with property owners, according to a news release issued Friday afternoon by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

The top criteria in evaluating all available sites has been proximity to a population center to support staffing. The ones selected so far fit that bill," Scott Frakes, director of the state's prison system, said in the release.

Additional property owners could initiate offers, according to the release.

The approximate size of the site would be 160 acres.

We have looked at parcels smaller than that, but ultimately, it cannot be less than 100 acres. The land would need to include a buffer zone separating it from surrounding developed or undeveloped property, Frakes said.

Additional criteria included distance to utility systems, hospital and emergency services, community services, road access and terrain, according to the release.

Nebraska's prison system has been plagued with overcrowding and staffing shortages in recent years.

The new prison, which had been expected to cost $236 million, was proposed by Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2020.

An engineering study, also released Friday, found that the State Penitentiary in Lincoln would need $220 million in upgrades.

The penitentiary first opened in 1869, according to the Corrections website. It has undergone multiple updates over the years.

The condition of the aging facility came into the spotlight earlier this year when leaking pipes forced officials to shut off running water to the penitentiary for nearly two days.

Lawmakers earlier this year approved a budget compromise that put nearly $15 million toward design and planning for a new facility. The compromise required an engineering study of the penitentiary to assess its useful life.

Initially, part of Frakes proposal for a new prison included repurposing the penitentiary as a minimum-security facility. But he has shifted to talking about the new prison as a replacement. A key driver, he has said, is a data-driven initiative underway that could result in legislation that curbs population growth.

"Numerous consultants had a hand in evaluating the various components of (the state penitentiary). They looked at when things were built and upgraded, if they were ADA-compliant, the age and status of the utilities, technology and security systems, Frakes said.

Frakes formally proposed building a new prison late in 2020. Unlike Nebraskas newest state prison, which opened in the rural community of Tecumseh in 2011, the new facility would need to be in an area with a large enough population to staff the new facility, he said at the time, which pointed to Lincoln and Omaha as potential locations.

It also opened the door to communities between the two cities. Local officials in Waverly, Ashland and Wahoo said in October 2020 that Corrections staff had contacted them to gauge interest in hosting a new prison.

Responses were tepid.

Waverlys then-mayor, Mike Werner, expressed some doubt that his community, which sits just outside Lincoln in Lancaster County, would support the facility.

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Welcome to this weeks edition of the Surge, your weekly politics newsletter giving you both the bad news about the downward trajectory of democracy and the comfy chasertheres no plan to fix it! Lets do this, 2022!





Weve taken stock of things a year after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and heres what weve found: Dick Cheney is basically a lib now, but the Senate still doesnt work. Joe Biden looked like he was getting less unpopular for a second, but then Mean Mr. COVID came back and tanked the presidents approval numbers again. In Oregon, a New York Times Columnist Despairs.





But first, lets zoom in on a telling gaffe.
Three white men who chased and murdered a 25-year-old Black jogger in Georgia in February 2020 were sentenced to life in prison Friday. Two of the men have no possibility of parole. Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced Travis McMichael, who fatally shot Arbery, and his father, Gregory McMichael, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Their neighbor, William Roddie Bryan, will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years in prison. The three men had been convicted of murder in November.

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The lead prosecutor in the case, Linda Dunikoski, had asked the judge to deny parole for the father and son, saying they had shown a history of vigilantism and they hadnt shown they regretted their actions. Theres been no remorse and certainly no empathy from either man, she said. Dunikoski called on the judge to grant Bryan the possibility of parole because he had cooperated with investigators.

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Before issuing the sentences, Walmsley pointed out that Arbery had been chased for around five minutes while he ran from the men. To illustrate how long that was, the judge held a minute of silence, noting that it represents a fraction of the time Ahmaud Arbery was running before he was killed. When I thought about this, I thought from a lot of different angles. And I kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores, Walmsley said. Earlier, Arberys family members gave a series of statements arguing for the judge to hand down the maximum possible sentences. Not only did they lynch my son in broad daylight, but they killed him while he was doing what he loved, Marcus Arbery Sr., his father, said.

The three mens attorneys said theyll appeal the verdicts. And the three men will face a federal hate crime trial that is scheduled to start next month. Arberys mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, has also filed a civil lawsuit.
Three statues celebrating Slovak folk tales have been erected in the town.

The character of Olejkar is one of the first statues that is a part of the fairytale walk in Revuca. (Source: Lukas Muzla/TASR)

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Revuca, located in the Region of Gemer, is on track to become Slovakias town of fairy tales.

The municipality wants to make itself more attractive for tourists, and the idea of creating a fairytale path is the end product of its decision.

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The path will include art installations that people particularly associate with the literary works of Samuel and Gustav Reuss and Pavol Dobsinsky, who all have a link to Gemer.

In the 19th century, Samuel Reuss became one of the first collectors of Slovak folk fairy tales. Following up on his work, Pavol Dobsinsky is the one widely known as a collector of the tales. Reuss son Gustav is considered to be the founder of Slovak sci-fi literature.

Six statues

Though Revuca plans on expanding the path in the years to come, six statues are ready.

Created by artistic blacksmith Andrea Durcova, the first metal works to take people on the fairytale stroll is the character of Olejkar, a telescope and a tree. They are placed on Liberty Square, near the Town Hall building and in the Museum of the First Slovak Grammar School.

We have three more statues ready, Karin Kilikova, who heads the local cultural centre, told the TASR newswire.

She added that the installations should take place in April next year, when the town would like to officially open the fairytale path. An interactive game should be completed by then as well.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220107/white-house-western-media-shift-gears-as-kazakhstans-tokayev-gets-russian-backed-strongman-label-1092103989.html

White House, Western Media Shift Gears as Kazakhstans Tokayev Gets Russian-Backed Strongman Label

White House, Western Media Shift Gears as Kazakhstans Tokayev Gets Russian-Backed Strongman Label

From Venezuela to Ethiopia, countries targeted for regime change by Washington inevitably see their leaders labeled as strongmen backed by dictators in Russia or China.

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mukhtar ablyazov

kazakhstan

asia-pacific

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There are some crazy Russian claims about the US being behind this, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday about the riots in Kazakhstan. So, let me just use this opportunity to convey that as absolutely false and clearly a part of the standard Russian disinformation playbook weve seen a lot of in past years.After events in Kazakhstan took a decisive turn on Wednesday, so did western medias orientation toward them. Now, Tokayev has become a Russian-backed strongman and the West has found another self-proclaimed opposition leader to drive a wedge into the countrys politics.At least 4,000 rioters have been arrested, while thousands have been injured and an unknown number killed. Hundreds of police officers and national guardsmen have also been injured and at least 18 killed, including two who were beheaded. Tokyaev said Friday that roughly 20,000 gunmen had attacked Almaty and displayed evidence of foreign training.Tokayev declared a state of emergency, said the rioters were terrorists with foreign backing, and invoked the mutual defense clause of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). CSTO members Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have all answered the call, sending peacekeeping forces to Kazakhstan to protect public buildings but not engage in law enforcement operations.Ablyazov Condemns Russian OccupationThen on Friday, Reuters interviewed a former Kazakh trade minister and banker who has been hiding out in Paris from charges that he perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in history: Mukhtar Ablyazov. In the interview, he claimed to be leader of the opposition to Tokayev and called on the West to tear Kazakhstan away from Russia.""If not, then Kazakhstan will turn into Belarus and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will methodically impose his program - the recreation of a structure like the Soviet Union," Ablyazov told Reuters. "Russia has already entered, sent in troops. CSTO is Russia. This is an occupation by Russia."I know the Soviet cliche of a Western spy, but I would be happy to be an American or European spy because then we would live like the people in America or Europe - and everyone would laugh," he said. "Sadly, the West doesn't help me; the West hinders me."An article published Friday in the US state-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertys (RFERL) Kazakh Service made a telling observation about the protests. One of the demands by protesters from the countrys unregistered Democratic Party (not to be confused with Ablyazovs party, Democratic Choice), who claim not to be part of the violent provocateurs torching public buildings and shooting at police, was the immediate deployment of foreign peacekeepers from the CSTO to bolster security amid the chaos.Synchronicity With Western Media, LeadersHowever, much of Ablyazovs rhetoric has a mirror in that used by Western media and politicians, including the New York Times and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.Speaking Friday in Washington, Blinken said it's not clear why they feel the need for any outside assistance, referring to Kazakh security forces, who he said certainly have the capacity to deal appropriately with protests.The same language appeared in a Friday article in the New York Times, as well. An opinion piece by Andrew Higgins, the Times Central and Eastern Europe bureau chief, was titled In Kazakhstan, Putin Again Seizes on Unrest to Try to Expand Influence.But a series of revolts against a pro-Russian strongman could also plant the seeds of rebellion at home, analysts say, the articles lede adds.The arrival in Kazakhstan of 2,500 troops from a Russian-led military alliance amid continuing spasms of violent protest was the fourth time in just two years that Moscow has flexed its muscle in neighboring states - Belarus, Armenia and Ukraine being the other three - that the West has long tried to woo, Higgins wrote.According to Higgins, Tokayev is one of the strongman leaders the Kremlin has trusted to keep order, but before Tokayev requested CSTO peacekeepers on Wednesday, he wasnt being referred to as Russian-backed.Also on Friday, Jonathan Landay, a Reuters national security reporter in Washington, DC, also referred to Tokayev as the Russian-backed president.On Thursday, Psaki also questioned the validity of the CSTO deployment, telling reporters that the Biden administration has questions about the nature of this request and whether it has - it was a legitimate invitation or not.Other outlets have perpetuated similar misconceptions, including US National Public Radio, which said on Friday that Russian troops are in Kazakhstan to help quell deadly anti-government protests, and Axios, which said on Thursday that Russian paratroopers descended on Kazakhstan's largest city Thursday to help quell the largest uprising in the history of the former Soviet republic.It is important to note, for the record, that the international peacekeeping force is there under CSTO direction and control, not Russian, and the organizations rotating chair is presently held by Armenia, not Russia. Also, to reiterate the above, the CSTO peacekeepers are only in Kazakhstan to protect public buildings, not to engage in law enforcement operations.Recycled Regime Change PlaybookThis type of message coordination between US leaders, corporate media, and opposition politicians in targeted countries has been seen before on several occasions.In Venezuela in 2019, when a no-name opposition figure named Juan Guaido arbitrarily and unilaterally declared himself the countrys interim president, despite having almost no following in the country, he got extensive support from the US and other Western powers - to say nothing of the Western media - and has been upheld by them as Venezuelas legitimate leader instead of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro has become a strongman kept in power by Russia and Cuba, which have been punished and demonized by the US as a result.The former President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was also labeled a strongman in 2019 by the countrys opposition, who accused him of trying to change the results of the election. Morales, too, was portrayed as an authoritarian propped up by other strongmen, including Maduro.That this rhetoric has once again surfaced in the context of the riots in Kazakhstan suggests the accusations Psaki cavalierly labeled as crazy might not be so crazy after all.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/austrians-protest-against-mandatory-vaccination-and-pandemic-restrictions-in-vienna--1092112673.html

Austrians Protest Against Mandatory Vaccination and Pandemic Restrictions in Vienna

Austrians Protest Against Mandatory Vaccination and Pandemic Restrictions in Vienna

Last year, Austria became the first EU nation to introduce obligatory jabs, and re-impose strict lockdown due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.

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protests

protest

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Sputnik is live from Vienna, Austria, where demonstrators are holding the first protest against coronavirus restrictions this year. This is also the first big event since 26 December, when thousands of protesters marched through the centre of Vienna with candles and lights, demanding to cancel anti-pandemic measures.On 19 November, then-Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced the start of universal compulsory vaccination against COVID-19 starting on 1 February 2022.Follow Sputnik's Live Feed to Find Out More!

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Protest against COVID restrix, vaccine mandates takes place in Vienna Protest against COVID restrix, vaccine mandates takes place in Vienna 2022-01-08T11:01+0000 true PT301M51S

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/biden-praises-stock-market-success-1092104373.html

Biden Praises Stock Market Success

Biden Praises Stock Market Success

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events including the Kazakhstan president authorizing the... 08.01.2022, Sputnik International

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Biden Praises Stock Market Success On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events including the Kazakhstan president authorizing the use of lethal force against protesters, and legendary actor Sidney Poitier passing away at age 94.

GUESTDean O'Brien - Photojournalist, Author | Serbia, Eight Years of Shelling in Donbass, and Western AggressionRay McGovern - Former CIA Officer, Political Activist | Dick Cheney, Russian Borders, and Broken Promises by AmericaIn the first hour, Lee and John spoke with Dean O'Brien about the situation in Donbass, NATO, and Ukrainian culture before 2014. Dean spoke about the Americans who joined the Ukrainian civil war and Nazi supporters in Ukraine. Dean discussed the lack of accurate media about Donbass and US military weapons in Ukraine.In the second hour, Lee and John spoke with Ray McGovern about President Putin's main objective, the status of Julian Assange, and Ray meeting President Putin. Ray discussed the creation of V.I.P.S and Dick Cheney praised by Democrats. Ray talked about the civil unrest in Kazakhstan and possible Western involvement in the conflict.Also, Joe Biden says his own economic plan is working as the stock market has improved significantly since he took the office. We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/book-mcafee-confessed-he-once-planned-to-kill-his-mother-wife--baby-due-to-dmt-overdose-1092108916.html

Book: McAfee Confessed He Once Planned to Kill His Mother, Wife & Baby Due to DMT Overdose

Book: McAfee Confessed He Once Planned to Kill His Mother, Wife & Baby Due to DMT Overdose

The eccentric mogul was known for his odd behaviour, as well as for his love of various types of drugs. Some reports suggested McAfee even killed his American neighbour in Belize due to his paranoia, but the claim was never proven in criminal court.

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drugs

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drug overdose

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Late billionaire John McAfee admitted that he once planned to kill his family after hearing "a voice from God", as he overdosed on DMT, according to the new book "No Domain" by author Mark Ellington. The author published his interviews with the IT tycoon, which took place back in 2019 when McAfee was on the run from US authorities.According to an excerpt from the book, published by the Daily Mail, McAfee confessed he lost touch with reality for at least three months back in the 1970s, hearing voices and having the weirdest reactions.McAfee said that he even planned the unthinkable due to the drug-induced craze.According to McAfee, the only thing that stopped him was a random conversation with a Christian preacher who happened to be passing by.McAfee confessed he didn't attend the man's church afterwards, because after the preacher left "none of that sh*t appealed". However, he suddenly realised how crazy he was, planning to kill his family.The 75-year-old businessman is believed to have committed suicide while in a Spanish jail in June 2021. The software developer was awaiting extradition to the United States, where he was to face charges of tax evasion and cryptocurrency fraud. However, McAfee himself repeatedly said for many years that he would not commit suicide and stressed that his life was in danger.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/chip-in-ma-queen-could-be-asked-to-fund-prince-andrews-settlement-with-accuser-media-says-1092117828.html

Chip in, Ma! Queen Could Be Asked to Fund Prince Andrew's Settlement With Accuser, Media Says

Chip in, Ma! Queen Could Be Asked to Fund Prince Andrew's Settlement With Accuser, Media Says

Reports say the Queen has already been paying for the legal fees of her 61-year-old son, who has been accused by an American woman, Virginia Giuffre, of sexual assault. The royal has consistently denied the accusations.

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2022-01-08T16:31+0000

queen elizabeth ii

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Queen Elizabeth II could be asked to fund Prince Andrew's potential settlement with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, The Telegraph has reported, citing its sources. According to the newspaper, the Duke of York's legal team has not dismissed the option of reaching an out of court settlement with the 38-year-old as recent revelations suggest that the case is likely go to trial.The payoff could exceed 5 million ($6.7 million), a sum too high for Prince Andrew's pockets, hence the Queen could be asked to contribute, The Telegraph writes.Sources told the newspaper that any settlement would include a "no admission of fault or liability" clause as well as a non-disclosure agreement, preventing both sides from discussing the issue in public.Chip in Yourself, SonThe Telegraph's story comes a day after The Mirror reported that Prince Andrew is now trying to force through the sale of a 16.6 million house he and his ex-wife bought in Switzerland, because the Queen refused to pay for his settlement or for damages if the Duke of York loses the case.The Duke of York and his ex-spouse Sarah Ferguson bought the chalet in 2014 as a "family investment" with a mortgage and funding from the Queen. The couple, however, put it up for sale last year after they missed a deadline for a payment to its former owner, French socialite Isabelle de Rouvre. According to The Mirror, if the sale goes through, the profits will be used to repay the debt and the remainder of the sum will be used to fund Prince Andrew's legal fees, as well as to pay Virginia Giuffre if the sides decide to reach a settlement.The woman and her legal team have insisted they have no interest in reaching a settlement with the royal and want to see the case go to trial for the sake of justice. Mrs Giuffre, 38, has said that she wants to send a message that any person involved in sexual abuse should face the full force of the law.The talk about a settlement gained momentum in light of the guilty verdict handed down to Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who groomed young women and girls for Jeffrey Epstein. The financier was charged with running a sex trafficking network of minors in 2019, but didn't live to see his trial  he was found hanged in his prison cell.Maxwell is said to have introduced Prince Andrew to Epstein. Virginia Giuffre claims that in 2001, when she was a 17 (considered a minor in most US states), Epstein and Maxwell trafficked her to London where she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew.The Duke of York has categorically denied the accusations and said he had an alibi for the day in question. His remark was contested by two individuals  a woman claims to have seen him dancing with the young Giuffre at a London nightclub, while a former Epstein employee allegedly saw the two together on the financier's private island, Little Saint James.On Friday, the royal was dealt another blow. One of the witnesses in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial said Giuffre told her about the intimate relationship with Prince Andrew and showed a photograph depicting the two together.Reports say that Judge Lewis Kaplan is expected to announce this week whether the lawsuit against Prince Andrew can be dismissed. If not, then the trial is expected to begin in late 2022.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/chris-noths-friends-worried-actor-feels-like-his-life-is-over---report-1092121584.html

Chris Noth's Friends Worried Actor Feels Like His Life Is Over - Report

Chris Noth's Friends Worried Actor Feels Like His Life Is Over - Report

Friends of Actor Chris Noth Are Worried, Saying He Feels Like His Life Is Over, Report Says

2022-01-08T20:57+0000

2022-01-08T20:57+0000

2022-01-08T20:57+0000

us

actors

alcohol

sexual harassment

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People close to Chris Noth say they are worried about his alleged alcohol issues following the recent rape accusations, Page Six reported Saturday, citing sources.The sources claimed that Noth used to drink alcohol on set while filming, and have suggested that his drinking issues may get worse amid the negative public attention.Following the allegations, Noth dropped out of some projects, including the CBS television project The Equalizer. A3 Artists Agency, where he had been listed as a client, also ditched his contract, and exercise bike brand Peloton recently removed an ad featuring Noth.On top of that, a scene with Chris Noth was cut out from the "And Just Like That..." finale, where the actor was supposed to appear in a cameo.Two women claimed last month that Chris Noth raped them in 2004 and 2015 in two separate incidents. According to one of them, the actor invited her to his apartment, kissed her without consent, and then sexually assaulted her. Later, a third woman came forward with allegations against the actor, claiming that Noth molested her in 2010 when she was 18.The latest accuser, musician Lisa Gentile, accused Noth of forcibly kissing and touching her at her home in New York after they met at Manhattan's Da Marino restaurant in 2002.

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Alexandra Kashirina

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us, actors, alcohol, sexual harassment
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/fully-vaccinated-swedish-crown-princess-victoria-tests-positive-for-covid-19-1092117718.html

Fully Vaccinated Swedish Crown Princess Victoria Tests Positive for COVID-19

Fully Vaccinated Swedish Crown Princess Victoria Tests Positive for COVID-19

Earlier in the week, it was announced that the Swedish king and queen had tested positive for coronavirus amid a surge of the Omicron variant in the Scandinavian nation.

2022-01-08T14:59+0000

2022-01-08T14:59+0000

2022-01-08T15:25+0000

europe

sweden

covid-19

princess victoria

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Swedish Crown Princess Victoria has tested positive for COVID-19, the Swedish Royal Court revealed on Saturday.The princess, who is fully vaccinated, is said to only have "cold symptoms" but otherwise feels well. An infection trace has been initiated, the court noted.The official schedule of both the crown princess and her husband, Prince Daniel, will be adjusted for the next seven days.Victoria tests positive for coronavirus just days after her parents, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, also received positive COVID-19 tests. The king and queen are both vaccinated and have received their booster shots, and have also isolated themselves.For the crown princess, it is her second positive test, as she already had coronavirus in March 2021, along with her husband.On 3 January, Sweden reported 38,274 confirmed COVID cases to the World Health Organisation. The members of the Nordic nation's royal family have tested positive for coronavirus as the country faces a surge in cases of the Omicron variant.

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europe, sweden, covid-19, princess victoria
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/james-webb-space-telescope-finishes-unfolding----1092117329.html

James Webb Space Telescope Finishes Unfolding

James Webb Space Telescope Finishes Unfolding

Astronomers have been monitoring the assembly process of the telescope - deemed to be one of the most complex observatories ever sent to space - since its Christmas launch last year.

2022-01-08T14:44+0000

2022-01-08T14:44+0000

2022-01-08T15:38+0000

nasa

james webb space telescope (jwst)

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Tune in to a live stream from the flight control room of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, the hub of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as the observatory finalises its unfolding in space on Saturday, 8 January. The final stage of the deployment process is expected to start at 9:30 a.m. and end in a few hours, at approximately 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. After that, the observatory will start operating in full. NASA scientists are set to hold a press conference once the deployment is complete.JWST, the biggest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space, is a joint venture by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency. It was launched to space on 25 December 2021.It took almost 20 years and $10 billion to develop the observatory. With help of JWST, scientists plan to explore the planets outside the solar system and scrutinise the early days of the universe.FOLLOW OUR FEED TO FIND OUT MORE

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James Webb Space Telescope Final Unfolding James Webb Space Telescope Final Unfolding 2022-01-08T14:44+0000 true PT239M49S

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/kanye-west-dating-julia-fox-is-ploy-to-get-under-kim-kardashians-skin-report-says-1092109586.html

Kanye West Dating Julia Fox is 'Ploy to Get Under Kim Kardashian's Skin', Report Says

Kanye West Dating Julia Fox is 'Ploy to Get Under Kim Kardashian's Skin', Report Says

After ending their seven-year marriage in 2021, reality TV personality Kim Kardashian started dating SNL star Pete Davidson, while rapper Kanye West, aka Ye... 08.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-08T09:55+0000

2022-01-08T09:55+0000

2022-01-08T09:55+0000

kim kardashian

kanye west

society

kanye west

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Kanye West is "clearly hurting" after Kim Kardashian started dating Pete Davidson, and his relationship with Julia Fox is a ploy to get under" his ex-wife's skin, Page Six reported, citing sources.Its a desperate play for attention. Theres no other explanation when he chooses  [Fox] to go public with, one source said.Another source stressed the fact that West had also bought a house close to Kims place in Los Angeles and is trying to reconcile with her and wishes to stay close to their four children - North, Chicago, Psalm, and Saint. Julia Fox, who described herself as a die-hard, OG fan of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, confirmed she's dating Kanye in a new first-person piece for Interview Magazine with a steamy photo spread.The "Uncut Gems" actress revealed that the rapper surprised her with "an entire hotel suit full of clothes" on their second date, and said they had an instant connection after meeting on New Years Eve. Gushing about West's surprise, Julia said, It was every girls dream come true. It felt like a real Cinderella moment. I dont know how he did it, or how he got all of it there in time Like, who does things like this on a second date? Or any date! she added, I dont know where things are headed, but if this is any indication of the future, Im loving the ride.

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kim kardashian, kanye west, society, kanye west, dating, divorce
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/kazakh-protests-show-pattern-of-west-directed-color-revolution-ex-diplomat-says-1092107221.html

Kazakh Protests Show Pattern of West-Directed 'Color Revolution', Ex-Diplomat Says

Kazakh Protests Show Pattern of West-Directed 'Color Revolution', Ex-Diplomat Says

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The anti-government violent riots and protests across Kazakhstan already show the classic pattern of a so-called "color revolution"... 08.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-08T03:44+0000

2022-01-08T03:44+0000

2022-01-08T03:44+0000

protests in kazakhstan

protest

us

opinion

usaid

kazakhstan

color revolution

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riot

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Initially peaceful protests in Kazakhstan, sparked by a twofold increase in fuel prices on January 1, quickly turned into violent clashes which have left seven police officers and dozens of attackers dead, according to authorities.Nearly 38,000 civil society organizations, most of which are funded by the United States and European countries, currently operate in Kazakhstan, according to the International Center for Non-Profit Law. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Freedom House and other US-based organizations are also active there.The NED sent around $1 million in 2020 to at least 20 civic organizations in Kazakhstan. The organization has not responded to a Sputnik inquiry on Thursday about its 2021 figures. In 2021, the State Department sent a $750,000 grant to the Support of Freedom of Association in Kazakhstan.Armstrong also said the timing of the unrest is interesting, coming shortly before the Russian-US security talks.However, former USAID consultant Paolo von Schirach does not believe the unrest represents a coup or organized insurrection.On Wednesday, Tokayev dismissed the government and superseded the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, as the head of the republic's Security Council. Tokayev will appoint the republic's new prime minister on January 11, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Friday.

https://sputniknews.com/20220107/coincidence-us-foreign-ngos-may-have-played-key-role-in-social-unrest-in-kazakhstan-expert-says-1092101738.html

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protest, us, opinion, usaid, kazakhstan, color revolution, violent protest, riot
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/kazakhstan-almaty-hospital-employee-recalls-armed-attack-against-healthcare-facility-during-riots-1092118830.html

Kazakhstan: Almaty Hospital Employee Recalls Armed Attack Against Healthcare Facility During Riots

Kazakhstan: Almaty Hospital Employee Recalls Armed Attack Against Healthcare Facility During Riots

An employee from Hospital No. 7 in the former Kazakh capital of Almaty has provided the details about an attack on the healthcare facility on Thursday, after protests against a hike in fuel prices turned violent in the Central Asian country.

2022-01-08T16:05+0000

2022-01-08T16:05+0000

2022-01-08T16:05+0000

protests in kazakhstan

protests

almaty

kazakhstan

riots

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An employee from Hospital No. 7 in the former Kazakh capital of Almaty has provided the details about an attack on the healthcare facility on Thursday, after protests against a hike in fuel prices turned violent in the Central Asian country.They added that after the rioters left the hospital, staff contacted law enforcement agencies and told them about the incident. On 7 January, the wounded gunmen were apprehended by riot policemen who then took them away. The hospital is expected to resume operating on Saturday evening.On Thursday, Kazakh state television reported that armed rioters had surrounded two large hospitals in Almaty, preventing patients and doctors from entering and endangering people's lives. The facilities were identified as multi-profile clinical hospitals No. 1 and No. 7.The employee's comments come as Sergei Lebedev, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), argued that those involved in the violent unrest in Kazakhstan had prepared for the riots in advance and had foreign backing.According to him, "those measures were supported not only by the CSTO [the Collective Security Treaty Organisation] but by other members of the Commonwealth [CIS]".The CIS hopes that the situation in the Kazakh city of Almaty will return to normal in the next few weeks, which will make it possible to organise CIS events there, Lebedev said.Protests against a two-fold increase in gas prices in Kazakhstan quickly turned into deadly armed clashes between law enforcement officers and rioters in several regions of the former Soviet republic.The first contingent of CSTO peacekeeping forces arrived in Kazakhstan on Thursday to help local law enforcement forces protect major state and military facilities, as well as stabilise the security situation in the country, helping the crisis-hit nation return to normalcy.

https://sputniknews.com/20220108/gunfire-underway-in-kazakhstans-almaty-counterterrorist-operation-still-ongoing-1092106660.html

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protests, almaty, kazakhstan, riots
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/kremlin-lukashenko-and-pashinyan-back-idea-to-hold-online-summit-of-csto-leaders-soon-1092113639.html

Kremlin: Lukashenko and Pashinyan Back Idea to Hold Online Summit of CSTO Leaders Soon

Kremlin: Lukashenko and Pashinyan Back Idea to Hold Online Summit of CSTO Leaders Soon

Earlier in the day, the Kremlin said that Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev suggested organising Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) summit in the coming days and Putin backed the idea.

2022-01-08T11:47+0000

2022-01-08T11:47+0000

2022-01-08T11:47+0000

protests in kazakhstan

belarus

csto

russia

vladimir putin

kazakhstan

csto

kassym-jomart tokayev

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Russian President Vladimir Putin had phone conversations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, both of whom supported the idea of holding an online summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Kremlin said Saturday.Tokayev previously requested help from Kazakhstan's allies in the CSTO (which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan), after protests against fuel price hikes escalated into violent clashes. A major riot started in the country's biggest city of Almaty, with people attacking police officers, storming the mayor's office, setting buildings on fire, and starting shootouts across the city.The CSTO countries are sending their peacekeeping forces to guard strategic objects in Kazakhstan, while the local law enforcement agencies and the military re-establish order.Asked whether a certain date for the video summit was known, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik: "Not yet". He added that Armenia would organise the conference, as Yerevan holds the rotating presidency.

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belarus, csto, russia, vladimir putin, kazakhstan, csto, kassym-jomart tokayev
US Can No Longer Lie, Use Double Standards When Describing Situation in Kazakhstan As Protests Clearly Not Peaceful - Russian Foreign Ministry

"To keep lying and being hypocritical in this case is no longer possible when they [the US] see hostilities, people armed with military-grade weapons, not weapons for self-defense, people who are beaten, marauders...," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.



She noted that the Russian authorities have already received multiple requests from Russian citizens in Kazakhstan to bring them back and heard many disturbing accounts of the events in the country from them.
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/nothing-personal-satan-turkmenistans-president-orders-to-extinguish-gates-of-hell-1092109997.html

Nothing Personal, Satan: Turkmenistans President Orders to Extinguish Gates of Hell

Nothing Personal, Satan: Turkmenistans President Orders to Extinguish Gates of Hell

Turkmenistan has one of the most interesting tourist attractions in the world, which due to its extravagant nickname has prompted numerous conspiracy theories. Ironically, it was discovered purely by accident.

2022-01-08T09:51+0000

2022-01-08T09:51+0000

2022-01-08T09:51+0000

society

asia & pacific

turkmenistan

tourist attraction

conspiracy theory

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Turkmenistans President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov has ordered the government to extinguish the fire burning in the Darvaza Crater, commonly known as the Gates of Hell, local media reported. The head of state told the government to come up with a solution to the issue.He stressed that the fire has wasted a huge amount of gas and negatively affects the environment, as well as the health of people who live in nearby areas.The Gates of Hell, located 260 kilometres north of the capital Ashgabat, is considered one of the most interesting and exotic tourist attractions in the world. In 1971, when Turkmenistan was part of the USSR, Soviet geologists embarked on a trip to the Karakum Desert in search for natural resources.Reports say that while drilling for oil, they hit a pocket of natural gas, which caused the ground to collapse, creating an enormous crater 60 metres wide and 20 metres deep. To prevent methane from leaking into the atmosphere and poisoning nearby residential areas, the scientists decided to set the crater alight. They believed that the fire would burn off in a matter of weeks. Little did they know that they were about to create a sight that would spark numerous conspiracy theories and would be visited by thousands of adventure-seeking individuals every year.51 years after the Gates of Hell were "opened", the fire is still burning, although the flames are not as big as they were before. It is unclear what can be done to extinguish it. In 2013, President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov issued a similar order, but it seems the authorities failed to find a solution.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/rt-freelance-reporter-detained-in-almaty-1092115762.html

RT Freelance Reporter Detained in Almaty

RT Freelance Reporter Detained in Almaty

The Kazakh authorities previously stated they have detained over 4,400 people amid escalating riots in the country.

2022-01-08T13:40+0000

2022-01-08T13:40+0000

2022-01-08T14:46+0000

rt

rt

kazakhstan

protests in kazakhstan

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RT freelance reporter Stanislav Obischenko was detained in Kazakhstan on Saturday, the news outlet reported. According to RT, a crew was working in Almaty, when a group of men, who are said to be with the military, detained Obischenko.For now, the cause for the incident remains unclear.The situation in the country remains tense, as a counter-terrorist operation continues in Almaty. There have also been reports of multiple shootouts in the city and clashes between rioters and law enforcement.Protests ignited in Zhanaozen and Aktau earlier this week in response to a rise in liquefied petroleum gas prices. The protests spread to neighbouring cities, culminating in violence, looting, and arson in Almaty - the old capital and most populous city in Kazakhstan.President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proclaimed a state of emergency until 19 January and invited peacekeeping forces from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to guard strategic objects while the police are engaged in counter-terrorist op.

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rt, rt, kazakhstan
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/russian-defence-ministry-to-unveil-modified-pantsir-sm-missile-systems-in-2022-1092110942.html

Russian Defence Ministry to Unveil Modified Pantsir-SM Missile Systems in 2022

Russian Defence Ministry to Unveil Modified Pantsir-SM Missile Systems in 2022

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday it would roll out a modified Pantsir-SM surface-to-air missile system sometime in 2022.

2022-01-08T09:19+0000

2022-01-08T09:19+0000

2022-01-08T09:19+0000

russian defense ministry

russia

pantsir-s

pantsir-sm

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New track-mounted Pantsirs are designed for land troops. They will be able to fire two guided missiles at a longer range than the standard variant.The Derivatsiya-PVO self-propelled anti-aircraft gun will replace the Soviet-made Shilka and the ZU-23 twin-barreled autocannon, while the Taifun PVO armoured vehicle for operators of man-portable air defence weapons will be compatible with both existing missiles and the new Metka MANPADS.

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https://sputniknews.com/20220108/saudi-media-ministry-hires-former-producer-for-us-anchor-katie-couric-for-pr-campaign-1092105735.html

Saudi Media Ministry Hires Former Producer for US Anchor Katie Couric for PR Campaign

Saudi Media Ministry Hires Former Producer for US Anchor Katie Couric for PR Campaign

A former producer for US news anchor Katie Couric has taken a new job with Saudi Arabias Ministry of Media, according to a disclosure filed with the US Department of Justice.

2022-01-08T01:05+0000

2022-01-08T01:05+0000

2022-01-08T01:05+0000

saudi arabia

middle east

katie couric

public relations

producer

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According to the filing made under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) on Monday, Courics former producer told the DOJ that she had been working for Thiqah Business Services for much of the previous year. The firm is 100% owned by the Saudi government, according to the city marketing portal Eye of Riyadh, which notes it is owned by Saudi Authority for Accredited Valuers (TAQEEM), and Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA).She received $15,000 in retainer payments from the firm in both November and December of 2021, but the filing noted no other information about compensation. A copy of the contract for her freelance services that was included in the filing was dated May 29, 2021.The ministrys website says it works in an active role by identifying and preserving the Saudi identity, spreading Islamic values in the Saudi citizen's life, expressing the achievements of Saudi Arabia. The Ministry contributes to raise the awareness and roles that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia doing.The Saudi monarchy has long leaned on Western consulting firms to manage its public relations, especially after launching the catastrophic war against the Yemeni Houthi movement in 2015. In the six months following the outbreak of war, the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC, paid French consulting firm Qorvis Communications $7 million in PR services, according to The Intercept. It has retained the firm since 2002.Hewitt worked as a producer for Couric at many of the major US corporate television news outlets over the years, including NBC, CBS, and Yahoo, until 2014, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also worked at ABC for a time. However, in 2008 she also started her own firm, Nicolla Hewitt Communications.

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saudi arabia, middle east, katie couric, public relations, producer
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/tehran-condemns-wsj-op-ed-advising-biden-on-striking-iranian-nuclear-facilities-1092118405.html

Tehran Condemns WSJ Op-Ed Advising Biden on Striking Iranian Nuclear Facilities

Tehran Condemns WSJ Op-Ed Advising Biden on Striking Iranian Nuclear Facilities

Iran's permanent mission to the UN has harshly condemned the recent opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal, which advises Biden on landing strikes against the Islamic Republic's nuclear objects.

2022-01-08T15:47+0000

2022-01-08T15:47+0000

2022-01-08T15:47+0000

us

iran

wall street journal

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Iran's permanent mission to the UN has harshly condemned a recent opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal, which advises Biden on landing strikes against the Islamic Republic's nuclear objects.The diplomatic mission slammed the article as reckless and noted that those who wrote and published it will bear full responsibility for the consequences it causes.The WSJ's op-ed titled "Bidens Moment of Truth in Iran" and penned by Mark Dubowitz and Matthew Kroenig suggests that ongoing talks in Vienna, directed at restoring the Iran nuclear deal after it was decimated by Washington's unilateral exit from it in 2018, will ultimately fail. The article then claims that US President Joe Biden will face a "fateful choice": either allow Iran to have nuclear weapons or strike the nation's nuclear objects.The newspaper's article goes on to suggest that precision strikes will set Iran's nuclear programme back years and might convince Tehran to abandon the idea for good out of sheer fear of further financial losses. The authors claim that US military might should suffice to destroy even nuclear objects buried deep underground. At the same time, the article did not pay any attention to the possible radioactive poisoning that might stem from the destruction of operating nuclear centrifuges.Tehran has repeatedly stressed that its nuclear programme is peaceful, and that the idea of building and using nuclear weapons contradicts Islam  the state religion. In 2015, Iran struck a deal with the EU, Germany, France, the UK, US, Russia, and China to limit its nuclear capabilities in exchange for lifting sanctions. After the US ditched the deal in 2018 (under President Trump) and re-imposed sanctions, Tehran started to scale back its compliance with the accord.Right now, Tehran, the remaining parties to the nuclear deal, and the Biden administration are negotiating in Vienna to revive the accrod. However, progress has been slow. The Europeans have reportedly accused Iran of making impossible demands, such as giving guarantees that no party to the deal will withdraw from it as the US did almost four years ago.

https://sputniknews.com/20211230/head-of-iranian-delegation-says-progress-made-in-jcpoa-talks-in-vienna-1091923420.html

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us, iran, wall street journal
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/thousands-of-north-koreans-assemble-for-rally-to-back-kim-jong-uns-plans-for-upgrading-military-1092116178.html

Thousands of North Koreans Assemble for Rally to Back Kim Jong-un's Plans for Upgrading Military

Thousands of North Koreans Assemble for Rally to Back Kim Jong-un's Plans for Upgrading Military

Several thousand North Koreans have gathered in Kim Il-sung Square in the country's capital Pyongyang for a rally in support of the Workers' Party Congress and its decisions. The crowd, which reportedly consisted of farmers, factory workers, clerks, and students, maintained a semblance of social distancing coupled with across-the-board mask wearing, according to photos and videos of the rally.

2022-01-08T14:39+0000

2022-01-08T14:39+0000

2022-01-08T14:39+0000

asia & pacific

rally

democratic republic of north korea (dprk)

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Several thousand North Koreans have gathered in Kim Il-sung Square in the country's capital Pyongyang for a rally in support of the Workers' Party Congress and its decisions. The crowd, which reportedly consisted of farmers, factory workers, clerks, and students, maintained a semblance of social distancing coupled with across-the-board mask wearing, according to photos and videos of the rally.At the Workers' Party Congress, which took place last week, in the final days of 2021, DPRK leader Kim Jong-un announced the need for a new five-year plan for the economy. He also stressed that the nation needs to expand its military might, ordering the development and manufacture of more sophisticated weapons systems.In the wake of the congress, Kim Jong-un further stated during his New Year speech that 2022 would be the year of a "life-and-death" struggle.The DPRK has been making steady advances in developing its defence industry over the past decade under Kim Jong-un. In 2021 alone North Korea boasted of testing several new types of armaments, including a submarine-launched ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile theoretically capable of penetrating air defences.Pyongyang said it carried out the second test launch of its hypersonic missile on 5 January, with the projectile hitting a target 692 kilometres away. South Korea, however, challenged this statement expressing doubt that the DPRK managed to obtain the technology for hypersonic missiles. Only a few countries currently have it, including China  North Korea's main ally.

https://sputniknews.com/20220105/north-korea-says-wednesday-launch-was-hypersonic-missile-state-media-report-1092048823.html

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asia & pacific, rally, democratic republic of north korea (dprk)
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/twitter-grills-white-house-post-claiming-biden-created-more-jobs-than-any-president-ever-1092119451.html

White House's Tweet Claiming Biden Created More Jobs Than Any US President 'Ever' Grilled Online

White House's Tweet Claiming Biden Created More Jobs Than Any US President 'Ever' Grilled Online

US President Joe Biden has touted that he has created more jobs than any other president several times. In October 2021, he said "we've created more jobs in the first eight months of my administration than any president in American history", referring to the "total number of jobs created".

2022-01-08T17:31+0000

2022-01-08T17:31+0000

2022-01-08T17:55+0000

joe biden

us

white house

jobs

viral

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On Saturday, the White House shared some statistics meant to visualise how the economy under President Biden "has created more jobs per month than under any other president - ever", with the graph showing the creation of over 550,000 jobs.Yet, instead of expected excitement, the post was on the receiving end of outrage and mockery, with netizens accusing the White House of "propaganda" and a "flat out lie".The graph itself does not fudge the numbers - received from the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, they add up, but many netizens pointed at how the White House's visualisation does not take into account that these numbers come in the wake of the pandemic.With the growth detected after people started to return to their workplaces following the end of strict lockdowns and closures of businesses, the jobs were not "created", users claimed, but rather "rebounded".This is not all the graph seems to be omitting. The White House chart does not appear to factor in population and workforce growth, along with resignations.As of October, as noted by Politifact in their fact-check of Biden's jobs-growth claims at the time, the American economy was still about 5 million jobs below the pre-pandemic peak  147.6 million jobs in September 2021, compared with 152.5 million jobs in February 2020.The White House decided to brag about the Biden administration's raw numbers shortly after the US Department of Labour issued a report on Friday, revealing that, while the country had indeed seen an additional 199,000 jobs in December, the figures are still disappointing compared to the 450,000 positions expected by the media.The Labour Department said that the unemployment rate slid to 3.9% last month from November's 4.2%. Any jobless rate of 4% or below is defined by the Federal Reserve as maximum employment.Despite the underperformance, economists voiced optimism about the future of job numbers in the United States. Economist Adam Button said on ForexLive that he expects "robust hiring everywhere" given "all the evidence" he sees.However, as said by White House press secretary Jen Psaki on one occasion, "sometimes context is important (or almost all the time)".

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Daria Bedenko

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joe biden, us, white house, jobs, viral
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/us-to-table-proposals-on-placement-of-missiles-in-europe-in-talks-with-russia-media-says-1092119943.html

'Progress is Possible': US Has No Plans to Deploy Offensive Missile Systems in Ukraine - Official

'Progress is Possible': US Has No Plans to Deploy Offensive Missile Systems in Ukraine - Official

The US will be bringing proposals on the deployment of missiles and the scope of military drills in Europe to the negotiating table with Russia, The Washington Post has reported.

2022-01-08T17:03+0000

2022-01-08T17:03+0000

2022-01-08T19:02+0000

russia

us

talks

nato

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The US is not planning to deploy missiles in Ukraine and, since it is an important security issue for Russia, the two countries can achieve progress in that area, a high-ranking White House official said in a telephone briefing. The official added that such progress is only possible if Moscow makes reciprocal steps.At the same time, the official commented on earlier media reports that the number of US troops deployed in Europe will also be on the table. According to the White House official, Washington is not planning to negotiate on this matter, as well as on the issue of Ukraine's potential accession to NATO.The official added that the US is not coming to these talks on 10 January with a sense of optimism, but rather "realism".Washington to Bring Proposals on Scope of Military Drills to the Table With RussiaThe US will be bringing proposals on the deployment of missiles and the scope of military drills in Europe to the negotiating table with Russia, The Washington Post has reported, citing several sources.According to them, this will be done in order to test Moscow's readiness to handle the crisis around Ukraine diplomatically. American negotiators will reportedly be looking at whether Moscow will seriously discuss ways of toning down the tensions, or if Russia will instead be making impossible demands as a delay tactic.The US envoy to the OSCE explained that Washington wants Russia to put all of its security concerns on the table and plans to do the same itself. At the same time, the Pentagon has stated that the White House is currently not planning to scale down its military presence in Eastern Europe, namely in the Baltics and Poland.Several anonymous American officials told The Washington Post that the US is currently unsure if Russian President Vladimir Putin is indeed planning an invasion of Ukraine, or if he's plotting a more sophisticated gambit with the final goal of obtaining security concessions from Washington.The Russian and American delegations will meet in Geneva on 10 January to discuss mutual security concerns. The meeting comes as the US has expressed worries regarding an alleged Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine. The Kremlin, in turn, expressed a willingness to discuss the threats posed to Russia by the US and NATO.Moscow rolled out a list of propositions to the US and the bloc, which it sees as a prerequisite for a positive dialogue on European security. The proposals include imposing limits on NATO's eastward expansion, specifically into Ukraine  Russia explained that such a move would place NATO's missiles within minutes of Moscow. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg strongly rejected this proposal, stressing that the alliance will not abandon its basic principle of countries' freedom to join military blocs.

https://sputniknews.com/20220107/stoltenberg-nato-wont-compromise-on-principle-of-accepting-any-country-into-bloc--1092097941.html

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russia, us, talks, nato
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/watch-bbc-journo-get-struck-in-face-by-snow-while-reporting-in-dc-1092122040.html

Watch BBC Journo Get Struck in Face by Snow While Reporting in DC

Watch BBC Journo Get Struck in Face by Snow While Reporting in DC

Watch BBC Journo Smashed Snow in The Face While Reporting in DC

2022-01-08T21:45+0000

2022-01-08T21:45+0000

2022-01-08T21:45+0000

washington dc

journalist

snow

viral

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Reporter Laura Trevelyan got caught by a sweeping snow blizzard as she was shooting a news piece in front of the snow-covered Capitol building earlier this week.In the footage posted online, Trevelyan's operator is heard giggling off-screen as the journalist turned away, trying to shield her face from a flurry of snow.The reporter captioned the video close encounter with a snow drift.Trevelyans piece was related to the anniversary of the tragic events that took place at the Capitol a year ago, when a mob of protesters breached the building in a bid to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.

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washington dc, journalist, snow, viral
https://sputniknews.com/20220108/weekly-news-wrap-up-ukraine-faces-nazi-backlash-csto-sends-peacekeepers-to-kazakhstan-1092104545.html

Weekly News Wrap Up; Ukraine Faces Nazi Backlash; CSTO Sends Peacekeepers to Kazakhstan

Weekly News Wrap Up; Ukraine Faces Nazi Backlash; CSTO Sends Peacekeepers to Kazakhstan

The situation in Kazakhstan is still unstable as thousands of peacekeeper troops arrive to assist the government against armed gangs. 08.01.2022, Sputnik International

2022-01-08T15:49+0000

2022-01-08T15:49+0000

2022-01-08T15:50+0000

ukraine

kazakhstan

peacekeepers

jcpoa

the critical hour

omicron strain

radio

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Weekly News Wrap Up; Ukraine Faces Nazi Backlash; CSTO Sends Peacekeepers to Kazakhstan The situation in Kazakhstan is still unstable as thousands of peacekeeper troops arrive to assist the government against armed gangs.

Caleb Maupin, journalist and political analyst, joins us to discuss this week's important news stories. Russia is demanding that the international community come together and take action against Ukraine for its glorification of the Nazi ideology. Also, European leaders are feeling left out and looking to find a way to inject themselves into the bilateral security talks between the US and Russia.Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor in economics and politics at St. Mary's College in California, joins us to discuss the economy. The Omicron wave is having a dramatic effect on the economy as millions of businesses are unable to field enough workers to maintain normal operations. Also, the jobless rate and other economic indicators are showing that the omicron is having a dramatic effect on economic outcomes.Dr. David Oualaalou, author and international security analyst, joins us to discuss Kazakhstan. The situation in Kazakhstan is still unstable as thousands of peacekeeper troops arrive to assist the government against armed gangs.Dr. Clarence Lusane, author, professor, and activist, and Dr. Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, join us to discuss domestic politics. The US experienced over 400 gun deaths over the first 4 days of 2022. This does not include another 300 people who were wounded. Also, Democrats are looking for a plan to keep the Senate.Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, and Scott Ritter, former UN weapon inspector in Iraq, join us to discuss foreign policy. We discuss the upcoming talks between US and Russian officials over the crisis on the Eastern European border. Also, we talk about the crisis in Kazakhstan and the Iran nuclear deal negotiations.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com

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ukraine, kazakhstan, peacekeepers, jcpoa, the critical hour, omicron strain, , radio
A Vietnam War POW who led the Virginia Department of Veterans Services is supporting state Sen. Bryce Reeves in his run for Virginias 7th Congressional District seat.

Navy Commander Paul Galantiwho spent more than six years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, the so-called Hanoi Hilton, while fellow Navy flier John McCain was held thereendorses Reeves, the Republican senators campaign announced Friday.

A highly decorated service member, Galanti was featured on the cover of Time and Life magazines. The Virginian also served as commissioner of the state Department of Veterans Services.

Bryce represents the absolute best definition of leadershipas a member of our Special Forces, as a state political official and as someone wholl make a difference draining the embarrassing swamp our nations capital has become, Galanti said in a statement. He keeps his word, and as all good leaders, always takes care of others before himself.

Ive had the privilege of working with Commander Galanti over many year, Reeves said. I consider him a close friend, and Im so impressed by the work he has done advocating for our veterans. It is a great honor to have him on my team.

Since he left the Navy in 1982, Galanti has been a major supporter of veterans causes, especially POWs, the Reeves campaign said. In Virginia and nationally, he is active in numerous groups that advocate on behalf of veterans, it said.

Reeves is running for the 7th Congressional District seat redrawn last month by Virginias redistricting special masters, as later approved by the Supreme Court of Virginia.

He is among the GOP candidates challenging two-term U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th.

In recent weeks, Reeves has also been endorsed by SEAL Pac, a national veterans political action committee; Fredericksburg Sheriff Paul Higgs; Stafford County Sheriff David Decatur; Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa; former Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell; Louisa County Sheriff Donald A. Lowe; state Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper; Spotsylvania County Commonwealths Attorney Travis Bird; Spotsylvania County Sheriff Roger Harris; Orange County Sheriff Mark Amos; Trump administration Secretary of Energy Rick Perry; and FreedomWorks, a libertarian advocacy nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.

A small business owner, Reeves is a Culpeper County auxiliary sheriffs deputy and a former Prince William County narcotics detective.

He represents the 17th District in the Virginia Senate, which includes the city of Fredericksburg and the counties of Albemarle (part), Culpeper (part), Louisa (part), Orange and Spotsylvania (part).

Reeves serves on the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services as well as the committees on Local Government, General Laws and Technology, and Privileges and Elections.

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CHARLOTTE  U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Cyianna Ashley Woods, 38, of Atlanta, Georgia, to 60 months in prison Thursday on wire fraud and money laundering charges, for executing a scheme that defrauded more than 300 Walmart stores of more than $850,000, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Bell also ordered Woods to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $923,915 in restitution.

Bell previously sentenced Woodss codefendant, Andre Marquese White, 35, of Norcross, Georgia, to 46 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in the conspiracy.

Ronnie Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in North Carolina and South Carolina, joined King in making the announcement.

In making the announcement, King said, This criminal duo engaged in an extensive scheme that defrauded Walmart of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This type of financial crime impacts not only affected retailers but also consumers in the form of higher prices for goods and services.

This individuals long-running and widespread scheme has been thwarted and now she will be held accountable for her crimes. said Martinez. Unlawful activity like this hurts businesses and results in higher costs to consumers. This case should serve as a warning to others thinking they can get away with schemes like this that HSI and our law enforcement and private sector partners are watching.

According to filed court documents and the sentencing hearing, from 2013 to 2019, Woods and White organized and executed a counterfeit bank check and wire fraud scheme against 300 Walmart stores in 24 states, including stores located in Iredell, Catawba, Mecklenburg, Anson, Gaston and Buncombe counties in North Carolina. To perpetuate the fraud, the defendants made counterfeit checks, which appeared as legitimate bank checks, that they then cashed at various Walmart stores. In this manner, over the course of the scheme the defendants obtained more than $850,000 in pre-paid debit cards, gift cards, Walmart shopping cards, and other merchandise. Court records also show that, the two further laundered the illegal proceeds by purchasing pre-paid debit cards from other retail stores. Both Woods and White previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges.

King thanked HSI for their investigation of the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael E. Savage of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.
The following is a list of those booked at the Iredell County Detention Center on felony and driving while impaired charges from Dec. 30-Jan.5. Listed information, including addresses, has been gathered from reports publicly available at local law enforcement agencies. All individuals listed are innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

Dec. 30

Teona Kejohnette Bruner, 27, of Ascending Lane, Statesville, breaking and/or entering, $7,500 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Damian Santibanez Jr., 23, of Yadkinville, possession of methamphetamine, $3,500 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Roy Lee Williams, 50, of Princeton, West Virginia, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, $500,000, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Dec. 31

Logan Patrick Craven, 26, of Davidson, assault inflicting serious injury to a law enforcement officer, probation, etc. and malicious conduct by a prisoner, $5,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Daniel Ray Cox, 48, of Kistler Farm Road, Mooresville, possession of methamphetamine, $5,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Daquanta ONeil Dobbins, 19, of Reid Street, Statesville, three counts of manufacture MDPV, two counts of possession of methamphetamine and one count of maintaining a vehicle/dwelling for sale or use of controlled substance, $50,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Brandon Ray Burris, 30, of Sassafras Road, Mooresville, obtaining property by false pretense, $2,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Jan. 1

Carla Esther Torres, 20, of Assembly Drive, Mooresville, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, $100,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Nikole Alexandra Neal, 31, of Overcash Road, Troutman, two counts each of manufacture MDPV and possession of methamphetamine and one count each of attempt and conspiracy: penalties and maintaining a vehicle/dwelling for sale or use of controlled substance, $10,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Ashbia Lark, 49, of Cross Hill, South Carolina, fugitive from justice, no bond, North Carolina Highway Patrol.

James Timothy Benfield, 46, of York Spann Road, Hamptonville, two counts of obtaining property by false pretense and one count of failure to appear, $50,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Devin Devon Dixon, 30, of Fayetteville, DWI, $1,500 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Jan. 2

Gage Thomas Pollak, 31, of Bethel Drive, Harmony, breaking and/or entering, break or enter a motor vehicle and attempted larceny, $25,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Ashley Jordan Hardee, 32, of Gastonia, possession of Schedule II, $5,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Jan. 3

Brandon Lee Jones, 34, of Terrell, four counts of break or enter a motor vehicle , three counts of larceny and one count of conspiracy, $10,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Destiny Unique Ashley, 22, of Charlotte, larceny and conspiracy, $1,000 bond, Troutman Police Department.

Bradley Todd Crider, 29, of Seven Oaks Lane, Statesville, possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver Schedule II and possession of methamphetamine, $30,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Jill Marie Rumbough, 43, of Hendersonville, two counts of probation violation, $15,000 bond, McDowell County law enforcement.

John Frank Craig III, 23, of Charlotte, larceny from a merchant and conspiracy, $10,000 bond, Troutman Police Department.

Davonte Salaam Dickson, 30, of Newark, New Jersey, DWI, $1,500 bond, North Carolina Highway Patrol.

Jan. 4

Steven Alexander Parlier, 26, of Granite Falls, possession of Schedule II, $15,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Deantre Donnell Black, 26, of Cornelius, possession of Schedule I, $10,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Amber Dawn Akins, 33, of Maiden, possession of methamphetamine and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, $25,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Ja Siah Donnell Hunt, 22, of Concord, possession of marijuana, maintaining a vehicle/dwelling for sale of controlled substance and sell or deliver Schedule VI, $20,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Ellery Wade Summers, 55, of East Cloaninger Avenue, Statesville, parole violation, no bond, North Carolina Department of Probation and Parole.

Devin Gage Staley, 23, of West Front Street, Statesville, five counts of obtaining property by false pretense and one count of larceny, $10,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Nelson Alteree Bines, 26, of Stanley Drive, Statesville, two counts of robbery with a firearm/other dangerous weapon and one count each of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, break/enter to terrorize/injure and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, $200,000 bond, Statesville Police Department.

Lisa Anne Flowers, 45, of Old Wilkesboro Road, Statesville, two counts each of sell/deliver Schedule II and possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver Schedule II and one count of maintaining a vehicle/dwelling for sale or use or controlled substance, $30,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Kayla Omega Randolph, 31, of Twisted Oak Lane, Statesville, possession of heroin, $8,500 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Paul Steven Mayhew, 68, of East Iredell Avenue, Mooresville, DWI, $500 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Jan. 5

James Stanley Horne, 55, of Foxcroft Terrace, Statesville, possession of cocaine, $10,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Richard Lee Moore, 54, of Brawley Avenue, Mooresville, possession of methamphetamine, $3,500 bond, Mooresville Police Department.

Jasmin Tre Lencil Huntsman, 28, of East Raleigh Avenue, Statesville, possession of methamphetamine, larceny of a motor vehicle and maintaining a vehicle/dwelling for sale or use of controlled substance, $17,500 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Maleia Nicole Flouton, 26, of Diamond Street, Statesville, two counts of maintaining a vehicle/dwelling for sale or use of controlled substance and one count each of identity theft, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, manufacture MDPV and possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver Schedule II, $45,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Angel Carissa Gardner, 24, of Oak Grove Road, Statesville, obtaining property by false pretense and possession of stolen motor vehicle, $2,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Roger Lee Brown, 45, of Harrill Street, Statesville, failure to notify of change of address as a registered sex offender and parole violation, no bond on the parole violation and $5,00 bond on the remaining charge, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Matthew Edward Estep, 45, of Greenland Drive, Statesville, possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin, $15,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Mark Lee Ball, 34, of Baker Street, Statesville, larceny of motor vehicle parts, $5,000 bond, Iredell County Sheriffs Office.

Carol Cash Hempsling, 57, of Cornelius, DWI, $5,000 bond, Mooresville Police Department.
Virginia Marie Spencer, a Pilot Mountain woman convicted of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Friday to three months in federal prison and three years of supervised probation.

According to court documents filed by federal prosecutors, she entered the U.S. Capitol with her 14-year-old son and her husband, Christopher Spencer.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly noted that Spencer, 38, apologized in court on Friday but said it didn't appear that Spencer really understood that she participated in an insurrection and not a peaceful protest.

Kollar-Kotelly also said she couldn't comprehend why Spencer would bring her 14-year-old son into a situation where he could see rioters assaulting law-enforcement officers. Kollar-Kotelly said she worried what impact witnessing such violence would have on the teenager.

Virginia Spencer initially told FBI agents that she and her husband immediately tried to get out of the U.S. Capitol once they realized they weren't supposed to be in the building. But Kollar-Kotelly said that's not true. The couple spent more than 30 minutes inside the building and joined at least three different groups of people either inside the Capitol building or while they were marching toward the Capitol, the judge said.

Christopher Spencer, she said, used Facebook to live-stream himself in the U.S. Capitol building.

Prosecutors said that, while walking toward the Capitol, Virginia Spencer joined a small group of people who confronted counter-protesters. Her husband said, "Easy to talk s*** behind the cops!" Virginia Spencer said, "Look who's protecting you...(indiscernible) behind the f***in' police!" Washington, D.C. Metro Police officers broke up the encounter, which was captured on body-camera.

The couple briefly joined a group of people outside the House Chambers as they tried to get inside, prosecutors said.

Her attorney, Allen H. Orenberg, said in a court filing that Virginia Spencer was unduly influenced by the media and by former president Donald Trump, who falsely said that the election was stolen from him through fraud. Orenberg alleged that media coverage of the protests over George Floyd's death led Virginia Spencer to believe that protesting was the only way to have her voice heard and that she would face minimal criminal liability.

He argued that his client should get a 12-month probationary sentence.

The judge rejected that argument, saying Virginia Spencer chose to enter the U.S. Capitol building illegally and was present for an attempt to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won.

Virginia Spencer will have to turn herself in to federal authorities in February. The charges against her husband, Christopher Spencer, are still pending.
Scott Deals McGeary Road driveway partly washed away Friday after nearly three days of heavy rains and snowmelt overfilled nearby Ostrander Creek.

Divots about 6-inches tall spotted the mud pathway and gravel from another parking spot washed into the front yard of his Kelso home before Cowlitz County road crews made repairs, he said.

Heavy rain and snowmelt flogged the Lower Columbia River Valley from Wednesday through Friday, leaving little room in local rivers for runoff from overflowing creeks and lowlands. Nearly a dozen local roads were closed Thursday and Friday, including about a half mile of Ostrander Road near Kelso, which passes Deals home, and a section of Interstate 5 in Lewis County.

UPDATE: I-5 reopens in Lewis County; other roads remain closed due to flooding, slides Washington State Department of Transportation reopened a section of Interstate 5 in Lewis County around 1 p.m. Friday after closing it in the 

But the end is in sight. A flood warning for the Cowlitz River at Kelso and Castle Rock expires 6 a.m. Saturday, reports the National Weather Service, and both locations are expected to reach below flood stage that morning.

Saturday calls for a chance of rain, but then clear, sunny skies Sunday, meteorologists report.

Ostrander Creek

Cowlitz County Public Works Operator Dennis Childers said Ostrander Creek rapids reached around 4 feet high on the southern end of McGeary Road Thursday. County crews removed debris blocking the creeks flow through the nearby Ostrander Road underpass, he added, alleviating the backup.

Scott Deals wife Kellie said about 1.5 hours after the debris was cleared, she could see grass in her yard again.

Kellie Deal watched inside her McGeary Road home Thursday, as rising waters overflowed from the adjacent Ostrander Creek and came within 3 inches of her front door, she said. In the 12 years she has lived on the street, she said similar flooding has occurred three times.

Continual rain and road closures left Scott Deal unable to drive home from his night shift in Kelso, he said.

During floods, a logging road off Ostrander Road opens, he added, so people can reach Holcomb Road, then North Pacific Avenue and I-5. But Thursday night, he said the bridge that runs over Ostrander Creek, just before McGeary Road, was flooded, so he couldnt reach home even with the bypass.

Childers said crews likely will add gravel to the bypass to give the muddy road more traction. Crews have been working overtime, he added, including clearing a metal grate for roughly 12 hours until 10 p.m. Thursday to prevent North Kelso from flooding. He said some flooded roads could take days to clear, but as of about 8 a.m. Saturday Cowlitz County Public Works crews reported Ostrander Road had re-opened.

Jamie Poe lives on the eastern side of Ostrander, atop a hill just past the road-closed sign and above the rising waters. From her property, she can see her neighbors flooded back yards below, which was much worse Friday than during the typical rainy season, she said.

Below Poe, a bridge on North Pacific Avenue was flooded Friday by the rising Ostrander Creek underneath. A road that leads to homes along the creek, and before Spencers Trucking and Excavating, also was under water Friday afternoon, preventing access to and from the dwellings, and leaving a garage flooded.

Other closures

The Washington State Department of Transportation reopened a 20-mile section of I-5 in Lewis County around 1 p.m. Friday after closing it for several hours as flood waters rose.

Ocean Beach Highway has reopened at the county line from a slide Thursday, but remains closed at milepost 13 because of high water from the Grays River, according to the department.

Wahkiakum and Rainier schools were closed Friday due to washed out road conditions, while Castle Rock started two hours late and canceled three morning bus routes and morning preschool.

WATCH: Flood damages and road closures across Cowlitz County on Thursday This page will be continually updated with information about road closures and damages caused by flooding on Jan. 6.

Local road closures as of Friday afternoon included Ostrander Road, Allen Street east of Corduroy Road and the Grade Street overpass in Kelso.

The city of Kalama reopened Elm Street, West Frontage Road and East Frontage Road Friday morning after closing them Thursday because of flooding from heavy rain. I-5 Exit 30 into Kalama reopened late Friday morning.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to report Ostrander Road opened Saturday and correct the day Cowlitz County Public Work crews worked overtime.

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The fully 3D-printed flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display prototype is about 1.5 inches on each side and has 64 pixels. Every pixel works and displays light. The 3D-printed display is also flexible, which could make it useful for a wide variety of applications, such as foldable smartphone displays. Credit: McAlpine Group, University of Minnesota

In a groundbreaking new study, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities used a customized printer to fully 3D print a flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display. The discovery could result in low-cost OLED displays in the future that could be widely produced using 3D printers by anyone at home, instead of by technicians in expensive microfabrication facilities.

The research is published in Science Advances.

The OLED display technology is based on the conversion of electricity into light using an organic material layer. OLEDs function as high quality digital displays, which can be made flexible and used in both large-scale devices such as television screens and monitors as well as handheld electronics such as smartphones. OLED displays have gained popularity because they are lightweight, power-efficient, thin and flexible, and offer a wide viewing angle and high contrast ratio.

"OLED displays are usually produced in big, expensive, ultra-clean fabrication facilities," said Michael McAlpine, a University of Minnesota Kuhrmeyer Family Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the senior author of the study. "We wanted to see if we could basically condense all of that down and print an OLED display on our table-top 3D printer, which was custom built and costs about the same as a Tesla Model S."

The group had previously tried 3D printing OLED displays, but they struggled with the uniformity of the light-emitting layers. Other groups partially printed displays but also relied on spin-coating or thermal evaporation to deposit certain components and create functional devices.

In this new study, the University of Minnesota research team combined two different modes of printing to print the six device layers that resulted in a fully 3D-printed, flexible organic light-emitting diode display. The electrodes, interconnects, insulation, and encapsulation were all extrusion printed, while the active layers were spray printed using the same 3D printer at room temperature. The display prototype was about 1.5 inches on each side and had 64 pixels. Every pixel worked and displayed light.

"I thought I would get something, but maybe not a fully working display," said Ruitao Su, the first author of the study and a 2020 University of Minnesota mechanical engineering Ph.D. graduate who is now a postdoctoral researcher at MIT. "But then it turns out all the pixels were working, and I can display the text I designed. My first reaction was 'It is real!' I was not able to sleep, the whole night."

Su said the 3D-printed display was also flexible and could be packaged in an encapsulating material, which could make it useful for a wide variety of applications.

"The device exhibited a relatively stable emission over the 2,000 bending cycles, suggesting that fully 3D printed OLEDs can potentially be used for important applications in soft electronics and wearable devices," Su said.

The researchers said the next steps are to 3D print OLED displays that are higher resolution with improved brightness.

"The nice part about our research is that the manufacturing is all built in, so we're not talking 20 years out with some 'pie in the sky' vision," McAlpine said. "This is something that we actually manufactured in the lab, and it is not hard to imagine that you could translate this to printing all kinds of displays ourselves at home or on the go within just a few years, on a small portable printer."

In addition to McAlpine and Su, the research team included University of Minnesota mechanical engineering researchers Xia Ouyang, a postdoctoral researcher; Sung Hyun Park, who is now a senior researcher at Korea Institute of Industrial Technology; and Song Ih Ahn, who is now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Pusan National University in Korea.

Explore further Organic light emitting diodes operated by 1.5 V battery

More information: Ruitao Su et al, 3D-printed flexible organic light-emitting diode displays, Science Advances (2022). Journal information: Science Advances Ruitao Su et al, 3D-printed flexible organic light-emitting diode displays,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl8798
In the Gospel according to Matthew, the writer narrates events related to Jesus birth. One theme of Matthews story emphasizes Jesus as a Jew, born and growing up through life events illustrating how he is the fulfillment of Gods promise in Israels tradition of Moses and the faithful prophets: a promise to send a long awaited Messiah (a servant-sovereign).

For many centuries, Epiphany has been the celebration on Jan. 6 that many Christians associate with the visit of the Magi (or wise men) to the household of the child Jesus (Matthew, chapter 2). They traveled from many, many miles east of Palestine, likely from the current nation of Iran. They were foreigners welcomed by the family of very young Jesus.

When we read the Bible (or any non-fiction or fiction), we either read as if an earlier event is simply the past, or we read as if the past has relevance from which we can learn in the present.

In the centuries before Matthew tells of Jesus' birth and life, the Hebrew Scriptures detail how Gods involvement includes people in flawed, vulnerable, relational and political conditions and contexts. Thats what God signs up to join, and this matters immensely.

How sad and ironic that on Jan. 6, 2021, in the United States capital city, an event occurred that intended to undermine and overthrow the legislative confirmation of a free and fair election held two months before.

On the day before the storming of the Capitol building, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, his wife and two daughters attended the memorial service of Tommy Raskin (son and brother), who took his own life in December, after serious depression. Rep. Raskin and both of his daughters were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 for the confirmation of the Electoral College votes when the riot-rebellion occurred.

The title of Rep. Raskins recently published memoir is Unthinkable. While I have not yet read the book, the title seems to have a double meaning: Tommys suicide and the conspiracy to interfere with the Electoral College confirmation were both unthinkable.

Reviews of Unthinkable and recent interviews with Rep. Raskin yield evidence of his passion both: (1) to assist others in relationships where depression might result in suicide; and (2) to plead a case for vigilance and determination in resisting authoritarian encroachment into the incomparable gift of democracy, which relies on free and fair elections confirmed through elected officials who have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Rep. Raskin has said in interviews that if he has one regret of his time prior to Tommys death, it is that he never said the word suicide with him. They talked about the loneliness of depression, but they did not talk about suicide. In the same way, he says, We have to talk about the words authoritarianism and conspiracy to block Constitutional processes. Failure to name what threatens us and what threatens those who are dear to us  even others we do not know  gives power to the threatening force.

In Matthews account, the Magi defy authoritarian King Herods encouragement to report back to him where they find the child born to be a servant-sovereign. They return home another way. Neither should any of us empower forces like authoritarianism or suicide. When they stalk us, may we diminish their power by naming and discussing them; and may we care and act both for each and every person and for the health of this democracy  as God gives us help.

Ted V. Foote Jr. has been pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bryan since 2007.
It was silly, but I was really hoping 2022 would be different.

A new year. A fresh start for America.

And an end  or at least a brief armistice  to the nasty political civil war that has tortured us for the past two years.

But after experiencing less than 12 hours of 2022, I came to my senses: On Jan. 1, I tweeted, New Year, same BS.

Thats how long it took FOX, CNN, CBS and the rest of the national media to show me that the only thing that was going to change about the year 2022 was the number.

Everyone in America is still mad at everyone else.

The country is still split into red and blue political camps. Its still split into the vaxxed and unvaxxed.

And while the Biden administration continues to try its damnedest to wreck everything that still works in America, Donald Trump is still driving the Democrat Party and the media crazy.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris proved how much Trumps ghost haunts them on Thursday morning when they delivered their equally awful speeches marking the anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021.

You remember Insurrection Day? Unless youve been in a coma for a year, how could you forget?

It was the day our Capitol building in Washington was burned to the ground by an armed mob of Trump supporters who killed dozens of Congress people, overturned the 2020 election and destroyed American democracy forever.

In the real world, of course, it didnt actually happen like that.

But Biden, Harris, the Pelosi-Schumer tag team in Congress and the media want to make sure 1/6 becomes a day that will live forever in infamy  like 12/7/41 or 9/11.

That kind of laughable rhetoric really helps to unite our politically divided country, doesnt it?

So does insisting on calling 1/6 an insurrection instead of what it was  a peaceful political protest that exploded into a dangerous and disgraceful riot whose only fatality was an Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot to death by a Capitol police officer.

No one in politics with half a brain and an ounce of power was ever in favor of what happened in Washington on 1/6.

No one on the left, no one on the right. Not President Trump, not even Sean Hannity.

In fact, for the first time probably since 9/11, FOX and CNN were actually on the same political page.

Republicans and conservatives repeatedly have said the Capitol riot was a disgrace to America and that violently crashing the Capitol was wrong.

Theyve also said  repeatedly  that those who broke the law should be arrested and charged  fairly and equally  with trespassing, attacking police or whatever appropriate crime.

Unlike the lefts sympathetic and hands-off reaction to the deadly and destructive nightly riots in a dozen American cities in the summer of 2020, Republicans have been consistent on how to react to mob violence.

Republicans condemned it in those blue cities and at the Capitol on Insurrection Day.

But for the Democrat Party and its flock of parrots in the media, the deadly insurrection of 1/6 Trump supposedly fomented has become a myth they are never going to let the country forget.

1/6 is their new national holiday. A day they can memorialize  weaponize  each year for decades for purely partisan political reasons.

For now, Democrats know 1/6 is the only propaganda weapon they have left to distract the publics attention from the Biden administrations never-ending list of failures.

But ordinary Americans dont care about marking the anniversary of Insurrection Day. They know a fake insurrection when they see one.

Theyre more worried about things that are real and things that really matter to them  today. Things such as the rising price of gas and hamburger and Bidens bungled war on COVID.

Anyway, dont tell the Democrats. But last fall ordinary Americans across the country started a real insurrection thats long overdue  a worthy revolution by parents who aim to break the power of public school boards and the teachers unions and retake control of their kids educations.

Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. Send comments to reagan@caglecartoons.com and follow @reaganworld on Twitter.
Six sites in Lancaster, Douglas and Dodge counties are being looked at for the possible location of a new Nebraska state prison, the head of the system announced Friday afternoon.

The new 1,512-bed prison would replace the aging Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

The exact locations were not disclosed as negotiations are initiated with property owners, according to a news release issued Friday afternoon by the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

The top criteria in evaluating all available sites has been proximity to a population center to support staffing. The ones selected so far fit that bill," Scott Frakes, director of the state's prison system, said in the release.

Additional property owners could initiate offers, according to the release.

The approximate size of the site would be 160 acres.

We have looked at parcels smaller than that, but ultimately, it cannot be less than 100 acres. The land would need to include a buffer zone separating it from surrounding developed or undeveloped property, Frakes said.

Additional criteria included distance to utility systems, hospital and emergency services, community services, road access and terrain, according to the release.

Nebraska's prison system has been plagued with overcrowding and staffing shortages in recent years.

The new prison, which had been expected to cost $236 million, was proposed by Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2020.

An engineering study, also released Friday, found that the State Penitentiary in Lincoln would need $220 million in upgrades.

The penitentiary first opened in 1869, according to the Corrections website. It has undergone multiple updates over the years.

The condition of the aging facility came into the spotlight earlier this year when leaking pipes forced officials to shut off running water to the penitentiary for nearly two days.

Lawmakers earlier this year approved a budget compromise that put nearly $15 million toward design and planning for a new facility. The compromise required an engineering study of the penitentiary to assess its useful life.

Initially, part of Frakes proposal for a new prison included repurposing the penitentiary as a minimum-security facility. But he has shifted to talking about the new prison as a replacement. A key driver, he has said, is a data-driven initiative underway that could result in legislation that curbs population growth.

"Numerous consultants had a hand in evaluating the various components of (the state penitentiary). They looked at when things were built and upgraded, if they were ADA-compliant, the age and status of the utilities, technology and security systems, Frakes said.

Frakes formally proposed building a new prison late in 2020. Unlike Nebraskas newest state prison, which opened in the rural community of Tecumseh in 2011, the new facility would need to be in an area with a large enough population to staff the new facility, he said at the time, which pointed to Lincoln and Omaha as potential locations.

It also opened the door to communities between the two cities. Local officials in Waverly, Ashland and Wahoo said in October 2020 that Corrections staff had contacted them to gauge interest in hosting a new prison.

Responses were tepid.

Waverlys then-mayor, Mike Werner, expressed some doubt that his community, which sits just outside Lincoln in Lancaster County, would support the facility.
Parishes in the Grand Island Diocese, like Catholic dioceses throughout the world, are coming together in the next couple of months to share their thoughts.

The sessions are part of a synod called by Pope Francis. The consultations in the local churches comprise the listening phase.

Both Catholics and non-Catholics are invited to the gatherings, which will be held in Grand Island through Feb. 24.

Pope Francis is asking people in every diocese throughout the world to participate in the synod by attending a local consultation, Bishop Joseph Hanefeldt wrote in a letter to the diocese.

Normally, a synod is a gathering of bishops. Recent themes have involved the new evangelization, the family, young people and the Amazon.

Pope Francis now wants to focus on the synod process itself, which has come to be known as synodality. A definition of synodality is journeying together.

The pope wants to involve the greater church in consultation, says Armando Chavarria, director of faith formation and evangelization for the Grand Island diocese.

The idea of the synod in the eyes of Pope Francis is that were on a journey together  the church and the world, he said.

So the idea is that we want to hear from anyone, Chavarria said. We want to hear from people who are marginalized, people who are in poverty, migrants, maybe groups that often are not associated with the Catholic church, including prisoners and other communities, he said.

One question, the focus of the sessions, will be asked throughout the world: A synodal church, in announcing the Gospel, journeys together. How is this journeying together happening today in your local church? What steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow in our journeying together?

The sessions are being held throughout the Grand Island Diocese, which consists of 70 parishes. Thirty-six of the churches are main parishes and the other 34 are mission parishes.

If people are not able to attend one session, they may attend another parishs gathering, said Chavarria, who is the dioceses liaison with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Each parish will provide a report of its own consultation by March 19.

Chavarria and other members of a team will synthesize those reports into one document. The idea is for us to discern what we think the Holy Spirit is saying through the people, he said.

The summary will be presented to those who participated and other interested people. Their final thoughts will be combined with the synthesis into a document of fewer than 10 pages, which will be sent to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Such a document will be forwarded to the Conference of Catholic Bishops from every American diocese.

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Improvement in supply chain problems, and good weather have contributed to CNH Industrial of Grand Island not needing the indoor space at Fonner Park's beef barn to finish building its combines, said Rebecca Fabian, CNH Industrials corporate communications manger for North America.

In late November, the Grand Island City Council approved a request for a conditional use permit from the Hall County Livestock Improvement Association. The permit allowed for the installation of missing parts for the combines at the beef barn.

So far, a parade of combines hasnt set out for the beef barn.

However, everything is pretty unpredictable at this point in time, Fabian said.

Its possible the company still might need the beef barn. The conditional use permit expires in April.

Earlier this week, an Independent photographer took photos of trailers loaded with combines that were headed for the interstate. Fabian said those combines were finished products.

Production by CNH Industrial hasnt slowed because of one particular part, she said. A variety of items have been in short supply across the industry, she said.

CNH Industrial has more than 35,000 employees around the world. The companys five core brands are Case IH, New Holland Agriculture, STEYR, Case Construction Equipment and New Holland Construction.

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LEXINGTON  Smoking while on oxygen was the cause of a fire that injured a woman, killed a dog and damaged a house during the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 6.

Around 12 p.m., the Lexington Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to Oregon Trail in southwestern Lexington for the report of smoke coming from a house.

On scene, members of the Lexington Police Department and the Dawson County Sheriffs Office went around the house and saw a woman inside the burning house.

Captain Paul Schwarz said they broke out the back window and rescued the individual from the home.

She was brought outside and then transported to Lexington Regional Health Center by Priority Medical Transport for undisclosed injuries.

LVFD Fire Chief Bo Berry said that eventually, 30 firefighters, their three main engines, a rescue unit and their air trailer were at the scene.

When they first arrived, Berry said, the flames were visible through the front window of the home. Their first priority was to knock down the fire and find out if anyone else was inside the home, which just took 10 minutes.

Two other firefighters went around back and entered the home but were advised that no one else was inside. There was a dog in the home that perished during the fire, Berry said. In all, firefighters were on scene for three hours.

The cause of the fire was the woman in the home smoking while on oxygen, Berry said.

Berry said there was extensive damage to the living room and heat and smoke damage to the rest of the house. He said it's likely repairable, but the property damage would be around $45,000.
Cybersecurity

Thousands of Schools' Websites Go Down After Ransomware Attack on Software Provider Finalsite

Editor's Note: An updated report is available: "Finalsite Says Ransomware Actor Identified; Client Sites Back Online" posted on Monday, Jan. 10.

Thousands of K12 schools and universities found their websites inaccessible this week after their website software provider, Finalsite, was hit by a ransomware attack on Tuesday and was still working to restore full functionality Friday afternoon.

The company said in a statement on its website that it had full access to its files and data throughout the incident and a forensic investigation was under way. We have no evidence that our data or client data has been taken. Finalsite also noted that its database information on client schools is limited to names and email addresses and the company does not store payment information, academic records, Social Security numbers or other personal information.

It's important to note that the malware is not what took our sites offline, Finalsite Director of Communications Morgan Delack told THEjournal on Friday. We did so proactively  and immediately  upon learning of the issue in order to protect our data. The reconnection of our websites is taking so long because we had to rebuild everything in a clean, safe environment again. At this time, we have no evidence that data was compromised, and we credit that to our early actions.

Delack estimated that about 5,000 of its almost 8,000 global customers had been affected by the incident, though on Monday that total was revised to 3,000.

Finalsite, with offices in Connecticut and the U.K., provides website, marketing, and communications platforms for schools and universities in 108 countries. It is a portfolio company of Veritas Capital.

Late Thursday, Finalsite held a webinar for clients affected by the outage, where company leaders spoke about what happened and why the cause of the outage hadnt been shared until the outage was in its third day, according to a transcript of the webinar shared with THEjournal.com.

Initially, on Tuesday, Finalsite posted on its status page for its customers that it was investigating an issue leading to increased error rates and performance issues, and it posted updates about the continued outage several times a day without mentioning the cause of the outage, until just after noon on Thursday.

At 12:04 p.m. on Thursday, Finalsite acknowledged that ransomware was the cause and said in a new status update that the ransomwaare had been detected on Tuesday.

We are incredibly sorry for this prolonged outage and fully realize the stress it is causing your organizations. While we have made progress overnight to get all websites up and running, full restoration has taken us longer than anticipated, the status update said. The Finalsite security team monitors our network systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On Tuesday, January 4, our team identified the presence of ransomware on certain systems in our environment. We immediately took steps to secure our systems and to contain the activity. We quickly launched an investigation into the event with the assistance of third-party forensic specialists, and began proactively taking certain systems offline.

In the ensuing time since the incident, our security, infrastructure, and engineering teams have been working around the clock to restore backup systems and bring our network back to full performance, in a safe and secure manner. Third-party forensic specialists are assisting us in bringing things back slowly and carefully to ensure the environment is safe and stable.

Late Friday afternoon, the company said Were continuing to work to restore admin access as quickly as possible, and many more sites can now log in. We are continuing to restore styling, calendar events, and constituents for directories and will update you on our progress along the way.

Speakers on the webinar held Thursday afternoon included CEO and Founder Jon Moser and the chief officers of revenue, marketing, product, and communications.

Many of you have said, why havent you been more upfront with us about what is happening until now? As youve read in our letter, because of the nature of the incident, we have had to hold back some information until now and are grateful for your understanding of these difficult circumstances, the officers said, according to the webinar transcript. After isolating and shifting away from the affected infrastructure components, we needed to rebuild aspects of our network. It's taking us longer to tune this rebuilt infrastructure than we originally anticipated.

The company leaders emphasized that they take security extremely seriously and are frequently updating protocols based upon any best practices and new information.

The Finalsite security team has strict security measures in place to protect the information in our care, and have worked to add further technical safeguards to our environment, the transcript reads. Weve invested $2.5 million into hosting security and our team monitors our network systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As we learn more about this incident, we are taking additional steps to further secure the environment and prevent this type of attack from occurring again.

Cybersecurity experts and even the U.S. Department of Education have warned in recent months of a marked increase in cyberattacks on schools and universities, and the K12 Cybersecurity Act of 2021, signed into law in October, directs the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to identify risks and provide resources for schools to better protect their IT security.
HARRISBURG  A 911 caller claiming to have planted a bomb at the Harrisburg Walmart forced the evacuation of everyone in the store Friday night as law enforcement swept the building.

The bomb threat turned out to be unfounded, according to law enforcement.

At approximately 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, Saline County dispatchers received a 911 call from an unknown person reporting there was a bomb in the bathroom of Harrisburg Walmart, police said.

The caller also gave dispatch a time frame in which the bomb would detonate, police said.

Several agencies responded to the scene. With the help of Walmart staff, everyone was evacuated from the building, police said.

Authorities then did a thorough sweep of the premises and found no suspicious items, police said.

The Harrisburg Police Department was aided by the Harrisburg Fire Department and deputies from the Saline County Sheriffs Department.

An active investigation into the identity of the caller is ongoing.

 The Southern

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MURPHYSBORO  Two people have been arrested, accused with kidnapping and beating their victim so heavily that they needed "serious medical treatment," police said.

On Wednesday, Jan. 5, Justin Carr, 39 of Carbondale, and Jayln Rush, 22, of Lexington, Illinois, were arrested and each charged with one count of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery, police said.

At 7:07 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 2, Carbondale police responded to the 600 block of West Mill Street regarding a suspected kidnapping, and they found evidence of a recent disturbance.

Through their investigation, officers were able to locate the unnamed victim safe in Murphysboro, but in need of serious medical treatment, police said.

No further information has been released on the state or identity of the victim.

The investigation led officers to believe the Carr and Rush allegedly forced their way into the victims residence and battered them, police said.

They then allegedly took the victim, an acquaintance, by force to another location and continued to batter them, police said.

The victim managed to eventually escape and flee to safety, police said.

Additional charges against Carr and Rush may be made as the investigation continues, police said.

Carr and Rush were incarcerated in the Jackson County Jail.

The Murphysboro Police Department, the Jackson County Sheriffs Department and the Jackson County States Attorneys Office assisted in the investigation.

The investigation into the incident is active and ongoing.

Anyone with information about the incident can contact the police department at 618-457-3200 or Crime Stoppers at 618-549-COPS.

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The Illinois Attorney General's Office is suing the Sugar Camp Coal Mine near Benton following reports the mine dumped 46,000 gallons of hazardous fire-fighting foam in an unsuccessful attempt to extinguish a fire that had been burning underground last year.

The foam included at least 660 gallons of concentrated PFAS-based foam deep into the underground mine.

Attorney General Kwame Raouls lawsuit was filed in Franklin County Circuit Court and includes allegations of water pollution, creating a water pollution hazard, and discharges in violation of the limitations of the companys National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

Raouls lawsuit alleges the pollution is the result of Sugar Camp using firefighting foam containing PFAS in an attempt to extinguish an underground fire that erupted at its mine facility in August.

Sugar Camp jeopardized public safety and irresponsibly violated both state environmental statutes and the constraints of its permit by misusing dangerous forever chemicals, Raoul said in a news release. Exposure to such chemicals can cause long-lasting damage to the environment and poses a serious risk to public health. My office will work to ensure that Sugar Camp is held accountable for the damage it has done by using these chemicals.

According to Raouls lawsuit, an underground fire broke out in one of the Sugar Camp Mines two longwall mines on or around Aug. 14. Raoul alleges that Sugar Camp used firefighting foams containing PFAS to extinguish the fire. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency subsequently received a citizen complaint regarding firefighting foam being discovered in a farm field ditch and a tributary to Akin Creek, located near the facility.

The Illinois EPA conducted an inspection and found evidence of the firefighting foam in the tributary to Akin Creek and in other nearby areas. Raouls complaint alleges that laboratory analysis of water samples revealed the presence of PFAS in the water. Subsequent sampling done by Sugar Camp further revealed the presence of PFAS in the facilitys impoundments and in permitted outfalls.

According to environmental and health experts, PFAS is a particularly dangerous chemical and it stays in the environment forever. Exposure to certain types of PFAS is also associated with low birth weight in humans, suppressed immune system response, dyslipidemia, impaired kidney function and delayed onset of menstruation.

Raouls lawsuit seeks to require Sugar Camp to immediately take corrective action to stop the discharge of PFAS or firefighting foam containing PFAS into nearby waters. The lawsuit also seeks civil penalties of up to $50,000 for each violation, and additional civil penalties of $10,000 for each day the violation continues.

In a news release, Sierra Club Illinois and Prairie River Network applauded Raoul's efforts. The two groups, represented by Great Rivers Environmental Law Center and Albert Ettinger, previously filed a Notice of Intent to sue in November.

Sierra Club Illinois Director Jack Darin said the group is pleased about the suit.

The use of firefighting foam containing toxic PFAS chemicals at Sugar Camp Mine is the latest reminder that Illinois must move beyond coal and transition to a safer, renewable energy future. That future starts by holding coal companies like Sugar Camp Energy, LLC accountable for their actions and protecting communities from further harm.

Andrew Rehn, water resources engineer with Prairie Rivers Network said the Illinois AG and Illinois EPA are moving in the right direction by filing this complaint.

"Sugar Camp Mine discharges to tributaries of Akin Creek and Middle Fork Big Muddy River and to the Akin Creek and Middle Fork Big Muddy River bodies of water directly, he said. As Illinois phases out the type of firefighting foam used under the recently passed PFAS Reduction Act, it is critical that the state holds polluters accountable when violations occur in order to protect local watersheds and the health of nearby communities.

Sugar Camp owns and operates the Sugar Camp mine, a coal mining operation located near Macedonia. In 2016, Sugar Camp was issued an NPDES permit that authorized the company to discharge wastewater from specified outfalls at its mining facility, subject to limitations.

That permit does not authorize Sugar Camp to discharge PFAS.

The facility operates a network of pumps and pipelines that pump water from its two longwall mines in order to prevent underground flooding of the mines. This water is pumped to two slurry impoundments at the facility, and is ultimately discharged into nearby waters, including the Middle Fork of the Big Muddy River.

Foresight Energy LLC, the company that owns the mine, did not immediately respond for comment.

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SPRINGFIELD  A three-judge federal court panel has upheld the legislative redistricting plan that state lawmakers approved during a special session last summer, thus leaving in place the new maps that will govern state legislative elections for the next 10 years.

In their 64-page opinion, released Thursday, Dec. 30, the judges said the plaintiffs in the three separate lawsuits had failed to show that the redistricting plan violated federal law or the U.S. Constitution by diluting Latino voting power in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs or Black voting power in the Metro East region on the Illinois side of the St. Louis metropolitan area.

In the end, we find that the boundaries for Illinois House and Senate districts set out in SB 927 neither violate neither the Voting Rights Act nor the Constitution, the panel wrote. The record shows ample evidence of crossover voting to defeat any claim of racially polarized voting sufficient to deny Latino and Black voters of the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice in the challenged districts.

Last years redistricting process was complicated and slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic and delayed release of data from the 2020 U.S. Census.

Lawmakers initially passed one set of maps during their regular spring session in May, even though the census data had not yet been released, in order to meet the Illinois Constitutions June 30 deadline for lawmakers to pass a plan before handing over the process to a bipartisan commission.

Republican leaders in the General Assembly, as well as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, quickly filed suit, arguing the maps violated the one-person, one-vote principle because the districts were not close to being equal in population.

The Census Bureau eventually released the detailed population data on Aug. 12, and lawmakers convened a special session later that month to adjust the maps. Those maps passed the General Assembly on Aug. 31 and Gov. JB Pritzker signed them into law Sept. 24.

MALDEF and the Republicans challenged those new maps as well, arguing that they actually reduced the number of Latino-majority districts in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, even though Latinos were one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in Illinois over the previous 10 years.

Separately, the East St. Louis Branch of the NAACP, along with other civil rights groups, challenged the way lawmakers had redrawn three House districts in the Metro East region, saying the new maps broke up the areas Black voting population in order to protect two white Democratic incumbents, all to the disadvantage of the regions only Black House member, Rep. LaToya Greenwood.

Democratic leaders who had approved the new maps argued that they were not drawn for the purpose of racial gerrymandering but, instead, to protect Democratic majorities. They also pointed to recent elections of Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Secretary of State Jesse White, both of whom are Black, as well as Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who is Hispanic, and even former U.S. Sen. and former President Barack Obama to show that white majority voters will cross party lines to elect minorities.

* * *

LEGISLATIVE INSPECTOR GENERAL: The last day on the job for the Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope was Thursday, Jan. 6.

The office will be vacant on Friday, Jan. 7.

We have to reeducate ourselves to fight the corruption that exists under the Capitol dome, Sen. Jil Tracy, RQuincy, who chairs the Senate Ethics Commission, said during a news conference Thursday.

Pope, a former prosecutor and appellate court judge, tendered her resignation in July. She called the office a paper tiger and blasted lawmakers saying they demonstrated true ethics reform is not a priority. She originally said her last day would be Dec. 16, but agreed to stay on until the Jan. 6 to allow more time for her position to be filled.

Confirming a candidate before LIG Pope left has always been my top priority. It is unfortunate that my goal was not shared by some of the Democrat members of the (Legislative Ethics Commission) who did what they could to stall and circumvent the selection process, Tracy said. Our search committee interviewed multiple candidates and recommended two qualified candidates, and we should have been able to fill this position in a timely manner. But several Democrat members of the LEC did not commit to seeing the process through, and we find ourselves without a qualified LIG to address legislative ethics complaints.

The search for a new LIG began after Pope announced her resignation in July. The position was posted and the search committee was formed. Two candidates were recommended, but the Legislative Ethics Committee made up of four Democrats and four Republics couldnt come to a decision.

Tracy blamed the delay on Democrats. But Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park, who chairs the Ethics Committee, disagreed.

Senator Tracy's claims today are wildly mischaracterizing the situation, Burke said. Democrats have sought to advance two candidates for final selection, both of whom have been deemed qualified by the search committee and the LEC. Republicans have blocked that effort, insisting on only advancing their preferred candidate  even though both candidates have worked for former Governor Rauner and have demonstrated nonpartisan, professional expertise. In fact, both are also former federal prosecutors.

As we've said all along, this should be a straightforward process and we must end the political theater so we can fill this critical position. Senator Tracy is right on one thing, the people of Illinois deserve better."

* * *

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: Illinois lawmakers passed a bill clarifying issues around the massive criminal justice reform bill that passed with the support of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus last year.

On a 67-42 vote, the House voted Wednesday, Jan. 6, to accept a senate amendment to House Bill 3512, clarifying issues relating to pretrial services, detainee phone calls and moving back effective dates in the police decertification system and body camera footage labeling.

Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, the lead House sponsor of the bill, said its intended to help facilitate the implementation of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T Act that was passed in January 2021.

During the debate, Republicans voiced their frustrations regarding language used for detainee phone calls and pretrial services.

The bill outlines that when someone is detained, law enforcement must allow them to make up to three phone calls within three hours of being detained. If the individual is moved from one detention center to the next, the three phone calls and three hours will restart.

But House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, argued that the bill did not provide enough clarification between the words police custody and detention.

Police custody means that theyre not free to leave. That means that theyre sitting in a squad car and under the way youve drafted your bill, that means that the police have to give that person three phone calls, Durkin said.

But the bill clarifies that the definition of detention is police stations, places that operate municipal police departments, county police departments and other law enforcement agencies.

Slaughter also clarified that the time on phone calls will begin at the place of detention.

It also notes that a record of the phone calls made must be maintained while an individual is in custody. If no calls are made, the detainee must give a statement to the police as to why the person detained did not make any calls.

* * *

DCFS STABBING: Sangamon County authorities are holding a Thayer man suspected in the stabbing death of an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services worker.

Police arrived at the home in Thayer  a small town 20 miles south of Springfield  in response to a 911 call at 4:11 p.m. on Tuesday reporting a possible stabbing. After arriving at the scene, law enforcement spotted a blood-like substance near the door of the home. Officers forced their way into the house and found Deidre Silas, 36, who died from her injuries.

Silas had gone to the home to check the welfare of children.

Detectives arrived and obtained a search warrant for the home. Through the investigation, they developed a suspect, Benjamin Howard Reed.

Reed, 32, was located at a hospital in Decatur where he sought treatment for a minor wound about two hours after the initial 911 call. He was questioned by detectives at the hospital and then taken to the Sangamon County Jail.

Silas worked as an investigator for DCFS for about six months. She previously also worked for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. She graduated from Illinois State University in 2008 with a degree in criminal justice. She received her masters degree in public administration in 2019.

Deidre responded to this call and dedicated herself to the children, families and communities she served, and we will be forever grateful for her work. She was an incredible person, and her brightness and positivity will be missed not only by her family and friends, but also her second family at DCFS, DCFS Director Marc D. Smith said.

This is the second DCFS worker killed on the job in recent years.

Pam Knight, 59, of Dixon, went to a Milledgeville home on Sept. 29, 2017 to remove a 2-year-old boy from the custody of his father, Andrew Sucher. As Knight got out of her car, prosecutors said Sucher pushed Knight, causing her to strike her head on the concrete driveway then stomped on her head, causing a skull fracture and brain injury. She succumbed to her injuries four and a half months later.

Sucher later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 years in the Department of Corrections.

* * *

SHORTENED SESSION: The 2022 session of the Illinois General Assembly will be even shorter than originally planned due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Democratic leaders announced.

The session was originally scheduled to start this week with three meeting days  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Jan. 4-6. But leaders announced last week that they would meet only on Wednesday, Jan. 5, this week and it remains uncertain when they will return.

In an announcement released Thursday, Dec. 30, House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch, D-Hillside, said COVID-19 cases in Illinois had increased 130 percent over the previous two weeks while hospitalizations were up 50 percent.

This pandemic is not over, Welch said in a statement. We must take necessary precautions to mitigate the spread of the virus, reduce the burden on our health care systems and keep each other as safe as possible.

Lawmakers typically meet from January through the end of May, with a short veto session that is usually held in October or November.

This year, however, they originally planned to meet only from Jan. 4 through April 8 for a session that would focus mainly on passing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. That was meant to leave them time to campaign ahead of this years primary, which was pushed back to June 28 due to delays in last years redistricting process.

Since late October, however, Illinois has seen a massive surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, driven in part by the new Omicron variant, with daily case counts now far exceeding their November 2020 peaks.

In January 2021, lawmakers convened a lame duck session primarily to consider a legislative package of education, criminal justice and health care reforms being pushed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. During that session, the House met in a convention center in downtown Springfield, several blocks from the Statehouse, while the Senate continued to meet in the Statehouse under strict testing, masking and social distancing protocols.

When lawmakers convened the regular session later in January, both chambers adopted special rules allowing committee meetings to be held remotely and for some members to participate in floor debate and vote on legislation remotely.

We continue to monitor the situation in an effort to protect our colleagues, our staffs and everyone else who is part of a legislative session day, Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park said. We have work to do, and weve proven that we can do it, minimize exposure and keep people healthy and safe. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the vaccines and booster shots available to protect themselves and those around them.

* * *

COVID-19 UPDATE: As the omicron variant surges across the state, Gov. JB Pritzker warned Monday, Jan. 3, that hospitalizations are about as high as they were last winter before vaccines were widely available. About 85 percent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state are unvaccinated.

It is frustrating and tragic that two years into the pandemic, with multiple widely available and free, life-saving vaccines, that we are once again in this horrible position, Pritzker said during a news conference in Chicago.

The Illinois Public Health Department reported 6,294 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday, the most since the pandemic began. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, IDPH director, said an average of 550 people are being admitted to hospitals each day.

With hospital beds for other emergencies frighteningly limited, Pritzker joined the Illinois Health and Hospital Association in urging health care providers to postpone non-emergency surgeries and procedures as needed to accommodate the influx of COVID-19 cases.

This surge is testing our health resources yet again, A.J. Wilhelmi, CEO and president of the IHA said.

Though hospitals have become accustomed to managing bed capacity and the needs of COVID-19 patients over the course of the pandemic, Wilhelmi said the best way for people to provide relief for health care workers and facilities is to get vaccinated and boosted.

More than 19 million vaccines have been administered with about 60 percent of Illinois residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

* * *

COVID-19 MEASURES: Local hospitals and health departments will get help from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to meet the healthcare demand during a COVID-19 surge, adding staffing to provide medical care and provide vaccines and testing.

The state will also help ramp up COVID-19 testing, now operating six days a week beginning Jan. 3 to increase availability.

We are also increase testing and continuing to distribute monoclonal antibodies, anti-viral pills and any treatments or personal protective equipment communities need, Gov. JB Pritzker said during a news conference Monday, Dec. 27. I will continue to do everything possible to protect all the people of this state, whatever your vaccine status. But what kind of year 2022 turns out to be depends on all of us doing what is best for all of us.

Pritzker was on a call with President Joe Biden and the National Governors Association on Monday morning to discuss the response to the Omicron variant.

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On New Years Eve afternoon, Erik Schlimmer bought packs of Ramen noodles, Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse cookies and other snacks at the Eutawville IGA.

It was Schlimmers halfway point on a 218-mile hike of the Palmetto Trail from Columbia to Awendaw, and the Eutawville IGA was the perfect spot to resupply his backpack with consumable goods.

Its been good and the Palmetto Trail is for a certain personality and its for me," Schlimmer said. "There have been scenic trails, there are longer trails, there are better trails, but I like solitude.

Were at the exact halfway point and Ive seen zero backpackers and I dont think Ill see anybody to the coast, he said as he took the snacks hed just purchased out of their original packaging and reassembled them in more backpack-friendly bags.

The 48-year-old New York native now lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and uses the two weeks of his Christmas break to hike.

He took two weeks to hike a 210-mile trail in Texas in 2020 and decided to hike half of the Palmetto Trail over his Christmas break in 2021.

This year Schlimmer said he plans to hike the upper half of the Palmetto Trail during his two-week break in December.

The Palmetto Trail is 500 miles of hiking passages that cross the state from Walhalla to Awendaw.

The following portions of the Palmetto Trail extend through Orangeburg County: part of the Lake Marion passage, the entire 13.9-mile Santee Passage and over half of the 21.3-mile Eutaw Springs Passage.

On the night of Dec. 30, Schlimmer stayed overnight in a Santee hotel.

His decision to stay in a hotel was a moral dilemma, he said with a laugh.

During Schlimmers long-distance hikes, he typically sleeps without a tent, but in a sleeping bag and under a tarp.

I dont like to stay in buildings  whether its a hotel, motel or hostel, Schlimmer said about hiking.

When I think of backpacking, its two components: of course youre hiking during the day, but you also stay out at night, he said.

Its a legitimacy thing for me, because if I stay in a hotel, Im being soft or I didnt plan things correctly, Schlimmer said.

But Dec. 30 was unique.

I was in the rain of biblical proportions, he said.

He then texted some of his friends and told them his dilemma about staying in a hotel.

A friend requested that he send him a screenshot from his phone of the rainfall map and he sent it.

It looked like Armageddon, Schlimmer said.

His friend replied, Erik, when was the last time you stayed in a hotel during a long-distance hike?

2002, Schlimmer replied.

His friend reassured Schlimmer it was 19 years ago and he was due to splurge for a night at a hotel.

Schlimmer enjoyed a hot shower, a real bed, washing his clothes in the sink and drying them with a hair dryer.

He had a large pizza delivered to his room for supper.

That pizza didnt have a chance, he said. Neither did the seven bowls of Fruit Loops this morning.

Schlimmer, whos been working as a mental health therapist for two years in Colorado Springs, developed a love for frequent hiking after he served for three years as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army.

Over the years, hes written books about hiking and has backpacked in several states.

I describe my work as: The stress of this field is only outweighed by its reward. If you think about it, my job is I sit in an office  and its fine, I like my job  and people tell me terrible things all day. Thats all they do. And then people wonder why I spend so much time in the woods by myself, he said.

Im very good at not bringing my work home with me. Ive been backpacking since 1985 and I like it because of the serenity, he said.

Schlimmer estimates hes hiked 16,000 miles since then.

During his Palmetto Trail hike, he said its mostly been uneventful  except for nearly stepping on a water moccasin curled up on a boardwalk on the Wateree Passage.

Well, I felt fortunate that I didnt step on it, he said, I just happened to look down and there it was.

It sounds cliche, but I love animals. I love critters. If its a venomous snake, its almost as cute as any other animal out there, he said.

Schlimmer said the water moccasin just sat there, minding its own business.

The hiking veteran was thankful the boardwalk was eight feet wide so he could make a wide berth around the venomous snake, he said.

Schlimmer said that was the only snake he saw by the time he reached Eutawville.

For first-time hikers, especially for the Palmetto Trail, he encourages the Goldilocks of hikes, as he described it.

Not too short, not too long, not too hot, not too dry, not too wet  and it can be done, he said. Its not too difficult to find the right conditions in South Carolina.

It doesnt really matter what section of the Palmetto Trail, it just needs to be a good introduction for a beginner hiker, he said.

The Palmetto Trail is a project of Palmetto Conservation.

Schlimmer said before he started his hike and also during it, he reached out to Palmetto Conservation staff about recommendations and advice.

Theyve been super supportive and, of course, really friendly. Its been great to work with them too, he said.

Schlimmer finished his hike from Columbia to Awendaw on Tuesday around 4 p.m. It took him nine days and he averaged about 24 miles per day.

To learn more about Schlimmer, his hikes and books, visit his website: www.thehikingveteran.com. Hes also on Instagram at @the_hiking_veteran.

For more information about the Palmetto Trail, visit: www.palmettoconservation.org

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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A new, $87.3 million nursing home for veterans is planned for Orangeburg County.

The home is needed because nearby facilities are full with waiting lists, Orangeburg County Veteran Affairs Officer Kenisha Grimes said.

Many Orangeburg County vets are being housed at private facilities, Grimes said. With this new veterans home, that will save many veterans money. Their families won't have to travel so far to see their loved ones.

Private pay facilities place a financial strain on many veterans families who cannot afford it, Grimes continued.

The agencys application, which will be filed with the VA prior to April 15th, will propose a 104 bed facility similar to the plans for the facilities in Sumter County and Horry County.

It would be located on U.S. 301 off of exit 154 on Interstate 26.

Grimes said Orangeburg County provides an ideal, central location.

It about 35 miles from the nearest veterans hospital and even closer to a private hospital.

The area also provides easy access to the facility because of its proximity to an interstate exit.

It will bring jobs to the area and also support the local colleges who have nursing programs, she said.

The new State Veterans Nursing Home is expected to address the needs of veterans who will reach retirement age in the next two decades.

The home would be funded by the federal and state governments as part of the VA State Home Construction Grant Program.

Its projected that federal funding could become available for the home by federal fiscal year 2031, if its included in the federal fiscal year 2023 VA priority list, according to the S.C. Department of Mental Health.

The SCDMH recommended a new veterans home be built in the county.

The recommendation was based upon the request of the state's Joint Bond Review Committee that the department determine the needs and feasibility of additional state veterans homes.

The JBRC is a 10-member legislative body that oversees state capital improvement projects.

The JBRC approved the SCDMH's recommendation late last year.

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, who sits on the JBRC, says she has advocated for a veterans nursing home in Orangeburg County for some time.

A few years ago, the late Howard Metcalf, former state director for Veteran Affairs, suggested to me that Orangeburg County would be an excellent site for a nursing home, Cobb-Hunter said. I agreed and began working then on securing approval of a facility for the county.

Metcalf made the suggestion based on his knowledge and experience of the needs of veterans in the area, said Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg.

I was thrilled when the recommendation to site the next facility in Orangeburg County was approved and see it as the next step in my efforts to make sure that Orangeburg County gets its fair share, Cobb-Hunter said. Of course, the process is just beginning, and I will remain vigilant to ensure that this facility becomes a reality.

The SCDMH estimates the base cost of the home constructed in federal fiscal year 2031 at $87.3 million. It would be funded by the federal VA at $56.7 million, with the state matching $30.6 million.

The SCDMH will submit the state portion of the funding in its 2022-2023 fiscal year capital budget.

While awaiting state and federal funding for the facility, the agency will be working with Orangeburg County officials to identify and secure an appropriate site for the future SVNH, said SCDMH Director of Governmental & Legislative Affairs Mark Binkley.

Orangeburg County was chosen for the new veterans home because of:

 The projected number of veterans over age 65

 The location of existing homes

 Geographic characteristics, including locations within evacuation zones, accessibility for veterans and their families, and availability of an adequate health care workforce

Orangeburg County brands itself as the Global Logistics Triangle because of its location, Cobb-Hunter said. That plays a key role in providing access to veterans living in a number of counties in proximity to Orangeburg.

For Orangeburg County veterans who need that level of care, the facility would eliminate the need for out-of-pocket expenses some veterans are currently having to pay to receive such care at private facilities, she said. It would also help address the waiting lists that exist at the Columbia and Walterboro facilities.

Veterans

According to the 2020 census, about 6,066 veterans live in Orangeburg County. About 3,102 are over 65.

By 2030, the projections are the county will have 4,919 veterans, with 2,741 over 65. By 2040, 3,828 veterans are projected to live in the county, with 2,029 over 65.

While the county is projected to rank 20th in the number of veterans 65 and older in future decades, it either borders or is geographically accessible to six of the 13 counties projected to have the most veterans, according to a SCDMH study.

In Calhoun County, there are 1,031 veterans, with 501 of them over 65. In 2030, there are projected to be 941 veterans, with 555 over 65 and, in 2040, there are projected to be 788 veterans, 460 of them over 65.

In Bamberg County, there are currently 1,210 veterans, with 645 over 65. In 2030, there are projected to be 1,060 veterans, with 598 over 65, and, in 2040, its projected there will be 870 veterans, with 436 over age 65.

Location

Orangeburg County is in relatively close proximity to coastal counties with large populations of veterans age 65 and older, yet it is well away from evacuation zones.

Currently, all or portions of six of the 20 counties heavily populated by veterans are included in coastal evacuation zones: Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester, Georgetown and Horry counties.

SCDMH estimated it could cost up to 20% more to build to evacuation zone construction specifications.

Employment

Cobb-Hunter says the nursing home for veterans is a game changer for the county and veterans in the area.

In addition to increasing the quality and level of services available to veterans, the economic impact and opportunities for workforce development are significant, Cobb-Hunter said. The number of jobs created and the spin-off from other amenities built to service the facility will have a positive impact on the local economy.

Orangeburg County has several higher education institutions and nursing pipeline programs which can help fill the need for health care workers. The county is home to South Carolina State University, Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College and Claflin University, with Denmark Technical College nearby in Bamberg County.

Cobb-Hunter said these institutions will have an opportunity to, work with the facility on securing student internships, practicums and other hands-on experiences that will help grow the health care workforce.

Additionally, I think the untapped potential for research in a number of areas can lead to interesting treatment applications in the future, Cobb-Hunter said.

Nursing home

landscape

The SCDMH currently operates three veterans nursing homes  in Columbia, Anderson and Walterboro. A fourth home has been licensed by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control in Florence.

Construction of a fifth home in Cherokee County has been completed, and that facility is awaiting DHEC licensure prior to admitting new residents, Binkley said.

The VA has approved conditional grant funding for a home construction project in Sumter County, which will be the states sixth veterans nursing home. The project is on schedule to complete grant award requirements, with construction likely to begin in late spring 2022.

SCDMH, at the JBRCs earlier direction, also submitted an application to the VA for an additional construction grant for a home in Horry County.

That application has not yet been approved for VA funding, Binkley said.

In the meantime, the Department of Mental Health has been working with Horry County officials to identify a suitable site for the future facility, which will become the states seventh SVNH," Binkley said.

Based on 2020 population projections, the state needs 1,089 beds.

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Orangeburg County's economic development group has a new project manager.

Orangeburg County Development Commission has hired Ciara Williams to its staffing team. Williams joined the staff Jan. 3.

"I have a heart for Orangeburg and a passion for serving this community for the betterment and welfare of the citizens of the county," Williams said.

Williams will focus on workforce development, capital investment and job creation.

Already, Williams has met with the Orangeburg County Legislative Delegation, Orangeburg County School District leaders, Holly Hill Mayor Billy Chavis and Bowman Mayor Patsy Rhett.

The fact that she has a manufacturing background and understanding will play a very important role as our project manager," OCDC Executive Director Gregg Robinson said. "In addition, she will recruit prospective businesses and assist local businesses in retention and expansion issues, while supporting the One Orangeburg County Initiative."

A native of Newport News, Virginia, Williams graduated cum laude from South Carolina State University in 2016 with a bachelor of arts in communications.

Williams has worked in leading major product launches and marketing campaigns across food service and global power tools manufacturing companies with Genpak and Apex Tool Group.

Williams role will further a multidimensional economic development strategy that supports the OCDC mission to improve the quality of life of Orangeburg County for all citizens through the growth of jobs and capital investment, Robinson said.

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Roy Braddock of Walterboro is the best of the best among Grand American coon hunters.

The 70-year-old has been coming to the Grand American Coon Hunt since 1975 and holds the record for the most Grand American wins of any of the hunters.

He has won the top trophy six times: 1979, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993 and 1999.

It is just about having a good dog, Braddock said as he arrived at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds on Thursday for the event's 57th year.

I won it with dogs that I raised and trained. I didn't buy them. I have been raising Walker hounds for about 50 years, he said.

Braddock still hunts, but says a lot has changed over the years.

It is a different breed of dog now, he said. The hunting terrain is not as plentiful as it used to be, finding places to hunt.

Braddock is not hunting this year because he broke his collar bone just last Wednesday while coon hunting.

The Grand American just gets in your blood  the excitement of it and visiting old friends and making new friends, Braddock said.

It is like a tradition, fellowship, camaraderie, he said.

Jeffrey Robinson, a UKC master of hounds, came from North Carolina. Hes been visiting since 1990.

While he has never placed in the Grand American, he comes for the friends and fellowship.

The way time flies  your young dog turns into your old dog into your dead dog, but the friends you meet through this lasts a lifetime, Robinson said. You come down here, it is like a family reunion. You get to see people you might not see but once a year."

Robinson praised Orangeburg as an ideal hunting location.

They have plenty of hunting within a two-hour area of here, he said. A lot of the other places that have held hunts for many years, with the development of building houses and businesses, they have lost of their hunting around and had to move them.

Orangeburg still has got a lot of good hunting close by, so this is a good location."

The hunters will share their war stories when they get together, he said.

A lot times the dogs will get in places that you don't want them to be, he said. You have to crawl to them or have to swim to them. That is just a part of it.

Coon hunting is also about, just spending time in nature and being out in God's creation, he said.

The hunters also form bonds with their dogs, he said. You watch it grow and watch it mature. You get the feeling of accomplishment when you see the dog do good and turn it into what you want it to be."

Thousands of hunters are expected to come out to the annual Grand American Coon Hunt at the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds. Between 225 and 250 dogs are expected to participate.

The Grand American will be held through Sunday.

The Grand American typically brings in about 1,000 dog/owner teams and between 25,000 to 30,000 visitors, according to the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce.

License plates could be seen at the fairgrounds from Missouri, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky.

The Grand American Hunt has become such a staple in the overall existence of Orangeburg that we just wouldnt be the same without, Chamber President James McQuilla said. It represents tradition, family and Southern culture.

Orangeburg is a community steeped in family traditions and Southern charm, so we are the perfect place to have been chosen for the coon hunt, McQuilla said. Now in its 57th year, the Grand American Coon Hunt is as popular as ever, and even though COVID-19 has reared its ugly head once again, we are confident that every reasonable precaution has been taken to make this hunt a safe event.

As the kickoff to the United Kennel Club coonhound events calendar, the annual Grand American is the first major event of 2022.

Presented by American Cooner magazine, the Grand American is a national event that features dog/owner teams, which represent each of the seven coonhound breeds, competing for various prizes.

The Grand American includes nightly competitive hunts in which coon hounds and their handlers earn points for treeing and identifying raccoons.

The raccoons are not killed or attacked in the hunt.

New this year, South Carolina-based The Flatland Express Bluegrass Band will also perform on Saturday afternoon.

In addition to the hunt, the event offers a chance for people to admire, buy, sell and trade hunting dogs and gear.

Gale Parks, from Booneville, Mississippi, says he has gone to a lot of coon hunts over the past ten years. The eight-hour drive from Mississippi is well worth it, as he says the Grand American is one of the best.

It is the way the people treat us, the town treats us, the grounds here, he said. They are all so good to us.

He mostly sells dogs at the hunts. The Parks have about eight big dogs and ten puppies.

Every year we sell every dog and most of our customers are repeat customers, he said. I really enjoy coming here.

Kaelyn Parks, 8, has been coming before she could walk and talk.

I like the hunts, she said. Sometimes she gets to go on the hunts.

I like to listen to the dogs run. I like to see them tree. I like the dogs, she said.

Jim Crump of Beaver Dam, Kentucky has been coming to the Grand American for the past five years. He was introduced to the hunt by a friend.

He sells Stephens cur dogs.

We have tried to preserve this breed, Crump said. It is an old mountain breed. They are mostly a little black dog with some white on them. If it goes up a tree, we hunt them with it. We mostly coon and squirrel hunt ours.

Crump enjoys coming to the Grand American because the people are friendly and he gets to see old friends.

There are plenty of good places to stay and they are always very accommodating here at the fairgrounds, Crump said. It is a very good family atmosphere.

North Carolina resident Binkey Carver has been coming to the Grand American since he was 5 years old.

I like to come down to see all these guys around here. I like to watch them swap and trade these dogs. That is the best part of it, he said.

Carver says he has hunted before.

I didn't place, he said. I like coming to Orangeburg, though. It has always been fun. I like this old hunt down here. You see all these guys you ain't seen about every year. You look forward to it.

Opening ceremonies for the Grand American are at 10 a.m. Friday in the Bates Building at the fairgrounds.

The Grand American got its start in the 1960s when prominent coon hunters searched for a hunt in a warmer climate because snow prevented much winter hunting in the North.

A panel of national competition hunters was formed, including some hunters from The T&D Region.

One of its members, Jim Mathis of Denmark, met with the newly formed Orangeburg Coon Hunters Associations president, Lynn Anderson, who agreed to have the initial hunt in Orangeburg.

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(TBTCO) - Thi truong chung khoan Viet Nam co ban van giu nhip on inh trong quy au nam nay, tuy nhien, thi truong chiu ap luc ieu chinh kha manh ke tu cuoi thang 3 en nay do tac ong tu cac yeu to ngoai bien va cac vu viec sai pham mang tinh on le cua mot so ca nhan, to chuc. Theo cac chuyen gia, nhung tac ong en tam ly ngan han cua nha au tu la kho tranh khoi, nhung ay la co hoi e huong dong tien i ung huong, giup thi truong gan uc, khoi trong e phat trien ben vung.
Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 84F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.
A dispute over a Teton County ranch owned by Walt Disneys grandchildren will remain in a Los Angeles court, not in Wyoming, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled this past week.

Bradford Lund, Disneys grandson, is trying to keep the ranch in the family while trustees for him and his sister are looking to move forward with a sale to a third party.

Lawyers for Lund appealed to the court to move the case to Wyoming, arguing that it should be heard in the same state where the ranch in question is located.

Having litigation pending in Wyoming, they argued, would also cloud the propertys title and could discourage a buyer from going through with the proposed sale. Wyoming is one of just a few states that does not recognize pending litigation notices from out of state.

Lund lives in Arizona, and his twin sister Michelle, whose trust owns the other half of the ranch, lives in California, according to court documents. Trustees for both siblings are also based in California.

The court said in its decision Wednesday that since most of the parties are local to California, the Los Angeles court is a more convenient forum for the case, affirming a prior ruling in Teton County.

Legal questions over the ranchs ownership are just part of ongoing litigation related to Lunds trust, which began in 2009. Lund has also attempted to remove his trustees from their control over his inheritance, saying that theyve withheld $60 million in payments from him over 15 years.

This action appears to be ancillary to the more than ten years of litigation between these parties, and the California court is better equipped to address this case given its history with the case, and [t]he location of all parties, witnesses, and evidence, the decision in Teton County stated.

Eagle South Fork, a 110-acre ranch along the Snake River in Wilson, has been in Lunds family for more than 40 years, according to one of his attorneys.

Trustees for the Lunds are reportedly pursuing an estimated $35 million offer for the property, from an undisclosed buyer, after a previous bid was withdrawn in the midst of litigation. Counsel for Lund said that the price far exceeds the propertys appraised value as is, and may suggest the buyers are hoping to use the land for a commercial development.

Now, the ranch is split into 15 residential lots plus a few larger parcels. Most of the property is undeveloped aside from a few buildings, and the property is surrounded on both sides by conservation land. Lund says he visits several times a year.

The trustees have also reportedly included a 2% marketing fee that would go to them upon completion of the sale for facilitating the deal. According to a Jackson-based lawyer representing Lund, that addition is highly unusual.

Ive been doing trust administration work for 22 years, and Ive never seen a situation where a trustee got a fee for the sale of an asset, attorney Chris Hawks told the Star-Tribune in February.

Lund previously filed for a temporary restraining order in Los Angeles in an attempt to pause the sale, but the motion was denied.

Lawyers on both sides of the dispute did not return requests for comment on Friday.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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The Wyoming Republican Party apparatus includes people who are quite radical, Rep. Liz Cheney said Thursday.

Cheney made the comment on the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The lawmaker gave multiple interviews that day, while also observing a moment of silence in the House of Representatives.

Since the attack, Cheney has steadfastly insisted former President Donald Trump helped to incite the riot, which occurred as Congress worked to certify the presidential election. That criticism, and her vote to impeach Trump, prompted serious blowback within Wyoming.

In early 2021, the state party voted to censure her for her vote to impeach Trump. More recently, the Wyoming GOP narrowly voted to unrecognize Cheney.

There are people in the state party apparatus of my home state who are quite radical. And some of those same people include people who were here on Jan. 6th, include a party chair who has toyed with the idea of secession, Cheney said in a Fox News interview Thursday. So, there is a very radical element of the Republican Party in the same way that there is a radical element of the Democratic Party.

Cheney was referencing Wyoming GOP chairman Frank Eathorne, who alluded to secession in an interview last year and was at the rally outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, which he termed peaceful and patriotic, in statement released shortly afterward.

Eathorne was not the only Wyoming Republican present at the Capitol that day: Cheyenne businessman Darin Smith, who sought at one point to unseat Cheney in Augusts Republican primary, attended as well. Smith previously told the Star-Tribune that he does not regret attending, but also clarified that he did not storm the Capitol building.

The Republican Party plans to issue a statement on Cheneys comments about the chairman.

It is clear where the state party stands on Cheney already.

To further her own personal political agenda, Representative Liz Cheney has not only caused massive disruption, distraction and division within the House Republican Conference, but has also willingly, happily, and energetically joined forced with and proudly pledged allegiance to democrat Speaker of the House Pelosi, as a means of serving her own personal interests while ignoring the interests, needs and expectations of Wyoming Republicans, the resolution that unrecognized her stated.

As Cheneys reelection year kicks off, the interviews she gave on Jan. 6 indicate that she remains committed to the approach shes employed for the past 12 months: slamming Trump for lying about the 2020 presidential election and his role in the Capitol riot. Those comments have come with consequences, including losing her leadership position in the House.

I think that is really important when you have somebody who has demonstrated his lack of fidelity to the Constitution, someone whos at war with the rule of law, you cannot entrust that person with the power of the presidency ever again, Cheney said in an interview on the anniversary. And I think its critically important for the Republic that he not be anywhere close to the Oval Office ever again.

Cheneys continued rebukes of Trump has prompted praise from Democrats, which anti-Cheney Republicans have harped on. For example, Vice President Kamala Harris said in an interview that she applaud[s] her courage.

Harriet Hageman, the Trump-endorsed candidate against Cheney, used the vice presidents comments in a campaign message released Friday.

Good for Liz Cheney that Kamala Harris is happy with her work in Congress, because Wyoming sure isnt, Hageman said in a statement. Cheney is trying to get another bite at the apple in her vendetta against President Trump after her vote to impeach him failed to remove him from office.

Outside of the numerous interviews Cheney did on the anniversary, she and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, were the only two Republicans in the House for a moment of silence commemorating the Capitol attack.

Dick Cheney, a Wyoming political icon who is largely abhorred by the left wing for his role in the Iraq War, was warmly greeted by Democrats at the House, The New York Times reported.

When asked about Republican leaderships response to the attack on the Capitol, Dick Cheney replied Its not a leadership that resembles any of the folks I knew when I was here for 10 years.

My daughter can take care of herself, he added, when asked about Republican leaderships treatment of her.

Criticism of Trump has made Cheneys reelection effort difficult. In the past, shes coasted to reelection. This time, she faces a formidable challenge from Hageman.

According to recent polling, Trump remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination if he elects to run again.

Follow state politics reporter Victoria Eavis on Twitter @Victoria_Eavis

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Its become a foregone conclusion for Riverton outfitter Ken Metzler that when one of his mule deer hunters shoots a buck, the animal is afflicted with chronic wasting disease, he said.

We had 98% last year and this year, Metzler said of the positivity rate. And we had every one of them tested but a couple.

Generally, the lethal diseases sky-high prevalence isnt a deterrent for the out-of-state hunters eager to target a muley on the Fremont County ranchland where Wyoming Trophy Hunts leads its clients, he said. Applications to hunt with Metzlers guides are still pouring in, especially since the pandemic began, even though the likelihood of taking home a trophy-class deer has declined. As the population has fallen, hunting licenses have also been cut.

Ive dropped from 100 hunters to probably, oh, 20, said Metzler. Of the clients who do get out to hunt, Metzler said, were not killing big bucks. Meat from younger, fatter bucks typically goes in the freezer, even though public health experts caution against consuming CWD-positive animals. But when the hunters walk up to a downed animal and find a sickly looking, flat ass skinny deer, Metzler calls up the warden and gets the OK to pitch the remains, he said.

Given the condition deer are in, Metzler would support a larger reduction in licenses if it would help the herd bounce back.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and U.S. Geological Survey researchers share concern and curiosity over what to make of the mule deer herd that Metzlers business depends on. The Project Herd  as Game and Fish knows it  is easily Wyomings big game herd most ravaged by the degenerative prion disease. In fact, the data show the herd is also among the most CWD-infected wild cervid populations known to exist in North America.

We have a proposal for a study for this herd because of the extraordinarily high rates of CWD, Game and Fish Dubois Wildlife Biologist Zach Gregory said.

Plans are still in the rough, initial phases, Gregory told WyoFile, but researchers intend to find funding for 40 GPS collars that will be fitted to a random sample of deer in the Project Herd as soon as next winter. Some  likely a good portion  will be CWD-positive animals and therefore destined for death, but theyll be tested while alive using rectal biopsies and then let loose.

The hope is to glean some clarity about the factors contributing to the alarming disease prevalence.

Are these positive deer in different places than these negative deer? Gregory asked. Thats going to potentially help us identify the hotspots.

Only time will tell whether those collared, sickened deer point Gregory and his USGS counterparts toward locations like the ranches where Wyoming Trophy Hunts guides  where, according to Metzler, virtually all buck mule deer are CWD-positive.

Whats already understood is that the Project Herd is an anomaly in the region and is itself a hotspot. The herd roams Wyomings deer hunt units 171 and 157, in west-central Wyoming, which are both within the borders of the Wind River Indian Reservation, although non-native hunting is confined to non-tribal lands within.

The herd is considered a priority for CWD surveillance, and between 2016 and 2020 Game and Fish staff gathered tissue samples from 139 of its bucks. Of those, 85 came up positive, for a prevalence rate of 61%.

Preliminary test results for 2021s tissue samples showed a higher rate of CWD: 78%, according to Game and Fish Regional Wildlife Coordinator Daryl Lutz.

Its the highest thats been recorded, maybe anywhere in the world in wildlife, Lutz told attendees at a public meeting last month.

The Wildlife Health Laboratory supervisor for the state of Wyoming, Hank Edwards, wouldnt go that far, instead emphasizing the multi-year positivity rate. There are agricultural parts in southwest Saskatchewan, he noted, where prevalence has been documented in the 60-70% range. Annual reports from the provincial government confirm it, and say that in over a dozen Saskatchewan wildlife management zones, more than 50% of mule deer bucks are testing positive for the degenerative disease.

Edwards did label CWDs prevalence in the Project Herd alarmingly high, and he pointed out its Wyomings most CWD-infected deer herd by a nearly 20% margin. Statewide, 12.5% of the nearly 6,500 CWD samples processed during 2020 tested positive, statistics that span species, sex and cause of death, according to Game and Fishs most recent CWD surveillance report.

Every herd responds differently, Edwards said, for a number of reasons.

In the Sublette Herd, which roams the Green and Snake river basins, CWD is just now arriving, and 0.8% of 375 samples tested to date have hit for the prion disease. Theres also significant variation in herds that for decades have suffered from CWDs inexorable effects, like listlessness, physical wasting and inevitable death. In southeastern Wyomings Laramie Mountains, one of the first places where CWD was found in wild deer, 22% of hunter-killed bucks have been positive in the last five years. But in the Black Hills, the long-term prevalence in mule deer bucks is just 5.9%, though Edwards said that rate may have been dragged down by other diseases, like epizootic hemorrhagic disease (often called blue tongue).

Ahead of the study, wildlife managers hesitate to hazard a guess for why the Project Herds disease rates are a whole order of magnitude greater.

One reason is that the Project Herd today is poorly understood. Its a rare mule deer herd where the population isnt monitored, although Gregory and others are trying to change that. There are several explanations for why the Project Herd is shrouded in so much unknown. Its a smaller, low-density herd, Gregory said, that generally occupies riparian areas, private agricultural ground and the reservation, where its difficult, or impossible, for agency staff to regularly count deer.

Rather than counting deer, Game and Fish has used two metrics to monitor the herd: hunter satisfaction and landowner surveys to gauge perception of the population. Satisfaction has fallen off, and landowners are also noticing downward changes.

As recently as 2018 and 19, nobody surveyed thought the mule deer population was too low. But in the last two years, nearly half of respondents felt there were too few deer.

This dramatic shift in landowner sentiment supports hunter and department personnel observations indicating a substantial population decline in the herd, wildlife managers wrote in Game and Fishs most recent job completion report for Lander-area big game herds.

To help the herd hold up, Game and Fish slashed doe-fawn hunting licenses by half ahead of the 2020 hunting season, though thats still not enough in the eyes of an outfitter like Metzler.

Mike Miller, a longtime CWD researcher and wildlife veterinarian for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, was not surprised outfitters like Metzler are observing so few older bucks in an area where prevalence is so high. Hes seen it before, while studying Colorados Table Mesa Herd, where prevalence in bucks was approaching 50%.

We didnt catch older male deer, Miller said. You just didnt.

The captures he referred to outside of Boulder, Colorado, occurred 14 years ago. But he returned to capture mule deer more recently and it was the same outcome: I dont think we caught any bucks that were aged over 5 or 6 years, Miller said. Theyre just not there.

Chronic wasting disease is killing them before they can reach those middle ages, he said, and thats even true in Boulder County, where hunting is prohibited.

Miller declined to theorize whats going on with the Project Herd directly. But he said common themes tend to emerge among deer herds in the few cases where CWD prevalence rates have been so off the charts. The herds are usually non-migratory, and consistently gather at concentrated food sources. Clay-type soils that effectively bond with the transmissible prions and even enhance infectivity can also be contributing factors, he said.

Im not implying that these deer are captive, but where you do see these really, really high infection rates commonly, is in deer and elk that are in captivity, Miller said. Theyre living in a very small area and feeding and watering in the same places, day in and day out.

When those kinds of conditions exist without a fence, he said, there can be the same effect. There are management methods to encourage these types of deer herds to move around more to reduce transmission, but easy solutions are unlikely, he said.

Its hard when infection rates get this high, Miller said. Youve probably got a lot of contamination in the environment, and in the wild thats just really hard to do anything about.

Still, Edwards hopes that the coming GPS data on the Project Herd mule deer points his agency toward next steps that could create a healthier population. Once the sources of CWDs spread are identified, be it a silage pile or some other hypothetical factor, he said, then more concrete steps could follow.

It all depends on whats going on, Edwards said. You have to know the sources to try to change the transmission factors. Maybe at the end of this research, its not such a gray picture.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

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By virtually every measurement, McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) ranks as Chief Justice John Marshalls greatest opinion, and, in the view of many legal scholars, the most important decision ever rendered by the Supreme Court. McCulloch is a landmark case among landmark cases.

Chief Justice Marshall, a member of the Virginia Ratifying Convention, wrote the Courts unanimous opinion. He set forth the classic statement of national authority, affirmed the sovereignty of the people, explained the Necessary and Proper Clause and the doctrine of implied powers, defended judicial restraint and charted a reasonable and enduring method of constitutional interpretation. Little wonder, then, that the enduring significance of McCulloch has led to its citation in more than 6,000 documents.

In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Court established the doctrine of implied powers. In the process, it resolved a historical debate between those who advocated a strict, and those who advocated a broad, interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause, found in Article 1, section 8, paragraph 18, of the Constitution.

The first 17 paragraphs of Article 1, section 8 enumerate specific powers vested in Congress, ranging from authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to declaring war. After enumerating specific powers, paragraph 18 declares that Congress shall have authority to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into the execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States.

Historical figures central to the establishment and development of the early republic, including Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, had taken conflicting positions on the meaning the clause. Jefferson favored a strict, or narrow, view that laid emphasis on the word, necessary, which meant that Congress could exercise only those powers that were indispensable, or absolutely necessary, to the exercise of its enumerated powers.

Hamilton thought Jeffersons approach was too rigid, and would deprive Congress of authority to determine what laws should be passed to carry out the powers granted to it by the Constitution.

In McCulloch, Chief Justice Marshall embraced Hamiltons approach. The case featured the same issue on which Jefferson and Hamilton were dividedthe constitutionality of the United States Bank, first established by Congress in 1791 to print bank notes and serve as a depository for federal funds. The state of Maryland imposed a tax on the branch of the U.S. Bank located in Baltimore, and then filed a suit in a state court against James McCulloch, the branchs cashier, when he refused to pay the tax. Maryland prevailed in state court, but the federal government, anticipating similar acts and lawsuits in other states, appealed to the Supreme Court.

For the Court, Chief Justice Marshall first addressed the constitutionality of the bank. Marshall, drawing upon Hamiltons reasoning, upheld the creation of the bank as a legal exercise of congressional authority. According to Marshall, since Congress determined that the bank would facilitate the exercise of it powers and responsibilities, then Congress possessed the implied power to create the bank. The Court would not interfere with the law-making function of Congress, so long as the power was contained within the four corners of Article 1 of the Constitution.

In an exercise of judicial deference to congressional authority to write laws and policies, Marshall wrote, in famous words: Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the constitution; and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the constitution, are constitutional.

In rejecting the narrow interpretation of the word, necessary, the Marshall Court was practicing self-restraint, refusing to substitute its own policy sense or judgment of whether the bank was necessary since Congress is the branch of government vested with authority to write the laws of the United States. This act of deference to the legislature reflected Marshalls long and lasting legacy, and framed the Courts doctrinal approach to reviewing congressional legislation.

Beyond cementing the place of implied powers in our constitutional scheme, the Court also affirmed the principle of popular sovereignty in its rejection of Marylands assertion of state sovereignty. As in previous cases, the Marshall Court denounced Marylands theory that the Constitution was the result of a state compact. Marshall, invoking the first words of the Preamble to the Constitution  We the People  declared that the people, not the states, ordain and establish the Constitution.

The Court also rejected the assertion by Maryland that as a sovereign entity, a state could tax the federal bank doing business within its jurisdiction. In addition to rejecting the claim of state sovereignty, Marshall also denied that Maryland might not tax the bank by invoking the Supremacy clause of Article VI. In words quoted thousands of times, Marshall observed that the power to tax is the power to destroy. Since the federal government was, by virtue of the Supremacy Clause, superior to the states, the states could not possess the power to tax the federal government, that is, destroy its superior.

Chief Justice Marshalls opinion for the Court in McCulloch represented yet another judicial decision that increased the power of the federal government in the 19th Century. Marshall well understood the implications of the Jeffersonian reading of the Necessary and Proper Clause for the future of the United States, and he resented it. In a letter to his colleague, Justice Bushrod Washington, Marshall confided: I find myself more stimulated on this subject than on any other because I believe the design to be to injure the Judges and impair the Constitution.

David Adler, PHD, is a noted author who lectures nationally and internationally on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Presidential power. His scholarly writings have been cited by the US Supreme Court and lower courts by both Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress. Adlers column is supported in part through a grant from Wyoming Humanities funded by the Why it Matters: Civic and Electoral Participation initiative, administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Adler can be reached at david.adler@alturasinstitute.com

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With the end of one year and beginning of another, it is natural to reflect on where we have come from and where we are going. 2021 was a hard year to summarize in the political sphere. Beginning with January 6 unrest at the Capitol and continuing to ongoing COVID impacts and mandates, a special session of the Wyoming legislature, and continued challenges with budgeting for Wyomings future, a lot has happened this past year. If nothing else, lets hope that 2022 is a calmer year in politics and public affairs than 2021.

Looking ahead to 2022, there are several things we know are coming that we can look forward to. 2022 is an election year, and this years election is sure to be dominated by the race for the congressional seat currently held by Liz Cheney. Representative Cheney has attracted challengers, most notably Harriet Hageman, who came in third during the last Republican primary for Governor and has received former President Trumps endorsement. It will be a fascinating race and I expect it will be unlike anything Wyoming has ever seen before. As of the end of September, Representative Cheney had set several quarterly fundraising records for Wyoming and had over $3.6 million in cash that she can spend on the race. Harriet Hageman already raised over $300,000 and had nearly a quarter million on hand. While this pales in comparison to Representative Cheney, Hageman has already raised more in individual contributions than she did in her entire gubernatorial campaign. For both candidates, the quarterly reports due to come out soon while undoubtedly show even more fundraising. Regardless of the outcome, this race is sure to be hard fought and painful. We have never seen the amount of money or national attention on Wyoming election that we will see this year.

With all the attention on the congressional race, the other positions on the ballot in 2022 have been quiet. Elections for Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor, and Superintendent of Public Instruction will also be on the ballot. So far, no serious challengers have emerged, and the only person that has even announced a challenge is perennial candidate Rex Rammell. The longer they go without serious challengers, the more likely that the other statewide elected officials will cruise to reelection. A campaign is a difficult thing, especially against an incumbent, and if a candidate is not already running now, it will be difficult to do all the things necessary to run a viable campaign. This is all the truer with the high-profile congressional race taking the lions share of the attention and media coverage. Unless a candidate capable of self-funding emerges in the very near future, Governor Gordon and the other statewide elected officials are looking quite secure in their reelection prospects.

We also know that 2022 will bring redistricting of the state legislature. This happens every ten years due to the federal census, and the legislature is already working on draft plans for redistricting maps. It is unsurprising that this is already causing strife. With much of the state stagnant or losing population, the Constitution requires changes in how the various regions are represented. Laramie County is due almost another entire representative, but areas that have declined in population are also seeing the impacts of their population changes. The Big Horn Basin, the northeast corner of the state, and Sweetwater County are all struggling with how borders can and should be redrawn and what their future representation looks like.

Unfortunately, some legislators are already expressing interest in setting aside the constitutionally mandated one man, one vote principles in favor of protecting incumbents. Last week, some expressed a desire for a plan that minimized disruption, rather than seeking the most accurate distribution of representation. It should be abundantly clear that disruption has nothing to do with disruption of services or quality of government. For 99% of Wyomings population, change in who their state representative or senator is has no disruption on their life whatsoever. The only people who would be disrupted by the Constitutionally-mandated redistricting  required to ensure that representation matches population  are currently elected legislators who want to protect their seats. The legislature should not ignore their Constitutionally required duties in favor of protecting incumbents seats.

Lastly, we know that the legislature will again be passing a biennial budget. Wyomings revenues continue to be a challenge  although thankfully not as bad as some of us feared  and no long term solutions have yet come to light. Governor Gordon has been very fiscally conservative and deserves credit for taking steps to recalibrate Wyomings budget for expected future revenues. I expect the legislature will continue this work.

There will doubtless be additional challenges that we cannot anticipate and surprises along the way. Lets hope that 2022 is a more predictable year than the last one.

Khale Lenhart is an attorney in Cheyenne and a former Chairman of the Laramie County Republican Party. He can be reached at khale.lenhart@gmail.com.

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Ice fishing season for most Wyoming anglers is, well, not quite a season yet.

By the end of 2021, popular reservoirs like Boysen near Shoshoni and Alcova near Casper were wide open. Some anglers even had their boats out, catching fish more like summertime than late December.

Craig Amadio has spent much of his life in Lander and Wyoming, and in those four decades, he cant remember a time when Boysen was still ice-free by Christmas. And yet this year, wind whipped up waves on the surface well past the winter holiday. The fisheries supervisor for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Lander said its due to a combination of warm temperatures and unusually strong winds.

And while most reservoirs are likely to freeze up eventually  even Boysen as of Wednesday had some ice in the bays and near the causeway  they may not have good, strong ice this season.

With this La Nina weather pattern, meteorologists predicted a warmer, drier, windier winter than we typically have in Wyoming, Amadio said. And thats certainly seems to be true so far.

This means anglers need to use extra caution as they eagerly approach their usual honey holes, Amadio said. And if the ice isnt safe, think about heading down to the reservoirs tailwater to try your luck on open river water.

Be wary of unsafe ice

Matt Hahn, Game and Fishs fisheries supervisor in Casper, reported similar conditions as Amadio. Some ice fishermen found enough ice to fish in places like Pathfinder Reservoirs Sweetwater Arm, but the ice isnt very strong.

Smaller lakes are possibly worth trying, like Goldeneye outside Casper, Dome Rock and 33 Mile Ponds. But even little Goldeneye doesnt have great ice, he said.

The best ice is formed when water freezes solid and stays that way. Most ice this season has formed, then been broken up by strong, warm winds, then refrozen. That process of freezing, thawing and freezing again creates weaknesses in the ice and means anglers should be extra careful.

Glendo Reservoir is mostly open as well.

Closer to western Wyoming, Amadio recommends trying Tory Lake outside Dubois. Its frozen, as is its sister lakes, Trail and Ring. A fisherman caught a 24-pound brown trout out of Trail Lake a couple years ago, and so for those willing to drive from Lander or even farther, its worth trying.

Unfortunately, popular destinations like Louis Lake in the Wind River Range is frozen, but the snow recently had been too thin to use snowmobiles to get there, and too drifted to use 4-Wheelers.

Amadio also discourages anglers from trying Pilot Butte Reservoir this season. The Bureau of Reclamation drained the reservoir over the summer to complete dam repairs and flushed most of the water down into irrigation canals. Game and Fish restocked some rainbow trout, but the fishing wont be good for another year or more.

A changing future

Aside from the immediate result of a tougher-than-normal ice fishing season, Amadio and Hahn worry about what these warmer, drier conditions mean for fisheries this summer.

Most of the concern with this weather on my end is that snow pack is looking really bad, so that could manifest itself in low reservoir discharge rates in the spring and continued drought, Hahn said.

Last summers hot, dry conditions strained fisheries around Wyoming and the West. Game and Fish asked anglers to fish only in the early morning, and many rivers in the West closed to fishing completely. Without deep winter snowpack in the mountains, rivers will lose their source of mid-summer, cool water. Warmer water means less oxygen for trout and higher mortality rates.

Low-elevation snow is important for groundwater, soil saturation and even recharging reservoirs, Amadio said, but its that mountain snowpack thats critical for many of our rivers.

The forecast for most of the state doesnt give Amadio much hope. The La Nina pattern could bring colder, wetter conditions for Wyomings northwest corner, but the eastern half of the state, particularly, will continue to experience warmer, drier weather than average, according to the National Weather Service. Winds will also likely not calm, making it harder to form that good, solid ice.

Amadio also worries that ice-free lakes into January and weak, dangerous ice will become the rule, not the exception.

If this truly is the start of a normal pattern that were going to see with climate change, then things are gonna change in the future, Amadio said. Our weather is definitely changing.

On the bright side, if the weather ever does turn cold, with a week of negative temperatures and a break from the wind, Amadio said this seasons ice fishing should be on fire.

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NIDCO (the National Infrastructure Development Company) says it has not initiated any tender or award of contract process with regard to the Toco Port.

In a news release, the company said the issuance of any letters of award or contracts relating to the Toco Port project is fraudulent and not authorised by Nidco.
A pregnant mother and her family affected by the Quarry Street New Years Day fire say they felt pressured to accept an Oropune Gardens apartment as a permanent home after their years long efforts to find secure housing.

The family, who had previously spent months surrounded by debris and without electricity, told the Express they felt as though they were being pushed to mortgage the apartment as a quick fix to their problem.
About 91% of more than 2,000 Pima County workers subject to the countys vaccine mandate got vaccinated by the Dec. 31 deadline, but the fate of the other 9% remains unknown.

The county announced on Friday  the deadline for workforce leaders to issue final dismissals  that 172 employees subject to the mandate did not get vaccinated or receive an exemption, but it has yet to say how many employees were fired and how many were reassigned to different positions. The official counts are expected to be announced in the coming days.

The Board of Supervisors voted in October to approve a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees who primarily work with vulnerable populations confined in a detention facility or nursing home or who provide direct services to children or the elderly. Of the countys more than 6,000 employees, 2,058 were deemed to work with vulnerable populations.

At the Pima County jail, 110 employees didnt comply with the mandate, according to a news release from the county. Sheriff Chris Nanos said 22 employees had been terminated as of Friday, adding that extenuating circumstances exist for some employees on family, medical or military leave.

For other county workers, 62 employees across 11 departments didnt confirm their vaccination status. The Pima Animal Care Center and the behavioral health department had 100% compliance, according to the county.

Officials said 22 employees were granted religious or medical exemptions, but they still wont be able to retain their current positions working with vulnerable populations. Instead, they have until Jan. 30 to find a different county position.

There are two goals: to keep the population safe and hopefully to get the people who are working with vulnerable populations vaccinated, acting County Administrator Jan Lesher said. Our goal is not ever to let people go, and so if we can move people around so that everyone has a job but the community is safe, we chose that option whenever possible.

Contact reporter Nicole Ludden at nludden@tucson.com

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COVID-19 is spreading faster in Arizona than ever before. More people tested positive in one day last week than any other day during the pandemic.

The highly transmissible omicron variant is behind this record-setting surge. It now accounts for the wide majority of cases in Arizona and Pima County.

In the last week of December, nearly 85% of all genetically sequenced COVID-19 cases in Arizona were omicron, a variant thats even more transmissible than the previously dominant delta variant, according to a new chart published by the Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen.

The same thing is playing out in Pima County.

Over the past two weeks here, 51 out of 61 genetically sequenced cases were omicron, said Dr. David Engelthaler, director of TGens infectious disease research.

He expects omicron to make up 99% of COVID-19 cases in Arizona within a week.

Now that this variant has solidly taken over, scientists will be looking for any sub-variants of omicron, he said. Are there any that are actually more important that are causing greater outbreaks, or not?

Genetic sequencing labs in Arizona dont have the resources to test all COVID-19 cases for omicron, but they typically sequence between 5% to 8% of cases, he said.

As cases surge, labs will sequence an even smaller percentage of cases because they wont have the capacity to keep up, Engelthaler said.

More people in Arizona tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 3 than any other day during the pandemic, according to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

On that day, 13,533 people tested positive, surpassing Arizonas previous daily record of 12,447 cases in a day, set last year on Jan. 4.

This is the fastest rate of rise weve seen, said Dr. Joshua LaBaer, executive director of Arizona State Universitys Biodesign Institute, adding that while the majority of cases are omicron, some delta cases are lingering.

The window of time where both delta and omicron variants circulate will be short-lived, Engelthaler said.

During that window of time, theres been a little bit of concern about whether or not treatments would work because some of the monoclonal antibody treatments dont work for omicron, but they do work for delta, he said.

Since we dont have variant testing as a diagnostic test that a physician can use right there to determine whether or not their patient can receive a monoclonal antibody, they just have to look at the available population data and make a decision.

Or, Engelthaler added, local health departments or federal health authorities will make a decision about whether or not to stop using particular drugs.

Were really moving out of that window now and its quickly becoming all omicron. So all patients will need to be treated like theyre omicron patients.

Pima County is in this window now. Two Federal Emergency Management Agency teams are currently in the county to help distribute subcutaneous shots of Regeneron, a treatment that boosts the body with antibodies.

Regeneron is not very effective, if effective at all against omicron, said Dr. Theresa Cullen, the countys Health Department director. The federal government has indicated that if the percentage of omicron in your jurisdiction is less than 80%, they still recommend the use of Regeneron.

About 84% of genetically sequenced COVID-19 cases have been omicron cases in the last two weeks, according to data cited by Engelthaler; however, the county is continuing to use Regeneron.

FEMA is allowing us to continue; no impact as of now, said Anthony Gimino, a spokesman for the county Health Department, on Friday.

Cullen added that the county is planning on also using sotrovimab, a treatment thats expected to remain effective against omicron.

She also said at a news conference on Wednesday that the delta variant is still resulting in people being hospitalized, and Regeneron is effective against that variant.

In the immediate future, omicron will likely keep driving cases to record levels, but that probably wont be true for hospitalizations, and almost certainly not deaths, said Dr. Joe Gerald, an associate professor with the University of Arizonas College of Public Health.

This is because the population is now generally more immune to COVID-19 than during previous surges, due to vaccinations and previous infections, he said, adding that this doesnt translate to good news for everyone, such as families who will lose loved ones to COVID-19 in the coming weeks.

I think our health care system workforce is still going to be incredibly strained, he said. Everybodys going to be busy, but the greatest crushing burden I think is going to be in our triage system.

Contact reporter Alex Devoid at adevoid@tucson.com or 573-4417. On Twitter: @DevoidAlex

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There will soon be new work on Arizonas border wall after a construction stoppage left behind piles of building materials, rockfall on blasted hillsides, large construction staging areas and poor drainage that led to flooding and inoperable gates.

On Tuesday Customs and Border Protection announced a proposal to clean up and repair damage from construction of border barriers in Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties, and the agency is seeking public input until Feb. 3.

The announcement comes after the Department of Homeland Security said on Dec. 20 that it will address safety and environmental issues left by unfinished border wall projects across parts of the border with Mexico, with a large majority of projects located in the Border Patrols Tucson Sector.

Although there wont be new length added to the border wall, there could be new barriers added to fill in small gaps in the wall. Many of the gaps are there because when building the wall, two construction crews would come from opposite directions. Where the crews met, there was often a few feet of space left between the two lengths of wall.

As part of these new remediation measures, those openings could possibly be filled with a section of wall, a gate or some other type of barrier.

The proposal calls for 19 project segments along 137 miles of border, including environmentally sensitive areas in Organ Pipe National Monument, Buenos Aires and Cabeza Prieta wildlife refuges, San Pedro National Riparian Area and Coronado National Memorial. The proposal includes:

Revegetation of disturbed areas

Installation of small wildlife passages in the fence or wall in Organ Pipe

Erosion control

Installation of cattle fencing and cattle guards

Restoration of retention ponds

Completion of access roads and restoration or decommissioning of construction roads

Bridge construction at the San Pedro River, Black Draw, Silver Creek and Hay Hollow

Drainage completion or repair and stormwater pollution prevention

Gap closure and gate installation.

Debate about filling gaps

Environmentalists and many people who live on the border say the gaps are critical for the movement of local wildlife. On the other hand, Border Patrol officials say the gaps make it difficult to monitor the border, and that it takes manpower to stop people from entering the country through the gaps, where a wall would be more effective.

In December, soon after the Biden administration announced reinstatement of the Trump-era Remain in Mexico program, there was a short spike of migrant crossings in the Yuma Sector, west of Tucson, including many families and children, which officials said put a strain on local social services. Experts speculated those families were trying to get to the U.S. before the program would begin returning migrants to Mexico to wait for hearings in U.S. courts.

The number of times Border Patrol agents encountered migrants entering the U.S. in between ports of entry was high in 2021, with many migrants crossing more than one time since many are sent directly back to Mexico because of Title 42, a public-health policy in response to the pandemic.

The Biden administrations focus should be on border security and filling the gaps in the wall, although the desert ecosystem is also important, says C.J. Karamargin, spokesman for Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

I dont know if retention ponds and revegetation and wildlife passages are the remedy thats needed for communities like Yuma, he said. What is happening in places like Yuma is a border security and humanitarian crisis, not a revegetation crisis. The gaps need to be filled.

There are no remediation proposals for the Yuma area at this time, but gaps like the ones in Yuma exist in many spots along the Arizona border wall.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly also called on the administration to close some of the gaps where Border Patrol agents encounter larger groups of migrants entering the United States. He also asked for remediation efforts to address some of the landscapes most devastated by the border wall construction.

Closing some of the gaps and installing gates will be positive steps to secure sections of the border, Kelly, a Tucson Democrat, said in a mid-December statement. Repairing land damaged in Cochise County, like Guadalupe Canyon, will help protect homes and ranchland from flooding and other hazards while restoring natural barriers in the landscape that support security goals.

Conservancy organization Wildlands Network set up scores of motion-activated wildlife cameras in the San Bernardino Valley in southeastern Cochise County two years ago as part of an effort to fill the void the Trump administration left by waiving the legal requirement to show the walls impact on wildlife.

The organization saw wildlife moving through some of the openings in the wall, in particular in spots where there are floodgates that were opened prior to the monsoons last year, says Myles Traphagen, the borderlands program coordinator for Wildlands Network.

After the gates were opened, larger species, such as mountain lions, whitetail deer, mule deer and Goulds turkeys, were able to use the washes, drainage ditches and streams that had been walled off the previous year when the gates were closed.

Its going to have a detrimental impact on wildlife if they close those gaps, Traphagen said.

Wildlife passages smaller than your doggie door

DHS is working with the Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service to assess the status and condition of the border barrier projects and determine the scope and extent of remediation work, the department said in a news release.

The government plans to prioritize projects that address life and safety, including the protection of the public, USBP agents, and nearby communities from potential harms, and avert further environmental damage or degradation, the news release said.

These projects will be funded by 2021 border barrier appropriations, which Congress allocated during the Trump administration but didnt use since the Biden administration stopped the construction.

The proposal includes a lot about making sure that roads are in good condition, erosion is under control and that culverts, drainage and cattle guards are working, but theres very little that addresses concerns for wildlife, Traphagen says.

One of the proposals is adding small wildlife passages in the wall, in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, of about 8.5 by 11 inches, an effort started by the Trump administration.

Such small openings dont address the movement of larger animals in the region, such as Sonoran pronghorn antelope, desert bighorn sheep, the Mexican gray wolf and the jaguar.

Thats smaller than your doggie door at PetSmart  its almost laughable if the situation wasnt so tragic, Traphagen said. What kind of wildlife will pass through them? Nothing larger than a jackrabbit, potentially a bobcat but unlikely. So the fact that they have proposed wildlife crossings, to me, is a very disingenuous proposition and simply looks like a veneer of environmental compliance.

Before any wildlife passages are made, DHS needs to monitor the wildlife in the region to see where the passages would be used and then the government needs to assess whether they work, he said.

Interference with water flows

Michael Bogan, a freshwater biologist and assistant professor at the University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment, agrees that the existing gaps should remain open to allow wildlife connectivity and says the gates over waterways should remain open as well.

Two major issues that need to be addressed in the remediation are erosion on the hill slopes from roads constructed for moving materials to build the wall, and the blockage of water flow across the border, Bogan says.

Those have cascading impacts if the vegetation is removed or denuded because of erosion, he said. Then theres less food for the wildlife species that are out there. That makes for more dangerous areas where theyre out in the open and predators can see them. Theres a whole lot of issues that come out of those two habitat concerns, with the wall construction.

Theres essentially no way you can engineer a barrier that is not going to interfere with the flow of water, Bogan says. During the latest monsoon season, metal gates were torn off their hinges in Silver Creek, near the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge, and debris piled up in open gateways across the San Pedro River.

From an ecology and hydrology perspective, the only real solution is to have those water bodies completely unimpeded by a wall or by any kind of barrier, Bogan said.

They should use all the technology they have for detecting movement and put in sensor plates and put in those things other than a physical barrier because eventually youre going to have a big enough rainstorm that no matter what kind of gate or bridge they put in, its going to get overwhelmed and its going to cause flooding and erosion issues.

Bogan says there are areas of construction along the wall that are unfixable, like in Guadalupe Canyon at the Arizona border with New Mexico, or the Tinajas Altas Mountains in Yuma where mountain sides were blasted to build roads.

Theres no amount of revegetation or fixing that will ever undo that damage, he said. No matter what kind of restoration they come up with, theres going to be a lasting legacy of the construction no matter what.

Revegetation, a difficult proposal

The proposal doesnt contain a lot of detail on what will go into revegetating disturbed areas, other than saying areas around the wall will be reseeded in accordance with specifications provided by federal land managers.

This will include construction staging areas in the wildlife refuges and areas outside the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot-wide strip of federal land that runs along much of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Revegetation in the desert is a difficult proposal because of the arid climate and ongoing drought cycles for the last 17 years or so, and perhaps more important than revegetation is a vigorous program of invasive plant control, said Traphagen, with the Wildlands Network.

Getting things to grow in this region can be difficult, but he says the true danger in not doing revegetation properly is that invasive species will colonize bare land thats been stripped of native vegetation.

This could not only shift the native plant community and affect wildlife in myriad ways, but it could also affect ranching.

Ranching is an important part of the economy in Arizona and the Southwest, and the native grasses have very high-quality forage, and most of them exceed the protein amounts of the exotic species such as Lehmann lovegrass and buffelgrass, Traphagen said. When these exotic species take hold, they displace the native species of grasses; therefore, that reduces the carrying capacity of the land for ranchers.

Revegetation done right could be a very good thing for ranchers in the area, such as Kelly Glenn-Kimbro, whose family owns the Glenn Ranch, surrounded by the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge on three sides, and abutted with new border wall to the south.

I think revegetation is a great idea because they left a lot of big scars, she said. Restoration of grasslands  thats an amazing thing. Thats great. Ranchers are all about that.

Lack of engagement

Glenn-Kimbro, a Republican, was against the wall because she thought it was a waste of money. Hundreds of people would cross the border through the familys property 15 years ago, but with the installation of vehicle barriers in 2008, observation towers and more agents patrolling, she says her family saw just a few migrants a year crossing and didnt see the need for a 30-foot wall in their backyard.

Nonetheless, they let the contractors set up a construction yard on their land and use their well, in part so as to spare the wildlife refuge. And Glenn-Kimbro says the contractors did what they could to clean up the land afterward.

What she is really upset about is the lack of engagement with stakeholders in creating the proposal, a common complaint among both environmentalists and people who live on the border. The first time Glenn-Kimbro heard about the proposal wasnt from the Biden administration but from Kellys Senate office, she says.

Instead of creating a proposal and asking for feedback, the administration should put together a taskforce to ask every single rancher, farmer, landowner and small border community about whats truly needed, she says.

Thats the thing that I hold Biden accountable for, Glenn-Kimbro said. Its all fine and dandy to stop a project, but he had no concern, no respect or nothing for the communities that had been involved with this and were still raw and open with open wounds.

Request for comment

The Customs and Border Protection request for public comments asks the following questions:

What immediate actions are needed to address safety issues, including protecting the public, Border Patrol agents, nearby communities and averting further environmental damage?

What measures are the highest priority?

Are there best practices that need to be followed in implementing the remediation measures?

The work will start in the months following the 30-day comment period, and officials estimate it will take 12 to 28 months to complete.

To read the full proposal and leave feedback before Feb. 3, go to bit.ly/3pR6sN8 or email TucsonComments@cbp.dhs.gov and put Tucson Remediation Plan Comments in the subject of the email.

Comments can also be left by calling 1-800-514-0638 or by mail at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. 6.5E Mail Stop 1039, Washington, D.C. 20229-1100.

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Contact reporter Danyelle Khmara at dkhmara@tucson.com or 573-4223 . On Twitter: @DanyelleKhmara

To comment on the proposal To read the full proposal and leave feedback before Feb. 3, go to bit.ly/3pR6sN8 or email TucsonComments@cbp.dhs.gov and put Tucson Remediation Plan Comments in the subject of the email. Comments can also be left by calling 1-800-514-0638 or by mail at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. 6.5E Mail Stop 1039, Washington, D.C. 20229-1100.

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Just when you think you grasp the complexities of last weeks return to school, it gets more complicated.

Its not just that people are gathering in schools again, by the hundred or thousand, in the middle of a new wave of COVID-19.

Its not just that some students, teachers and staff members are testing positive, forcing them to stay home.

Its not just that their close contacts also must be informed of the positive test and figure out what to do.

Its not just that the protocols for handling cases, contacts and testing have been changing on the fly.

But its also that this is taking place during a preexisting shortage of teachers and staff. So even if schools do everything right, theyre likely to end up short-staffed, shuffling students among subs and stand-ins, if they can find them. The schools can do only so much as cases rise and their numbers dwindle.

It has been incredibly complex to operationalize COVID protocols for staff and students as guidelines continue to change from the national and local level, Alli Benjamin of the Marana Unified School District told me. Its incredibly challenging for our schools when staff members are out.

The relatively mild symptoms usually caused by the omicron variant make no big difference when a positive test means at least one absence of at least five days. The schools end up in the same bind as before  worse now, actually, because this variant is so easy to pass around.

Pandemic politics

Against that backdrop  this complex, evolving challenge for schools  politicians have, of course, inserted politics. In Arizona, most pointedly, Gov. Doug Ducey has tried to turn the schools challenges into a political wedge issue that benefits him.

This appears to have started Monday, when Joe Thomas, the president of the Arizona Education Association teachers union, responded to a report of a high positivity rate in COVID-19 testing by saying this on Twitter:

Parents should be preparing for a temporary shift to remote learning. It will be due to not enough staff being able to report for work.

You might think, from reading that, that he was warning parents to get ready for a period of remote learning because of school personnel testing positive for COVID-19. It certainly reads pretty straightforwardly to me. But the politicians found just enough of a crack of ore there to start mining.

Karrin Taylor Robson, a Republican candidate for governor in the GOP primary race, tweeted: Now the Arizona teachers union is threatening a sick-out?! Enough is enough!

That seems like a misinterpretation at best, a misrepresentation at worst. Thomas told me that he only meant to say what he said, nothing about a sickout.

This message of fighting teachers unions that want to close schools is proving politically useful as a national issue for the GOP, though. Indeed, there are some cities, notably Chicago, where the teachers union has demanded a return to remote learning during the omicron surge.

But that hasnt been the case locally at Tucson Unified School District, nor at the state level.

Nevertheless, Ducey, the leading member of Robsons faction of the GOP, took the baton from her and ran with it.

He puffed up his chest in calculated umbrage and tweeted Once again, teachers unions are playing political games with no regard for the social and emotional impact on our kids. Parents shouldnt stand for it  and will remember these antics at the ballot box.

Ducey went on to unveil a program that would pay up to $7,000 to parents whose schools close even one day due to COVID-19. The money could go to child-care or transportation costs, or  and this is the real meat of the matter  tuition at a private school.

Yes, once again Ducey is trying to use federal pandemic relief as a tool to steer students away from public schools and toward private schools.

This is, of course, reminiscent of his disgraceful display this summer. He offered bonus federal money to school districts that obeyed his order not to impose mask mandates. The Treasury Department has said this is an illegal use of the federal money. Certainly it was immoral, because it rewarded schools for ignoring one of the mitigation measures that has proven helpful in stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Still, he seems determined to keep riding this wave toward whatever political goal he has. On Thursday, he told Fox News host Harris Faulkner: Were not going to let the union thugs play Chicago-like games in Arizona.

Whos vaccinated and who isnt?

That shouldnt be hard, since nobody is playing games like this in the schools these days. Theyre just struggling to keep the boats afloat.

For now, the Marana district has 55 active COVID-19 cases among both faculty and students. Each of them has to stay away for at least five days. And that number will likely continue to rise.

The close contacts of each of those people must quarantine at home if theyre not vaccinated or use a mask at school if they are vaccinated, under new guidelines put out by the Centers for Disease Control and passed on by Pima Countys Health Separtment.

But who is vaccinated and who isnt? That actually changed last week, as Kat Davis, program manager for the Health Department, explained to me Friday.

CDC did not change their technical definition of fully vaccinated. But in practice their guidance has changed to make a booster required for fully vaccinated status.

We changed ours to match that, but then this week more guidance came out for students and children that only the primary series is required.

Confused? So was I. And so were people at Marana and other school districts. But the gist is that, if youre a student, you must only have the initial series of two vaccines to be considered fully vaccinated. If youre a staff member or teacher, you must also have the booster. And that determines whether you can stay at school, masked, if your close contact got a positive test.

But you can also test-to-stay, a new protocol from the CDC. If you are a close contact of someone who tested positive, then you may take COVID-19 tests on the first, third and fifth day after the exposure is known and stay in school, masked, as long as your tests remain negative.

Its a helpful development in the effort to keep schools open, but unfortunately it relies on testing materials being available, and in this surge they are increasingly unavailable.

The Marana districts adaptation is this: If you are a close contact of someone positive for COVID-19, then you must either quarantine at home or follow the test-to-stay protocol. But the testing is on you. The district doesnt provide it.

And of course the district  every district, every school  is supposed to keep track of all these permutations: Whos tested positive, whos a close contact, whos vaccinated among the close contacts, whos following test-to-stay protocols, whos not. And theyre supposed to keep educating children, too.

Its the kind of thing that a leader with a plan could perhaps fix. But instead we have leaders using the pandemic to exploit a political opening.

Tim Steller is an opinion columnist. A 25-year veteran of reporting and editing, he digs into issues and stories that matter in the Tucson area, reports the results and tells you his conclusions. Contact him at tsteller@tucson.com or 520-807-7789. On Twitter: @senyorreporter

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Tucson agencies no longer do proactive undercover work to find sex traffickers, and the Police Department now has only one detective reviewing and investigating suspected cases of people being forced into sex work. Much of that work is now done by federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations.

But local and federal officials say an October rescue of a 14-year-old victim  who said she was sexually exploited in four states  is among other examples showing they are still working together to target suspects and crack cases, despite a recent reduction in funding and resources.

The Southern Arizona Anti-Trafficking Unified Response Network was awarded a $1.5 million grant in October 2015 from the U.S. Justice Department through its three grantees: the Tucson Police Department, CODAC Health, Recovery and Wellness and the University of Arizonas Southwest Institute for Research on Women.

The funds were allocated so the collective could spend three years researching, tracking and fighting human trafficking here. The grant was extended into early 2020 but was shut down during the pandemic.

With officials opting not to reapply for the grant for various reasons, the way human trafficking is addressed has changed. Proactive undercover operations are no longer used because of a lack of staffing and resources.

Detective Jennifer Crawford, a member of the Tucson Police Department and the Southern Arizona Anti-Trafficking Unified Response Network, has worked for years to investigate human trafficking cases in Tucson.

Crawford said that from January through June of 2020, there was a large spike in the number of suspected trafficking cases for TPD to review. But only one of the roughly 15 cases she had open in the summer of 2020 turned out to be a potential case for follow-up investigation, she told the Star in a recent interview.

The numbers have since leveled off, without an increase of verified cases during the pandemic, she said.

Crawford is now TPDs lone detective reviewing and, when needed, investigating suspected cases of human trafficking. Under the grant, TPD had several Homeland Security Investigations agents embedded in the department, but these days its the opposite, with Crawford lending her services as a task force officer with HSI.

My official unit now is threat mitigation. I just brought human trafficking with me because theres no one else to do it and Ive been embedded for so long, Crawford said. I do the best I can. But were a lot more reactive than proactive.

She and other Tucson experts spoke Wednesday night on a panel after the local screening of a film about human trafficking of youths in the foster care system, about their efforts to combat sex trafficking and to help victims.

Prevention is the key

Dozens of Tucsonans turned out for the sold-out screening of Wake Up at Roadhouse Cinemas. The movie was followed by a panel and informal question-and-answer session with local front-line workers.

The movie was written, directed and co-produced by actress Janet Craig, who, like her co-producer Kristen Wise, is also a foster parent.

Craig, the sister of former Chief Deputy Pima County Attorney Amelia Cramer, said she was inspired to make the movie after attending a benefit for Forever Found, an organization that works to help victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking is the recruiting, transporting or coercing of people for financial gain, typically through forced labor or sexual exploitation.

I wanted to do something with my art that would impact society for the better. My big passion has been to support foster youth, Craig said. My dream is that through this movie, we can bring the community together and bring the resources so that when the film shows, people can get involved right away.

After Wednesdays showing, most of the films masked attendees lingered in the lobby to talk with panelists and collect pamphlets and other resource materials from local agencies.

During the post-screening panel discussion, Crawford and others spoke of an October operation in which Tucson agencies assisted in the rescue of a 14-year-old girl who had been trafficked from Phoenix to Nebraska.

Also in October, Homeland Security Investigations agents in Tucson rescued a 14-year-old girl who said shed been trafficked and sexually exploited in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, starting in August, according to a news release from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Two suspects were arrested in El Paso on Oct. 21 and are facing federal sex trafficking charges. Court documents show the victim reported being recruited on social media, with agents saying they strongly suspect additional victims, according to the release.

The October cases are the most recent local cases involving youths, but Crawford said there have also been recent cases of adults being trafficked.

In 2021, she assisted in a Marana Police Department case involving an adult. Another verified case involving an adult was dropped in the summer after the victim opted not to participate in the prosecution, Crawford said.

We certainly had other ones (in 2021) that we suspect a lot, but due to circumstances, like a lack of victim cooperation or evidence, we arent able to make a case, Crawford said.

While she says she reviews all the suspected trafficking tips that come to TPD or 88-CRIME, shes not able to investigate them all. A lack of victim cooperation is the biggest barrier to building a prosecutable case, she said. While a victims phone can be a gold mine in terms of evidence, without access to that evidence, TPD is out of luck.

Over the years, law enforcement has had help in identifying potential cases through airline workers, bus drivers and other transportation industry workers who are being trained to spot the signs, Crawford said.

Parents are also taking steps to educate themselves and become more savvy about social media. TPD offers a class on the subject several times a year that is widely attended.

You have to just do what you can to bring awareness to the community. Prevention is the key, Crawford said.

Increasing resources to areas that are known to be targeted by traffickers, such as foster care group homes, would also make a difference, she said.

Sixteen percent of the children who were under the care of social services and were reported missing to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2019 were likely victims of sex trafficking, according to the groups website.

I really feel that there just needs to be more therapeutic support services embedded in those group homes. Most of them seem to not be offering them, Crawford said. Its probably unrealistic to put a therapist in every home full time, but this is a hole Im seeing. We are getting these revolving-door kiddos who are clearly not getting what they need at some point.

Tammy Breitzke, a special agent with HSI, works on the task force with Crawford and was involved in the October rescue. She said during the post-film panel discussion that the Southern Arizona Anti-Trafficking Unified Response Network and assistance by other local agencies has been instrumental in the success of local operations.

That collaboration was so important and it was so streamlined in how we were able to successfully able to recover that victim and work that investigation, Breitzke said.

Trying to limit victims trauma

The victim in the Phoenix case and many other child crime victims and witnesses are brought to the Childrens Advocacy Center of Southern Arizona for evidence collection, connection to healing services and coordination with other local agencies.

Executive director Marie Fordnoy of the Childrens Advocacy Center of Southern Arizona said the way investigations are conducted makes a difference in the level of trauma a person experiences.

We use an evidence-based model that gets the story from them while minimizing their trauma, Fordnoy said of the centers interview process. When you provide these services in an advocacy center, research shows the victim is more likely to get follow-up medical care and follow-up mental health services.

Another member of the collaborative is Mercy Care, a local nonprofit, Medicaid managed-care health plan.

Children in foster care have a higher risk of becoming trafficking victims, and through our partnership with the Department of Child Safety, were responsible statewide for the health and wellness of these children, Mercy Care project manager Amber Divens, who works with the Southern Arizona Human Trafficking Collaborative, said in an email to the Star.

We want to make sure that youth who have been trafficked have immediate access to the physical and mental health care services they need.

Addressing root causes

While Crawford was clear that Southern Arizona still sees confirmed cases of sex trafficking, advocates for sex workers rights say the issue has been overblown in recent years as a way to shut down proposed decriminalization of sex work.

The anti-trafficking rhetoric is very powerful and compelling. Who isnt against anyone being forced into any form of labor, especially sexual labor? said Juliana Piccillo of Tucsons Sex Workers Outreach Project. No one wants to be called pro-sex trafficking, but evidence-based research has shown that decriminalization of sex work will reduce harm.

In December, The Atlantic magazine published an article, The Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic, examining how conspiracy theories and the spread of false information in recent years has led to misconceptions that child sex trafficking is widespread.

The article said its statistically difficult to track the number of confirmed cases each year, due to misleading data. But a 2020 survey found that 35 percent of Americans think the number of children who are victims of trafficking each year is about 300,000 or higher; 24 percent think it is much higher, it said.

By contrast, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received around 17,000 reports in 2020 related to possible child sex trafficking, with reports coming from every state.

According to the ACLU, anti-trafficking laws often dont distinguish between trafficking and consensual adult sex work. An ACLU study of the correlation between the decriminalization of sex work and efforts to combat human trafficking found that going from less to more prohibitive laws surrounding sex work appears to have little impact on curbing trafficking.

Crawford said that she has no expert opinion on the issue, but that a handful of documentaries shes seen about decriminalization in Amsterdam show that trafficking still occurs there.

Piccillo said that in order to end trafficking of vulnerable groups like foster youths, society needs to address the root causes behind why a child is removed from his or her home in the first place.

We have to look at what goes on in homes and why are some peoples homes toxic, she said. There are mental health problems and intimate partner violence and other problems, all of which there are known ways to address.

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Contact Star reporter Caitlin Schmidt at 573-4191 or cschmidt@tucson.com. On Twitter: @caitlincschmidt

Sex Trafficking resources For more information about sex trafficking in Arizona, visit goyff.az.gov/humantrafficking Locally, the Southern Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault offers services for sex trafficking victims. Its 24-hour bilingual crisis line can be reached by calling 327-7273 or toll free at 1-800-400-1001. For more information about SACASA's services, visit sacasa.org/ The National Human Trafficking Hotline can be reached 24-hours a day by calling 1-888-373-7888, or by texting 233733.

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The availability of tests that rapidly detect the COVID-19 virus and can be self-administered is quickly dwindling in Pima County, and theres no guarantee more will be provided any time soon.

Appointments for proctored tests at county-run sites and through local pharmacies are still available but are also becoming scarce. This includes rapid tests as well as so-called PCR tests, which must be sent to a laboratory and take up to 72 hours for results.

The lack of rapid tests is not a local problem but a national one. In December, both the Biden administration and Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, promised millions of rapid tests would be made available nationwide in January.

For now, the county is waiting as the demand for testing of any kind, brought on by the omicron variant and a resulting surge in cases, is exploding.

The availability of tests is critical, said Dr. Theresa Cullen, the countys health department director. I want community residents to know we are doing everything in our power to make sure people have access to testing.

New weekly COVID-19 cases here more than doubled recently, rising more than 125% the last week of December.

School districts rely on rapid tests to keep children in school, with testing targeting students who have been directly exposed so those who are negative can remain in school.

Many of the rapid tests the county still has are reserved for the schools, said Louie Valenzuela, the countys division manager of emergency preparedness.

Cullen said the county has enough tests to continue to support the schools.

She said her department has requested that 20,000 tests be delivered to the county on a weekly basis but theres no assurance yet that the order will be filled.

The county also asked earlier this week that a FEMA testing site be started here, but hasnt yet heard back, Valenzuela said.

Strained is certainly the word Id use, he said of testing overall here. It is a strained system. Theres limited availability of the testing supply itself and theres limited personnel to administer it.

Since November, the county has provided about 70,000 rapid tests to the public through pickup sites at public libraries and the Abrams Public Health Center. That supply, which were tests people could administer at home, ran out this week. On Tuesday, the last day the county offered the take-home rapid tests, hundreds of people waited in line at the Abrams center.

No rapid test kits for sale were found by the Arizona Daily Star during a random sampling Friday of seven local pharmacies, and a recorded telephone message at one Walgreens indicated wait times are very long due to calls about whether there are test kits in stock.

The rapid tests, which typically could also be ordered online but are becoming difficult to find there as well, are expensive, typically running around $20 to $24 for packs of two. As the supply dwindles, the prices are increasing and Valenzuela cautioned people to be sure the ones they buy have been approved, since scams are increasing.

The Arizona Department of Health Services orders rapid tests from the federal government based on requests from schools and community health partners, said its spokesman Steve Elliott.

Elliott said he did not have data available on short notice Friday, but that ordering from federal partners is extremely limited at this time.

This is a separate issue from retailers being low or out of rapid tests because of recent demand, and ADHS has no role in this part of it, he said. People who test positive for COVID-19 using at-home kits should inform their primary care doctor, for their own well-being and so the positive result will be reported to public health for disease surveillance.

The PCR test  which stands for polymerase chain reaction and is a test to detect genetic material from an organism, such as a virus  is offered at no charge at many local pharmacies and administered, by appointment, as part of drive-thru services, but spots are limited.

The demand for PCR tests also exploded this week and, on Tuesday, Sonora Quest Laboratories in Arizona processed nearly 30,000 PCR tests, the most processed in one day since testing began March 20, 2020.

Some urgent care centers, as well as stand-alone clinics like Rescue Me Wellness, 4601 E. Fifth St., are still offering rapid testing to people experiencing symptoms or who have been recently exposed.

Contact reporter Patty Machelor at 806-7754 or

To make a testing appointment To learn more about testing sites offered by the Pima County Health Department, log on at webcms.pima.gov and search under testing centers. Appointments are required and no walk-ups are accepted at the centers.

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